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Someone has created the website “is AI profitable anymore?” to answer the question of our time in real time

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There is a website called “Is AI Profitable Yet?” whose sole mission is to answer one of the most important—and most uncomfortable—questions of today’s technology industry: does artificial intelligence make money anymore? The visual response It is absolutely forceful: The short answer is a priori a big NO, but be careful, because that answer is in a certain sense misleading. The graph effectively shows how the companies that are building frontier models are burning money like there’s no tomorrowand they all spend much more than they earn. The four that appear with long red bars (expenses) and very short green bars (income) are precisely the companies that are betting almost everything on the future of AI. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta They have not stopped increasing their capex (capital expenditures) in recent years, and that logically means that their accounts are in the red. In fact, the announcements of these “hyperscalers” in their latest financial results have not only failed to soften that capex, but have driven it even further. The combined capex of these technology companies by 2026 is expected to amount to $725 billion, 25% of all world military spending. But the message of “everyone is losing money” is dangerous, because what all these companies are doing is investing in your future although when doing so they are running out of cash flow. There are two clear examples that can alert us. Companies are spending so much on AI infrastructure that they are running out of cash flow. It’s a dangerous bet. Source: Financial Times. The first is Amazon, which did not stop losing (investing) money for years and then became the giant it is today. The second, Uber, a company to which the same thing happened: it lost (invested) money for a decade, and although it does not have the size or success of Amazon, today it is an absolute world leader in its segment. That leaves us with a clear message: Not being profitable by investing in your future is not the same as not being clear about the economic model.. And all these companies are very clear about the economic model of AI: it is to invest today to earn (a lot) tomorrow. Nvidia is the big winner, but not the only one The great irony of AI is that for now the big business does not seem to be in AI, but in selling infrastructure to those who try to do business with it. It is the same thing that happened during the gold rush in the mid-19th century in California: Those who amassed stable fortunes were not the miners who searched for goldbut those who provided them with services and tools. There are several well-known examples: Levi Strauss saw the need of tough clothing, Samuel Brannan bought all the shovels, picks and pans he could in the area, and Henry Wells and William Fargo founded the famous postal and financial services company that allowed money and supplies to be sent safely to gold seekers. Nvidia is basically doing that: (making and) selling shovels. This has caused absolutely extraordinary growth in the stock market, and in the last three years it has become the most valuable company in the world and has not stopped breaking market capitalization records. Here it must be clarified that the estimates on that website are striking, but they do not mean that these companies are in any way bankrupt. Google/Alphabet continues to make billions of dollars every quarter, and the same goes for its rivals. All those red bars don’t mean that AI is smoke: just that we’re footing the bill for the experiment. One that could go wrong, of course, but one that could also go really, really right. The phrase that best sums up this “AI fever” is what Mark Zuckerberg said a few months ago: “We’re going to invest aggressively. Even if we lost a couple hundred billion dollars it would be a bummer, but it’s better than being left behind in the race for superintelligence.” Neither Zuckerberg nor his rivals seem upset about losing $200 billion right off the bat. They certainly do not seem to wrinkle despite the fact that at the moment there is a reality on the market: AI already works technically, but What it doesn’t do is function economically. for those who invest in frontier models. Here, however, there are a couple of notable notes. The first, the fact of Anthropic apparently expects to end the quarter making moneysomething unusual and promising. The second, that this website only shows Nvidia as the winner of this AI race, but that company is by no means the only one that has managed to make gold with this technological fever. The growth of stock market memory manufacturers is extraordinary. In just one year they have multiplied their market capitalizations by up to 11. Source: Reuters. In fact, we are seeing how a large number of technology companies have grown extraordinary in recent months thanks to the demand for hardware and components such as memories. Micron. SK Hynix and Samsung are the big beneficiaries of this situation, but they are not the only ones either. These days we have seen how PC manufacturers barely grow in income from those PCs, but they are doing it with the servers. There are more winners. There are photolithography equipment manufacturers such as ASML or Applied Materials, but also electrical, liquid cooling, networking, storage companies, and of course companies specialized in data center construction. This website answers the question in a very limited way, because the AI ​​segment is not only the one in which OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, xAI or Google operate. What is happening is simply that the big business of AI is currently not where everyone thinks. AI is being very profitable. The problem is that perhaps we are looking in the wrong place. In Xataka | The problem is not spending a lot of tokens, it’s that most of them are being wasted

The horror movie of the summer is ‘Backrooms’, and its origin is so surprising that there is a rumor that its director is not real

