planet

The Atacama desert is one of the most arid places on the planet. And right there a handful of “crazy” is trying to get water out of the fog

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The oceans and seas house, According to estimates Used by the United States Geological Service (USGS), more than 96.5% of the water on our planet. In contrast, The atmosphere contains A modest 0.001% of this total. The clouds, fog and moisture of the air itself contains somewhat less than 13,000 cubic kilometers that also represent 0.04% of the planet’s fresh water. But in contexts in which the drought squeezes, each drop can count. Collecting water from the fog. A group of researchers He has successfully tested A method to obtain water from the fog. The system was able to collect between 0.2 and 5 liters of water per square meter and day. Secarral To test the method, the team responsible for the analysis resorted to the Municicpio of Alto Hospicio, located in the Atacama desert. This desert houses some of the most arid areas on the planet, in which rainfall barely reaches the annual millimeter. The city depends for its supply of the water contained in underground aquifers, but According to the team itselfthese have not been duly recharged in a period of between 10,000 and 17,000 years. The city extends rapidly and fruit of it around 10,000 of its residents live in informal settlements, almost all of them disconnected from the water supply system. “The collection and use of water, especially unconventional sources such as fog water, represents a key opportunity to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants,” explained in a press release Virginia Carter Hamberini, co -author of the study. A “new” method … A study that managed to show the potential of this technology. The team tested these mechanisms in the surroundings of the city of Alto Hospicio for a year, obtaining between 0.2 and 5 liters per square meter and day. Between August and September 2024, during the season of greatest activity, it was possible to reach up to 10 liters per square meter and day. “This research represents a notorious change in the perception of the use of water from fog, from a rural and rather small -scale solution to a practical water source for cities,” adds Carter Humberini. “Our findings show that fog can serve as a complementary source of urban water in dry areas where climate change exacerbates water deficiencies” The mechanism also has its limitations, they clarify. One of them is that its use is limited to high elevations outside the city limits. … that is not so new. The collection of fog water is not something novel, as Carter Haberini recalls, but it can be a convenient method to be climbed in a context like the present. The Fog Water Collection Appliancessuch as the one used in the study, they consist of a network through which the air loaded with moisture circulates. Part of that moisture is coupled to the fibers of the network and falls through them to a channel that leads to a deposit. The water of the deposit can thus be used in a variety of uses such as human consumption or agriculture. The details of the experiment were published In an article In the magazine Frontiers in Environmental Science. Learning lessons. The viability of fog water collection depends on the geographical characteristics of the environment: both climate and orography can affect the ability of this mechanism to provide water. These favorable conditions can occur in some areas of Spain, where already There are those who consider similar projects. In Xataka | Get drinking water with the brute force of the waves: the ambitious plan of the Canary Islands to face the drought Image | Virginia Carter Haberini

The glaciers are the great forgotten fresh water reserve of the planet. And we are running out of it

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According to estimates From the United States Geological Service (USGS), glaciers, along with the permanent ice layer and snow, house more than 24 million cubic kilometers of water. This represents 1.74% of the total water on the planet, but also 68.7% of fresh water. The risk of losing these reservations is growing. 273,000 million tons. A new study in which the European Space Agency (That) has revealed the rhythm at which the glaciers of our planet have been losing water since 2000. The figures are not hopeful: our glaciers have lost 273,000 million tons of water per year on average. “To put this in perspective, the 273,000 million tons lost annually represent what the world’s population consumes in 30 years, assuming (a consumption of) three liters per person and day,” Indicate in a press release Michael Zemp. Another way of seeing it in perspective is to take into account that the glaciers of this planet, according to the agency itself, contained approximately 121.73 billion tons of ice. During the last decades the glaciers have seen a 5% drop in their volume. In crescendo. The team has also warned that the rhythm at which we lose ice has been growing throughout the study period. The study covered the period between 2000 and 2023 and was divided into two subperiods: 2000–2011 and 2012–2023. Comparing both periods the team found an acceleration in the rhythm at which glaciers lose water: in the second period the loss of ice was 36% greater than in the first. The geographical context also matters. If we previously indicated that, globally, the glaciers had lost 5% of their volume, regional losses are among 2% observed in the Antarctic and Subantarctic Islands, and 39% loss of volume observed in Central Europe. The image shows diversity in the portion of lost glaciers in different regions. ESA/Planetary Visions GLAMBIE. The investigation has been carried out within the framework of the Glambie project (Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise), An initiative of the WGMS (World Glacier Monitoring Service) of the University of Zurich in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and the Earthwave company dedicated to estimate the global ice mass lost by the glaciers. The initiative generated a temporary series for the study period (2000-2023) combining data from different sources. Among them they used satellite observations of the Aster instrument aboard the American Mission Terra and ICESAT-2also from NASA; in combination with data obtained from European and Euro -Eastern Missions Grace, Tandem-X and Cryosat. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Nature. It is not just sea level. This loss of ice has a well -known plenty of involvement: the nearly 6.55 billion tons of disappeared water from the glaciers have ended melted in the sea, which, according to equipment estimates, has contributed to the increase in the level of the waters in about 18 millimeters, about 0.75 mm per year. However, although the increase in sea level is often the “visible face” of climate change, the problem goes further. And it is that glaciers are an important water reserve. Its thaw contributes significantly to the flow of many rivers. This is the case of the Ebro, which feeds on the glaciers of the Pyrenees in addition to the thaw of mountains in the Cantabrian mountain range and the Iberian system. “Glaciers are a vital source of fresh water, especially in local communities in Central Asia and the central Andes, where glaciers dominate runoff during warm and dry stations,” also explains in the press release Inés Dussaillant, co -author of the study. In Xataka | The fresh water from the planet disappears, something that can also be perceived from space Image | The glaciers of the Chugach mountains, in Alaska. Copernicus Sentinel-2

