reason

China is building a megastructure for deep-sea research. For whatever reason, resist nuclear bombs

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China is building a mega thing. It doesn’t matter when you read this: the Asian giant always has a mega dam underwayhe highest bridge in the world either an impossible road in the bag. However, one of the country’s latest projects is not a mega-construction, but a floating artificial “island,” which can navigate and designed to be self-sufficient. Oh, and most importantly: prepared for the end of the world. The “island”. Waiting for it to receive a somewhat more “commercial” name, in a report by South China Morning Post They refer to the facility as the “Deep-Sea All-Wather Resident Floating Research Facility.” It is a name that is equivalent to “what do you want this station to do” and the answer is “yes,” and it is basically a mix between a research center, command center and nuclear bunker. It will be a semi-submersible platform with a 78,000 ton twin hull design and considerable dimensions: 138 meters long. 85 meters wide. Main deck 45 meters from the waterline. Long duration missions. The project specifications show that the platform is projected to house almost 240 people for four months without the need for any replenishment. In addition, it can sail at a speed of up to 15 knots and something that gives us a clue to its colossal ambition is that the engines allow a displacement comparable to that of the Fujian, the brand new Chinese aircraft carrier of 80,000 tons. Bomb proof (nuclear). If you’re thinking about a fortress that could be worthy of a Marvel movie, here’s the shot. The structure will resist waves up to nine meters high and category 17 typhoons, the highest for this type of cyclone. But the most striking thing is that it will have special armor to resist nuclear explosions. Instead of conventional steel armorthe walls of the complex will be built with a design that converts the powerful shock waves of a nuclear explosion into ones that the structure can assimilate. As a “dissipator” of the power of the wave, wow. To do this, they have resorted to a metamaterial which, when subjected to pressure, compresses, creating a denser and stronger structure than much thicker steel panels. According to simulations, its walls resist more pressure than those of a submarine and four times more than those of a conventional ship, but with a plate thickness of only 60 mm. Back.To withstand these long periods at sea, and as describe from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) in an article in which they talk about the superstructure, the installation contains critical compartments that guarantee emergency power, but also backup for communications and a navigation center equally protected against nuclear explosions. China is taking leaps and bounds in its fleet Strategy. The SJTU describes it as a research center and, although the project has been described as “civilian”, its specifications make it comply with the Chinese military standard GJB 1060.1-1991 against nuclear explosions. Therefore, although it can be used for deep-sea research, it could also operate in areas where warships could not be accessed (such as waters near diplomatically sensitive countries or territories). This is something that does not frighten a China that does not hesitate to deploy its ships in disputed territoriesand from SCMP they point out that the installation could function as a resilient command center, a logistics center or a surveillance station that, in addition, is less invasive than a fixed structure built on land. It’s not that far away. Although we now know of its existence, this station has been on the drawing board for a decade and is expected to reach operational status in 2028. Once completed, we will be able to see what it is capable of and, above all, what use it is given. Because therein lies its importance as a research center to support the “blue economy” (extraction of deep sea resources, renewable energies and marine research), but also its military component. The photo, by the way, is not of a real structure, but of an interpretation of the SJTU. Images | SJTU, 中国新闻社 In Xataka | China is immersed in a nuclear revolution and needs industrial quantities of uranium. His solution: “fish” it in the sea

There’s a reason Vigo is advertising its Kawasaki Christmas. One that has nothing to do with Japanese tourists

