reaches

The most powerful solar installation in the world is in the Pyrenees, it reaches 3,500 °C and is not a power plant

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In the middle of summer and with the heat wave upon us, frying an egg on the hood of a car parked in the sun is a reality that gives us an idea of ​​the thermal potential of the sun. But that sensation falls far short of what happens in the heart of the French Pyrenees: there, a building embedded in the side of a mountain concentrates sunlight until it becomes a source of artificial heat so intense that it would be capable of melting steel. The great solar oven. It is the Odeillo solar oven, in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, and it is one of the two largest and most powerful installations of this type in the world along with that of Parkent, in Uzbekistan. The most striking thing about the installation is the colossal curved mirror measuring 54 meters and 48 meters wide that is integrated, composed of 9,000 facets. This design has a reason for being: it concentrates sunlight up to 10,000 times its natural intensitywhich allows you reach temperatures of between 3,300 and 3500°Caccording to data from the facility’s operating laboratoryPROMES-CNRS. The system combines two optical elements: a field of 63 motorized flat mirrors that follow the path of the sun and constantly return its light to a large fixed parabolic reflector with a surface area of ​​1,830 square meters. All that light converges on a focal tower, that point barely 40 centimeters in diameter where it develops a thermal power of one megawatt. The Odeillo installation. Philipendula via Wikimedia Context. The origin of the Odeillo solar oven dates back to the 1940s, when the chemist Félix Trombe, who at that time He was director of the Meudon rare earth laboratorymanages to concentrate sunlight with a reused anti-aircraft defense mirror. In 1949 the first prototype is built in the citadel of Mont-Louis, just over 10 kilometers from Odeillo. After several increasingly powerful attempts, between 1962 and 1968 is built the current oven. Its location was chosen with complete intention: the French Cerdanya offers a high number of sunny days per year and an atmosphere of great optical purity at altitude, ideal conditions to minimize radiation losses. In figures. Throughout the article we have broken down some of the most impressive numerical data of this solar oven, which we condense here: Main reflector height: 54 meters Parabolic mirror area: 1,925 square meters Rated thermal power: 1 megawatt Maximum temperature: 3,500 °C Solar concentration factor: 10,000 times normal solar radiation Why is it important. Because this oven has been in operation since 1969 and constitutes the first serious attempt towards the large-scale exploitation of solar energy for industrial purposes, long before the today so common solar plants existed. Although pioneering, its function is more research than energy. Thus, it paved the way for one of the first solar tower plants on the planet, that of Thémis in the early 1980s. Today it has essentially two applications: the study and manufacture of materials resistant to extreme conditions with applications such as the aeronautical industry and the development of solar fuels. A recent example: Sunfuela research project that uses heat from the solar furnace to produce alternative fuels by heating metal oxides to generate gases that are then converted into clean fuels. Yes, but. Taking into account its figures and the fact that it is 50 years old, the Odeillo solar oven is a true engineering prodigy and the precursor of the solar energy boom that we are experiencing. Of course, it is worth remembering that it is not an electricity generation plant: it does not produce electricity significantly nor is it part of the current renewable mix. As for its comparison with Parkent, both are the only two theoretical 1,000 kW solar ovens in the world, with similar focus temperatures. Of course, Odeillo wins in real power: although the Uzbek park has a slightly larger mirror (1,840 square meters compared to 1,830), its lower altitude (1,050 m compared to 1,600 m) reduces the available solar intensity, limiting its useful power to 700 kW compared to Odeillo’s 1,000 kW, according to SolarPACES. In Xataka | Macron believes that Spain has “a problem” with renewables. What it really means is that they are “competition” In Xataka | The wind industry has been dreaming for years of a turbine that can be assembled without concrete or machinery. France has said ‘hold my cubata’ Cover | Rabatakeu

3.5 kilometers over the Guadalquivir and a height that no other bridge in Europe reaches

