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The Auto+ Plan comes with less money, more demands and a key question to resolve

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Announced for January 1, it was finally in February 2026 when the Auto+ Planthe new aid system for electric cars with which the Government tries to promote the sale of cars with a Zero Emissions label, whether electric or plug-in hybrids. The new aid system comes with important new features, both in the amount that can be obtained and in the way that aid is delivered. Now, in addition, where the car will be made will be taken into account in order to qualify for the maximum possible deduction. This is all that needs to be taken into account. This is what the new aid for electric cars is like After a month of uncertainty, the Government has approved new aid for electric cars that relieves the MOVES III Plan and solves some of the problems that have been dragging on for years. The program has an amount of 400 million euros so, for now, it will only be available until this fund runs out. In it, as we will see, vehicles manufactured in Europe and those with the lowest price are rewarded. And to receive the maximum discounts it will be necessary to overcome different key points. What must be clear is that from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism has not been clarified exactly when the aid will be delivered to the client. The promise was that the discount would be applied at the time of purchase, eliminating the waits of up to 18 months who have come to live with the MOVES III Plan. However, this seems to be up in the air. And in its explanations, the Ministry points out that the aid “will be carried out in coordination with the Autonomous Communities and that “dealers, points of sale and renting companies will be able to help process aid requests” but nothing is specified about what will be delivered at that time. It must be taken into account that The concessionaires already indicated that they were not willing to advance the aid money. First of all, the basic points that must be clear are the following: The aid takes into account all purchases made from January 1, 2026 so those who have purchased an electric car in the first month of the year will be able to have access to them. Aid is only provided for purchases of Zero-emission vehicles. Aid is only provided to passenger cars (M1) whose maximum amount before the application of VAT is 45,000 euros. N1 vehicles (vehicles intended for the transport of goods that do not exceed 3,500 kg) have no purchase limit to receive aid L3e, L4e and L5e vehicles (mopeds) may not exceed 10,000 euros before taxes to receive aid. L6e and L7e vehicles (quadricycles) have no purchase limit to receive aid. The maximum aid for a car will be 4,500 euros. The brand will have to offer a minimum discount of 1,000 euros. It is not clear when the aid will be delivered to the client or how long it will take for the client to receive it. Once this is understood, the next thing to understand is that the maximum amount of aid is only received if a series of conditions are met. requirements. Thus, depending on the car purchased, percentages of the maximum amount will be covered and, therefore, only by meeting all the requirements will we be able to receive the maximum money delivered by the State. Category Maximum aid amount Vehicle type Percentage received based on price Manufacturing Tourism (M1) 4,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,250 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,125 euros) Maximum of 45,000 euros before taxes: Up to 35,000 euros: 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,125 euros) Between 35,001 and 45,000 euros: 15% of the maximum amount of aid (675 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (675 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (450 euros euros) Vehicle (N1) 5,000 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,500 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,250 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,250 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (750 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (500 euros) Moped (L3e, L4e and L5e) 1,100 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (550 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (275 euros) Maximum of 10,000 euros before taxes: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (275 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (165 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (110 euros) Quadricycle (L6e and L7e) 1,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (750 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (375 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (375 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (225 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (150 euros) Therefore, now to be aware … Read more

The question is not whether you poop glyphosate, but how much glyphosate you poop. We have been measuring this popular herbicide wrong all our lives