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If you walk around Kawasaki these days (lucky you) you will probably come across an image that will catch your attention, one that has little to do with Japanese traditions and landscapes or with the avalanche of tourists that the country of the rising sun suffers. What will probably make you jump is finding a sign in the middle of Kanagawa announcing Christmas in Vigo, a mupi with a photo of XXL luminous tree of the Galician city and a message that invites you to travel the 11,000 kilometers that separate both towns. It could be an anecdote (one more related to the Vigo festivals), but that image tells us a lot about the fever for decoration Christmas that Spain experiences. Vigo Christmas in Japan? That’s how it is. It was the mayor of Vigo himself, Abel Caballero, who was in charge of showing it on networks. On Tuesday he hung up a photo in which a promotional poster for the Olympic Christmas is seen in what looks like the street of some Japanese city. The advertisement shows garlands, the XXL luminous tree erected in the heart of Vigo and a message in Japanese. “Christmas in Vigo is already in Japan,” Caballero wrote in his tweetwhich is already on its way to 220,000 views and 650 likes. Is it a surprise? Not really. In October Knight has already advanced that this year Christmas in Vigo would be announced with 820 posters distributed throughout (almost) the entire world. Most of those mupis (629) would be distributed across thirty Spanish cities, especially Madrid, Malaga, Bilbao and Seville, and another 142 were reserved for neighboring Portugal. The rest would travel the world. The Council boasted that it would take 15 to Paris, 10 to Rome, the same number to New York and 14 to Kawasaki. “This time Christmas will be in Japan for the first time.” Is it the first time? More or less. The jump to Asia is a novelty, but in 2024 Vigo already surprised to some tourists with promotional posters distributed in cities such as London, Paris, Rome or even the Big Apple. “I thought it was a mirage. I was seeing this in the distance and I couldn’t believe it,” joked in X Héctora reporter who encountered a mupi in the middle of Manhattan that read, in large golden letters, “The World’s best Christmas is in Vigo.” How much do these posters cost? In October, when he announced the new campaign, Caballero assured that at least this year’s is “free” and “costs nothing” to the City Council. Last year the Vigo newspaper Metropilitango.gal pointed that the mupis had been installed after reaching an agreement with JCDecaux. But… Who visits Vigo? If we base ourselves on studies on hotel occupancy by the INE, basically Spaniards and visitors from other areas of the EU, especially Portugal. Of the 537,500 travelers counted throughout 2024, 62.7% resided in Spain and 23.9% in one of the remaining EU countries. Of these, Portugal was the most popular market, with almost 77,000 tourists. Among the countries analyzed by the INE, the United States (14,800), Germany (11,800) and Italy (11,200) followed, far behind. From Japan, the market on which the City Council has now set its eyes, only 700 visitors who ended up staying in hotel establishments in the city. And at Christmas? The photo is not very different from the rest of the year. According to the data provided By the Vigo City Council, during Christmas 2022-2023 tourism was mostly national. That campaign was still marked by the shadow of the pandemic, but the data is conclusive: the City Council assures that some 5.3 million visitors arrived in Vigo and that the main foreign nationality was Portuguese, with 140,118 people, 2.6% of the total. French, British, Italians and Americans totaled 68,400. The hotel occupancy data from the INE show a somewhat different picture. In December the institute counted only 62,900 touristsof which 62% were Spanish and 30.5% Portuguese. The sum of French, Italians, British and Americans in fact barely exceeded 1,100. It is not surprising if one takes into account the limited supply of connections that Peinador, Vigo airport, has (right now Aena reports only five routes). Is there Japanese tourism? If we base ourselves on the INE, no. In December 2024, the INE did not count not a single Japanese visitor in the hotels of Vigo. In addition to how complicated and expensive it is to fly between Japan and the Galician city, this absence is largely explained by the behavior of Japanese tourists. Although the country is recording a record arrival of foreign tourists, the number of Japanese traveling abroad still quite below from pre-pandemic data. In fact in June Turespaña I trusted in which the influx of Japanese to Spain recovers its “pre-COVID” levels this year. Why advertise there then? In view of these data, why has Vigo distributed 14 mupis by Kawasaki and 10 in New York? Does Caballero aspire to attract tourists who live on other continents, thousands of kilometers away? The Consistory speaks to show Galician Christmas to potential tourists from other countries, but the measure is probably explained with another word: virality. Caballero’s tweet is a good example. In just a few days his photo of mupi has achieved several hundreds of thousands of views on X and has made headlines on media from Spain. Just as their estimates do about what Christmas means for Vigo: between 800 and 1 billion euros of economic return with a deployment of 6.3 million “visitors” in just two months, which is more than the total number of tourists who stay in hotels in Galicia in a year. The 14 mupis of Kawasaki may see them only a small portion of the 1.5 million people who reside in that Japanese city, but of course they have reached, via networks and media, thousands of people who live in the market that really interests Vigo: the rest of Spain and (especially) Galicia. Does virality … Read more

Japan is the only country in the world where the green traffic lights are blue. And the reason is called “aoshingō”