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Seville is going to have the longest road bridge in Spain and, most likely, the largest in all of Europe. The most interesting thing of all is that the project already has an official green light and until approved budget. What is missing, as usually happens in these macroprojects, is time. Decades without solution. The SE-40 ring road has been a pending issue in Seville for years. Of the 75 kilometers planned, only 38 are in service today. The section that was missing (and that was the most difficult) is precisely the one that must cross the Guadalquivir to the southwest of the city, between Dos Hermanas and Coria del Río. As long as this situation continues, traffic continues to be diverted to the SE-30, a road where traffic accumulates daily and for which the SE-40 was born, precisely, as a solution. It took a while to start. For almost two decades, the project has been paralyzed because no agreement was reached on whether to opt for a subfluvial tunnel through the Guadalquivir or build a bridge. The tunnel option ended up being discarded due to its enormous technical difficulty and exorbitant cost. Furthermore, according to point El Confidencial, the failure of that plan left consequences such as a tunnel boring machine valued at 37 million euros that was stored unused for more than a decade and ended up being sold for just 1.8 million. So the Ministry of Transportation ended up opting for the bridge solution, approving the project last November. The bridge traces the Dos Hermanas–Palomares–Coria del Río section, is 5,069 kilometers long and has an estimated budget of 688.11 million euros (VAT included). ORn pillarless cable-stayed bridge across the river. Perhaps the most outstanding element of the complex is a cable-stayed bridge whose central span, 366 meters of lightwill avoid the Guadalquivir without supporting any pile within the channel. This decision aims to protect the riverside vegetation and the Special Conservation Area of ​​the Bajo Guadalquivir, also guaranteeing that large boats can cross it. The total of viaducts add up to approximately 3.5 kilometers in length. A record gauge. The minimum vertical clearance over the river is 70.80 meters. It was a figure required by the Port Authority of Seville so that the bridge does not interfere with maritime traffic towards the river port. According to the newspaperthe current European champion in vertical clearance is the Puente de la Constitución of 1812, in the Bay of Cádiz, with 69 meters. This new bridge aims to surpass it, which would place it among the bridges with the largest clearance on the entire continent. ANDThe longest road viaduct in Spain. The Constitution Bridge of 1812, known as the La Pepa Bridge, measures 3,092 meters and has held the national length record since its inauguration in 2015. The set of viaducts on the SE-40 will total approximately 3.5 kilometers, according to collect The Vanguard. Two records in one. When can it be used? There is still no official date for the start of works or opening to traffic. According to the mediathe Government’s forecasts suggest that the works could last until 2030 or 2031. El Diario points out that the tender for the central structure of the bridge would not take place before January 2027. To give context, the Pepa bridge took about eight years to build, so it looks like there is still some distance left. When the southern arch of the SE-40 is closed, several key highways will be connected (A-4, A-92, A-376, A-8058 and A-49) that today do not have a direct link to each other in the south of Seville. It remains to be seen how the project progresses. Cover image | Recreation of the Ministry of Transportation (climbing with Upscayl) In Xataka | Building tunnels is very good, but in China there are regions that are doing other things: cutting mountains in half

the Mediterranean reaches 20 degrees and today a DANA is going to show us what it means

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Let’s start at the beginning: what is going to happen today in Castellón is something completely ordinary. A DANA coming down from the Cantabrian Sea and discharging water over the interior and coast of Castellón, perhaps some hail and intense gusts of wind. The extraordinary thing is everything else, everything that surrounds it: the warmest April in decades, the Mediterranean with a ‘heat wave’ at the beginning of May and the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen in the coming years. What we do know is what is going to happen now. Because, as I said, the DANA was located on the Cantabrian Sea and has been moving towards the east. The point is that the most unstable sector of this DANA spreads today over the north of Castellón. Once there, the DANA, the surface winds and a steep orography facing southeast force the rise of humid air from the Mediterranean. That is the recipe for potentially very intense convective nuclei in inland regions. By Wednesday or Thursday the situation will improve. As I say, a priori, it is nothing exceptional… Although we normally associate DANAs with autumn, the truth is that spring is also a time when they are abundant. What makes this event worth studying is the context that surrounds it. …except for one thing. At the end of April, anomalies of 2 to 3 degrees were recorded in the Gulf of Valencia, the area around the Balearic Islands and Catalonia. A fact that summarizes all this: the Sa Dragonera buoy It touched 20 degrees on April 26while the average for the Balearic Sea in April is 14.9. A warmer Mediterranean in spring is equivalent to more moisture available in the lower troposphere. When there is a contribution of cold air at altitude, that moisture becomes fuel: greater convective instability and more intense rains in less time. This is the problem. While AEMET maintains the yellow noticethere is no reason to assume more danger than expected. However, it is true that it is increasingly difficult to rule out torrential accumulations in any month of the year. The question is not whether it will rain a lot or not, the question is that DANAs arise on a Mediterranean different from the one that served as a reference to build our infrastructures and our warning thresholds. Image | BenBaso In Xataka | There are meteorologists who are already comparing El Niño of 2027 with that of 1877, a catastrophic event that wiped out 4% of the population