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‘Backrooms’ premieres today in the United States (it arrives in Spain on June 5). The film, produced by the unstoppable indie A24is expected to be the horror bomb of the summer (hand in hand with the already tremendous ‘Obsession’, which is putting its hand in the face of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu‘). It has 87% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and is expected to open between $45 and $50 million, which would be the biggest debut in the studio’s history. Of course, it faces an unexpected controversy: there are those who say that its director, the very young Kane Parsons, has not really directed the film. What has happened? Days before the premiere, this unexpected rumor has circulated online: a more experienced director would have been working from the shadows. Osgood Perkins, producer of the project and director of the great ‘Longlegs‘. Mark Duplass, who stars in the film alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Finn Bennett, responded in X: “I don’t remember seeing you on set. When I was there, Kane was 100% in control. More than many directors three times his age.” The origin of ‘Backrooms’. As we already explained in detailon May 12, 2019, an anonymous user posted on /x/, the paranormal board on 4chan, a photograph without a signature or context. It looked like a kind of abandoned office: yellowish carpet and walls, fluorescent lighting… It was ridiculously disturbing. The next day someone added a description that spoke of “not clipping out of reality” (a term taken from a glitch of video games in which the player falls into a geometric void beyond the mapping), and ending up trapped in a space that extends infinitely. The backrooms They are an extreme version of what the internet calls liminal spaces: hotel hallways at three in the morning, empty waiting rooms, closed shopping centers, underground parking lots without cars… Recognizable places but stripped of their function and of the people who normally inhabit them. Just like has been explainedthese types of environments activate the same response as the phenomenon of uncanny valleybut applied to physical places. The brain identifies these spaces as known and at the same time does not know how to read them logically. Jump to the cinema. Kane Parsons was 16 years old when he posted his The Backrooms (Found Footage): nine minutes in first person with a VHS filter, in which someone was chased by a strange presence in one of these spaces. The series that followed this first video, full of secret research institutes and dimensional experiments in the eighties, exceeded 197 million views. A24 bought the rights a year later. Youth, divine treasure. One of the apparent hooks of the A24 film, the extreme youth of its director, has worked against it. The press has underlined Parsons’ youthand some conspiracy theorists consider it to be a marketing strategy. In reality, what this talks about is the current situation in Hollywood, which has produced franchised cinema for two decades in which the director is, fundamentally, a technical executor under the creative supervision of the studio. The system of great sagas has normalized the idea that a good film cannot come from the criteria of a single person, a young person without credentials. We viewers are distrustful because that is what the industrial cinema of recent years has taught us. The explanation. Parsons was born in 2005, the year YouTube launched. “YouTube, more than a cultural reference for me, has been the way I know how to do everything I know how to do,” declared. Parsons doesn’t have the kind of resume that the traditional production circuit demands, but rather his only credential is a massive audience of followers who have been reacting to his work in real time for three years. And that is capable of arousing the suspicions of anyone who is buried by the industrial machine logic of modern Hollywood. In Xataka | When a town found a dead whale on its beaches, it decided to dynamite it. 55 years later they still celebrate it

the crazy ideas of Real Madrid’s crazy elections

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On June 7, Real Madrid will hold its first presidential elections with more than one candidate since 2006. The club’s Electoral Board validated on May 24 the candidacy of Enrique Riquelme, a 37-year-old businessman from Alicante and president of the Cox energy group. Florentino Pérez will compete for the presidency for the first time since he won in the second round against Ramón Calderón two decades ago. If there are already things that sound strange in these lines alone, wait until you know the details. You have to be rich. The statutes of Real Madrid have a series of requirements to qualify for the presidency of the club: being Spanish, proving at least twenty years as a member and, above all, presenting a bank guarantee equivalent to fifteen percent of the club’s annual budget. When Florentino was re-elected without opposition in 2021, the limit already required mobilizing more than 150 million in guarantees. Since then, the budget has grown steadily. In fact, Pérez was proclaimed president in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 without any other candidate passing that procedure. Four consecutive terms, four re-elections without rival. Riquelme got it. Riquelme obtained the requirement of 180 million that was requested this year, but just barely: he gathered the guarantee just a few hours before the deadline closed. In an open letter prior to the process, the candidate had asked to extend the period for submitting candidatures and proposed “a broader process that encourages the real participation of partners.” Florentino’s response it was direct: “I don’t know that man. When they called them in 2000, I didn’t ask for more time, I showed up and won.” Riquelme, by the way, already had tried to run in the 2021 elections and withdrew his candidacy, alleging exactly the same thing, that the summer electoral calendar prevented him from preparing a worthy campaign. The 85 hectares. The true core of these elections is on an 85-hectare plot of land north of Madrid, in Valdebebas, which the club has owned since it gave up its old sports city in the Cinco Torres area so that the City Council could build other types of infrastructure. The ground is currently qualified for sports use only and is worth around five times more than it was worth before the requalification was put on the table. What Florentino wants to do. In May 2025, Florentino Pérez presented his project for that land: the Madrid Innovation District. He did it in the board room of the sports city, with the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida sitting next to him. None of the three answered questions from the media. The club published a presentation video about which little more is known than what Ayuso mentioned in his speech: 8.5 billion euros of private investment, 25,000 jobs and the ambition to turn the enclave into “one of the main technological poles in southern Europe.” The project plans to attract artificial intelligence companies, big databiotechnology, audiovisual production and e-sports, and university areas will be built in the space. You have to requalify. The municipal reclassification necessary to make the project possible was planned for approval during the first half of 2026. But the early elections for the club’s presidency, called before that process was completed, also served to allow Florentino to reach the decisive moment of the urban negotiation with the renewed mandate and without internal dissension. And then Riquelme landed. Other ideas for that floor. This May 27, Riquelme presented his project for those same hectares: the City of the Partner. The plan consists of three spaces: first, a social and sports campus with preferential access for members and clubs; then, a premium category hotel with reduced rates for traveling fans; finally, a multipurpose pavilion with 15,000 seats for basketball and concerts, which the candidate justifies as an alternative to the Canceled events at the Santiago Bernabéu. The project figures are striking. More than 745,000 square meters of total surface area, with more than 100,000 square meters built and more than 350,000 of outdoor spaces. 11 soccer fields, 41 paddle tennis and tennis courts, 6 basketball courts, an aquatic center, a central club of 22,000 square meters, an auditorium and an agora for 25,000 people. Riquelme also proposes expanding the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium to 20,000 spectators for the women’s team. Other measures. Not everything is going to be bricks: other proposals from Riquelme are to reduce the membership fees by half as long as the team does not win a Champions League and to raffle 10,000 new season tickets among current members before a notary. There is also an original proposal that the member who gives up his seat at a match will receive 70% of the sale price in cash within seven days, instead of the deferred discount on the annual fee that currently applies. Money doesn’t grow on trees. What Riquelme has not clarified is where the money comes from to raise all this. The Madison Innovation District of Florentino depends on the investment of large private companies that have not yet signed anything public, but the City of the Partner depends on something equally imprecise. Riquelme says he has been developing the project since 2021, although financing details have not been made public until now. Florentino unleashed. The day Florentino called the elections, last May 12, he also gave the most talked about press conference of the season. Pérez accused journalists of acting “in the shadows” to provoke a change in the board, assured that Barcelona had stolen seven league titles from him and ruled out having considered resignation while simultaneously calling for early elections. By presenting his own candidacy days later, was more specific regarding Riquelme: He stated that the businessman’s candidacy “is orchestrated by those who made the most sinister stage of the club.” On June 7, the conflict is resolved at the polls. The reclassification of Valdebebas, meanwhile, has no date. Whoever wins the elections will inherit … Read more