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In those wheat macaroni that are in your shopping basket, in the jar of lentils or even in the beer there may be traces of glyphosatewhich is probably the most used herbicide on the planet. Weeds are common in agriculture and this chemical is highly effective. However, you can minimize its presence by avoiding ultra-processed cereals, opting for local products from the EU or better yet, buying organic. We were looking wrong. We know that glyphosate is present in the environment and the European Union regulates the limits maximum residues, but the reality is that there has always been difficulty in accurately measuring how much reaches our body. Because until now, we almost always looked in urine. This international study published in Science Direct The focus has changed to feces and here things change. Feces are the black box. Because this research has revealed that feces are a much more precise black box for the analysis of glyphosate in humans than urine and reveal an alarming reality: exposure to glyphosate is much higher than official statistics say. Urine testing was just the tip of the iceberg. The reason for this is how our body absorbs and rejects it: glyphosate is expelled through the feces due to its low intestinal absorption rate. Since it cannot pass through the wall of the intestine to reach the blood (from there it would go to the kidneys), it remains trapped there and ends up expelled in the feces. In a 24-hour period, 90% leaves in the feces and only a small amount reaches the urine (between 0.5% and 6% in humans). Why is it important. Because the international standard for monitoring glyphosate it’s urinewhich implies an underestimation and therefore an underestimation of the risk. Furthermore, this finding affects not only people directly related to agriculture; it is enough to consume common products present in the diet. And it doesn’t just affect humans: the study also shows its presence in farm animals, domestic cats and even bats, which means that the herbicide is moving throughout the food chain. In short: the study forces us to rethink how we monitor the presence of chemicals when safeguarding public health and the ecosystem. Modus operandi. This study proposes the use of feces as an alternative and potentially better matrix than urine for glyphosate and its metabolite AMPA (until now, the usual). To do this, they analyzed 716 human fecal samples and 249 animals from 11 countries (10 European and Argentina) taken in 2021. The research team used an advanced analytical chemistry technique called hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS/MS). Thus, glyphosate was detected in 71% of the European samples and in 100% of the Argentinian samples and are much higher than those present in the urine samples for the same individuals, 35% and 86% respectively. They saw glyphosate in conventional and eco farmers, residents of agricultural areas and general consumers. An alarming biological conclusion. If there is one thing that is clear from the study, it is that if 90% of glyphosate is in the feces and not in the urine, it means that this chemical spends much more time in direct contact with the digestive system than we thought. And therefore, the current safety limits are probably based on incomplete and undersized data, which underestimates the real health risk. It is not only the toxicity itself (which is low), but also the cumulative effect on the microbiota and long-term cellular damage. And glyphosate can act as a selective antibiotic that alters the intestinal microbiota, killing beneficial bacteria and allowing the proliferation of pathogenic ones, is cataloged As it is probably carcinogenic to humans, it can act as an endocrine disruptor to our hormonal system or induce oxidative stress. In Xataka | We have a problem with pesticides in agriculture. And a bigger one with the panic they generate In Xataka | The big problem of agriculture in Spain is the one that nobody wants to address: it rains less and less and we want to plant more and more Cover | Giorgio Trovato and Ibadah Mimpi

The question after the Adamuz accident is whether he is investing in maintaining them

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On May 7, 2021, rail transport in Spain entered a new dimension. For the first time, a train that was not owned by Renfe stepped on our lines to operate between Madrid and Barcelona. It was the maiden voyage of Ouigoowned by the French SNCF in Spain. Objective: to offer a cheap alternative to the most famous high-speed service in our country. Shortly after, Renfe itself launched a new service to safeguard their backs. The first service AVLO (High Speed ​​Low Cost) arrived on Spanish roads a month later. In November 2022, Iryo It kicked off its operations with a Madrid-Valencia trip as its inaugural trip. In a year and a half, Spanish roads had gone from supporting the weight of Renfe to that of three companies (Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo) and four services (Renfe splits into AVE and AVLO). Over time, operations have increased and the competition that had been initially restricted to Madrid-Barcelona has also reached Levante and the Andalusian corridors. The plans go through continue expanding competition to the Galician corridor and the branches to Asturias and Cantabria, as well as the Madrid-Cádiz/Huelva. To have a clear picture of the increase in traffic volume in the Andalusian corridor, Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, pointed out last summer that “in the 90s six trains circulated a day between Madrid and Seville (…) today 289 trains circulate”, referring to the drop in Renfe’s punctuality but the increase in complexity in traffic management. However, Renfe has been receiving numerous reviews for their lack of punctuality and their cancellations. But it is not the only company that has suffered significant inconveniences. In May, a cable theft and a coupling of an Iryo train with a catenary caused the collapse in the Andalusian corridor with more than 10,000 affected. Weeks later, a concatenation of incidents originated by an Ouigo train ended up causing a fire on a Renfe train and hundreds of lost passengers for more than 13 hours in the middle of the line spending the night outdoors. Facts that have been accumulating, that have been used as a political weapon (such as Renfe compensation in case of delays) but above all, they have put a recurring question on the table: what happens with investments? Investments in high speed To keep the roads and infrastructure in good condition, Adif (the company in charge of this) receives funds from the State and the European Unioncharge some fees to operators who use their channels to do business and issues bonds. However, the bulk of the money for road maintenance and future investments continues to come from the State. Whether these investments are sufficient or not is something that has been questioned for some time. Operators have long pointed out investments in the roads as insufficient. Ouigo did it when the July case left the Andalusian corridor paralyzed. Since July, Renfe, Adif and Talgo have been living a kind of triangle of love and hate in which they blame each other for the cracks caused in AVRIL trains that covered Madrid-Barcelona, leaving Renfe without this service in the corridor and with trains running at a lower speed as expected as a temporary patch at that time. In an article published in The World Last November it was pointed out that high speed in Spain has experienced three clear phases since the first Madrid-Seville was covered in 1992. The first points to the first years, with sustained investments between 1992 and 2005. The last refers to the liberalization of roads, active since 2021 in practice. Spain has gone from investing 6,558 million euros in the railway sector in 2009 to 2,318 million in 2018 but the figure hides the real maintenance In the middle, an explosion and a stagnation that marks our daily life. Between 2005 and the crisis of 2008 and the years to come, investment in Renfe and Adif skyrocketed. And it is in those years when high speed is extended to Córdoba and Málaga, to Valladolid after passing through Segovia and to the Levante area. High-speed investments in Extremadura or the Galician corridor and expansions to the north of Catalonia are also underway. But the years of crisis hit hard and investment falls. Once the budgets that have been approved in the years before the crash have been concluded, between 2014 and 2020 investments plummet. According to the Railway Observatory In its 2023 edition (last available), the real brutal investment fell from 6,558 million in 2009 to 2,312 million in 2018. Since then, it has grown and in 2023 it touched 4,000 million euros. But those numbers hide another perspective. If railway investments in Spain were reduced by a third in less than a decade, it is also a consequence of a stoppage in the construction of infrastructure. And, as we have seen, the years before the crisis saw a boom in the opening of high-speed stations and new corridors. Since then, expansions have been minimal. Source AIReF The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) shows how the opening of new lines has a direct impact when preparing budget plans. Thus, 88.6% of investments in high-speed railways between 1987 and 2018 were taken by the allocation dedicated to the construction of new lines. The rebound in investments that we have experienced since 2020 is closely linked to this way of acting. In recent years Full high speed has arrived in the Galician corridorwhich includes new gauge trains variable, the AVRILs, and great progress has been made in the Asturian and Cantabrian high speed. Óscar Puente visits the Hitachi Rail factory in Pistoia (Italy) Those numbers are skyrocketing again but they will do so in a different way. Although in 2024 The Government has allocated 4.5 billion euros to the trainof which 2,500 million euros were made in high speed and that the investment in Adif AV (high speed) should reach 12,000 million euros between 2022 and 2026, the announcement for the future is somewhat different. Because in its future investments the … Read more

