reached

Iceland was one of the last places on the planet that mosquitoes had not reached. That’s now history

by

For centuries, Iceland has held the ‘privilege’ of being one of the few habitable places on Earth where mosquitoes did not exist, something that can be a source of envy for many, especially with the arrival of summer. All thanks to its particular climate, with constant cycles of freezing and thawing that prevented the larvae from maturing, it acted as an insurmountable biological shield. However, climate change and human action have just broken down this barrier and this Icelandic ‘exceptionality’ has ended. The discovery. The history of this biological invasion starts in October 2025where Björn Hjaltason, a resident of the Kjós region noticed the presence of some unusual insects in his garden. From there he wanted to see them closer, and to capture them he used a fairly rudimentary method based on some ropes soaked in red wine. With this trap he obtained three specimens that were immediately sent to the Icelandic Institute of Natural Sciences, where the entomologist Matthías Alfreðsson confirmed the unthinkable: they were two females and a male. Culiseta annulataa species of mosquito common in Europe, but which had never managed to establish itself on the island of ice and fire. How have they arrived? Their disembarkation in the country may have been conditioned to different situations, such as travel aboard ships that came from Europe or even in the landing gear of commercial airplanes. All this, added to increasingly higher temperatures in Iceland, means that we are facing a major ecosystem problem. A hot Arctic. This very rudimentary discovery has served as a substrate for a profound analysis that has been published in the magazine Science, where it is noted that the appearance of mosquitoes in Iceland is only the symptom of a radical transformation throughout the Arctic. And global warming is affecting this region at breakneck speed, since the Arctic is warming four times faster than the world average. This thermal increase is not only allowing invasive species to survive the Icelandic winters, but is causing a serious biological imbalance throughout the boreal region. A domino effect. The arrival of mosquitoes and the alteration of the populations of native arthropods is not only a problem of annoying bites for its inhabitants or tourists, but it is a threat for birds. Here the early thaw is causing the peak of insect abundance to no longer coincide with the breeding season of waders, leaving them without their main source of food when they need it most. Furthermore, the large swarms of mosquitoes in arctic areas are already affecting the behavior of reindeer, which spend vital energy fleeing from the swarms instead of feeding, compromising their winter survival. That is why experts point to the need to control the arthropods that arrive in the region and, above all, a tracking system for these ecological changes that are so relevant. Images | Andreas M In Xataka | Mosquitoes attack me in summer and I tried these TikTok tricks to get rid of them

We have reached a point where artists have to explain that they have made their works without the help of AI and not the other way around.

by

“I spent 40 hours making a digital painting and the first comment I get says: nice AI art.” He tells it a user on Redditbut it is not an isolated case. Not too long ago, we thought that the solution was tag all AI-made contentbut we quickly realized that It was a huge challenge.. Today, it is human artists who have to defend that their art is real. What is happening. More and more artists are accused of having used AI in their works, especially when they are works that tend more towards realism and have a high level of detail. Many artists choose share your entire work process on networks and some deliver the files in layers to their clients to cover their backs and so that there is no room for doubt. It is not something that happens only with plastic arts, they have also been accused video game developers and writers. If I don’t know if it’s AI, then everything is AI. AI imaging capabilities have reached a level where the eye is no longer able to distinguish a real image from a generated one. Our ability to capture and distinguish visual information is suffering a shock in real time and the natural response is distrust; Since we can no longer trust what our eyes see, we question it. Is something too well drawn? It must be AI. Is a text suspiciously well written? You sure have done it with ChatGPT. It is a defensive posture that also responds to the fact that, if you believe something false, you look like a loser, while if you question something real, you are simply a skeptic. Label the human. Labeling AI content sounded good, but it hasn’t worked. Much of the blame lies with the platforms for not having been tougher with their application. We have the case of Etsy, a platform that was the refuge of crafts and has ended up becoming a bazaar of slop AI that pretends to be real. In this context, the solution seems to be just the opposite: labeling what is made by humans, as a kind of quality seal. Adam Mosseri said itdirector of Instagram, a few months ago: Platforms like Instagram do a good job of identifying AI-generated content, but their effectiveness will decrease over time as AI improves. It will be more practical to identify real content than fake content. AI detectors are not reliable. It is a fact and we have seen it on several occasions: universities falsely accusing hundreds of students of using AI because a software (also AI, of course) told him so, AI detectors who believe ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ was made with a chatbot…The quality of content generated with AI is advancing so quickly that it is no longer impossible to distinguish it from the real thing, which is why the proposal for human content labels makes sense. Something like the ‘denomination of origin’ seal on food. There are several proposals. They count in Verge that there are quite a few proposals that want to praise human content, offered by different associations such as Not By AI, ProudlyHuman, Human Authored or Human Made. The problem is that many of these labels do not have a complex authentication process behind them, but are based on simple trust. For it to be a reliable label, it is necessary to verify the work process using sketches or diagrams, something that is much more laborious to achieve. In Xataka | Crocheting was a peaceful refuge from the stress and information overload of the internet. Until AI arrived