They promised us Rapunzel’s hair with very expensive cosmetics. Science says the real secret has been in your kitchen for millennia

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Mythical representations of women, whether Botticelli’s Venus, the Hindu goddess Lakshmi or the maidens of Arthurian legends, often share an unmistakable trait: long, flowing and seemingly unattainable hair. It’s easy to think that such lengths are confined to the realm of mythology, untouched by the harsh reality of split ends and frizz. However, just swipe through TikTok or Instagram to find content creators sporting hair that would rival Rapunzel herself. Many of these influencers They promise that your hair has grown at a dizzying rate thanks to a specific technique: hair oiling or hair oiling. But, faced with shelves full of exotic formulas and luxury serums, an inevitable question arises: do we really need expensive products or has the ancient secret always been hidden in our kitchen in the form of olive oil? The resurgence of an ancient ritual. Although the term hair oiling It may sound like a modern invention packaged for Generation Z, the reality is very different. This practice was not born yesterday under the ring of light of a smartphone. Hair oiling is a technique deeply rooted in ayurvedic medicine from India, with Sanskrit texts from more than 5,000 years ago that already recommended infusing hair with natural oils to restore its shine and relax the mind. Likewise, in ancient Egypt also ointments were used based on animal fat or castor oil for similar purposes. What has changed then? The showcase. He hair oiling In a few months it has gone from being a “legacy trick” to an essential aesthetic ritual. Social media has choreographed it into a highly recognizable scene that includes a slow massage, meticulous application of oils before washing, a warm towel, and blow-drying to an incredibly shiny finish (glossy). Among the avalanche of coconut, argan and jojoba oils, olive oil has begun to reclaim its throne, not only because of its accessibility, but because it has historically been the cornerstone of Mediterranean cosmetics and the basis for extracting the properties of countless medicinal plants. The science behind the shine. Beyond visual aesthetics, the big question is whether slathering your hair in oil really works. The answer from science is a resounding yes, although with important nuances. Rocío Lajarín, doctor in Pharmacy and CEO of Alma Secret, explains in GQ that hair is made up of 90% proteins, mainly keratin. “When we use oils with structural affinity, we manage to reduce protein loss and reinforce the resistance of the hair shaft,” he says. The portal Healthline adds that regular oiling reduces “hygral fatigue” (the repetitive swelling and drying of the hair fiber when wet), acting as a cement that protects the cuticles. If we focus on “liquid gold”, clinical studies support its many benefits: Deep hydration and elasticity: An investigation of the Journal of Cosmetic Science demonstrates how olive oil It penetrates the hair fiber thanks to its high content of essential fatty acids, significantly improving hydration and resistance to breakage. A cocktail of vitamins: Virgin olive oil rejuvenates hair because it contains vitamin E, vitamin C (which stimulates collagen formation) and vitamin A (enhancers cell regeneration). Shield against damage and the sun: The International Journal of Trichology emphasizes that extra virgin olive oil contains hydroxytyrosol, a polyphenol that fights free radicals and cellular damage induced by UV-A rays. In addition, it is highly effective in reducing damage after subjecting hair to chemical processes such as dyes. Antifungal action: The same International Journal of Trichology points out that olive oil has an inhibitory influence on fungi that attack hair, such as Microsporum gypseum. The great debate: Does it make hair grow? This is where dermatology collides with internet myths. Dermatologist Andrea Combalia warns in Telva that at hair oiling “Many benefits are being attributed to it that are not real, such as hair growing faster or increasing its density.” Doctors consulted in Cleveland Clinic They agree that growth rate and thickness are predetermined by genetics, age and hormones. Oils prevent breakage (allowing length to be retained), but do not accelerate the growth phase from the follicle. However, dermatologist Ana Molina contributes in Trends a fascinating fact. It has been observed that the phytoestrogens present in olive oil can have an antiandrogenic effect by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase (which converts testosterone into DHT). Since DHT causes miniaturization of follicles in androgenetic alopecia, “phytoestrogens may help prevent or slow its progression.” Roots or just tips? This is the point of greatest controversy. Oiling the scalp before washing protects the lipid barrier of the skin against the aggressive surfactants in the shampoo. However, hairdresser Daniel Gil in Marie Claire and Dr. Steven Walker in GQ They are blunt: if you have an oily scalp or suffer from seborrheic dermatitis, you should avoid applying oils directly to the roots. Dr. Shilpi Khetarpal of the Cleveland Clinic confirms this: if you are prone to dandruff, applying oil can worsen the problem by feeding the fungus Malasseziacausing more inflammation. In these cases, the hair oiling It should be strictly from medium to ends. A ritual with common sense. At the end of the day, olive oil is not going to rewrite your hair genetics or magically transform you into a Renaissance painting. What science tells us is much more pragmatic and, at the same time, liberating. The true value of this trend lies in understanding hair care as a ritual that respects our natural hair structure, and not as a compulsive accumulation of synthetic cosmetics. Olive oil is a powerful, accessible and dermatologically endorsed tool to defend our hair from pollution, the heat of straighteners and daily wear and tear. Applied with common sense, the liquid gold of our Mediterranean diet is also confirmed as the best cosmetic in our bathroom. Image | Photo by Curology on Unsplash Xataka | For years we blamed stress for baldness without understanding why. Science has just found the missing link