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Red, amber and green. The three colors of traffic lights around the world. All over the world? No, some particular Japanese traffic lights resist today and forever… the Vienna Convention on Traffic Signs and Signals to which more than 50 States are adhered. Although there are curious absences in it, such as those of the United States or, of course, Japan. This regulatory framework was signed for the first time in 1968promoted by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The text reviewed previous regulations with the aim of homogenizing traffic in as many countries as possible. The last review, in fact, is from 2003 and it addressed the modernization of some signs or the priority rules on roundabouts. The intention is that what we understand in Spain as a Stop is also the same in France or Germany. And so it is, in fact, because all of Europe subscribes to said text. But the most striking absences, such as that of Japan, give rise to curious anecdotes. Like finding traffic lights where the priority of passage is not granted with green, it is applied when the light turns blue. Blue, I love you blue And if you travel to Japan and plan to drive, there is one detail that you should not overlook (beyond the fact that you drive on the left, remember): the green light on some traffic lights is blue. Or turquoise, more accurately. The origin must be found in the language itself. The Japanese did not have a specific word to refer to green. To mention it they referred to the word “Ao”. The problem is that “Ao” It refers to a wide spectrum of colors and among them, as you can imagine, blue or greenish blue or turquoise. Some sources suggest that the word “Midori”, which refers specifically to the color green, became popular during World War II for a purely practical matter when it comes to differentiating both colors. However, a good part of society continued to refer to green as “Ao” and, in fact, it continues to be part of words that are applied exclusively to define green objects, such as aoshingō…which is actually the official word for the green traffic light even though it doesn’t specifically mean green. In 1960, Japan signed its own Traffic Law where this term was collected to talk about the traffic light. This law is, therefore, prior to the aforementioned Vienna Convention and remained intact until 1973 when a ministerial order ended up specifying that the traffic light It had to be as blue as possible within the greenas a compromise measure between maintaining the traffic lights that were already installed and approaching international conventions. The result is that the oldest traffic lights have a more intense blue and the most modern ones have a green tone with slight blue nuances that can remind us of turquoise. However, they are not exactly green because the term “Ao” works, as we said, for both blue and green. Photo | Yuya Sekiguchi and Derch In Xataka | Japan needs solutions to its great demographic drama. He is looking for them on a bus

Shein and Temu had taken over e-commerce in the EU. Your future is complicated for one reason: small packages

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The body that brings together the Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union (Ecofin) wants to put an end to the red carpet that Europe has laid out for platforms like Shein or Temu for years. The mechanism is simple: end the tariff exemption that until now has benefited packages of less than 150 euros that were imported into the old continent. Why is it important. In recent years we have seen how platforms like Temu or Shein have become absolute giants of electronic commerce. Part of that success has been based on how cheap it was for these platforms to ship their affordable products: they took advantage of a tariff exemption for packages valued at less than 150 euros, but that exemption’s days were numbered. And now he has even more of them. Deadlines want to be shortened. The initial proposal put forward by the European Commission was to eliminate this exemption in 2028. This week Ecofin took advantage of this proposal, but the executive made it clear that they have an additional objective: to advance its application two years, to 2026. Chinese companies did not stop making a fortune. 91% of all e-commerce shipments valued at less than 150 euros They came from China in 2022. Alibaba, Temu and Shein were the clear beneficiaries of an exemption that was created in the 1980s and that has gained extraordinary relevance with the rise of electronic commerce. 1.5 billion euros that the EU does not collect. According to a report that the EU commissioned from a group of experts, the union’s coffers stopped collecting 1.5 billion euros for those imports of less than 150 euros. In 2024 products entered the EU worth 4.6 billion euros through packages of less than 150 euros: double that of the previous year. Two euros for each small package. The Commission wants not only to stop this mechanism used by Chinese e-commerce platforms, but also to apply a minimum fee of two euros for these low-value packages. Eliminating the exemption in 2026 is a firm intention. This tax for the moment is an announcement that can remain just that. It will not be easy to advance the deadlines. The initial proposal is reasonable in terms of deadlines because adapting customs to this new reality is not easy. As pointed out the EU statement issued after the meeting, this new regulation “will begin to apply once the EU Customs Data Centre, the central platform proposed by the EU to interact with customs and strengthen controls, is operational, which is currently planned for 2028.” European companies could not compete. In recent years Shein, Temu or Aliexpress have grown exceptionally thanks to this regulation. According to Danish Finance Minister Stephanie Losse, this caused “unfair competition” in which European companies lost out. Tariffs from the first euro. The EU estimates that 65% of small packages entering the EU are “undervalued to avoid customs duties on imports”, something that also raises “environmental concerns, given the incentive for non-EU companies to split shipments into individual packages when sending goods to the Union.” The new regulations seek to ensure that goods entering the EU pay tariffs from the first euro. The US has already applied the story. The trade war that the US maintains with China caused the United States to already take similar measures. In February, Donald Trump issued a new executive order that also eliminated the so-called “de minimis” exception for packages valued below $800. Although there was later some relaxation Regarding the terms of that regulation, the impact on this type of commerce has been notable. Our pocket will suffer. The logical consequence of these changes is twofold: consumers will not have access to such a wide catalog on Chinese platforms, and it is also likely that the products sold on Temu or Shein will increase in price to pass on this increase in costs to users. Meanwhile, companies from the old continent such as Inditex could win by competing more favorably against these Chinese platforms. In Xataka | Shipping this $320 lens from Japan to Spain costs $29. Sending it to the US costs 2,000, and it is not a typographical error

This winter turning on the heating will be less scary. The reason is not so comforting