Philips was the second largest chips manufacturer on the planet. Now it is out of a market led by its creation: ASML

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What we have promised you in the head of this article is strictly true. As Marc Hijink explains in his highly recommended and fresh out of the oven ‘Focus: The Asml Way’during the decade of the 70s of the last century Philips was the second largest manufacturer of semiconductors of the world. The leader in this market at that time was the American company Texas Instrumentsbut the Dutch firm had a long career in the field of innovation and technological development. In the early 70th Philips had more than 400,000 employees, and approximately 90,000 worked in the Netherlands. At that time his business was mainly held on The design and manufacture of televisionsradios, medical equipment, appliances and lighting solutions. His Porfolio was not but that nothing wrong, although his true strength was that absolutely everything was designed and manufactured within Philips. Today this strategy would be impracticable. Anyway, if we stick to the production of integrated circuits, the interesting thing is that the lithography equipment used at that time had also been devised and manufactured by engineers of the company itself. In fact, its first flirting with the semiconductors dates back to the late 50s of the last century. At that time the Philips Board of Directors realized of the enormous potential the chips had And he decided to create several research centers, as well as collaborate with technological universities and laboratories. ASML is the result of an inspired alliance During the decades of the 60s and 70th Philips was already a great technological emporium. In the early 80s he had acquired a lot of experience in the field of semiconductor manufacturing, but the industry sued smaller and capable chips. These requirements represented a technical challenge for company engineers who were responsible for the design of photolithography equipment, so in 1984 the Philips directive dome made a very important decision: he decided to associate with the Dutch company ASM International (Advanced material semiconductor). Currently all companies that produce advanced semiconductors have in their plants the UVP or ASML UVE machines The purpose of this alliance was to take advantage of Philips’s extensive experience in the set -up Design and manufacture avant -garde photolithographic equipment. The result of this collaboration was the birth of ASML (Advanced Materials Semiconductor), the Dutch company that leads the production industry of these machines thanks to the enormous success that their teams have had extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE). Currently all companies that produce advanced semiconductors have in their plants the machines of deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP) or extreme ultraviolet asml. Some of them are TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, Micron Technology, SMIC or UMC. However, once we have reached this moment it is reasonable that we ask ourselves why Philips is no longer a relevant actor in the integrated circuit manufacturing industry. In ‘Focus: The Asml Way’Marc Hijink tells us that after the creation of Asml Philips he settled. Its chips factories lost competitiveness and little by little they ceased to be able to develop the semiconductors required by the market. Jon Yu, the person in charge of the Newsletter The Asianometrysuggests essentially the same During the conversation who has maintained with Ben Thompson, the author of the interesting publication Stratechery. “As they count on ASML, Philips failed. It was a company with Too much bureaucracy and too much clinging to their customs. It is something similar to what happened with the Japanese in the 90s. Philips had already fulfilled his cycle and deserved to conclude, although he apparently sold his participations too soon. “It is a pity. And it is because there is no doubt that in the Current situation to Europe would have two leading companies in semiconductors. * Some price may have changed from the last review Image | ASML BIBLIOGRAPHY | ‘Focus: The Asml Way’by Marc Hijink More information | The Asianometry In Xataka | 2024 has been a year full of uncertainty for chip designers. So much that the market has changed leader