The robot vacuum cleaner that climbs stairs is real, it arrives in Spain and no, it is not a robot vacuum cleaner

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Robot vacuum cleaners are capable of navigating without getting lost, removing socks with one arm, take out the paw to better clean the corners and even clean themselves. They do a lot of things, more and more, but what none of them did until now was climb stairs. Due to their very format, robot vacuum cleaners have been limited to solid floors. Then Dreame arrived, said “hold my bucket” and launched the Cyber ​​X, a conceptual robot vacuum cleaner that was capable of climbing stairs using caterpillars. At IFA 2025 they taught the conceptthen they turned it to exhibit at CES of this year and today, at last, we can say that it is no longer conceptual. Is a finished productdefinitive, with release date and price in Spain. And no, although it may seem like it, it is not a robot vacuum cleaner, but rather an accessory for robot vacuum cleaners. Stairs up, stairs down This is a conventional robot vacuum cleaner. With those wheels you can overcome an obstacle, but not a step | Image: Xataka As a general rule, a robot vacuum cleaner has two rear wheels that propel it forward and make it pivot by playing with the speeds or direction of travel. Some have a lifting system that allows them to overcome small obstacles, such as a curb, but none usually exceed eight to ten centimeters. What has Dreame done? Inspired by tanks to launch not a robot vacuum cleaner that climbs stairs, but an attachment with four tracks in which the robot vacuum cleaner is attached to overcome the stairs. The Cyber addonan additional product to the robot vacuum cleaner, which makes all the sense in the world if we think about using it in the long term. Few product categories have evolved as much in such a short time as robot vacuum cleaners. Putting legs on a single model makes no sense while, probably, it would be outdated in a few years. Putting it on an accessory that a robot vacuum fits into is simply a much better idea. This is what the Cyber ​​X looks like without any robot vacuum cleaner inside | Image: Dreame And this is what it looks like with a robot inside | Image: Dreame How does it work? The device has four rubber tracks, an independent ladder vision and detection system, and its own charging base. When the robot vacuum cleaner has to climb stairs, it approaches the Cyber But the robot does not move, the accessory moves. The robot is simply a passenger inside. When it reaches a ladder, the Cyber speed of 0.2 meters per second. It takes 27 seconds to climb a step, according to the company, and supports all types of stairs: straight, L-shaped, with floating steps and spirals. It may not seem very fast, but it is faster than what was available until now, which was nothing. In theory, the robot can overcome all types of stairs | Image: Dreame Upon reaching the top, the Cyber the robot undockscleaning as normal. When finished, the robot returns to the Cyber ​​X and can either go up another floor (it can accommodate up to four floors) or go down. It is when it goes down that the Cyber ​​X shows another of its tricks: it is capable of sweeping and vacuuming the steps. On the inside of the rear track there is two little arms with two brushes that sweep the dust and the dirt on the steps. This moves towards a vacuum cleaner with 6,000 Pa of power located in the rear, which in turn is directly connected to a HEPA filter and the dust container of the robot vacuum cleaner that is a passenger. On the back there are little brushes to clean the steps as you go down | Image: Dreame When it reaches the end, the robot activates a soft landing system, so that the front track rests gently on the ground while the rear track descends the last step. This prevents sudden hits on the ground. If necessary, the robot has a braking system that allows it to stop if it detects pets or people while going up or down. Versions and price of the Dreame Cyber He Cyber It will have a price of 1,199 euros to which the cost of the robot vacuum cleaner will have to be added. In this first phase, the Cyber ​​X is only compatible with the series Dreame X60 Pro (all models regardless of the type of mop), whose cheapest model costs 1,499 euros. It is, by all accounts, a premium product at a premium product price. It will be launched in September of this year. Images | Dreame In Xataka | Best robot vacuum cleaners in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