China is building a tunnel under the sea for its high speed. It has already reached a record depth

by

Under the seabed, dozens of meters deep, there is a work that is progressing with a minimal margin of error. It cannot be seen from the surface, but it is part of a railway infrastructure key in southern China. According to CGTNthe country has reached a new milestone in the construction of a high-speed underwater tunnel: the excavation has already reached 113 meters under the seabed. The figure is not minor, because it places the work at a point where the geological conditions and water pressure significantly increase the technical difficulty. This advance is part of a much larger infrastructure that is taking shape in the south of the country. The 116-kilometer Shenzhen-Jiangmen high-speed line is designed to connect both cities in less than an hour, integrating into the rail corridor that runs along the Chinese coast. In this way, the project has entered a particularly demanding phase, in which the tunnel under the Pearl River estuary becomes one of the most technically complex points of the entire work. A section under the sea that concentrates the greatest technical challenge At the center of this phase of the project is the underwater infrastructure that requires refinement of each step. To execute it, the work relies on a large diameter tunnel boring machine developed in China. The machine, known as “Shenjiang-1”, has kept the excavation going continuously, even during festive periods such as Qingming. It not only drills the ground, it also allows progress while the interior lining of the tunnel is being built, a system that seeks to gain efficiency in one of the most delicate points of the route. From there, the challenge stops being just mechanical and becomes conditioned by the terrain. The TBM must traverse 13 different strata, with five types of composite geology and six fault zones along the route. These types of conditions force the operation to be constantly adjusted, because each layer can respond differently to the excavation. In this context, moving forward does not depend solely on the power of the machinery, but also on maintaining control in a challenging environment. Added to this complexity of the terrain is a less visible, but equally determining factor: the pressure of the water at those depths. The tunnel is planned to reach a maximum of 116 meters below the seabeda level at which hydraulic conditions become especially demanding for the machinery and the structure itself. To operate in this environment, the system uses a sludge circuit that fulfills a double function: on the one hand, it reduces friction at the excavation face and, on the other, it transports the extracted material to the surface, where it is separated and reused in the process. While the machine advances, the tunnel is not far behind. Just behind the excavation face, the teams are assembling the prefabricated concrete segments that form the interior lining. Each one measures around two meters wide and nine are needed to complete a ring in a structure that exceeds 13 meters in diameter. This system allows excavation and construction to progress at the same time, reducing time and helping to maintain the pace of execution. The magnitude of this work is better understood when put into perspective. Official information indicates that this section extends over 13.69 kilometers and crosses several waterways at the mouth of the river, located between Dongguan and Guangzhou. It is a key piece within a line designed to improve the connection in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Beyond the depth already achieved, the project seeks to strengthen regional connectivity and support economic integration in one of the most active areas of the country. Images | CGTN In Xataka | Singapore is literally coming into its own: reclaiming 25% of land from the sea and turning wastewater into drinking water

We knew that olive trees were very old trees, what we did not imagine was that they reached 4,000 years of age.