China has become the greatest added value of the planet thanks to feedback

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China wants to stop being the planet’s factory. In fact, you need to stop being. The struggle that holds with the US to get world supremacy It requires that Xi Jinping’s country consolidates as The largest provider of high value services and products. This position would allow him to compete with the country led by Donald Trump on equal terms, something unthinkable just a decade ago. But China is in it. And it’s on the right track. The first stone was placed by the Chinese president in 2015. That year Xi Jinping announced the implementation of a strategy known as Plan “Made in China 2025” whose purpose was to place China as a world leader in 13 strategic technologies. Ten years later he leads in five of them: unmanned aerial vehicles, solar panels, graphene, high -speed trains and electric vehicles/lithium batteries (these last two go hand in hand). And it is competitive in seven others, among which it is worth highlighting semiconductors, Robots either artificial intelligence (AI). This is China’s open secret: industrial and technological overlapping The sanctions that They have deployed USA and its allies During the last three years they have forced China to invest a huge amount of resources with the purpose of becoming their technological industry of foreign countries. Otherwise it would be condemned to stagnation. In this situation it is crucial that we do not overlook that the prohibitions of the US, Netherlands or Japan, among other countries, prevent research institutions and Chinese companies accessing the most advanced lithography equipment and the avant -garde chips. China will take at least five years to have an extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment comparable to those produced by ASML The latter continue to arrive in China Through intermediary companies mostly housed in Malaysia, Singapore or India. However, chips manufacturing machines are another sack. Presumably the country of Xi Jinping It will take at least five years in having a extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment comparable to those currently produced by the Dutch company ASML. However, as we have just seen, if we stick to the Chinese mature integrated circuits it is competitive, but in semiconductors in general it does not lead. The scheme we publish on top of these lines has been prepared by the sociologist and researcher at Princeton University, in New Jersey (USA), Kyle Chan for the highly recommended Newsletter High Capacity. It illustrates very clearly how China has achieved within a relatively brief period of time consolidating itself as a world leader in lithium batteries, electric cars or drones, and being a competitor surpassing in industrial robots, semiconductors or artificial intelligence. The key to the unappealable success of China is, beyond its great economic investment and its human capital, industrial and technological overlapping The key to this unappealable success is, beyond the great economic investment and human capital that this Asian country is investing in these sectors, Industrial and technological overlap. Kyle Chan’s scheme clearly reflects the interdependence that exists between some companies, such as, for example, Xpeng, Nio or Geely electric cars manufacturers, among others, and lithium batteries producers Catl and Byd. This last company also manufactures cars, buses and electric trucks, among other products. As we see in the scheme, China has developed several technological and industrial ecosystems that overlap both if we stick to the companies that are involved in them and the technologies involved. The greatest strength of this country is that it is not strong only in batteries; It is also in electric cars. And on smartphones. And in drones. And in industrial robots. And in many other sectors. Almost all of them are interconnected, well directly, either indirectly. And when one is reinforced by a rupturist innovation all those with whom holds some technological dependence They are also strengthened. Here lies, ultimately, China’s high competitiveness in so many industries of a strategic nature. Image | Alex More information | High Capacity In Xataka | China advances at a dizzying speed in nuclear fusion. It already has something ready that until now only had the Netherlands

Half a year ago we discovered oxygen in one of the most remote places on the planet. Now we want to know more

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A few months ago we knew the news of the discovery of the so -called “dark oxygen.” This oxygen form has little extraordinary from the chemical point of view: these are conventional oxygen molecules. What is not conventional in this dark oxygen is its formation process. A new project. Now, the team that announced the discovery of dark oxygen has announced a new project linked to the presence of these mysterious molecules in the oceanic depths. The objective of this new project is to answer some of the questions raised after the finding, especially the question of whether this process was given in various areas of the oceanic fund. “Our discovery of dark oxygen was a change in the paradigm of our understanding of the depths of the sea and potentially of life on Earth, but threw more questions than answers,” explained in a press release Andrew Sweetman, who will lead the new project. International collaboration. The new project is the result of the cooperation of two intitions, the Japanese Nippon Foundation, in charge of financing the project with a contribution of two million pounds; and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (Sams), an institution that will lead the investigation. Dark oxygen. Let’s recap, dark oxygen? This concept was popularized last year to refer to molecular oxygen found in the depths of the oceanfar from the sun’s rays, hence the “dark” appellation. Until now, the dominant hypothesis is that oxygen is only formed on our planet through photosynthesis, a phenomenon dependent on the energy emitted by our star. The presence of oxygen in a place where photosynthesis is impossible and separate from surface marine currents, opened the search for alternative hypotheses that explained the presence of these molecules in the inhospitable environment. The response of the team responsible for the finding was in the metals that can be found in the seabed, which, according to this hypothesis they would be generating these molecules through electricity, that is, thanks to electrolysis. Verifying the hypothesis. The new project could serve to verify this theory, questioned by the mining industry, and to explore alternative hypotheses that explain the unexpected presence of oxygen in this environment. Hypothesis like that of radiolysisthat is to say the possibility that it is the radiation that, directly or indirectly, is triggering the process. The team also wants to explore if the processes that generate this dark oxygen They also release hydrogenas well as if this element is used as a source of energy by the bacterial communities that inhabit this area of ​​the ocean. In addition, the study could help us better understand the impact that climate change could have on these ecosystems. Conversations with NASA. The American space agency, NASA, has also shown interest in expanding our knowledge about dark oxygen, those responsible for the project say. “We are already in conversation with NASA experts who believe that dark oxygen could rebuild our understanding of how life is sustained on other planets without direct sunlight,” Sweetman added. Dark oxygen can also help us better understand how oxygen arose on our planet, providing us with information about the emergence of life on earth. Life and oxygen are inseparable concepts, but we do not know completely how this relationship was forged. In Xataka | When it seemed that the controversy of underwater mining was appealing, the discovery of black oxygen threatens to reactivate it Image | Biocyan Campaign

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