We humans like beer. The big question is whether we like it enough to have invented agriculture

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The big question is not whether it was the chicken or the egg first, but rather what our ancestors began to make first: bread or beer? Does about 12,000 years We humans promote one of the most important chapters in our history in the Middle East, the Neolithic Revolution. From being nomads who lived by hunting and gathering, we became sedentary creatures who cultivated the fields. The change was so momentous that anthropologists have long wondered what caused it. It would be reasonable to think that the search for something as simple as bread, but there are those who believe that the answer is another: beer. What if the great catalyst that led us to plow and harvest the fields was not the search for bread but our ancestral hobby to raise your elbow? Cereals, what do I want you for? Scientists have spent the last few decades unraveling the mysteries from our most remote past, but there is one (fundamental) one that they have not yet agreed on: What the hell led humanity to change hunting and gathering for a sedentary life based on agriculture and livestock? What was the catalyst for the Neolithic Revolution, one of the most momentous periods of all time? Since since humans have been human, they need to eat, the answer seems simple: if those men and women settled to plant wheat and barley, it had to be to make bread, right? That is, they began to spend hours and hours tending their fields to obtain grain with which to nourish themselves. In the 50s however a question began to creep into the anthropological debate: What if what really interested them in grain was not bread or porridge but beer? But… And why is that? The debate is not new. It has been on the table for some time and is heated from time to time with new discoveries, such as the one announced in 2018 by a group of Stanford researchers who found “the oldest record of alcohol”, clues that tell us about the manufacture of beer ago 13,000 years. The last one to raise the discussion was Michael Marshall, a scientific journalist and columnist for New Scientist. In December he published a wide chronicle in which he reviews the latest findings on the subject and (most importantly) exposes how much it is costing anthropologists to reach a conclusion. The benefits of beer. To understand the discussion, we must first clarify a key point: neither the bread nor the beer of the Stone Age were like the bread and beer that we know today. The latter in fact has little or nothing to do with the refreshing amber liquid that they serve us in bars. It was more like a puree, a “sweet, slightly fermented porridge,” clarify Professor Jiajing Wang, from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. “They germinated the grains, cooked them and then used wild yeast.” The result was a nutritious, caloric, protein-rich concoction that could even be safer than drinking water from rivers and wells. After all, it was the result of fermentation. Added to that was its alcohol content, a “social lubricant” that we still use in the 21st century to relax and socialize. Archaeologist Brin Hayden highlights, for example, its use in events that helped structure communities. There is research which suggest that (at least some communities) used it in rituals and for veneration of the deceased. Much more than suspicions. If the debate has been on the table since the 1950s, it is basically because it has been nourished by archaeological findings. Researchers have found traces that tell us about beer brewing at least 5,000 years ago in southern egypt and northern china or how he does 10,000 years Shangshan culture They brewed rice beer. One of the most important revelations in recent years, however, was the one achieved in a cave in Israel in 2018 by a team led by Professor Li Liu, from Stanford University. There they found evidence of beer brewing before the first cereals cultivated in the Middle East. The finding is related to the Natufiansa town dedicated to gathering and hunting, although they also tended to stay for long periods in the same place. “The oldest”. After analyzing residues located in 13,000-year-old mortars located in a cave in Raqefet, a Natufian cemetery near Haifa, Liu and his colleagues discovered remains of beer. Quite a milestone, like she herself stands out: “It is the oldest record of alcohol made by man.” “This discovery indicates that alcohol production was not necessarily a result of agricultural surplus production, but was developed for ritual and spiritual purposes, at least to some extent, before agriculture.” Issue settled? At all. To understand the complexity of the subject, it helps to review the discovery announced in 2018. At least at that time, the oldest known remains of bread, extracted from a Natufian site located east of Jordan, had between 11,600 and 14,600 years old. The traces of beer discovered by Liu’s team move in a similar range: a priori, they could be dated between 11,700 and 13,700 years ago. One of the keys to the problem, explains Marshall in your articleis that basically the making of bread and beer leaves very similar traces, basically starch residues. “We still don’t have conclusive evidence to answer that question,” Liu recognizes on the question of whether we turned to beer or bread first. The reality is more complex: because we don’t know, we don’t even know if some of those foods were the great catalyst that led our ancestors to change their lifestyle. “I wouldn’t be surprised if both were the motivations.” At the end of the day, the ‘beer first, bread first’ debate does not seek definitive conclusions so much as vindicating the weight of both foods. Both beer and bread, bread and beer, played a decisive role in diets and rituals. Images | Gary Todd (Flickr), Enhin Akyurt (Unsplash) and Gerrie van der Walt (Unsplash) In Xataka | The Wari … Read more