TVs have not stopped growing. LG now has a range that reaches 115 inches, although the key lies elsewhere

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If anyone had doubts about where the television market is moving, just look at the size of the models that are gaining ground in stores and in catalogs. We have been seeing inches rise relentlessly for years, and the data reinforces that impression. The size of TVs in Europe has been growing at an average rate of 1.2 inches per year. Therefore, when a brand like LG now shows a 115-inch TVwhat we see is not an isolated extravagance, but the most recent expression of a very clear trend. The South Korean brand has presented its new QNED evo Mini LED 2026 range in Europe, a family with which it wants to reinforce its presence in the high-end LCD/LED televisions. We are not talking about a single eye-catching model, but rather a line designed to cover different sizes and uses within the home. So we see a movement that does not seem to be limited to a market trend, but rather to turn it into a broader product proposition. Not everything in this range revolves around size If the size is the first thing that catches your attention, the technical sheet is what really supports the discourse of this range. According to LG, the new QNED evo Mini LED 2026 are based on Dynamic QNED Color Proin Precision Dimming Ultra technology and in the Alpha 8 Gen 3 processor to elevate color, brightness and contrast, especially on large diagonals. The underlying idea is clear: that the image does not lose strength as the panel grows. The company also adds features such as AI Super Upscaling, AI Picture Pro and Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro, while the sound is in the hands of AI Sound Pro, which promises a virtual 11.1.2 channel experience from the integrated speakers. All this technical deployment is not fully understood until we bring it down to real use. LG presents this range as a proposal designed for those who want to set up a more versatile system at home, whether to watch movies, follow sports or play games. This includes features such as VRR support up to 165 Hz on the 115-inch model, AMD FreeSync Premium, ALLM and a Motion Booster that, according to the brand, can reach 330 Hz on compatible models. On paper, these are serious credentials for anyone looking for fluidity and quick response, although the final experience will depend, as always, on how these televisions perform outside of the release. LG presents this range as a proposal designed for those who want to set up a more versatile system at home, whether to watch movies, follow sports or play games. But if we have learned anything in recent years, it is that a TV no longer plays everything on the panel. It also matters, and quite a bit, what happens when we start moving through its menus, its recommendations and its day-to-day functions. This is where webOS 26 comes in, the platform with which LG accompanies this new range and on which it mounts tools such as Voice ID to recognize profiles, AI Concierge to launch contextual suggestions and functions such as Sports Portal or Sports Alert to follow matches, schedules and results without leaving the ecosystem. Add to that multi-AI capabilities powered by Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. It is also convenient to place this family in its context, because here we are not facing the highest proposal in the entire catalog of the house. Within LG, the QNED evo Mini LED 2026 line is placed in the high range of LCD/LED televisions, just one step below OLED, which continues to be its great premium showcase. That nuance matters because it helps understand what the brand is trying to do with this renewal: offer an ambitious alternative for those who want large screens, advanced functions and a clearly premium profile without necessarily entering the OLED field. Furthermore, the range is not reduced to a single format, but is deployed in various models and diagonals to adapt to different living rooms. However, there is an important part of this story that remains open. LG has said that Spanish users will be able to access this range in the coming months, but for now the new QNED evo Mini LED 2026 line It does not yet appear in the LG Spain catalog. This means that we still have no official prices and no more specific commercial date for our market. What this announcement does make clear is the direction that the South Korean firm wants to take: accompany the growth of inches with a proposal loaded with technical arguments. The rest, including their real reception, will begin to be measured when these televisions can be truly purchased. Images | LG In Xataka | Blue was the problem: how PHOLED technology can end burn-in on OLED screens

