problems

emergency patches to fix problems from other patches

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The users of Windows 11 They possibly started 2026 with a simple expectation: that the first update of the year would be just another procedure, one of those that is installed and forgotten. But things have not been so simple: Microsoft has had to publish “out of band” patches to correct problems detected after that initial update. What’s interesting about this episode is not just the error itself, but what it reflects on the actual experience of updating. The origin of the problem. It all started with the January 2026 security update for Windows 11. After incidents were detected on some computers, the company published an emergency update over the weekend to correct bugs related to system shutdown. Just a few days later, and exactly a week later, lbequeathed a second correction outside the usual cycle to address a new front: crashes and crashes in apps linked to synchronization and cloud storage. The problems when turning off some computers occurred with Windows 11 23H2, specifically in the Enterprise versionwhich points to a more limited scope. The second emergency update focused on different bugs and affected machines with Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, where crashes and stability problems had been detected in apps related to OneDrive or Dropbo. Additionally, in an alert to administrators, Microsoft said it was investigating reports of boot failures in 24H2 and 25H2 after installing the January update, without closing the diagnostic yet. A difficult issue to ignore. There is a structural reality behind the Microsoft operating system that can help understand why these types of problems would appear frequently. Windows does not operate in a controlled ecosystem, but rather as a universal operating system that must work on millions of hardware combinations. This is what many call “the problem of fragmentation of the PC ecosystem”, which includes everything from basic laptops to high-end equipment, from recent computers to others that are more than ten years old. Risk of eroding trust. Software failures are inevitable, even more so in a system like Windows, forced to operate on millions of different hardware configurations. The problem comes when these setbacks are repeated too frequently, because then what suffers is not only the specific experience, but the user’s confidence. And that’s a tough blow to take right now, when Microsoft needs Windows 11 to be perceived as the logical replacement after the end of support of Windows 10and not as a transition full of doubts that pushes some to look towards other platforms. Images | Andrey K | Rui Silvestre In Xataka | Schrödinger’s Office: at this point it is impossible to know if Microsoft keeps it alive or if everything is AI and Copilot

Two scientists tried to publish a paper on why we get belly button lint. And that’s where his problems began

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In 2005, writer Mark Leyner and doctor Billy Goldberg published ‘Why do men have nipples?‘, a hilarious popular science book in which they answered very crazy questions: from the reason why hair comes out of our ears to the physiological reasons why asparagus perfumes our pee. However, they were not able to answer a key question: where did the fluff of the navel? Four years later, Georg Steinhauser wanted share your answer with the world. According to him, navel lint was mainly related to abdominal hair. According to him, the hair collected the fibers from the clothing and directed them to the navel. He did experiments for three years removing breasts to see the differences! But no one wanted to publish it. Nobody? No! A magazine populated by irreducible mad scientists still resists, as always, the most basic control practices of contemporary scientific publication. Welcome to the world of ‘Medical Hypothesis‘. Against the “gentrification” of science In recent years, “evidence-based” things They have enjoyed unprecedented fame. From politics to medicine, thousands of professionals have turned to science in search of solutions to respond to the problems of an increasingly complex society. However, all that glittered was not gold: again and again We have once again reflected on one of the blind spots of the approachthat science is, by nature, conservative. Not in a political sense, but in an epistemological sense. That is, we know better what we have; but when what we have doesn’t work, it’s a problem. A problem because, without resources to investigate new optionsare forced to implement interventions that do not work, leaving many professionals with their hands tied. For good reasons, yes. But with his hands tied. It is not strange, of course, that there are people who want more diversity. This is the case of ‘Medical Hypotheses‘, the most WTF science magazine of the last 40 years. ‘Medical Hypotheses’ was founded by the physiologist David Horrobin who directed it until his death in 2003. Horrobin, who was already himself a controversial figure (the British Medical Journal defined as one of the greatest “snake oil salesmen of his time”), made a magazine in his image and likeness. Fun, refreshing and dangerous In theory, the idea was to build a respectable forum to debate unconventional ideas unconstrained by current scientific publishing standards as a way to boost the diversity threatened by academic monoculture. ‘Medical hypotheses’ wanted to be a place to bring intuitions, extravagant ideas and crazy theories. In a world like the scientific one full of certainties and phrases in the present indicative, Horrobin’s magazine was all the y-sis and conditionals. That makes it a profound magazine. fun and refreshingbut it also does a bomb box. You can also read a study that relates heels with schizophrenia that one about the similarities between people with Down syndrome and Asians. These days, without going any further, a study is circulating in tabloids around the world about If we can abandon ourselves so much that we end up dying due to pure psychology. For years, the world was a party in ‘Medical Hypotheses’. In the first issues, pioneers from some of the most developing fields of the time wrote. But its main asset is also its main problem. It is a magazine that requires a very skilled editor to be able to navigate controversial terrain without publishing malicious and even dangerous work. The end of the party When Horrobin died in 2003, he was replaced by Bruce G. Charlton. Horrobin had written down that he was the only person he truly trusted to continue his work. At the end of 2009, an article in which he stated that “there was no evidence that HIV caused AIDS” was published in the magazine. The party was over. The paper had been rejected in all research area publications until it ended up in ‘Medical Hypotheses’. He scandal It was capital and Elsevier, owner and publisher of the magazine, fired Charlton a few months later. Furthermore, in an attempt to contain the damage, Elsevier introduced a review system halfway between the original system and the peer review of traditional publications. That clearly went against the magazine’s reason for being and Hundreds of researchers protested against the decision. ‘Medical Hypotheses’ is, in some ways, a symbol of the risky, indomitable and (often) reckless science that we still need, but it no longer plays a central role in public debate. Today, the preprints (and the repositories that store these open drafts — with arXiv.org at the head) fulfill that function. A function that, despite making our lives difficult, is best never missed. In Xataka | This frog is so photogenic that it is now on the verge of extinction In Xataka | Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean Image | Pexels