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, is building a huge space telescope. The question is not how, but why

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If someone today wanted to build something like a new Hubble, it would make sense to think of years of reports, reviews and committees before the first piece of hardware is even manufactured. However, that logic has just been broken with an unexpected announcement: Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, and his wife Wendy have put on the table his own money to power not one, but four telescopes, including a large-scale space observatory. The move not only challenges the sector’s inertia, but raises a question deeper than budget or technology: what exactly is a former Silicon Valley executive pursuing by wading into the heart of modern astronomy. This is a project promoted by the Schmidt Observatory System, it seeks to cover everything from the deep sky to the detailed study of transient phenomena. A change of model. Currently, telescopes are generally in the hands of public agencies and academic consortia. Building ever-larger mirrors and then putting instruments into orbit turned astronomy into a matter of national budgets. The Schmidts’ entry into this arena suggests that, with new technologies and another way to finance risk, that historic balance could be starting to shift again. Risk, speed and open science. The approach behind the observatory system is not to compete with space agencies, but to cover the space left by their own processes, which are long, conservative and highly conditioned by public budgets. The Schmidts seek to finance concepts that have already been imagined by the scientific community, but that rarely overcome the barrier of official financing due to their level of risk or the deadlines they require. The piece that gives meaning to the whole and that really makes the difference is Lazulithe only one of the four projects that will leave Earth. It aims to cover a wide range of science, from transient events lasting minutes or hours to the detailed study of exoplanets, with a level of flexibility that large public observatories cannot always offer. Further, more agile. One of the clearest breaks between Lazuli and Hubble is where it will operate and how. While NASA’s telescope orbits about 500 kilometers from Earth, Lazuli will be placed much further away, in an elliptical orbit that should give it a clearer view and allow for fast and continuous data linking. Lazuli Space Observatory In the official description, Schmidt Sciences frames this operation in a “lunar-resonant” orbit. Added to this is a larger mirror, 3.1 meters compared to Hubble’s 2.4 meters, and an observation philosophy designed to react quickly to unexpected phenomena. One platform, several instruments. Lazuli is designed as a unique platform that integrates three instruments designed to cover everything from wide-field observations to the detailed study of exoplanets and transient phenomena. Wide-field optical imager with high cadence for photometric time series, 30′×15′ field of view and filters between 300 and 1000 nm Integral field spectrograph continuously covering 400–1700 nm, optimized for stable spectrophotometry and rapid sorting High contrast coronagraph to directly observe exoplanets and circumstellar environments, with contrasts of 10⁻⁸ and up to 10⁻⁹ after processing The era of array telescopes. Argus, DSA and LFAST They are not traditional telescopes, but rather distributed systems that take advantage of recent advances in computing, storage, and automated analysis. Instead of concentrating everything in a single structure, they distribute the collection of light or radio signals among tens or thousands of modules that are then digitally synchronized. This modularity aims to accelerate deployments and opens the door to observing the sky almost in real time, something fundamental for the astronomy of fleeting events. Render of the Argus Array (left), Deep Synoptic Array (right) Argus Array will bring together 1,200 optical telescopes in Texas to observe the northern sky almost continuously, with the idea of ​​being able to “rewind” what happened minutes or hours before an event such as a supernova. DSA, in Nevada and under the direction of Caltech, will deploy 1,600 radio antennas to map more than a billion sources and update its view of the sky every fifteen minutes. LFAST, for its part, will be installed in Arizona as a system of 20 80-centimeter mirrors aimed at large-aperture spectroscopy and the search for biosignatures, with a prototype planned for mid-2026. What the Schmidts have launched is, at its core, an experiment on the scientific system itself. Lazuli and his three colleagues on land aim to show that it is possible to build large-scale observatories more quickly and with an openness of data that does not always fit into traditional models. Whether that vision materializes will depend on factors yet to be determined, such as the final contractors, real costs or the feasibility of the schedules, but if it goes well, the impact will not only be measured in new discoveries, but in a new way of deciding what science is done. Images | Village Global | Schmidt Observatory System In Xataka | China has just resolved one of the biggest doubts about going to Mars with the birth of six space mice

If the question is why today’s songs are so simple, science has the answer: because we are.