The “bubble” of the eclipse parties reaches Spain and Iceland

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Next August 12 a long-awaited phenomenon will take place: the first of the three eclipses that make up what many have already dubbed the Iberian trio. In three consecutive years, a solar eclipse will be seen from Spain. Those of 2026 and 2027 will be total eclipses, while that of 2028 will be annular. Be that as it may, it is a statistically improbable event, which excites both astronomy lovers and the general population. That’s why many people have chosen to see it at such imaginative events as music and art festivals designed around the eclipse. The eclipses will not be seen equally in all parts of Spain. For example, in 2026 totality will only be reached in a strip that goes from the north of Galicia to almost all of the Balearic Islands, passing through Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, the north of Castilla y León and the Valencian Community, La Rioja, and a part of the Basque Country, Navarra, Madrid, Aragon, Catalonia and Castilla la Mancha. In the rest of Spain it will be seen only partially. Therefore, since the famous sunset of solar eclipses will only be experienced in places where totality is reached, Many of the lucky localities are already preparing events to welcome the eclipse. These are events for the local population, but also for tourists. The emptied Spain will be less empty than ever and tourists will forget about the most typical destinations for a few days to travel to places to which they perhaps would not have traveled under other circumstances. Many hotels have been there for months due to the influx of people who will travel to observe the eclipse outdoors, without many more pretensions. However, there are also those who plan to attend what is possibly the most special festival of their lives. The most unexpected festivals around the eclipse The 2026 eclipse won’t be too long. In Spain, the places where totality lasts the longest They will barely enjoy more than a minute of darkness. Still, multi-day festivals have been planned, with musical performances, scientific talks, workshops and, of course, viewing the eclipse at the appropriate time. These are some of the most striking. Eclipse Festival, in Prades. In this town of Tarragona you will only enjoy 51 seconds of totality. Even so, between August 10 and 13 its Astronomical Park will celebrate a festival with music, workshops, conferences, observations, shows, telescopes and a planetarium. It will also be an ideal time to observe the Perseids. EclipsaFest, in Aldea Santillana. This small village in the also small town of Manjirón, in Madrid, will have 1 minute and 15 seconds of totality. In your case it will be a simpler observation, without the rest of the incentives of a festival, but it will very big. It will only be held on August 12 and admission will cost 147 euros for adults and 117 for children, with a welcome pack that includes glasses and the possibility of guided observation. Playabout Radio Festivalin Ibiza. In Ibiza they will have 1 minute and 6 seconds of eclipse and They will celebrate it as they know best. Accompanied by house and techno music, which will last from August 10 to 14. Umbra Festival, in Agolada. This town in Pontevedra will take advantage of the Brocos Reservoir, which is actually a reservoir, to celebrate a 3 day festival in which visitors will enjoy techno and minimalist music. Of course, also the eclipse, although in this case totality will be fleeting, lasting only 34 seconds. Admission costs 62 euros. Iberia Eclipse Festival, in Vinuesa. In Soria, next to the Duero River, this festival will be celebrated which will consist of four scenarios spread across the hillside and the forest, as well as a camping area and pre-installed tents. For 5 days, attendees, who will have paid an entrance fee of 240 euros, will enjoy music, workshops and a wellness area, which will include yoga, meditation, massages, swimming experiences in nature and art exhibitions. Astral Plane, at the La Pinilla Mountain Station. In this Segovian station you will enjoy the minute and a half of totality in the middle of a set by Detroit techno artist Kevin Saunderson. Admission costs 175 euros. Sizigia Eclipse Meeting, in Alcalá de Gurrea. This town in Huesca has also chosen a reservoir to observe the eclipse in its vicinity, whose totality will last only 40 seconds. Even so, attendees will enjoy 5 days of underground music, among other activities. Admission costs 262 euros, and with an extra fee you can add accommodation in a tipi camp. Also in Iceland Iceland will have its own eclipse viewing events. There, in fact, there will be points where totality can be seen for more than 2 minutes. But perhaps because the weather is less favorable or because Icelanders have a less festive spirit, there will not be as many options to choose from. Some of the most interesting will be the hellissander festivalwhich will include live music and TED talks, and the Grindavíkurbær Blue Lagoonwhich will be held in a spa. Attendees will be able to see the eclipse in an idyllic setting, but they will have to pay 750 euros. The price includes a two-course meal, two drinks, a robe, towel and glasses to view the eclipse. Seeing this, Spanish festivals even seem cheap. Image | NASA and Alfonso Scarpa In Xataka | The trio of eclipses that await Spain on the horizon: an unprecedented and historic chain between 2026 and 2028