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Six in the afternoon. Closed night. You arrive in the cold and turn on the heating without thinking. The radiator breathes warmly and, next to it, last winter’s gas bill appears, folded between papers. One glance is enough to bring back the question that opens every coat season: how much will the joke cost this winter? The answer, after three harsh winters, seems somewhat kinder. But only in part. The present offers a respite, while beneath it continues to beat an energy contradiction that Europe has not been able to resolve. A kinder winter. Analysts confirm it: this winter will be more benign than previous ones. In an interview with Xataka, Javier RevueltaSenior Principal at AFRY, sums it up bluntly: “We have much cheaper gas than last winter. Before we were at €50–55/MWh; now we are around €30/MWh.” And that matters, because gas determines a good part of the electricity price in the cold months. According to Revuelta, this drop alone means “about €40/MWh less” in many hours of winter. It is worth remembering that this year has been a record for new solar power —more than 9 gigawatts installed— and everything points because this winter There will be more radiation and less cloudiness than the previous one. The result: more renewables pushing prices down. However, the Spanish system continues to show shadows. As we have already explained on other occasionsAfter the blackout on April 28, Red Eléctrica was forced to reinforce the operation of the synchronous plants—that is, the gas combined cycles—to avoid new surges. Between May and October, its production increased by more than 50%, generating an additional 2.5 million tons of CO₂. An uncomfortable reminder: even in the European country with the most renewables per inhabitant, gas remains the system’s safety net. How will it affect the pocket? The electricity consumer will notice a certain relaxation in their bills. More solar hours, less gas pressure and a more stable market mean a more predictable winter. For one thing, homes with gas heating will also see softer bills this winter. But the good news has a deadline. Starting in 2028, the new European ETS2which will force distribution companies to pay for the final consumer’s emissions. In practice: gas will be more expensive structurally. In fact, Revuelta anticipates it: “In the medium term, operating a boiler will be significantly more expensive,” and the comparison with heat pumps will clearly lean towards the electrification of heat. On the other hand, another adjustment is coming. As Cinco Días points outmarketers are carrying an additional 3.3 billion euros this year due to technical restrictions. They are not fully impacting it, but they will. Iberdrola anticipates that 70% of its free market clients will notice these costs when renewing rates in 2025; in 2027, it will be 90%. In other words, this winter it drops, but the rates in 2026 and 2027 might not be so benign. In search of alternatives. While gas experiences ups and downs and electricity continues to be marked by volatility, solid biomass—pellets, chips, olive pits—continues to be the most economical option in the country. According to the Biomass Price Indices collected by Heat and Cold, The average cost is: Sliver: 3.34 c€/kWh Bone: 4.68 c€/kWh Pellet: 6.95 c€/kWh Facing: TUR2 natural gas: 8.59 c€/kWh Diesel C: 7.98 c€/kWh Electricity (heat pump): > 10 c€/kWh useful Furthermore, prices remain stable and production is national, with more than 60 pellet factories and dozens of olive chip and stone centers. A close, robust market with little exposure to international tensions. There is a more modern alternative. Surely you have heard about it: aerothermal energy. To be honest, it is expensive to install—between 10,000 and 20,000 euros—but extremely efficient: for every unit of electricity it consumes, it provides between 3.5 and 4 units of heat. With more renewables pushing the rate downwards in solar hours and an ETS2 that will make gas more expensive, the heat pump becomes the most profitable option in 10–15 years. According to Revuelta, the economic difference will widen year after year and regulation will push in the same direction. But there is a lot of talk about green hydrogen… True, green hydrogen makes news, but it will not yet heat homes. The last thing that is known is that Enegás has received 285 applications to inject hydrogen into the network by blending. However, the current technical limit is 2% of the volume, insufficient for domestic heating. The first real injections will arrive in spring 2026, but they will be experimental. Hydrogen will not play a real role in residential heating until well into the 2030s. The tension in Europe. Spain arrives more comfortably into winter than northern Europe. But it is not isolated. As far as we know The regasification plants in the Netherlands operate at 90–100%, their technical limit. They are the main LNG gateway for Germany and part of the European industry. Its saturation is “the prelude to higher prices.” Spain could help, but it can’t. Interconnections with France barely allow shipping between 7,000 and 8,500 million m³ per year. Added to this is another structural factor. According to The Economistmore than 57% of the LNG that Europe imports already comes from the United States, which some analysts consider a new dependence comparable to that which existed with Russia. And, furthermore, the European Union enters winter with reserves at 83%, below the target of 90%. A calmer winter… But an uncertain future. This winter the radiators will turn on with less fear. Gas is cheaper, electricity is relaxed and biomass offers an economical way. Heat pumps are consolidated as the great alternative for the future, and hydrogen begins its journey—although without immediate impact for homes. But calm is relative. Spain—and Europe—are still trapped between two models: the one they want —decarbonized, electrified, flexible— and the one that really operates —dependent on gas, LNG and saturated infrastructure. This winter will be kinder, yes. But the underlying question for every Spaniard remains open: how much longer … Read more