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I belong to a generation that screamed singing Queen songsLast in line or Extrememoduro that they sounded on a cassette. Therefore, it has not gone unnoticed by me that, in the last five decades, music has changed. The letters they have become simplermore repetitive and loaded with negative emotions or stress. This shows it a data analysis about more than 20,000 songs that occupied the Billboard Hot 100 between 1973 and 2023 published in the magazine Scientific Reports. This phenomenon does not just happen. In reality, it is our own reflection, and the result of profound social transformations, of how we feel, consume and live our lives. A study that traces an underlying trend. He study Conducted by researchers at the University of Vienna, it has analyzed the lyrics of popular American songs over a period of five decades, measuring three key variables: presence of stress-related vocabulary, general emotional tone (positivity or negativity) and lyrical complexity based on repetition metrics and word variety. The result has led researchers to be able to affirm that, from the seventies to today, the use of words associated with stress has increased, the proportion of positive expressions has fallen and the structures of the letters have been simplified. What does it mean that they are “simpler”? According what was published by Forbesthis pattern is also seen in other investigations that compare songs from different genres over the years and their conclusions are the same: the lyrics of current songs tend to repeat more simple phrases, express intense emotions (such as anger or sadness) directly, and use fewer metaphors or complex images than in the past. Saying that the songs are simpler does not only mean that they are easy to remember, but that their lexicon and structure have been losing richness and complexity. Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 “for having created new poetic expressions within the great tradition of American song.” With all the respects to Bad Bunnybut I don’t see him as a candidate for the 2026 Nobel Prize due to the depth of his lyrics. The algorithm enjoys it. In technical terms, letters that are repeated frequently and use less distinctive vocabulary are more “comprehensible” for algorithms that measure textual complexity. Not only does this make it easier for them to stick in the listener’s head (raise your hand if you’ve never woken up with a catchy song in your head), but it also responds to how we consume music today. In times of streaming and algorithmic listscatchy and repetitive themes compete better for attention. The change in music has occurred in parallel with the rise of rapid consumption platforms and more fragmented forms of listening. The artists they don’t even play it anymore releasing a good album. Not even with a single, but they compete in a context where the first chorus decides whether the listener continues or skips to the next song. That competition for attention It explains the rise of simple structures and quick hooks, but it also influences the type of emotions that predominate in the lyrics. A mirror of our collective anxiety. According to the conclusions of the University of Vienna study, the greater presence of terms associated with stress, anxiety or conflict is correlated with emotional state of society. As diagnoses of anxiety and depression increased in the population, an increase in negative language in cultural works has also been detected. This does not mean that music causes these states, but rather that it turns them into a space of expression. As and as I emphasized Patricia L. Sabbatella, professor of music at the University of Cádiz, “Music is part of everyday life, fulfilling different uses and functions ranging from entertainment, social cohesion, communication, emotional expression and regulation to learning, relaxation or entertainment.” Therefore, this transformation responds to the function of music as a barometer and emotional regulator of society. It is his reflection and at the same time his therapy.. “Surprisingly, social shocks like COVID-19 coincided with attenuations rather than amplifications of these trends, indicating a preference for emotion-incongruent music,” the researchers noted. What music tells us about ourselves. Although the average negativity and stress has increased, it does not mean that all music is gloomy or empty of meaning. There are artists and songs that challenge these trends. What the study indicates is the dominant pattern, not that all music is like this. One of the conclusions of the study is that if popular songs are now, in general, simpler, negative and stressful, it is because this phenomenon appears as a reflection of societies with accelerated rhythms, high levels of anxiety and a relationship with digital culture that favors the immediate and emotionally intense. Music is not the cause, but it is a sensitive mirror of how we feel and how we communicate. In that sense, understanding these changes not only helps explain why a hit from the seventies sounds different from the current onebut also what kind of roles music plays today. In Xataka | Angie Corine has made a name for herself in the Spanish rap scene with an unexpected commercial twist: she is right-wing Image | Unsplash (Eric Nopanen)

If the question is whether we will be able to buy a cheap combustion car in 2035, we already have the answer: no.