by

The olive tree is undoubtedly one of the most iconic trees in the Mediterranean basin. Olive groves have populated the fields of southern Europe and the Levant since time immemorial, but such is the longevity of this species that the history of some of these trees also dates back to, at least, antiquity. An example of this is the Vouves olive treelocated on the Greek island of Crete. Conservative estimates put it on this tree about 2,000 years. This would imply that in his life he could be a silent witness to events such as the division of the Roman Empire, the fall of Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire and, of course, the birth of contemporary Greece. The most extensive estimates estimate that this tree could reach 4,000 years old. This would not only make it a contemporary of figures such as Pythagoras, Aristotle or Alexander the Great but would also imply that this plant was born in Minoan Crete and was Witness the collapse of the Late Bronze Ageone of the most intriguing events that occurred at the dawn of history as we understand it. But perhaps the most surprising detail of all this is that the Vouves olive tree continues to bear fruit. This has led many to ask, how is this possible? What makes this specimen and its species in general so long-lived? The olive tree (Olea europaea) has a life expectancy that, although it does not reach millennia, does exceed several centuries. It is estimated that the life expectancy of trees of this species around five centuriesalthough there is some debate about it. In this sense, a study published in 2021 in the magazine Dendrochronologyestimated that the majority of “monumental olive trees” had maximum ages ranging between 300 and 500 years. Estimating the age of an olive tree is difficult. We noted at the beginning that estimates of the age of this ancient tree ranged between 2,000 and 4,000 years, a very wide range precisely because of the difficulty involved in calculating the age of these trees. Dendrochronology is based on using the growth rings of tree trunks to estimate their age: how many rings, how many years. Counting rings in a felled specimen is simple, but doing it in a living tree and doing it in an olive tree is another story. The trunks of the olive trees grow irregularly, which implies an apparently chaotic pattern in the rings inside, making counting especially difficult, as I pointed out. a study published in 2013 in the magazine PLOS One. Its curious growth could be related to its longevity. According to Scott Travers, a biologist at Rutgers University, in an article for Forbesone of the “secrets” behind longevity of these trees is in vegetative or clonal reproduction. That is, in the fact that this tree is made up of various cuttings that start from the same root. This, adds Travers, allows this type of plants to survive extreme conditions, including fires, cuts and similar incidents. Another survival trick Travers continues explainingis in the biochemistry of the tree, which offers mechanisms that allow it to repair damaged tissues, as well as defend itself against pathogenic organisms. The same oil that we humans use is used by the tree that gives it to us through its fruits. The elderly around us Spain also has ancient olive trees, although if we want to find a tree that competes in age with the Vouves olive tree, we have to go to Portugal. It would be an olive tree located in Abrantesin the center of Portugal. According to a study carried out by the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Mouchao would be the tree that would hold this record with an age that would be around 3,350 years old. Spain also has ancient olive trees and among them all stands out. Arion’s Fargea tree that we can find in the province of Tarragona. The estimated age of this olive tree It is more than 1,700 years old. This implies that this ancient tree would have been planted in the time of Emperor Constantine I. Olive trees are not the only ancient tree species in our environment. Cedars, sequoias and even Canarian dragon trees can also reach ages that would make the biblical Methuselah pale. Olive trees are trees with a long life expectancy but they do not usually fill the lists of the longest living trees on the planet. The two longest-lived non-cloned trees known are two pines called Prometheus and Methuselahwhose ages are estimated to be over 4,000 years old. Both belong (or belonged in the case of Prometheus) to the species Pinus longaevathe “long-lived pine” so this fact is not entirely surprising. When Prometheus was cut, the botanists who analyzed it counted more than 4,800 rings, so they estimated its age to be about 4,900 years. Estimates indicate that Methuselah has also surpassed by decades the 4,800 year old mark. If we include clonal organisms we can find older trees. For example, the Pando forestconsidered the largest living organism on the planet, composed of thousands of cuttings from the same clonal tree, could have about 80,000 years old according to some estimates. In Xataka | A retiree planted a tree in 2003 in one of the most dangerous areas of Sao Paulo. Today it is an amazing “jungle” of the city In Xataka | We have found the oldest tree in the EU and it has been installed for 1,500 years in a very special place: Teide Image | Eric Nagle, CC BY-SA 4.0 This article was originally published in Xataka in April 2025.