A man bought Lambo.com to ask for 75 million from Lamborghini: justice has taken it from him and his problems do not end there

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In 2018, an Arizona domain investor thought he had found a four leaf clover digital by taking control of the “Lambo.com” domain for $10,000. The man was convinced that one day he could resell it for a huge amount thanks to Lamborghini’s fame. Years later, the judges have given him bad news: not only will he not get that money, but he will be left without the domain and with a considerable legal bill. I am “Lambo” for life According to the documents In the case, Richard Blair bought the Lambo.com domain in February 2018 for $10,000, seeing in it a business opportunity linked to the enormous popularity of the Italian car manufacturer and the colloquial name by which its supercars were known: lambos. In Xataka Lamborghini will only manufacture 29 units of its latest supercar but don’t be in a hurry: they were already sold before being presented Shortly after the purchase, Blair began using “Lambo” as a nickname online, although until then there was no sign of him identifying himself that way. Blair maintained that this nickname was not related to the Italian brand, but rather was a play on the English word “Lamb“, that is, lamb, trying to present an alternative explanation that would distance it from the universe of supercars. At the same time, he redirected Lambo.com to another page where he published personal content and from which he presented the domain as an asset for sale, trying to show that the use of the name It was linked to its own identity and not to an attempt to take advantage of the car manufacturer’s reputation. In Xataka Buying a Lamborghini is a luxury reserved for a few: building one with used parts and an Ikea sink is another level Lambo’s price escalation The case records show that Blair soon set a very high price for the Lambo.com domain. The domain was first listed for sale on August 6, 2020 for $1,129,298. On December 23, 2020, the figure already tripled, rising to 1.5 million dollars and on January 27, 2021, it already reached 3.3 million dollars. Far from stopping, the owner continued to increase expectations and on September 23, 2021 the price rose to $12 million, on August 11, 2022 it made a considerable jump to $58 million, and on September 7, 2023 the figure reached $75 million. According to pointed Road&Track, during that period Blair received several offers for the domain but rejected them, because his objective was not to sell it to any buyer, but to get Lamborghini to pay an exorbitant amount for an address that fits the colloquial form of his name. Blair’s move did not go unnoticed by the Italian manufacturer, which in April 2022 filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), under the protection of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy UDRP), requesting the transfer of the Lambo.com domain to the company considering that it was trying to profit from a name clearly linked to its trademark registered by the supercar manufacturer. In August 2022, WIPO concluded that Blair acted in bad faith and ordered the transfer of the domain to Lamborghini, understanding that he had no prior rights to the term “Lambo”, that he only began using that alias after purchasing the domain, and that he was trying take advantage of brand awareness to profit. Despite that decision, Blair decided to go to federal courts to appeal the WIPO resolution and maintain control over Lambo.com, prolonging the conflict and thus assuming new legal costs. The final blow of the courts As the conflict progressed, Blair redirected the domain to a personal website where he published a text in which he warned that he would be confronted by those who tried to take away his domains. “I AM LAMBO of LAMBO.com and I will defend, defeat and humiliate those who try to steal any of the trademarks from my domain name, including my nickname,” a statement attributed to Richard Blair himself. {“videoId”:”x957t4e”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Lamborghini Countach”, “tag”:”Lamborghini”, “duration”:”163″} The litigation ended up in district court of the United States, which supported the WIPO resolution and concluded that Blair had no rights to the name, demonstrating that he did not carry out any real activity on the page and that he attempted to benefit from the reputation of the Lamborghini brand. The result is that the manufacturer has obtained the Lambo.com domain without paying a single cent, while Blair has lost both his initial investment of $10,000 and the sales opportunities. In addition, the court has ordered him to pay legal costs, so buying Lambo.com not only has not brought him the expected benefits, but he has had to put money out of his pocket. Greed broke the bag. In this case, one that came loaded with money. In Xataka | In Dubai they don’t know what to do with so many abandoned luxury supercars: the less shiny side of getting rich Image | Lamborghini (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news A man bought Lambo.com to ask for 75 million from Lamborghini: justice has taken it from him and his problems do not end there was originally published in Xataka by Ruben Andres .