We believed that raiding the refrigerator at dawn was a lack of willpower. Science has discovered the real culprit

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When night comes, there are many people who cannot conceive of watching a series without something in your hands to eatand not exactly a little carrot, but a little ice cream or some ultra-processed bun. Traditionally, popular culture and fad diets have dismissed this behavior as a simple “lack of willpower” or a sweet tooth. However, the most recent scientific evidence suggests that it is not gluttony, but chronic stress taking control. Night feeding. Eating at night is not always a disorder, but medical literature has been delineating for decades when the line is crossed. Already in 1955, a researcher defined the bases of the so-called night feeding syndrome (NES), characterized by a curious triad: lack of appetite in the morning, hyperphagia at the end of the day and insomnia with awakenings to raid the pantry in the middle of the night. Today, the diagnostic criteria have been updated and indicate that this syndrome occurs when more than 25% of daily calories are consumed after dinner, or if there are two or more episodes of nighttime binge eating per week for at least three months. The trigger It is none other than the hated stress and emotional dysregulation. Here various studies they point Because this nocturnal snacking is associated with a depressed mood, high levels of stress and the need to eat to find a little comfort after a very difficult day. The biological clock. When we eat late, usually after nine at night, or in the two hours before going to sleep, the reality is that we are sending contradictory signals to our ‘primal’ endocrine system. On the one hand, eating at night prolongs the rise of cortisol, which is the stress hormone, at a time when it should be at its lowest levels to prepare the body for sleep. In this way, the body postpones the secretion of the hormone that induces sleep, which is melatonin, and the serotonin and dopamine receptors are altered to respond to food intake. An explosive cocktail. Perhaps one of the most surprising recent findings is the devastating impact that this combination has on our digestive system, since if we combine a high level of stress with late dinners or nightly visits to the refrigerator, the result is catastrophic for the microbiota. Science suggests that those who combine poor sleep, stress and eating habits are up to 2.5 times more likely to see their intestinal health diminished, and also have noticeably less diversity in the bacteria in their microbiome. The whiting that bites its tail. In the end, we are faced with a textbook vicious cycle, wonderfully documented by the University of Arizona. According to your investigations60% of adults confess to itching at night on a regular basis. Of them, two-thirds admit that it is precisely lack of sleep that triggers junk food cravings. But precisely eating at these hours makes you less sleepy. And so on. Images | freepik In Xataka | We Spaniards love to have dinner at 9:30 p.m. and even at 10:00 p.m. Who is paying the price is our body