In Galicia, shellfish harvesters are capturing clams and then returning them to the sea. There is a reason and it is in Canada

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The normal thing when shellfish harvesters collect clams is that this product then ends up in the fish markets and goes from these to the fishmongers, supermarkets and finally to the tables. That’s normal. Over the last few weeks in the brotherhoods of Vilanova and Rianxo, in the Rías Baixas, things have been something different: The bivalves arrived at the market, but from there they returned to the sea, a frustrating round trip for professionals that reveals a lot about the market. To understand it you have to cross the Atlantic. What has happened? The news spread a few days ago the newspaper Vigo Lighthouse. Over the last few weeks, some brotherhoods in the Arousa estuary have been forced to withdraw lots of clams from the auctions to return the catches to the sea. It happened on at least one occasion in Rianxo and two others in Vilanova, where the professionals also decided to give up two days of work. In reality, there is little mystery about it: the merchandise was quoted at prices so low that it did not even cover the minimum cost. In order not to undersell it, the shellfish collectors choose to withdraw the lots from the auctions and return the bivalves to the estuary. Was it quoted that low? It seems so. Óscar Fernández, president of the group of shellfish harvesters of Vilanova, remember that at the end of 2024 the group decided to update its prices to prevent its professionals from continuing to lose purchasing power. To be more precise, what was agreed is that the minimum rate for japonica clams would rise by two euros/kilo, going from seven to nine, and the fine clam would remain at 30 euros/kilo, ten more than before. Any quote that fell below that minimum would be discarded. Or in other words, the seafood would be removed from the market to be returned to the sea, which is exactly what they have done in Arousa. “The decision was made a year ago, but until now there had been no need to remove lots of clams from the fish market,” Fernández told Lighthouse. Among the discarded merchandise there was so much japonica clam as fine. Not only that. Faced with the prospect that the rates would not exceed the minimum, in Vilanova they chose to give up two days of work. Better that than underselling. Can it go further? That seafood moves in ‘discrete’ figures at this time of year is nothing exceptional. Summer is behind us and there are still several weeks until Christmas, so the sector is accustomed to November not being exactly a buoyant month. This fall, however, is out of the ordinary. The Galician Fishing platform sample that the average price (market) in Arousa so far this year is €15.05/kilo. They are 50 cents less than the average for 2024 and are far from the 16.38 that were reached in 2023. The figures (yes) must be handled with caution. To begin with, because they show annual averages, so those of the last two years include December. If we look at the monthly data, in October the kilo was quoted at €13.1, its lowest level since March. In November the average has risen again to 17.54. Another key is that the indicators include slimy clams, bicudasfine, blonde and Japanese. However, professionals in the area do not hide their misgivings. “When Noia opened we noticed a big drop in prices. This week they rose a little, but they are still below those of 2024,” comments Fernandez. And what are the causes? More important than prices are the factors that influence them. And the sector clearly points out two: the effect of Noia opening and the arrival of foreign products. “Seafood is coming in from other places,” says Miguel Ángel Iglesias, Rianxo’s senior boss, who warns that the problem is not so much the pressure it exerts on the native merchandise but rather certain questionable practices. “There are people who sell it as if it were from here.” Hence, a greater effort by the Xunta is missing to avoid fraud and mislabelling. “There is a consumer who is willing to pay a little more for our product and we have to prevent them from taking clams from other sources because the labeling is ambiguous,” Iglesias claims in statements to Lighthouse. Just like other branches In the primary sector, shellfish harvesters demand that the authorities demand the same standards for imported products as local products, with the same “sanitary guarantees” and transparent traceability. In the union, of course, not everyone seems to be having the same bad time: in Vilaxoán they have also noticed a drop in the price of, for example, the japonica clam, but in Cambados they have seen a rise in prices in recent days. Is it something new? Not quite. Before the production crisis suffered by the shellfish banks of Galicia, part of the industry has chosen to look for gender abroadin countries like Canada, Italy, Portugal or Morocco. I explained it a few months ago The Voice of Galicia in a comprehensive analysis in which he recalls that, although the competition from the Dutch, Portuguese or Irish bivalve comes from afar, it seems to have intensified since 2023, when (on the eve of Christmas and after strong erasures) the Galician shellfish harvesters found themselves with a challenging scenario: an increase in clam and cockle mortality. Where does the merchandise come from? Now professionals work in a market that has been forced to look for alternatives to cover the demand for seafood, which, in practice, means that the local genus must compete with bivalves from Bulgaria, Ireland, Sweden, Morocco, Portugal, Holland or Canada. “It comes from many places,” recognized in summer to The Voice Trini Lois, a good connoisseur of the Arousa fish markets. “Galicia is the only place where shellfish harvesting did not rebound. In Portugal it was at a low point, but they once again have high production and are selling.” Regarding … Read more