Japan’s madness with garbage reaches the point that, in some areas, they separate it into 45 different categories. And, despite everything, it recycles half as much as Spain

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At the end of the 90s, the thousand or so residents of Kamikatsu (a small town in the Japanese prefecture of Tokushima) became a question that would change them forever: “Why do we generate so much waste?” The response led them to be the first Japanese municipality to declare themselves ‘zero waste’, to sell garbage cans and to ask their neighbors to separate their waste into 45 different categories. Waste that they carry themselves to the local clean point. One sees this and can only ask one question: have these Japanese gone crazy? And the answer is neither “yes” nor “no”: it is both at the same time. Why are we talking about this? As often happens lately, everything starts with a video. A tiktoker who resides in Japan (@nuriape_) has shown how what apparently is “jack, knight and king” works: the garbage system. And the truth is that it is curious: each building has its own waste area. The one in the video is quite broad and, as he explains, super strict. In addition, much of the processing is done by neighbors: things like cleaning the bottles and depositing them in places other than the caps or leaving the cardboard perfectly folded are part of the process. The collection, it seems, is daily. Now that the new waste rates have returned to waste management to the public debate in our country, the question is… is the Japanese system, in addition to being striking, effective? How does the Japanese waste system work? Since ’97, Japanese laws require separating glass, PET and cardboard. However, over time, the situation has become more and more complex. And, today, the collection categories range from nine in the “less advanced” municipalities to 45 in many areas of the country. And no, it is not optional: if you do not separate the garbage correctly, it will not be collected and that’s it. A garbage collection machine. As a result of these almost three decades of social pedagogy, the country of the rising sun is a well-oiled machine in terms of citizen separation and collection logistics. The problem is, well, it doesn’t help much either. Because collecting is not recycling. And Japan is the best example: its actual recycling rate is surprisingly low. While Spain (with an infinitely less obsessive system) recycles around 39%, Japan is around 20%. It is not that in our country we are here to “shoot rockets”: According to EU plans, we should be around 55% since last year. However, there is something we are doing better than Japan just as there are things we are doing worse. No overflowing containers. That’s perhaps what works best in Japan. Faced with the unequal Spanish management (because they depend on municipalities and councils), the Japanese system prioritizes segmented daily collection, precise calendars and logistical inflexibility. In addition, they also incorporate things that work in the rest of Europe and Spanish legislation contemplates, but almost no one implements: payment per garbage bag. Something that encourages waste reduction and inherently improves the system’s capacity. On the other hand, Spain does interesting things (whether they work better or worse): the main thing perhaps is that the system extends responsibility to producers. What we have in common. While Japan has a hyperdependence on incineration (75% of its garbage ends up burned), Spain has a hyperdependence on landfills (50% ends up buried), we both share a problem with single-use plastics. It is true that Japan is much more worrying (it is the world’s second largest producer of plastic packaging waste per capita), but we both have to think about the matter. Image | Jonas Gerlach In Xataka | We have been thinking for decades that plastic recycling was worth something. Maybe we were wrong