A poster at the University of Granada uncovers one of the big problems of generation Z: “helicopter parents”

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The Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Granada has become famous this week for a simple paper poster that has become viral on social networks. In the message, posted by the Vice Dean of Internships, you can read: “Parents are not attended to. All students enrolled in internships are of legal age.” Among thousands of other users, the poster was spread by the professor at the University of Granada Daniel Arias Aranda in your LinkedIn profile, stating: “When you have to put up this sign at the university, something is going wrong. Dear student: solve your own problems and don’t boss around mom and dad. Remember, the age of majority in Spain is 18.” Debate in networks: autonomy and maturity. The reactions on social networks have not been long in coming, with an intense exchange of opinions between students, families and teachers. There are those who strongly defend that the students “are too old to defend themselves,” as one student pointed out. interviewed by Antena 3and that “it makes no sense for parents to go to manage exams or tutorials.” Tap on the image to go to the original message On the other hand, the general secretary of the Association of Friends of Vicente Aleixandre responded to the message of the professor from his account on Another user went even further, thinking that “It should even be illegal, a person of legal age is no longer represented by his parents in legal dealings unless a judge determines otherwise; I consider that assisting parents goes against the autonomy of the student’s will.” helicopter parents. In the background of the conversation hovered – pardon the redundancy – the concept of “helicopter parents”, a term coined in 1969 by the writer Haim Ginott in his book “between parents and children“. The term describes the behavior of mothers and fathers who are so attentive to every issue of their children that they often intervene in processes that they, as adults, they should resolve on their own. Especially in university or work matters. However, a study revealed that this excess of control can lead to children with problems resolving conflicts and dealing with daily stress, something that would make them more anxious and dependent. Although the staff of the University of Granada I remembered in The Country They remember that, fortunately, these are “completely isolated cases”, the placement of the poster was motivated because some parents have come to make complaints, manage enrollment or request explanations directly from the university staff on behalf of his children. “In these cases, I explain to the mother that what needs to be promoted is the student’s critical reasoning, that he is the one who refutes a correction, not his parents,” he declared to The Country José Ángel Morales García, professor of Neurosciences at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). A new parent profile. Beyond the helicopter parent phenomenonanother of the social keys that explain the rise of the debate is that current university students belong to generation Z, whose parents belong to generation X or millennials, born between the seventies and the nineties. This generation of parents was the first to go massively to university in Spain and is made up of professionals who have worked in multinationals, which gives them sufficient solvency to feel like legitimate interlocutors with teachers, academic staff and even before recruiters for a jobcoming to assume a more leading role than the student or candidate themselves. Compared to previous times, the fact that a greater proportion of parents have university experience has changed the relationship with the centers. Now they feel entitled to intervene or debate because they know the system from within. Even so, teachers insist that “the academic relationship is between the student and the university.” The research reveal that encouraging independence during youth improves their maturity and self-esteem. In Xataka | Silicon Valley’s “tech” generation Z has given up alcohol: its new fun is 92 hours of work Image | Pexels (Arina Krasnikova), Daniel Arias Aranda