The Xiaomi 15T Pro has reached its historical minimum price and not in its most basic configuration

by

Although finding the Xiaomi mobile with the best quality-price ratio It depends on the offers of the moment, this Xiaomi 15T Pro It is a good option now for this PcComponentes bargain. Above all, because it is not in its minimum configuration, but the 512 GB version, which you can get at a minimum price: 649 euros. XIAOMI 15T Pro – 12+512GB Smartphone The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A high-end mobile now at an unbeatable price This Xiaomi 15T Pro It is a mobile with a good 6.83-inch screen with 1.5K resolutionmaking it ideal for watching series and movies. Its refresh rate is 144 Hz, making it perfect for video games and fluidity when navigating through menus. This screen is compatible with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision and your brain is the processor MediaTek Dimensity 9400+a fairly powerful processor. As for its battery, it is capable of supporting fast charging at 90W, so you will have your phone at 100% in less time than you think. The operating system under which it works is HyperOS 3 and its photographic system is another of its assets, since it is signed by Leica. Ride one 50 MP main cameraaccompanied by a telephoto (also 50 MP) and 12 MP wide angle. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: offer for the xiaomi 15T Pro smartphone today ✅ THE BEST Gross power: Thanks to the 3nm Dimensity 9400+, it is not only a beast in gaming but also solves the temperature problems of previous generations thanks to the 3D IceLoop cooling system. 144Hz 6.83-inch display: It has grown slightly compared to the previous version. Its 3,200 nits of brightness and 1.5K resolution make it one of the best outdoor displays in its price range. ❌ THE WORST Risk-free design… Although it is refined and robust, it follows a very continuous aesthetic line that may be somewhat boring if you are looking for something visually groundbreaking. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are going to use the mobile for gaming, thanks to its 144 Hz refresh rate and sustained performance from the Dimensity 9400+. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You are an Android purist, as HyperOS may seem like a very intrusive and custom layer to you. If you prefer something clean Pixel or Nothing style, this is not your phone. Some accessories that may interest you for this mobile GUAGUA Case for Xiaomi 15T Pro with Stand The price could vary. We earn commission from these links XIAOMI Redmi Buds 8 Pro, True Wireless Bluetooth, Active Noise Cancellation up to 55 dB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Xiaomi In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best wireless headphones. Which one to buy and 21 models from 15 euros to 470 euros

Jensen Huang believes we have reached the “coming of the AI ​​wolf.” It is perfect for feeding a Tamagotchi