Employment among those over 65 triples and reaches the maximum in the historical series. There is a good reason: retirement

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The labor market in Spain has recorded several notable milestones in recent months: record contributions, lowest unemployment rate in decades and recovery of youth employment. However, the last annualized EPA data They hide a story that goes beyond global figures. According to Annual average data for 2025 published this week by the INE, the employment rate among those over 65 has reached its historical maximum, and the reason is not that older Spaniards have discovered a sudden love for work. There is something structural behind it that deserves a closer look. An aging workforce. The aging of the population in Spain, and the changes in the pension system that were approved in the 2011 reform, are quietly but very significantly redrawing the Spanish labor map. What a decade ago seemed like a statistical anomaly has today become a consolidated trend with direct consequences on the future and viability of public pensions. The EPA data of the fourth quarter of 2025 indicate that at the end of the year there were 4,926,300 employed people over 55 years of age in Spain. This represents a growth of 23.3% in this age range since the 2022 labor reform, compared to the 11.3% average increase recorded by the rest of the ages. But the most striking thing is that the employment rate among those over 65 years of age has tripled compared to the levels of a decade ago, with 14.25% for men between 65 and 69 years old and 12.29% for women in the same age group, compared to the 5% that was registered in 2015. The employment rate for men between 60 and 64 years old is around 58% in 2025. highest since the early 1980s. All this used to be retirement. What largely explains this rebound in employment among the population over 65 years of age is not a greater demand for experienced workers, but rather the progressive delay in the legal retirement age. In 2026, the legal age for access ordinary retirement For those who have less than 38 years and 3 months of contributions it is 66 years and 10 months. This displacement forces many people to remain active beyond the age of 65 at which they could previously retire. Howeverthe report ‘Quarterly Labor Market Observatory‘ prepared by Fedea and BBVA Research confirms that the increase in senior membership is mainly due to the aging of the population and the delay of retirement agewhich often responds to the need to continue working due to financial difficulties. Staying in the job market at that age is not easy. However, although the data points to record percentages compared to historical figures, the reality is that their employment situation is not a bed of roses. a study of the BBVA and Ivie Foundation has revealed that those over 55 years of age register for the first time an unemployment rate of 9.8%, exceeding the unemployment rate of the group of people between 25 and 54 years of age. Furthermore, six out of ten unemployed of that age group They are long-term unemployed, a percentage that triples that of young people between 16 and 24 years old. The data depict a labor market in which workers over 55 years of age they lose their jobs a decade before their retirement age, and must survive throughout that time either with temporary employment, or in a situation of chronic unemployment due to lack of opportunities. At the other extreme, the employment rate of 14.2% shows those who have managed to stay afloat or get out of that hole. The pension system, the backdrop. Behind all these figures there is a reality that economists have been pointing out for years: the pension system needs people to work longer. to be sustainable. The reforms have been moving incentives in that direction, tightening the requirements for early retirement with greater pension reduction coefficientsand with a progressive increase in the necessary years of contributions. The result is what the data is already showing: there are more and more people who cannot retire at age 65 and must extend their working life until age 67 (effective in 2027) to access their retirement pension. In Xataka | What is the regulatory base: how it is calculated in 2026 with examples Image | Unsplash (Matt Bennett)

This 65-inch TV drops (again) and reaches a historic low price with which you can set up your home theater without spending a lot