Google has solved problems in two hours that would take three years on a supercomputer. It’s the quantum advantage we needed

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Google has taken a notable step into the field of quantum computing with a new algorithm called Quantom Echoes. This algorithm has been able to demonstrate for the first time a “practical and verifiable quantum advantage” that makes its quantum computer make fools of today’s large supercomputers. 13,000 times faster than a supercomputer. The new algorithm, called Quantum Echoes (“Quantum Echoes”), has made it possible to demonstrate that a quantum computer – based on Google’s Willow quantum chip— successfully executes a verifiable algorithm that exceeds the capacity of today’s large supercomputers. Thus, that computer managed to execute that algorithm 13,000 times faster than the best current classical supercomputer when executing similar code. “Quantum verifiability”. Google’s quantum supercomputer solved the problem in just over two hours, when in the second supercomputer most powerful in the world, Frontier, would have taken 3.2 years. But it also did it in a verifiable way: the result can be repeated in the quantum computer itself or in any other of similar caliber. Quantum echoes. The algorithm resembles an advanced echo: you send a signal to the quantum system, perturb a qubit, and then precisely reverse the evolution of the signal to “listen” to the resulting echo. This echo is special because it is amplified by constructive interference, a quantum phenomenon where waves add up to become stronger, which allows this effect to be precisely measured. The algorithm allows modeling the structure of systems in nature, from molecules to black holes. An achievement with a lot of Nobel Prize behind it. The milestone is based on decades of research in this area, including that carried out by the recent Nobel Prize winner, Michel H. Devoretwho is part of the Google team. Together with his colleagues John M. Martinis and John Clark he laid the foundations for this advance at the University of California at Berkeley in the mid-1980s. “Quantum verifiability”. Google’s quantum supercomputer solved the problem in just over two hours, when in the second supercomputer most powerful in the world, Frontier, would have taken 3.2 years. But it also did it in a verifiable way: the result can be repeated in the quantum computer itself or in any other of similar caliber. Quantum echoes. The algorithm resembles an advanced echo: you send a signal to the quantum system, perturb a qubit, and then precisely reverse the evolution of the signal to “listen” to the resulting echo. This echo is special because it is amplified by constructive interference, a quantum phenomenon where waves add up to become stronger, which allows this effect to be precisely measured. The algorithm allows modeling the structure of systems in nature, from molecules to black holes. An achievement with a lot of Nobel Prize behind it. The milestone is based on decades of research in this area, including that carried out by the recent Nobel Prize winner, Michel H. Devoretwho is part of the Google team. Together with his colleagues John M. Martinis and John Clark he laid the foundations for this advance at the University of California at Berkeley in the mid-1980s. Hello qubit. His discovery: the properties of quantum mechanics could also be observed in electrical circuits large enough to be seen with the naked eye. That gave rise to the creation of superconducting qubitswhich are the basic blocks with which Google has created (like other companies) its quantum computers. Devoret joined Google in 2023, thus strengthening the company’s trajectory in its search for the now famous “quantum supremacy”. Promising practical applications. The advance is directed directly to the solution of important problems in fields such as medicine or materials science. Quantum computing remains an experimental technology and faces a key challenge with error correction, but Quantum Echoes demonstrates that “quantum software” is advancing at a pace parallel to hardware. Google applied Quantum Echoes to a proof of concept experiment for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. This technique acts as a “molecular microscope”, a powerful tool that will help design drugs or, for example, establish the molecular structure of new polymers. a marathon. This new milestone demonstrates the progress that this technology has made in recent years, but Google is not alone here. Microsoft or IBM have also made notable advances in recent years, and of course there are numerous startups both in the US like in china who work in this area. In Xataka | Decoherence is the biggest problem with quantum computers. This superconductor wants to end it

If you don’t know what to visit when you go through Zamora, Palencia or Ciudad Real, this map is the solution to your problems