by

Artificial intelligence has become a football league. There are divisions in which titles are pursued such as having the most powerful AIthe fastest, the most capable at a specific task either the most versatilebut the goal is to become champion of the Champions League, and that is the AGI. Although from the United States they do not stop talk about artificial general intelligence As something that is about to fall, it is a theory that suggests that, at some point, an AI will be achieved that will surpass humans in all areas of knowledge. For the NVIDIA CEO, that moment has already arrived. At the moment it’s… smoke. The AGI has already arrived. It has been in the podcast by Lex Fridman in which Jensen Huangboss of the company that is supporting the AI ​​industry, has pointed out that general artificial intelligence is already here. Fridman posed a question: Could an AI system establish, grow, and operate a $1 billion-plus technology company within five to twenty years?” Huang rephrased the question, stating that current AI systems are already capable of creating a viral web service that briefly generates $1 billion in revenue. That remains to be seen, but it is not the only one that Huang threw into the air. When Fridman asked if AGI is five, ten, fifteen or twenty years away, Huang responded with a resounding “I think it’s now. I think we’ve achieved AGI.” Well no. Friedman said that was going to raise some eyebrows, and it took Huang less time than ChatGPT to agree with you if you tell him something isn’t right to qualify his words. Much of the conversation focused on OpenClaw platform, the open source agentic AI framework that has become the pearl of the industry and where everyone wants to have something to say. In the article of The Verge point out the example of the Tamagotchi and how Huang points out that people can use their AI agents to do all kinds of things like digital influencers or apps to feed a Tamagotchi for you. That would become an “instant success” that can generate billions of dollars, but the possibility that, right now, 100,000 of those agents will build a company like NVIDIA “is zero percent,” he noted. What is AGI? That is, current AI and agents can create “fleeting and viral hits”, but… that is not the question. That is, one thing is agentic AI, which is something that all the major companies in the sector are already pushing and, basically, it is like a shortcut program for AI to do things for us. And a very different one is the AGI. The artificial general intelligence that Huang says we have already achieved is something very different. While the agents drink from the same AI that is nothing more than a language model that is dedicated to putting together words that more or less make sense, but that are calculated by algorithms, percentages and probabilities As long as two words go together, AGI is a “real” artificial intelligence, one that thinks like a human. It is something that, as far as we know, is only in the theoretical framework because its technical complexity is overwhelming. The big difference between an AI and agents and AGI is that, if the first two have language as their core and operate from it, AGI is the human brain whose core is thought. Or so they aspire to create. Is Huang an AI? After seeing some of their recent statements and this interview, the question that arises is why there are certain profiles that are choosing to “reason” exactly the way an AI reasons. These tools They are designed to prove us right.so as not to confront us and so that we spend more time using that AI and not another. That’s why ChatGPT or Gemini are so accommodating in their responses when we try to find a way around them. But, as Mashable points out, giving that more convenient answer is also becoming a trend among “real” intelligences. The wolf is coming. Huang himself already pointed out in 2024 that AGI would be software capable of imitating standard human intelligence, but his examples do not seem to match the idea of ​​what AGI is. The industry seems hell-bent on reaching AGI through language models, but as some point out, It’s a dead end. Yann LeCun is considered one of the godfathers of modern AI. Until recently, he was also the head of AI at Meta and stated that the path to AGI is not language modelsbut the world models. They are models that will learn from the environment, will be able to imagine scenarios and operate like humans. That has nothing to do with current models that would not be possible without plundering the Internet and human-created culture. It is not at all clear what it will be the spark that will allow that general artificial intelligence will be reached, but the American AI Big Tech never tires of saying that AGI is already here. Now it is, really good. Huang just stated it to qualify his words in the following sentence, Sam Altman of OpenAI It has been creating expectation for a long time about the AGI when they are not yet able to do a ChatGPT that doesn’t hallucinate, Zuckerberg has assembled a super team to achieve itAnthropic’s Darío Amodei believes that is at the doors and Elon Musk says that Grok 5 could achieve it. At the moment, a lot of promises, and something that creates an app to power a Tamagotchi doesn’t sound like that great revolution in technology either. Images | NVIDIA In Xataka | Customers demand that a human solve their problem. The surprising thing is that if humans serve them they think they are an AI

The Tagus reservoirs have reached their maximum level. The response of the authorities has been to empty them immediately

by

1,639.67 hm3 of water. That is what the Entrepeñas and Buendía reservoirs store today at the head of the Tagus. This means that they have reached 65.11% of their capacity (compared to 48.52% last year) and, more importantly, that have reached level 1the maximum possible step. Finally, some good news! After years of hardship, the river has reached its “dream level.” Then, we are going to empty it. As? This same week, the Tajo-Segura Transfer Exploitation Commission is going to propose sending 180 hm3 of water to the Segura basin. It will be done in stages over three months. And the truth is that it was something totally predictable: the growth of reserves in the headwaters of the river has reached milestones that we have not seen since the late 90s. In application of the transfer rules that were set in 2013the irrigators of Segura request that the necessary procedures be activated so that they can give them the water that is theirs. What happens is that the political mess is enormous. What is happening with the water of the Tagus? Basically, by virtue of the Tagus Hydrological Plan, approved in 2023the transfer rules had to be updated to adapt them to the current reality. It has been tried; late, but it has been tried. What happens is that the process (due to the enormous political costs it entails) has been stalled for months and months. Right now, he is stopped waiting for pending resolutions in the Supreme Court. This has generated a very complicated situation: the plan that was going to be approved included a progressive reduction of transfers up to 40% in the next five years. The stated intention was recover the Tagus River and look for management formats that do not focus on specific moments (“emptying the pantry just when we have finished filling it”), but on more global measures that do not compromise the management of the basins in the medium term. But since it is not approved, the law is clear: Segura can claim its water and the Exploitation Commission will proceed to send it. The central issue is whether all this is a mirage or not. It is not lost on anyone that this January has not been a normal month (it has been the rainiest in the last 25 years) and, for this reason, each of the parties wants to use ‘this gift from heaven‘ for their own interests: some to regenerate the Tagus (and ensure the economic activity linked to it) and the others to keep the Segura agroindustry alive. That is, we have to choose at the worst possible moment: with the elections just around the corner. Image | Maria LVRZ In Xataka | The water from the Tagus is going to stay in Castilla-La Mancha. So Alicante and Murcia already have a plan B: set up desalination plants