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The European Commission has presented its proposal for lighten emissions obligations for manufacturers in 2035. It is the confirmation that, if finally approved, Germany has won. And the country has gone on its own in its pressure on the European Union but, in addition, the new proposal reflects the true concerns of its industry. To better understand what has happened, we must remember. In 2022, The European Parliament approved the ban to sell cars that emit CO2 in 2035. The objective was reduce emissions by 100% pollutants target of 2021 and, therefore, that eliminated the possibility of selling any car that used this technology. That is to say, Europe had to jump to the electric car whether it wanted it or not. Some time later, with Germany and Italy putting pressure, the possibility was approved for cars sold from 2035 onwards to use combustion engines powered by efuel. These are synthetic fuels that, supposedly, during their production capture the same or greater amount of CO2 than that emitted by the exhaust pipe. If this is true, the car would be carbon neutral. With the wording that the car must be neutral in carbon emissions, the door was also open to the use of hydrogen cars (both in fuel cell as in format hydrogen combustion). These cars are also carbon neutral for the same reason, but along with their water vapor they do expel certain particles that are harmful to humans such as NOx or fine particles. At the time, the European Union kept a letter. The objectives could be revised and this This is what the European Commission has done. This has approved a proposal that has to be ratified by the European Parliament and the States (Council of Europe). Although it is not, therefore, official, it does anticipate that we will see changes in the rule. This regulation has several key points: The carbon emissions target is reduced from 100% to 90% compared to 2021 figures. The door opens to create a category that has become popular as eCarsmall electric cars (less than 4.2 meters), with their own regulation that will count as 1.3 cars when calculating the fleet’s emissions. The objectives of reducing emissions by 55% in 2030 are postponed to 2032. In those years, a space opens up in which manufacturers will have to comply with the proposed objectives by the end of 2032, with an average of those three years. A measure similar to the one that has been opened in the period 2025-2027. And this completely defines which cars can be sold. The data As we said, Germany has gotten away with these pressures. And in recent days we have seen two clearly differentiated fronts. Spain and France were willing to maintain regulation just as it was. Another group, cwith Germany in the leadproposed the revision of the objectives but the country, however, did not sign the letter of the six dissident countries in which Europe was asked to reverse its environmental policies regarding automobiles. Now, with the requirements that are proposed by the European Commission We know that, if it is finally approved, cars with combustion engines will continue to be sold. But as long as the average fleet of cars on the street guarantees that 90% reduction in emissions, which in practice leaves sales in a vast majority of electric cars punctuated by pure combustion vehicles. It must be taken into account that reducing CO2 polluting emissions by 90% compared to 2021 means that the fleet average will not be able to exceed 11.6 gr/km of CO2 (in 2021 it was 116 gr/km). That implies a ridiculous consumption of just 0.5 l/100 km of gasoline. A figure that is almost impossible to achieve for a specific car. Until now, plug-in hybrids were around 1l/100 km and CO2 averages of 50 gr/km in their official approvals. An already very high figure but will rise with the entry of the new calculation system multiplying the record in CO2 emissions. To compensate for this, a car only has one option left: increase its battery. The intention for 2035 is that plug-in hybrids will have a lot greater electrical autonomy. To give us an idea, the plug-in hybrid with the greatest autonomy on the market right now is the Lynk&Co 08 with 200 approved electric kilometers. Despite everything, Its CO2 emissions remain at 23 gr/km of CO2. That is, they double the maximum allowed in 2035. With this data, the company has to sell one electric car for each of these plug-in hybrids to be right within the limit of permitted CO2 emissions. But, in addition, Homologation criteria will be much stricter from 2028. So much so that a plug-in hybrid car that in 2021 registered around 50 gr/km of CO2 is expected to exceed 120 gr/km of CO2 with the new approval. Therefore, Lynk&Co should sell more than two electrics for each plug-in of the aforementioned Lynk&Co 08. The other option for an electrified vehicle with a combustion engine is the extended range electric vehicle. This type of car is, in practice, a plug-in hybrid but its combustion engine is designed for emergencies. So far we have seen cars like the Mazda MX-30 sold under this name but, in reality, they have a 50 liter fuel tank. What will have to arrive will be more similar to the first BMW i3 REX (the version with range extender) whose tank was 9 liters and, therefore, it was designed for an emergency. Expensive, very expensive Taking all this into account, it is clear that emissions obligations have been relaxed but it is still essential for manufacturers to continue selling a large number of electric vehicles. In practice, the best news for them is that 2025 fines postponed to 2027 and, therefore, they have two more years to comply with the obligation to place the average of emissions from its fleet at 93.6 gr/km of CO2. The plan was to fine 95 euros for each gram exceeded and … Read more

This graph shows per capita coffee consumption and leaves us with a disturbing question: what is happening in Luxembourg?