from a student’s idea to real research

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Take a week-long trip with a cabin suitcase In winter it is an art that not everyone can match. Traveling to Mars with a spacecraft in which each extra kilo can mean very expensive amounts of fuel, is a problem. Therefore, it is not enough to put socks inside shoes and replace the filling of the cervical pillow with T-shirts. In these cases it is better to travel light and try to take advantage of the destination’s resources later. A destination that, let us not forget, is the most inhospitable. Still, science is developing proposals as interesting as the one published this year by a graduate student at the University of Arkansas: 3D printing tools directly on Mars. A brilliant student. Zane Mebruer was an undergraduate engineering student when he had an interesting idea. Could metal tools be printed on a 3D printer, taking advantage of the main gas in the Martian atmosphere? He communicated the idea to his teacher Wan Shou and together They set off to check it out.. Typically, when making 3D prints with metallic materials, it is necessary to use a chamber with a protective atmosphere of argon, as this gas prevents oxidation. However, we have said that we do not want to take a lot of luggage to Mars: neither the tools, nor the argon. The Martian atmosphere is made up of 95% carbon dioxide, so it could be that this gas is a good substitute for argon. They did the relevant tests and, indeed, it could be a good option. It is true that argon gave better results, but carbon dioxide also turned out to be a quite acceptable option. Background. It should be noted that these scientists have not been the first to propose 3D printing to avoid having to take a lot of luggage to Mars. In fact, it is something that worries NASA so much that in 2015 issued a challenge to companies and universities to try to print a complete habitat. They were offered a succulent prize of $800,000, which in the end went to a team from the company IA Space Factory. In your case, they used as materials a mixture of basalt fibers extracted from Martian rock and bioplastics. They also wanted to take advantage of materials from the neighboring planet. The new. The materials proposed by that team would not be as useful for printing tools. In that case, metals would be a better option. To do this, Mebruer and Shou proposed using a printing technique known as selective laser fusion. To begin with, this consists of spreading a layer of metal powder on a plate. A laser beam then heats the powder and fuses it onto the plate. When this is ready, the plate is lowered, a new layer of powder is dropped and the procedure is repeated. Layer by layer, the piece of metal hardens and enlarges. The problem is that, in this process, the material is very exposed to oxidation. If it oxidizes, it doesn’t fuse properly, so the result is not as good. That is why a protective gas is needed. Microscope proof. These two scientists carried out the 3D printing in three different conditions: with argon, with carbon dioxide or with ambient air. The result was then analyzed under a microscope in search of any imperfections. It was seen that the best result was obtained with argon, but that with carbon dioxide a hardened, resistant material with few imperfections was also achieved. Much better than with ambient air. Only the metals would be missing. We already have the printing method and the protective gas. Only the metal would be missing. For that, other scientists have proposed recently travel to the asteroid belt and use it as a mine. That’s another story. For now, we wanted to check if printing is viable on the red planet and the answer is clearly yes. Image | Mebruer et al/Magnific In Xataka |Growing lettuce on Mars is NASA’s great challenge to colonize the planet. We already have a “shortcut” to achieve it

The number of tourists to Antarctica has skyrocketed 1,000% in 30 years. There are those who believe that the real boom has not yet arrived

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The hantavirus crisis has served so that, at least for a few days, much of the planet remembered COVID-19 and what was exposed that there is a hyperconnected world and a changing climate to the expansion of pandemics. Also (even if only glancingly) to remember a phenomenon that has been gaining strength for years in a silent, discreet, but forceful way: the tourist exploitation from Antarctica. The MV Hondius was promoted like a cruise to remote destinations departing from Ushuaiastarting point also of the vast majority of ships traveling to the southern pole. He interest in Antarctica by the MV Hondius shipping company (Oceanwide Expeditions) is no coincidence. There are more and more signs that suggest that polo is becoming an important tourist asset… and (above all) on the rise. A percentage: 1,120%. Antarctica may be one of the most remote places on the planet, but that has not left it off the radar of the tourism. On the contrary. For some time the data of IAATOthe International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, show that the region has never been busier. The annual balances may register slight fluctuations, but the curve they draw when the focus is opened and the last three decades are analyzed shows the growing popularity of the destination. The latest evidence has been provided The Vanguard in an article in which he leaves out a key fact: during the 2024 season, more than 122,000 people visited the continent, which represents an increase of 1,120% compared to 30 years ago, when the statistics did not exceed 10,00 visits. Is there more data? Yes. To be more precise, the last balance from IAATO shows that if in the 1993-94 season the number of disembarked passengers barely reached 8,000, in 2013-14 it already exceeded 27,700 and in 2023-24 it was close to 78,900. In parallel, the number of those who only travel on cruise ships, without setting foot on land, has also been increasing. If in 2013-14 there were 9,700 people, last season they exceeded 43,200. Looking ahead to the 2024-2025 season the body calculates a slight decrease in the number of travelers who do not get off the boat and an increase in those who do. The first would remain at 36,769, the second at 80,434. Added to these are 938 “deep field” visitors, as those who fly to the interior of the region or board a ship to explore the Antarctic Peninsula or the islands are called. USA, the big market. IAATO statistics allow us to go further and analyze, for example, the nationalities of travelers who stop in Antarctica. The Americans are in the lead, with 44.6% in 2023-24, followed far by the Australians and Chinese, who each take almost 8% of the pie. The British, Canadians, Germans, Argentines and Brazilians also stand out, although IAATO has identified visitors of more than 200 nationalities. As for what they do there, the vast majority (98%) of tourist trips focus on the Antarctic Peninsula during the southern summer season and They depart from Ushuaiasouth of Argentina. Activities offered upon arrival include zodiac trips, landings and (more rarely) kayaking, climbing or overnight stays. IAATO graph with the flow of visitors between 1993 and 2002. IAATO graph with the flow of visitors between 2011 and 2024. Looking to the future. The flow of tourists may have skyrocketed in recent decades, but could fall short in the coming years. At least that’s what the researchers who have just published believe. a study on “Antarctic tourism management” in Journal of Sustainable Tourism. In it, the team led by Dr. Valeria Senigaglia slips two pieces of information. First, verify the boom of visitors in the last 30 years: from less than 8,000 in 93/34 to more than 120,000 in the 2023/24 season. Second, he warns that if the model is not rethought, the number of tourists could quadruple in the next decade until reaching almost half a million people annually. “If the number of visitors grows at the average annual growth rate recorded between the 1992-1993 season and the 2023-2024 season (a constant annual growth rate of 14.0%), the total number of visitors is expected to almost quadruple in 10 years, reaching approximately 452,000 in the 2033-2034 season,” specify the paperwhich also recalls that approximately 65% ​​of the more than 120,000 tourists who currently take cruises to Antarctica travel on ships that allow disembarkation, operations that tend to concentrate at the same points. An invisible footprint. That Antarctica arouses curiosity and there are people who want to know it or even visit it is, a priori, nothing bad. The problem, like warn the authors of the report, is the impact that this growing flow of tourists can have on a particularly fragile ecosystem. Although all the details are taken care of during the landings and IAATO demand tourists not to touch or feed local wildlife or damage plants, their presence poses certain environmental risks. For example, Elie Poulin, from the University of Chile, warns in The Vanguard that tourism can unintentionally spread exotic species. It comes with someone transporting them without knowing it. “Widespread degradation”. “The risks are real. An invasive species of grass has established itself on one of Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands, while bird flu has reached the Subantarctic Islands, where it has had a devastating effect on the seal population,” warned Dana Bergstrom has long been an expert in Antarctic ecology. This is without taking into account the environmental footprint left by cruise ship traffic or frequent disembarkation in certain areas. “A major concern is that the cumulative impacts of tourism will interact with alterations in weather patterns, snowmelt, ocean currents and nutrient cycling caused by climate change, leading to widespread habitat degradation and declines in wildlife populations and diversity,” insist Senigaglia. Review the guidelines? The reality is that visiting Antarctica is still not the same as traveling to any other tourist destination on the planet. Since 1991 there has been a protocol of environmental protection of Antarctica that … Read more