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More than half a century after mass tourism began in Spain, the country is among the most visited of the world. Around of 80 million people They arrive in Spain annually, a figure only surpassed by France (+89,000,000). The number is impressive, especially if we compare the scale of its two immediate pursuers, the United States and China. And the reason is simple: 8,000 kilometers of coastline, a wonderful climate and years and years of tourist tradition behind it, with all that this implies in terms of infrastructure. The international nature of the average tourist has caused numerous breakdowns of heads to the authorities during the last years. Spain has tried to attract as many European, Asian or American travelers as possible in a context of tourism recession. During the pandemic parenthesis this was a complicated mission. It was then time to raise the flag of “national tourism”, one that has been flying for two consecutive summers. But what to see in Spain beyond the beaches once crowded by Germans or English? The question has crossed the minds of millions of Spaniards in recent seasons. To answer it, Musement has elaborated this map in which it analyzes the number and quality of scores received by more than 4,500 “points of interest“, that is, attractions and monuments, spread throughout the country. And from this data they have chosen one for each province. An advantage and a problem of this approach: it is useful to know what image the average Spaniard produces when he thinks of places like Palencia or Jaén; but at the same time it summarizes the many positive attributes of each province in a popularity contest. The attractions or monuments numbered here are not necessarily the most interesting, satisfying or beautiful in each place. They are the most famous. It is a personal matter to assess its degree of recommendability. (Musement) If we look at the palette of colors and categories, the north stands out for its large volume of “cathedrals, churches and basilicas.” From the ubiquitous Sagrada Familia of Barcelona to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedralvisiting other highlights of the Camino, be it the Cathedral of León, the Sanctuary of Covadonga, the Cathedral of Burgos, the Co-Cathedral of Santa María de la Redonda or the Basilica del Pilar. Other unique architectural elements sneak in through there, such as Gaudí’s Capricho (Comillas), the Royal Palace of Olite or the Seu Vella. There are also outstanding landscapes: from the La Florida Park in Vitoria to the imposing Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, surrounding the Sil Canyons, the Sanabria Lake or the Palentina Mountain Natural Park in between (some of them in the center of what has come to be called Empty Spain). The natural or national parks are the protagonists of Andalusia, starting with Doñana, continuing through Sierra Nevada and ending with Sierra de Cazorla (in Jaén). Otherwise, a little of everything. From urban monuments of very historical rank (the main squares of Salamanca, Trujillo, Seville or Teruel, although in this case “del Torico”; the Hanging Houses of Cuenca) to heritages of civilizations that thousands of years ago forged the present character of Spain (the Roman theater of Mérida, the wall of Ávila, the Aqueduct of Segovia, the New Bridge of Ronda). Also, not surprisingly, there are a lot of fortresses and palaces fortified: from the Peñarroya Castle in Ciudad Real to the famous Alhambra in Granada, passing through the Alcázar of the Christian Monarchs, a surprising winner in the province of Córdoba, also home to the mosque. There is even room for modernity: whether in the form of the City of Arts and Sciences, Dalí’s Theatre-Museum, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Portaventura or of Loro Parque in Tenerife. A little bit of everything. Not always the most notable thing about each province, but a good way to discover corners of the geography that are still hidden for the Spaniards themselves. In Xataka | The most beautiful towns in each province of Spain, gathered in this revealing map *An earlier version of this article was published in September 2021

Bill Gates has been a famous “workaholic” but he knew who to hire to solve problems: the lazy ones

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Bill Gates is one of the most decisive figures in the evolution of technology of the last 40 years. Found one of the most innovative companies of his time can only be achieved through a lot of work. However, Bill Gates himself has stated that he can be a little lazy at times. The technology magnate has been away from the first line of command at Microsoft for some time, and he dedicates all his time and fortune to the philanthropic work carried out since foundation he created with his ex-wife Melinda Gates. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invests in projects that encourage development, education and well-being of people in developing countries and at risk of social exclusion. One of his recent hobbies related to raising awareness about these socially conscious investments has been to create the Unconfused Me podcast in which he chats with personalities related to the scientific, teaching or business fields. In one of his last talks with San Khan (founder of Khan Academy) the magnate confessed that In his school days he was quite lazy. With an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 160, Bill Gates He has always had a knack for mathematics.. However, the millionaire himself confessed in his autobiographical book ‘Source code: My beginnings’he always tried to do as little as possible in class to pass the law of least effort. In eighth grade, his teacher reproached him for his attitude: “How can you be so lazy? You could be very good at this,” the teacher told him. “But we’re not doing anything interesting. I had this idea that the less effort you put in, the cooler you are.” Bill Gates states that, that teacher was crucial in his life since thanks to him his attitude towards learning changed since the teacher provided him with books and resources that encouraged his interest to continue moving forward and achieve a goal. Put a lazy person to solve a problem Bill Gates took his attitude towards effort to the extreme in the early years of Microsoft, when was able to remember car license plates that were parked in front of the Microsoft offices and relate them to their employees to know, at a glance through the window, which employees were still in the office and which had already gone home. In a so competitive scene As is the case with technological innovation, it is surprising to come across a phrase attributed to Bill Gates: “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” However, in it we can see represented the Bill Gates lazy and unmotivated in his school years. In reality, it’s not that Bill Gates is excited about being surrounded by sloths, but rather the meaning of his statement aligns with what he learned from his eighth grade teacher: the important thing is to have a clear objective. If your goal is not to overwork, then you will find a way to get the job done as easily as possible. The motivation to do something has been so important in Bill Gates’ career that even people around him have used it as a tool to prevent the technology magnate from neglecting his duties at the helm of Microsoft. In Xataka | Bill Gates was so obsessed with driving a Porsche 959 that he managed to change the laws that prevented him from doing so Image | Flickr