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Be it for your energetic effectsby its benefits in the body or even for their psychological effectscoffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world. Is one of the engines of the economy of countries like Colombia or Brazil, as well as a thermometer of global economic health. Coffee culture continues to expand, and in this graph we can see which countries whose inhabitants drink the most coffee every day. There is only one question: what about Luxembourg. Europe >> others. Despite not being producers (although climate change may change that sooner rather than later), Europe gives the rest of the world a review of coffee consumption. Including powers like Brazil, Costa Rica or Colombia. The top 10 positions in coffee consumption correspond to European countries, and except for Greece, which has managed to sneak into the TOP, they are all northern countries. Outside of that ranking we find a country that may be unexpected: Lebanon. Then we have Brazil, Canada and another string of European countries. But if there is a proper name on this list, it is Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a trick. Visual Capitalist has created the graph taking the data from Cafely. After an impressive display of figures, they detail that they have taken data from sources such as the International Coffee Organization, as well as from Wikipedia to calculate per capita consumption and from global surveys of more than 4,000 people. All this has led them to calculate that Luxembourg drinks coffee. And a lot. That each person, on average, drinks 5.31 cups a day seems outrageous. It does not reach worrying levels of caffeine consumption (There are drinks that are not coffee and have much more caffeine), but it is a fact that draws attention. However, there is a trick: Luxembourg’s per capita figure is explained because almost half of those who work in the country live abroad and drink coffee on the road, as well as to stay awake, and although they are not the country’s population, that consumption has been taken into account for Luxembourg’s totals. 5.31 coffees a day implies 118,227 cups that each person drinks throughout their life, and is well above other countries: Cups consumed throughout life Money spent throughout life Luxembourg 118,227 425,618 Finland 83,939 335,756 Sweden 58,612 216,863 Norway 58,159 255,900 Austria 45,198 149,153 Denmark 44,676 241,250 Swiss 42,318 211,591 Netherlands 39,854 123,548 Greece 37,449 116,092 (27) Spain 23,988 46,057 (28) Costa Rica 22,229 56,683 (39) venezuela 12,844 20,423 (41) Colombia 12,264 13,981 a fortune. The average price per cupFurthermore, it is not cheap at all. Not counting atrocities that can be paid in countries like Japan (it is not a product either and transportation is expensive) or Dubai (because… it’s Dubai), the average price of a cup in northern European countries is quite high. Contrast with the average price as we go down to Portugal, Italy or Spain. And more interesting than the average price of a cup It is the account of the money we spend on coffee throughout our lives, which we can also see in the table above. The great absentee. It may be striking that countries like Mexico have a consumption of just 0.29 cups, but along with Guatemala, Argentina or Peru, it is one of the countries with the least roots in coffee. For example, it esteem that each Mexican consumes 2.1 kilos of coffee per year, while Colombians increase the figure to 4.2 kilos. But the big absentee on this list is… China. The Asian giant is not a traditional coffee consumer, but things are changing. There is not only multitude of cafes and chains like Luckin Coffee that are present practically on every corner of a big city, but they are leading the greatest growth in the region in opening of new brand cafes. And they are not only emerging in the region: China is taking over tons of coffee from Brazil due to a market that is growing at double-digit speed since 2010, with a growth annual average of more than 20%, which is well above a world average that barely reaches 2% But anyway, there is no one to blame Luxembourg. And if at some point they blame you for drinking a lot, you can now say that you are trying to raise the average for your country in this curious competition. In Xataka | The latest craze for weight loss is adding mushrooms to coffee. Science is not clear that it is a good idea

The question is not if we are going to miss out on seeing Eurovision, but where we are going to see Eurovision