We thought that buying a yacht was a luxury. The real luxury that they don’t tell you is another: maintaining it

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Owning a yacht is synonymous with luxury and opulence. It is not for less. Superyachts like the koru by Jeff Bezos or the Leviathan by Gabe Newell, they had a purchase price of 500 million dollars; he launchpad by Mark Zuckerberg about 300 million dollars. However, although buying a yacht seems the most difficultwho has been in the sector for some time knows that this initial disbursement will not be the only one, it is only the first. The true luxury (and what is really expensive) is what comes after and is repeated every year: the maintenance of that yacht. There is an unwritten rule that has been circulating around moorings and ports for decades to prepare future buyers for what awaits them. It is called the “10% rule“, and refers to the annual maintenance cost that a yacht requires: 10% of its price, each year. The inhabitants of the Caribbean island of Antigua they learned it the hard way. The price of a yacht does not come on the label When someone is going to buy a boat, it is usual to take into account whether they can afford its purchase price. That’s the easy part. You look at the price and compare it to your checking account. If it fits the budget, honey on flakes. However, there is a cost that not always taken into account in which the owner of a yacht (or any boat in general) should reserve approximately the 10% of the purchase price to cover all expenses annual operation and maintenance. Yes, 10% of the price each year. A 500,000 euro yacht will generate annual costs of around 50,000 euros; If the value amounts to one million euros, the figure rises to 100,000 euros per year. That 10% includes practically everything necessary to keep the boat sailing and in perfect condition: routine maintenance, regular repairs, average fuelannual insurance, mooring fees and, in the case of larger superyachts, crew salaries. Boat insurance alone already represents between 1.5% and 2% of the value of the yacht per year, which in a 500,000 euro boat translates into between 7,500 and 10,000 euros per year in premiums alone. At this point, it should be noted that these premiums are also calculated based on the location of the mooring. A yacht moored in the Mediterranean does not pay the same insurance as in areas like Florida where hurricane warnings and tropical storms are the order of the day. As the ship ages, the numbers change The 10% rule is stated as a reference guide for the entire life of the yacht. That is, it is an average in which some years the maintenance cost will be well below that 10%, while in other years it will far exceed it. However, above or below, the cost always remains close to that 10%: As and as they point out from WS Yatch Brokersone of the decisive factors, for example, is that this 10% varies as the age of the boat advances. When the yacht is new, the manufacturer’s warranties are in force, the mechanical systems are working well and maintenance costs can remain around 2% of the purchase price for the first few years. That 2% corresponds to fixed expenses such as insurance, mooring, or basic deck maintenance. As the years go by, parts wear out, warranties expire, and breakdowns become more and more frequent. For boats between 5 and 15 years old, the recommended percentage rises to 10%, with bad years that can reach (and exceed) 15% of the purchase value. The reason is that, as the market value of the boat goes down, its maintenance costs go up, so any calculation based on a fixed percentage loses reliability. That is to say, a 15-year-old yacht that has cost 100,000 euros second-hand will not (or at least not always) have expenses of 10% since its engine and hull begin to need major repairs due to years of use. That is, what the buyer has saved on the purchase price must then be invested in repairs anyway. Hence the 10% rule is a reference average applied to the entire life of the yacht (with its ups and downs), not a rule written in stone. The size, the crew and the place where you moor Size also determines the maintenance budget proportionally. From 25 meters in length, the yacht can now require professional crewand that 10% falls short to cover the cost of maintenance. A captain’s salary alone starts at around $50,000 per year, and a full crew for a large yacht easily exceeds $200,000 per year. On megayachts, managers usually plan 10% for operating expenses (which are included in the 10% rule), plus an additional 10% for onboard personnel, their maintenance, etc., which places the real maintenance cost closer to 20% of the acquisition price. This percentage does not apply to those yachts that, due to size, only require the services of a captain during the high season, thus reducing their annual cost. He port where it is moored It also has a decisive influence on the calculation of annual fixed expenses. It does not cost the same to moor in a small fishing town on the Catalan coast as in Puerto Banús or in the port of Monaco. In Spain, the monthly mooring fee for a boat between 12 and 14 meters ranges between 450 and 575 euros per month (about 6,900 euros per year), but it skyrockets in large tourist ports. to put a practical examplemooring in Marina Ibiza, the main recreational port on the island, for a yacht of about 15 meters in length costs between 25,000 and 30,000 euros per year, while if you opt for other secondary ports on the island, the price is reduced by half to between 10,000 and 15,000 euros per year. According to estimates of Ocean Independencea company specializing in superyacht management, the annual routine maintenance of a superyacht, which includes hull cleaning, fuel, engine inspection and electronic systems, ranges between … Read more