Google’s Pixel 10 Pro drops in price again and has just reached its minimum in this store

by

Within high-end mobile phones, the Google Pixel 10 Pro is one of the undisputed leaders. If you have been thinking about buying it for a while, now is a good time to do it. On Amazon, it has just reached its minimum price and you can get it for 749 euros. Google Pixel 10 Pro – 128GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google’s most Pro mobile now at a minimum price He Google Pixel 10 Pro is (along with the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL) the best mobile of the brand and it is perfect, thanks to its 6.3 inch screenperfect for those who want a smartphone that can be easily held in one hand. In addition, this screen offers a 120 Hz refresh rate and a good level of brightness, so you can see it in perfect conditions, even in sunlight. Internally, the processor it mounts is the Google Tensor G5accompanied by 16 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage. Its battery lasts for more than a day and supports fast charging at 30 W wired and wireless at 15 W. In addition, it comes with pure Android operating system with guaranteed updates for seven years. One of its strong points is the photography section. On the front, it incorporates a selfie camera with a more than decent 42 MP while the rear camera incorporates a 50 MP main sensor, 48 MP wide angle and a 48 MP 5x telephoto. Likewise, the Pixel camera app is another of its great assets, since it offers very good results. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: offer for the google pixel 10 today ✅ THE BEST Your processor: The Tensor G5 is much more efficient and heats up less than previous models, as well as offering more stable performance in heavier tasks. The 3,300 nits: The Google Pixel 10 Pro’s display is one of the brightest on the market in 2026 and is visible even in direct sunlight. ❌ THE WORST The design is continuous… In this sense, the Pixel 10 Pro is almost identical to the Google Pixel 9 Pro, being even somewhat thicker and heavier. Base storage… In the middle of 2026, the fact that the base model starts at 128 GB is somewhat stingy, especially if we are talking about a Pro mobile that records in 8K. 💡 BUY IT IF… You come from a Pixel 7 or 8, since the jump in battery and efficiency is brutal, something that you will not notice if you come from the previous model. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… If you are eager for fast charging, this mobile phone will fall short, since it is still anchored in a 30 W wired charging. While other mobile phones charge to 100% in 20 minutes, the Pixel needs more than an hour. The best accessories for this Google Pixel 10 Pro Pixelsnap Case for Google Pixel 10 Pro The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel Buds 2a – Wireless earbuds The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Álex Alcolea (Xataka) and Google In Xataka | Mega-guide to set up a home theater: projector, screen, sound system and more In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended models from 140 euros

Europe has reached the end of winter with depleted gas reserves. A country has a model to save it: Spain