Spain has more and more problems with the drought and criminal networks have begun to realize it

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This story begins with a civil guard couple in civilian clothes chasing a tanker truck. They have been following trucks for months, they have checked thousands of livestock farms and, finally, they are about to find something. With 50 million liters of something. The initial track. More than a hundred residents of a district of Lorca denounced last year that there was an entire network selling water tanks to supply agricultural operations. It is nothing new: the Civil Guard has numerous investigations underway into the inspection and control of water use. Therefore, SEPRONA started to investigate the matter. And what have they found? The surveillance device located the tanker truck filling point: it was a well without authorizations for use and without a volumetric counter or any other type of measuring instrument. It seemed difficult to know the number of liters extracted. However, as the company pretended to be legitimate, the Civil Guard has been able to document that, during the last 18 months, 56 million liters of water had been sold for a value of at least 275,000 euros. This is only in the last 18 months: the armed institute believes that the illegal use of the well may have lasted several decades. Just one case out of a million. Over the last few years We have been talking about dozens of people investigated, detained and convicted due to illegal irrigation: in 2023 alone, hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water have been extracted illegally. The problem is real: so real that the Malaga water company has even hired private detectives to monitor employees, suppliers and customers. However, the key to this is not what has already happened. The key is what is going to happen. The list of threats is enormous. Climate change, overexploitation of aquifers, intensive agriculture, inadequate water management, forest fires, deforestation and population growth… Spain has a problem with water and that problem is not going to stop growing and growing. In this context, robberies are going to become more frequent and common. And that’s saying a lot: according to WWFthere are more than 500,000 illegal wells. But no one can be surprised. After all, there is a high financial incentive and relatively low penalties. Most cases they end, in fact, in fines and that is an excellent breeding ground for a huge problem. Image | VD Photography | Elentir In Xataka | Spain is facing a brutal drought and there are farmers watering avocados irregularly. A prosecutor wants it to be a crime

Half a year after the blackout, Red Eléctrica still has problems stabilizing the voltage. And there is a geographical reason