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For those who enjoy watching movies, series (or even football and other sports) at home and are thinking about taking the leap to do it in a big way, Hisense has a very interesting 65-inch TV. It is about the Hisense 65E63QT which stands out in features, but now also in price, since on Amazon, it has reached its all-time low: 359 euros. Hisense 65E63QT – UHD 4K, Smart TV 65 Inch The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A TV with which you can set up your own home theater will not be expensive For some time now, Hisense has been one of those firms that are surprising us with their smart TVs with a moderate price and good features and this model is a good example of this. For those looking to set up their own home theater, what is most striking is its panel 65 inch VA. This offers 4K UHD resolution and 178º viewing angles. Although it is also characterized by being compatible with image formats such as Dolby Vision and HDR10. In the audio section, on the other hand, its two speakers offer an RMS power of 14W and are compatible with DTS-X and Dolby Audio. Integrate the voice assistant Alexa and works under the operating system VIDAA (version 8.5). It also works for gaming, since it integrates a Game Plus mode and comes with a good connectivity section, since it has Bluetooth, WiFi, two USB-A ports, headphone output and three HDMI 2.1 ports. You may also be interested in these accessories for this TV PERLESMITH Tilting and Rotating Articulated Wall TV Stand The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Hisense HS3100 – Sound Bar 3.1 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 | Hisense In Xataka | Best home theater projectors. Which one to buy and five recommended models from 299 to 18,000 euros In Xataka | Mega-guide to set up a home theater: projector, screen, sound system and more

start a purge if it reaches 9.5 million inhabitants

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The idea of ​​drastically limiting immigration to Switzerland is neither a recent anomaly nor a passing eccentricity, but the reemergence of a fear deeply rooted in its political and social history, visible already in the seventies with the initiatives of James Schwarzenbach and the concept from Uberfremdung. That’s why the last idea is not surprising, although it is scary. The fear that returns in cycles. Last year I remembered it in a great report of the Vanguard. That climate of identity anguish of the 1970s, fueled by the rapid economic growth and the massive arrival of foreign workers, left a lasting mark: the conviction that the State had to actively protect the demographic and moral composition of the country, an obsession that never completely disappeared and that reappears strongly in moments of pressure or perceived saturation. From immigration to the population limit. The current proposal goes a step beyond the classic debates on quotas or visas and directly proposes a kind of dystopia: a population cap total, set at around 10 million inhabitants, with a first alert threshold in the 9.5 million. In practice, this approach turns immigration into a variable to cut almost automatically if the country continues to grow, without distinguishing between refugees, skilled workers or highly paid managers, and opens the door to a policy that prioritizes the total number of residents over economic or humanitarian needs. Caught up in their own success. The background of the initiative is a paradox that is difficult to resolve: Switzerland is one of the countries more prosperous in the world, with a dynamic economy, global companies and salaries much higher than those of its neighbors, and precisely that success has made it a magnet for immigration. He population growth of the last decade, driven almost entirely by arrival of foreignershas fueled the perception that the quality of life deteriorates through of skyrocketing rentssaturated infrastructure and congested public transportation, although these same immigrants support key sectors of the labor market. The staggered “purge.” Thus we arrive at an approach without half measures. The plan promoted by the Swiss People’s Party introduces a progressive logic which is more reminiscent of an emergency switch than a classic immigration policy. Yeah is overcome that threshold of 9.5 millionthe first restrictions would fall about asylum seekers and family reunification. Not only that. If 10 million are reached, Switzerland would withdraw from international treaties considered “population boosters” (as the proposal states) and, as a last resort, it would abandon the free movement agreement with the European Union, a move that would have profound consequences on residence rights of millions of Europeans and about the Swiss access to the single market. The clash with reality. A good part of the business community and the large economic lobbies warn that this strategy would have a high costfrom a shortage of hundreds of thousands of workers to an accelerated aging of society and a loss of competitiveness structural. Although defenders of the initiative they promise compensation In the form of lower rents and less pressure on the welfare state, the absence of detailed studies and the weight of trade with the EU raise fears that the cure is more harmful than the disease. Discomfort amplifier. Unlike other European countries, Switzerland channels this type of tensions through referendums frequent, which allows latent concerns to quickly become concrete political proposals, no matter how Orwellian that they seem This characteristic explains why ideas that in other places would remain in the media debate, or even that, end up being voted on there, but it also makes the country in a laboratory where it measures the extent to which a society is willing to sacrifice growth and openness in the name of identity, control and perceived stability. Europe watches. Many media outlets in the country have gone one step furtheranticipating the activation of the plan and projecting what it would mean for the old continent. A rhetoric that tells that the Swiss debate anticipate discussions that already appear in other countries, where immigration continues to gain political weight while the traditional parties try to contain the extreme right through cordons sanitaire that do not always reduce their appeal. The Swiss experience points to a disturbing approach, to say the least: that ignoring or disqualifying discomfort does not eliminate it, and that the question is not so much whether there should be immigration, but at what pace and on what scale. In that sense, the possibility of a demographic “purge” Switzerland is not just a national decision, but a warning sign about the direction some European democracies could take if they fail to reconcile prosperity, social cohesion and political legitimacy. Image | Ruth Georgiev, IToldYa In Xataka | Switzerland has been a refuge for great fortunes for decades. Now he is debating taxing heirs In Xataka | Millionaires are changing their countries of residence in 2024. These are their new destinations explained in a graphic