by

This winter, which is coming to an end, is being colder than expected, something that as we have seen has caused havoc. Without going any further, there have been planes that have not been able to fly due to lack of antifreeze. If we talk about gas for heating, storage has also reached red numbers: the Netherlands has a reserve of approximately 12%, Germany and France are around 21%, according to AGSI data. In this low-minimum scenario, there are two countries that deviate from the norm: Spain and Portugal, with reserves of 56.87% and 76.7%, respectively. Of course, the difference in capacity is abysmal: 3.57 TWh for the first and 35.9 TWh for the second. It is not a coincidence: it is that the Spanish state has a particular infrastructure that has led it to this point. The context. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in 2022 accelerated the independence of the old continent from Russian gas. Among the measures from Brussels, an emergency rule by which all EU member states had to start the winter with their gas reserves at 90% to ensure supply. However, in 2025 the EU decided to maintain that 90% target. but relaxing the norm to optimize costs. This greater flexibility together with a harsher than expected winter has brought an end to winter with reserves that are at their lowest in the last five years. The harsh European winter. In mid-January, deposits fell below 50%. If the winter ends with a capacity of 30%, Europe will have to inject 60 billion cubic meters of gas. To get an idea, approximately the annual gas consumption of all of Germany. In short, Europe has to refill its tanks in the summer and it will need a lot of imported gas to do so, which means go out into the market and face other competitors and the logistics of bringing it here in an increasingly complicated geopolitical scenario. The Spanish strategy. The Spanish gas storage system is based on two pillars: underground storage and LNG regasification. The second leg is providential, insofar as it is where Spain makes the difference and, furthermore, It is a powerhouse. In fact, Spain owns 35% of all LNG storage capacity in the EU, how Sedigas collects. Its enormous regasification capacity enables diversification of origin, with USA as first supplier with 44.4% of the total gas and another 15 different countries later, according to Enagás data. Spain has an infrastructure of seven plants that makes it possible to receive LNG ships from different sources, thus ensuring supply in case any mishap (technical problems, conflicts, political decisions) fails. Spain started the winter making decisions. Although the previous strategy gives it an advantage over other member states, Spain adopted a conservative strategy When facing this winter 25/26, adjusting to concentrate reserves in January and February, the coldest and with the most demand. A management decision to not waste that cushion prematurely. He was absolutely right: in January gas consumption rose 10.2% compared to the previous year, with a 30% increase in that destined to generate electricity because renewables contributed less than expected. Spain plays in another league. Thanks to its infrastructure, Spain no longer only consumes gas: it re-exports it. It has become a hub for redistributing gas to Europe as a kind of energy logistics platform, providing geopolitical and economic value to a state that, due to its geographical location, is isolated (which, for example, in the electrical field plays tricks on him) Is there real risk? While it is true that widespread shortages are not expected, there are localized risks in Europe. As summarizes El Economista, Spain has precedents of similar levels, such as 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, where supply was not compromised. Of course, we will have to see what happens with the demand for LNG in summer globally, because it could make European replenishment significantly more expensive. In any case, Spain will get to that moment better than most. The scenario is not very rosy at the moment, precisely, with the Strait of Hormuz closed and the diplomatic crisis between Spain and the US, its main supplier. In Xataka | Europe believed it had won the gas war against Russia. Now it faces a much more uncomfortable reality: its dependence on the United States. In Xataka | The gas market becomes unpredictable: we have tanks full and ships on the way, but the price remains an enigma Cover | Pronor

In the middle of Valentine’s week, strawberries have reached figures never seen before in half of Europe. The problem is not love, it is Spain

by

Hearts, chocolate, bouquets of flowers and pink decorations everywhere: Valentine’s week is synonymous with many things, but above all with crazy prices. What was not expected in half of Europe is that strawberries were going to rise so much. And when I say ‘so much’, it’s ‘so much’. What happened to the strawberries? The peak in demand is predictable: every year, coinciding with Valentine’s week, the demand for strawberries skyrockets. And, furthermore, it is a very inelastic demand: since it is a “special” day, people continue buying them “almost” independently of the price. That has not changed in 2026: what has changed is that the supply has suffered a huge shock. A shock called Spain and Portugal: And more specifically its meteorology. If the frosts of a few years ago caused the shortage of red peppers throughout the European continentthe historic rainfall in recent months has reduced strawberry production, its quality and shelf life to almost historic lows. To give us an idea of ​​the collapse: in Huelva, production has fallen by half compared to 2025. And despite efforts to catch up, production is 38% below from that of the 24/25 campaign. This has meant that strawberries are arriving in the Netherlands at 5.83 per kilo and in France at 6.44. The problem naked. In this case, the problem is that Europe depends completely on Huelva and, in recent decades, it has not been able to do anything to avoid it. Huelva producers have demonstrated an impressive capacity to produce with very high quality at very low prices. That (and the constant rise in production) has meant that no one can build a parallel agribusiness. The problem is that the climate becomes increasingly volatile, the ‘security’ of the Andalusian countryside decreases. and this episode has only confirmed it. What’s behind the story. So what is hidden behind the strawberries at seven euros per kilo in a market in Alicante is the story of the loss of hegemony of one of the most solid and refined economic pillars in southern Europe. That is to say, while strawberries are on their way to becoming an ‘ultra-luxury’ product, Andalusia’s competitive advantage is fading. Are a giant with feet of clay. Image | Alba Otero In Xataka | Spain’s problem with its supermarkets: Huelva strawberries are now cheaper in Germany

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.