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Just six months ago, Spain was left in the dark. The “electric zero” of April 28, 2025 was the most serious warning of a system that he believed himself invulnerable. Since then, Red Eléctrica (REE) operates in “reinforced mode”with dozens of gas plants turned on every day to prevent tension from skyrocketing. But, half a year later, the problem is still there: the Spanish grid is faltering not because of a lack of energy, but because the gas is in the north and the sun is in the south. How are the measurements now? At the beginning of October, the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) approved, at the request of REE, an emergency resolution to introduce exceptional measures “in the event of sudden voltage variations” detected in the system. The document details changes to several operating procedures that affect the way the electrical grid is programmed and regulated. In practice, the rules of the game were tightened for everyone: from solar producers to gas plants. Among the most significant measures is the obligation for renewable plants to carry out their power transitions in a minimum of 15 minutes, when before they did so in two. The intention, have explained from REEis to avoid sudden changes that could destabilize the system and give the thermal power plants time to react. As explained in Cinco Díasthis instruction allows gas plants to “absorb” excess renewable energy without causing power surges. But for many expertsthe underlying diagnosis is different: the problem is not speed, but geography. Two electric Spains. The country is experiencing a geographic imbalance that we already saw it coming. On the one hand, the north and the Mediterranean coast concentrate the majority of thermal power plants and combined cycle plants – the only ones capable of providing the so-called “rotating mass”, that is, inertia and reactive power that stabilize the network. On the other hand, the south of the peninsula—Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha—has been filled with solar plants and domestic self-consumption, technologies based on power electronics that do not generate natural inertia. “During peak radiation hours, the south produces more electricity than it consumes, the lines are discharged and the grid becomes extremely sensitive,” explains in his column Joaquín Coronado, president of Build to Zero. Under these conditions, starting a thermal power plant in Asturias to stabilize a voltage problem in Seville is as useless as trying to put out a fire in Andalusia with water pumped from Galicia. The tension starts from the local. The error of approach is in confusing frequency with tension. The electrical frequency is a global magnitude: it is the same throughout the synchronous network. But the voltage is a local variable, which depends on the reactive power flows in each area. Coronado sums it up clearly: reactive power “does not travel well.” On 400 kV lines, its radius of action is 30 to 80 km. In 220 kV networks, from 15 to 40 km. And at 132 kV or lower, just 5 to 20 km. This means that a turbine in the north cannot stabilize the voltage in the south, no matter how much power it has. The CNMC, in its resolutionrecognizes precisely that “rapid voltage variations” appear in periods of low demand and high solar production, aggravated by the growth of self-consumption that “reduces the observability of the system” and leaves the operator without control over thousands of small installations. In summary and how we have explained in Xataka: we have more sun than cables. This shows in the pocket. REE’s response has been to maintain lit every day between 20 and 30 combined cycles to ensure stability. This “reinforced operation” has cost more than 1 billion additional euros since April and could add 3 billion more with the new measures. Adjustment services – energy that is paid outside the daily market to keep the network stable – have gone from 240 million in 2019 to 4 billion in 2025, according to Cinco Días. The result is paradoxical: Spain has one of the lowest wholesale prices in Europe, but one of the highest electricity bills. Ember’s report explains why: the market price only covers half of the bill; The other half are fixed network costs, tolls, taxes and system stability, which do not go down even if energy is cheap. Slowing down is not stabilizing. The decisions adopted by REE and temporarily endorsed by the CNMC are “a defensive strategy” for Coronado. Furthermore, he points out that instead of providing the system with rapid response capacity, it is chosen to slow it down to give time to the thermals. The result is maintaining “a 21st century system operated with a 20th century mentality.” Slowing down the renewable ramps does not provide voltage control where it is needed, because the problem occurs in seconds and in specific places, not in the 15 minutes that these ramps last. The measures, therefore, gain time, but they do not gain effectiveness: they mitigate the frequency, not the tension. Is there any future perspective? The solution is to bring the control capacity closer to where the energy is produced. In fact, we have already discussed in Xataka some of those possible solutions that agree with what Joaquín Coronado says. Grid-forming inverters in solar and wind plants, able to behave as synchronous generators and stabilize the network in milliseconds. Batteries strategically distributed in the southern nodes, which provide instantaneous active and reactive power. Devices FACTS and synchronous compensators in critical substations (Guillena, Mérida, Puertollano…) to dampen local voltage changes. Flexible demand from large industries to modulate consumption in real time. And predictive algorithms based on artificial intelligence that anticipate local instabilities. Some of these solutions are already underway. Spain prepare the installation of eight synchronous compensators and 2,600 MW of batteries, with 340 MW already approved. These devices could save 200 million euros annually by reducing the use of gas for network services. A model that is exhausted. Beyond the technique, there is a structural dilemma: how … Read more

After imposing a peace agreement in Gaza, the US is heading to Ukraine to do the same. And that has two nuclear problems