There are scientists deliberately causing earthquakes in the Alps and they have a good reason for it

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In the heart of the Swiss Alps, more than a kilometer underground, a team of scientists is doing something that sounds almost insane: cause real earthquakes. And it is not that they want to destroy a country, but just the opposite: they want to understand earthquakes better to look for ‘warnings’ before they occur. Right now There is a lot of mystery around earthquakessince it is not well known how they are produced, and this means that we do not have clear information about when they will occur in a specific area. And it is something fundamental for us, since having a ‘witness’ to warn us that an earthquake is coming will allow us to notify the population so that they can protect themselves and avoid significant human and material losses. The idea. The FEAR project (Fault Activation an Earthquiake Rupture), led by researchers at ETH Zürich, are looking for answer the big question: how to detect the signs that announce an earthquake before it happens? For this, in the Bedretto’s underground laboratorygeologists have drilled a tunnel through an active fault. Through the controlled injection of water—and, soon, hot water—they are triggering microearthquakes of magnitudes less than 1. Their goal is to observe, with a densely distributed network of sensors, how ruptures occur and what physical conditions trigger them. But… Why the Alps? In this case, the natural conditions offered by the Alps are ideal to carry out these experiments. The enormous pressure of the mountains on the faults generates tensions that, with the slightest change, can release seismic energy. In this way it is known that in these conditions an earthquake is going to occur at some point and what they do is anticipate it and control it with many measuring equipment. Ground disturbed on purpose. The microearthquakes induced by the Swiss team have a curious parallel with another practice known for less scientific reasons: seismicity induced by the fracking industry. In regions such as Oklahoma and Texas, the discharge of wastewater into deep wells has also generated thousands of small earthquakes, providing scientists with valuable models of how water alters the friction between plates. But the FEAR project differs in detail with respect to what the industry can do for its work: absolute control of the environment. While industrial operations cause unwanted earthquakes, they cannot be controlled. But in the Alps we specifically seek to know what happens in the seconds before a rupture. Throughout 2024 and 2025, their tests will escalate until they cause earthquakes of magnitude 1, a level weak enough not to be perceptible on the surface, but enough to modify the stress state of a fault. If they manage to correlate specific patterns with the energy released, they could establish predictive models applicable to active seismic zones that would be an advance in the understanding of how the Earth releases its internal energy. They are not alone. In different countries there are many similar projects that try to understand earthquakes. For example, in Japan the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) center pierces the seabed off the coast to reach the fault where future large earthquakes are expected to occur. Something fundamental when talking about a very affected area by earthquakes. In Iceland the DEEP EGS (Enhancing Geothermal Systems) program has also registered many microseisms due to the injection of geothermal fluidsoffering direct data on how faults become unstable. A great challenge. The challenge remains enormous: no model has managed to predict an earthquake with temporal and spatial precision. But experiments like the one at the Bedretto Underground Lab offer something that didn’t exist before: a way to study the actual physics of seismic fracture initiation. Images | Çağlar Oskay Marco Meyer In Xataka | China built the Three Gorges Dam with three objectives. Got a fourth: changing the Earth’s rotation

Spaniards eat much less fish than 30 years ago and a big reason is on the horizon: laziness in cooking it.