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RTVE had spent weeks threatening to do it if Israel continued among the countries participating in Eurovisionand has finally carried it out, breaking a streak of 65 uninterrupted participations since 1961. However, this goes beyond a mere refusal to continue broadcasting the final: there are many interests behind this decision and they will be unleashed from now on. The most obvious: who broadcasts Eurovision now? Spain breaks the deck. RTVE leaves Eurovision 2026 given the refusal of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union, organizer of the event), to veto Israel, with 738 votes in favor compared to 264 against and 120 abstentions. The vote did not actually address the expulsion of Israel, but rather the approval of new measures on transparency in televoting that, in practice, allowed the country to continue. Spain thus joins the pressure front in which the Netherlands (AVROTROS), Ireland (RTÉ) and Slovenia are also active, and the measure is total: there will be no candidate in Vienna and no live signal of the final One of five. Spain thus becomes the only member of the Big Five (a group formed by the largest financiers of the event along with France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) to abandon ship. The impact in figures of this decision is direct: each country of the Big Five (which enjoy automatic access to the final without going through the semi-finals) contributes approximately 350,000 euros annually to the festival, a sum that the EBU will lose from the Spanish coffers and which is much higher than the 30,000-50,000 euros paid by the smaller nations. Furthermore, it happens at a delicate time: Moldova had previously justified withdrawing by citing “unsustainable costs.” On the other hand, Germany threatened to leave if Israel was expelled, evidencing the internal fracture. Spain thus becomes the first member of the Big Five to withdraw for political reasons, establishing a precedent that could encourage other countries to follow in its footsteps. Together, these five states provide the broadcast with some thirty million viewers. That is to say, as the press has commented, it is an unprecedented decision that turns this into “the biggest boycott in the history of the festival” Who broadcasts now? RTVE’s renunciation of broadcasting rights raises an unprecedented question: can other Spanish television stations broadcast the contest? We must take into account decades of institutional blockages by RTVE. FORTA (a federation that brings together twelve regional television stations) has been trying to join the EBU for thirty years without success. “RTVE’s authorization is a necessary condition, and it repeatedly denies our entry,” declared its general secretary in 2020. Even so, the EBU statutes allow multiple members per country, as is the case with private channels that gained access (SER and COPE on radio). In 2014, when Spain was absent from Junior Eurovision, the European organization contemplated Atresmedia or Mediaset assuming participation, but the EBU Steering Group rejected the proposal. Now, the EBU technically could sell the emission rights to other Spanish channels, although it would require, again, the approval of RTVE. There is a precedent for all this hustle and bustle in Germany: the ARD that represents the country is, precisely, a consortium of regional television stations, similar to the FORTA model. Boycott, something remains. Boycotts are not new to Eurovision, although we have never witnessed one of this magnitude. In 2009, Georgia left after refuse to modify his song ‘We Don’t Wanna Put In‘, considered critical of Putin. In 2017, Russia was unable to participate in kyiv after sending Julia Samoylova, banned for performing in Crimea. The closest precedent was in 2022, with the Russian expulsion for invading Ukraine. Arab states historically avoid the contest due to the Israeli presence: Morocco only participated in 1980, when Israel did not attend. Türkiye left in 2013 alleging unfair behavior by the Big Five. International reactions. Israeli President Isaac Herzog celebrated the decision that Israel remained in Eurovision as a sign of “solidarity” between nations, while the Foreign Minister he wished for “a fall from grace” of all those who have participated in the boycott. An opinion against the boycott that has found echo in countries like Austria: Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, for example, insisted in that the contest “is not an instrument for sanctions.” In Xataka | After the Eurovision controversy, thousands of people asked themselves an old question: what is Israel doing in a “European” contest?

If the question is why we buy a home in Spain, mortgages have the answer: to invest

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In the middle of the debate on the weight of speculation in the Spanish real estate market and with the Catalan Government immersed in the debate Regarding whether or not it should put limits on the purchase of housing for investment purposes, the sector has come across data that adds even more fuel to the fire. According to a study carried out by the Financial Users Association (Asufin), the 47.7% of the mortgages signed are aimed at acquiring homes for investment purposes. That is to say, the idea of ​​those who take mortgages is not to convert houses into homes, but to put their savings in a safe security in search of good returns. What does the study say? The report by Asufin is just that, a report with its biases and limitations prepared based on a survey with 1,301 interviewees and data from different official sources, but it still offers an interesting ‘photo’. And a resounding conclusion: among those who go to the bank in search of financing to buy a home, there are many more people with an investment mentality than there are families looking for a home in which to settle. What figures do you use? The study concludes that only 15.9% of the new mortgage holders will convert the home into their first residence. Another 18.5% are looking for credit to get a second home that they will dedicate to personal use and 17.9% intend to change their usual residence. The photo is completed with the 47.7% that we mentioned before: buyers who knock on the doors of banks in search of credit to purchase a second home as an investment. The size of this last percentage is not surprising if we take into account that the price per residential square meter has been climbing for years (both in the purchase and rental markets) and there are those who estimate that buying an apartment for rent offers returns of more than 6% (either even older), significantly above what more traditional investments guarantee. Why do we buy houses? Asufin’s study has given rise to another interpretation that shows us more clearly what percentage of buyers go to the real estate market with an investment mentality, not in search of a home. If what we are talking about is the reasons that lead buyers to consider requesting a loan, investment is the main motivation 65%. The data shows that brick is still seen as a refuge value. And so, recognizes the associationleads to “the cycle of buying to rent or saving value to sell more expensively continuing to significantly stress the market.” It’s actually nothing new. Previous studies Asufin itself already reflected that more mortgages are requested to invest than to buy homes. Does the report say anything else? Yes. It confirms the low flow of new housing entering the market, that today the cheapest option is fixed mortgages and that foreign buyers they account for a total of 14%although the data varies depending on the region and the market segment we are talking about. For example, in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands they account for almost 30%, while there are half a dozen autonomous communities in which foreigners do not even reach 4%. Another interesting reading is that credits take up a considerable part of the finances of Spanish households. To be more precise, the average mortgage payments are already They represent 35% of salaries, a percentage that rises to 40% if we talk about the segment of young buyers, between 25 and 35 years old. However, the Asufin data show a slight change in trend, with a clear decline in the percentage of buyers who go into debt to buy second homes for investment purposes. Although they continue to represent an important part of the pie (47.7%), at the beginning of the year they represented 56.2%. Image | Ján Jakub Naništa (Unsplash) In Xataka | Buying a house is already an impossible mission for many young Spaniards. So his parents donate it to him

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