When the sky throws lightning, but the rain never reaches the ground

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These are not your feelings: this summer’s storms have been more brutal and destructive than ever. AND AEMET data says so. But to understand it well, we have to go one step further: we have to understand what is perhaps one of the key elements of the current enormous problem, dry storms. What are dry storms Luis Marina a storm It is, in essence, a crash, an impact, a violent ‘argument’ between two air masses with different temperatures and pressures. The warm, humid air rises quickly and this generates atmospheric disturbances accompanied by electrical discharges (lightning and thunder), strong winds and precipitation of rain, snow or hail. However, sometimes, even though the storm does contain moisture in the upper levels of the atmosphere, it’s not raining. There are lightning bolts, there are angry winds, there are clouds of great vertical development; but there is no precipitation that reaches the ground. We call that dry storm. Characteristics of dry storms As we said, the main characteristic of this type of storm is electrical activity (lightning and thunder) without significant precipitation on the surface. However, explaining the process and its characteristics is a little more complicated: It’s not that it doesn’t rain, it’s that the precipitation evaporates before hitting the ground. This occurs because these droplets pass through a layer of very warm and dry air. It is what is known, in technical terms, ‘virga’. For obvious reasons, it usually forms in arid, desert environments or during extreme heat waves. If the air in contact with the ground is exceptionally dry, the probability of evaporation in the fall increases. None of this has to do with its electrical activity, which is a lot. If these types of storms attract attention for something, it is the amount of thunder and lightning that develop. And if they are worrying for anything, it is because of the downward gusts of wind (caused by this rain evaporation process) that very dangerously increase the risk of fires. How a dry storm forms In reality, there is nothing strange about dry storms. They are, for all intents and purposes, normal storms. The “strange” thing is what happens on the ground: high temperatures and low humidity that favor the evaporation of rain. This simplifies things because the process is identical to that of any conventional thunderstorm: unstable air, sufficient humidity at high and mid levels, and a rising mechanism (intense heat, in this case). Everything else, including precipitation generation, is very similar. Relationship between dry storms and fires Max Larochelle Let’s not beat around the bush: the relationship between dry storms and wildfires is direct and dangerous. In fact, these types of storms are one of the main causes (unintentional) of fires. What’s more, due to the meteorological conditions that characterize them (dryness, heat, etc…), these types of events also facilitate the rapid spread of fire. You don’t have to be very imaginative: electrical activity without precipitation, low humidity, very high temperatures and strong (and gusty) winds are the perfect recipe for a macrofire. How to detect a dry storm A dry storm can be sensed by the presence of electrical activity without significant rain on land. But, as with almost everything in meteorology, to have an overview you need lightning detectors, weather radars (especially Doppler) and satellites. Consequences of dry storms David Moum The main consequences of this type of storm are also the most dangerous: fires. Its structural characteristics entail a high risk of forest fire (the combination of intense electrical activity and lack of rain) and, if that were not enough, promote the rapid spread of fire. Not in vain, the atmospheric conditions associated with dry storms (high temperatures, low relative humidity and strong gusts of wind) create a favorable environment for an incipient fire to spread at high speed and become uncontrollable. The main consequence of dry storms is, in short, to verify again and again that we do not have enough capacity for stop today’s fires. Image | NICOLA In Xataka | What are sixth generation fires: the megafires that create their own weather

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