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The data is clear. Fish consumption has been going on for decades losing ground in the refrigerators and kitchens of Spanish homes. We eat less and less, which is already noticeable in the sector, with the loss of thousands of fishmongers. There are, however, certain businesses that seem to be weathering the storm and even your sales increaseand they achieve it basically thanks to a different bet, focused on the sale of ready-to-eat fish, online orders and home delivery. It is interesting because this reveals to us that the great fish crisis may not be so much a question of taste as much as it is a question of habits and cultural change. What has happened? That fish is not immune to the social and consumer changes that have been affecting the food industry for years. Only in his case the trend is especially interesting. Sector data has long shown that Spanish households buy less and less fresh fish, which among other things has precipitated the closure of thousands of fishmongersbusinesses that deal with other challenges, such as the lack of generational change. There are clues, however, that in reality not the entire sector is suffering. We Spaniards today may have less fish in our refrigerators or cook it less than our parents or grandparents, but the consumption associated with leisure, the away from homeis not having a bad time. Not only that. There are certain specialized businesses (such as those dedicated to the sale of ready-to-eat fish or home delivery) that they assure be selling more. Do we eat less fish? If we base ourselves on the data Regarding domestic consumption from the Ministry of Food (MAPA), the answer is clear: yes, with fluctuations. His latest reportwith data for the year from August 2024 to July 2025, shows that the consumption of fishing products has decreased by 2.1%. If we talk specifically about the purchase of fish (not counting shellfish or preserves) the puncture has been 4.4%, 5.4% in the case of fresh merchandise. They may not seem like big declines, but the crisis facing fish is better understood when the temporal focus is expanded and per capita consumption data is analyzed. In that case, a collapse is confirmed that has hit the sector squarely. own Fedepesca warns that in recent years “local businesses in general and fishmongers in particular have lost a third of their stores.” Does all consumption fall? Not quite. Recently we told you how there are certain species that have seen their consumption rebound (in the case of smoked salmon and trout) and above all how fish consumption seems to be resisting and even increasing outside the home. This is suggested by the “extradomestic consumption” report of Mercasawhich in 2023 saw a rebound of 2.6%. The last ones quarterly data They also show an increase in the demand for fish. The truth is that for years it has been easier to find establishments and even chains that serve poké dishes with salmon, sushi, sashimi or ceviche, in addition to the traditional fish offering. Year Per capita consumption of fish products (kg) Per capita consumption of fish (kg) fresh fish frozen fish 1990 30.4 19 13.6 5.4 1995 29.4 18.2 14.6 3.6 2000 24.32 14.45 11.72 2.73 2005 28.36 16.40 13.39 3.01 2010 27.3 15.38 12.05 3.33 2015 25.9 14.46 11.64 2.82 2020 24.83 13.25 10.58 2.68 2024 17.99 9.31 7.31 2 And on other channels? A few days ago the SER published an analysis which gives clues to other business avenues that seem to be weathering or even saving themselves from the decline in fresh fish consumption: businesses dedicated to the marketing of ready-to-eat foods and those focused on home delivery. That is, those that facilitate and personalize consumption. There is not much data, but SER provides two specific examples that help understand the phenomenon. The first is the Catalan supermarket chain Plusfreshwhich offers customers the option of taking home ready-to-eat fish. The company claims that they have installed ovens in all their establishments, which has allowed them to considerably increase sales of seafood products. “Five years ago, 8% of the fish we invoiced went through the oven, today it is around 16%. In these five years we have doubled the sale of these products,” precise. He is not the only one walking in that direction. In your line “ready to eat”Mercadona has included salmon and sushi poké. Are there more examples? Yes. The SER cites another case: Peix a Casaan online fishmonger that allows you to schedule deliveries and that has gone from selling a few boxes of fish a week to managing between 100 and 150 orders each day. Its owner explains that a decade and a half ago began to bet on the fish delivery service, a formula that it hasn’t gone bad: From working with fifteen well-known clients, we have gone on to dispatch thousands and thousands of annual orders with an enviable year-on-year growth rate of around 20%. Why’s that? Because the sector suspects that the problem is not that fish is no longer liked or that it has become too expensive. In fact, in the last year, domestic demand for smoked salmon and canned clams and mussels has increased. considerably. The key would be something else: a cultural change that prevents younger people from buying and preparing fish at home. “We have a special focus on the young public, those people up to forty years old, who we have seen are not having access to seafood. For us it is a key audience,” recognize from Pesca de España. It won’t be easy because in the background there is a larger trend: a growing interest in cooked and ready-to-eat food, which has even led some (among them Juan Roig) to predict the end of traditional kitchens at home. Images | Jorge Franganillo (Flickr) In Xataka | A Japanese restaurant has taken its obsession with fresh fish to the extreme: it lets you catch it yourself

There’s a reason you forget to write things down on your shopping list: prospective memory.