The mission is to teach them to work in real life

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For a long time, the big conversation about artificial intelligence has revolved around models capable of summarizing, programming or generating images. But when we take that ambition to the physical world, everything changes. A robot does not learn to work just by reading instructions: it needs to observe, repeat, fail and accumulate data on real movements. That is why the next frontier of robotics is not only in manufacturing more agile bodies or more precise hands, but in building the entire system necessary to teach them to act outside the laboratory. This system is beginning to take shape in Fujian, where the province’s first large data collection factory has been launched in a test phase. According to CCTVthe facility is located in Area D of Fuzhou Software Park and has been created by Fujian Jufu Technology. There, almost 30 robots follow the instructions of different operators, described by Chinese sources as “teachers”, to practice tasks such as cleaning tables, sorting fruits and vegetables or disposing of parcel boxes. The mechanics of that “school” are relatively easy to imagine, but very demanding underneath. Operators wear virtual reality devices and operate controls to guide the robot during each exercise. When the operator raises his arm, the machine reproduces the gesture and, for example, grab a paper cup to place it on top of another. The important thing is not only that it completes the action, but that each movement, joint angle and clamp pressure is recorded by cameras and sensors. The school where robots learn with real data One of the least showy parts is also one of the most decisive. The tasks we see in the video, such as cleaning a table or picking up a glass, seem simple because we do them almost without thinking. For a humanoid, on the other hand, each gesture requires a specific sequence of physical decisions. Data collection engineer Jiao Shiwei explained to Fuzhou News that even the smallest movements need to be learned through data, and that each action must be designed according to the characteristics of the robot itself to find the most suitable trajectory. The key word here is “generalization.” That is, the ability to apply what has been learned when the environment is no longer identical to the training environment. Shiwei summed it up with two very basic actions: pick up a glass and clean a table. If the object, surface and stain do not change, the robot has it relatively easy. But in a house, a factory or a service space, almost nothing is repeated the same. Hence, data collection workers introduce variations in glasses, tablecloths and tables to expand the scope for learning. The bottom line is that robots are also entering their own race for data. In other areas of AI, much of the progress was based on digital material already available. In robotics, on the other hand, many of the examples must be generated from scratch, with real machines, real objects and movements repeated over and over again. Xinhua puts the problem in these terms: the bottleneck of humanoids is no longer concentrated only in the hardware, but in how to continue perfecting their “brain” through training in application scenarios. The industrial reading of the project helps to understand why these small tasks can end up becoming infrastructure. Chen Yishi, CEO of Jufu Technology, told Fuzhou News that these types of factories provide support for end-to-end models and implementation in vertical scenarios. The idea is that an AI robot does not function as a traditional machine limited to a fixed sequence, but as a guided system capable of make decisions on the body from real training. The company is also recent. Jufu Technology was founded in September 2025 and presents its activity as a combination of data factory and self-development. Its objective is not limited to accumulating examples of movement, but to create around that base a local ecosystem of algorithmic talent, data and collaboration with the industrial chain. Yishi, for his part, pointed out that its future products aim at industrial manufacturing, safety inspection, research and education, although sources present it as a roadmap, not as an already consolidated deployment. Images | Jufu Technology | Xinhua In Xataka | The ‘Chinese Netflix’ has designed a plan for AI to generate the majority of its content within five years. It sounds risky

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