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United States, in omnipresent figure of its president Donald Trump, seems willing to finish once and for all the invasion of Ukraine. It happens that trying to reproduce the same diplomatic “success” that is exhibited after the agreement in Gaza runs into two problems nuclear: on the one hand, the attempt to impose an agreement on Russia calls into question the sovereignty and legitimacy of the process and pushes Moscow to react. On the other hand, perhaps more dangerous, the pressure campaign that is articulated around the threat with long range missiles drastically increases the risk of an escalation that is difficult to control. From ambiguity to challenge. For a long time, Trump’s foreign policy toward Russia and Ukraine moved between deference and confusiona mix of praise for Putin, vague warnings and broken promises to kyiv. But in recent weeks, something has changed. trump has radically changed his speech, going from suggesting that Ukraine should accept territorial losses to presenting himself as the man capable of ending the war. What started as a rhetorical gesture before the UN has become a political process that seeks to consolidate the role of the United States as arbiter of the conflict, with a mix of military pressure, transactional diplomacy and calculated threat. Change and breakup. Trump, who had historically shown a almost personal indulgence towards Putin, surprised his allies and his critics with a speech in which rated Russia “paper tiger” and stated that Ukraine can recover all your territory with the support of Europe and NATO. This change, announced after his meeting with Zelensky and Macron, marks an abandonment of his traditional strategy of avoiding direct confrontations with Moscow. However, behind the turn there does not seem to be an articulated policy yet, but rather a combination of gestures: hints of sanctions, threats of retaliation and an explicit desire to reintroduce the idea of force as an instrument of negotiation. What was once indifference toward kyiv has become an instrumental interest, mixing rivalry with Putin and a desire to demonstrate international leadership. Tomahawks and ultimatums. The most visible symbol of this transformation is the word that has become recurrent in the communications from Washington: Tomahawk. Trump has openly threatened to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles if Putin does not agree to reopen peace negotiations, an ultimatum which has put the Kremlin on alert. Moscow has responded calling the measure a “qualitatively new escalation” and warning that it could not distinguish whether the missiles carry nuclear warheads or not. For Trump, however, the announcement meets a double function: reinforces your image as a negotiator who commands respect and pressures Putin to prevent him from prolonging a war he can no longer win. Zelensky, for his part, sees the possibility of obtaining Tomahawks as not only a military instrument. but psychological: the threat of its use would be enough to push Russia to the negotiation table. The mere fact of discussing its delivery represents a break with the caution of the Biden erain which Washington rejected outright any action that could be considered direct aggression. From Gaza to Ukraine: export a model. The partial success of ceasefire in Gaza has offered Trump a narrative of diplomatic victory that he is now trying to convey on the European front. After freeing the Israeli hostages and achieving a temporary cessation of hostilities, the American president declared that his next objective was to “focus on Russia” and end the war in Ukraine. What is apparently a humanitarian movement also responds to a repositioning strategy global: demonstrate that Washington can impose order in both the Middle East and Europe without needing to deploy large military contingents. Trump has presented this new stage under a classic concept that has republished with pragmatism: “peace through strength.” It is the same logic that he seeks to apply with Putin (that is, not from conciliation, but from a credible threat). Ukraine, which for months feigned faith in some sterile negotiations to ingratiate himself with the White House, now perceives a window of opportunity: to replace the dialogue tables with the delivery of advanced weapons that change the balance of the battlefield. A military agreement. The visit of a Ukrainian delegation to Washington, led by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, has sealed the new phase. The negotiators arrived with a list of valued acquisitions in 90,000 million of dollars, including Patriot anti-aircraft systemslong-range missiles and drone co-production agreements. Zelensky has learned to speak Trump’s language: that of transactions. It is no longer about asking for help out of solidarity, but rather offer “mega deals” that benefit both parties, presenting Ukraine as a profitable partner for the US military industry. The White House, in turn, has implicitly accepted that the talks with Moscow they are sold outand that only a substantial increase in military pressure will be able to force Putin to negotiate from weakness. The new strategic calculation. If you like, the Kremlin also crosses a point operational fatigue. Its territorial advances have become more marginal, and Zelensky himself has taken it upon himself to remember this in Washington with maps and figures: in a thousand days of war, Russia has barely conquered less than one percent of additional Ukrainian territory from 2022. The narrative of inevitable victory fades, and Trump seems to have understood. His speech on networks, in which stated that Ukraine is “in a position to recover his entire country in its original form,” was interpreted as confirmation of that change in perception. In other words: it is no longer about keeping a conflict frozen, but about precipitating its outcome through technological superiority and Russian economic collapse. The paradox. Paradoxically, the trump turn does not imply a return to the liberal idealism that defined US foreign policy for decades, but rather a pragmatism that mixes interests, spectacle and coercion. Washington does not seek to rebuild Ukraine, but rather to close a war that has stopped serving its image of power. From that perspective, the American president does not seem … Read more

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