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Have I turned off the gas? Where have I left the keys? What was I coming to the kitchen to do? These are some of the questions we often ask ourselves. Of the three, the last one is perhaps the most interesting, the one that involves a form of memory with which we are not very familiar: the prospective memory. What exactly is prospective memory? This form of memory is what refers to our ability to remember planned or future actions, to remember intentions. It could be remembering what we were going to look for in the refrigerator or the dentist’s appointment on Thursday. Prospective memory is something we deal with in our daily lives, but it is not a concept that many people are familiar with. Neither do the experts: research on this form of memory was, until the beginning of this century, virtually nonexistent. But in recent years we have managed find out some key aspects of this memory. For example, we now have an idea of ​​which brain regions work for the correct functioning of future memory. A 2010 study found three regions of the brain whose activity was linked to prospective memory results: the parahippocampal gyrus, the left inferior parietal lobe, and the left anterior cingulate. However, there is still much to investigate in this regard. Other studies, for example, have given greater importance to the activation of the right lobe in relation to this memory. Othersfor example, emphasize the role of the anterior prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe. But it’s not all neurobiology. Things we forget Why do we forget what it is that we were going to write down on the shopping list? Prospective memory is not very different in this from other forms of memory. Here attention is key. In one interview for RAC1 radiothe neuropsychologist Saul Martínez-Horta explained, starting from “what did I come to the kitchen to do”, he explains how it is that we have this facility to forget things. Distractions are one of the main factors that affect this memory. If we go to the kitchen to get salt, but in the meantime we remember that we left the oven on, this second fact will make us confused and make it more likely that we will forget about the salt. In Martínez-Horta’s own words “Normally what makes us forget what we should do is the saturation of the system and the distraction mediated by another event. brain capacity “It is limited and sensitive to distraction, so it is relatively easy for us to direct our attention to something other than what we are doing.” Concentration is, therefore, key if we want our prospective memory (or our memory in general) to have more of itself. Memory can be trained, but generally the exercises that allow us to do it They are not useful beyond of the memory function they seek to train. That is to say, there is no evidence that solving crossword puzzles will make us remember to buy popcorn for when we have visitors. That does not mean that we are helpless. Some healthy habits impact in our brain’s ability to perform its tasks, and although studies focused on prospective memory are scarce, it may be a good idea to incorporate them. A varied diet, exercise and sleep properly they can help us with our memory. Perhaps, they can also help us remember what it is that we were looking for in the closet before receiving WhatsApp from our brother-in-law. In Xataka | How much information can our brain store? Image | Cottonbro studio

Ghibli and more Japanese studios demand that OpenAI stop using their works. The reason: the Sora 2 videos

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In Japan they seem to be tired of images generated with artificial intelligence that resemble, perhaps too much, the mythical works of Japanese origin. We are referring, of course, to images and videos created with AI that seek to reimagine any photo, person or character with “Ghibli style” or similar. An anti-piracy organization in Japan has demanded that OpenAI cease what they claim is a copyright violation. Japan studies against AI. CODA is a Japanese anti-piracy organization that includes companies such as Studio GhibliToei Animation, Bandai, Toho and Square Enix. The organization has published a letter demanding OpenAI stop using its members’ original content to train Sora 2, the OpenAI tool responsible for generating realistic videos with artificial intelligence. Some of Studio Ghibli’s most legendary films. (Images: Studio Ghibli) In your letterCODA (whose acronym stands for Overseas Content Distribution Association) claims to have confirmed that “a large portion of the content produced by Sora closely resembles Japanese content or images.” This, according to the organization, would be the result of having used copyrighted content to train artificial intelligence. In Xataka OpenAI has just made a move after its separation of assets with Microsoft: it has signed an agreement with Amazon for $38 billion What Japanese studies ask for. CODA’s demands are clear: that OpenAI not use its members’ content to train its artificial intelligence model. And also, that OpenAI respond to the demands and complaints of the companies that are part of the Japanese organization about the Sora 2 videos. {“videoId”:”x9hhg44″,”autoplay”:true,”title”:”The TRUTH of AI – This is how ChatGPT 4, DALL-E or MIDJOURNEY works 🤖 🧠 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”, “tag”:”webedia-prod”, “duration”:”1173″} The government also pressures. In mid-October the Japanese government already had spoken against OpenAI’s use of copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence. Minoru Kiuchi, Japanese minister responsible for intellectual property strategy in the country, asked OpenAI not to violate the copyrights of Japanese intellectual properties. According to Minister Kiuchi, manga and anime are “irreplaceable treasures” that Japan offers the world. 2025, the year of “Ghibli-style” images. Last March OpenAI enabled the image generation based on GPT-4oand quickly “Ghibli-style” or “anime-style” images became extremely popular. However, the claims of CODA and its members, in addition to the Japanese government’s request, are especially directed at Sora 2 and its video generation capabilities. In Xataka OpenAI has turned ChatGPT into mainstream AI. In the business world the game is being won by its great rival Although the results are far from perfect, social networks have been filled with these types of unofficial videos made with AI, which for companies such as Bandai Namco, NHK, Wowow, Aniplex and many others represents a violation of their copyright. At the time of publishing this article, OpenAI has not yet responded to the Japanese studios’ request. Cover image | OpenAI / Image created with artificial intelligence In Xataka | The “AI slop” turned into art. A Chinese creator is copying the absurd aesthetics of generative AI, and it’s hilarious In Xataka | OpenAI knows that ChatGPT is causing serious mental health problems for some users. And he is already “correcting” it (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Ghibli and more Japanese studios demand that OpenAI stop using their works. The reason: the Sora 2 videos was originally published in Xataka by Eduardo Marin .

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