reason

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

by

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

by

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 .

The luxury goods market is dying of success. The reason: there are too many rich people

by

According to the latest report According to Intermon Oxfam, the 10 largest fortunes in the world have increased their assets by 698 billion so far in 2025. However, despite the fact that their fortunes are on the rise, the consumption of luxury goods aimed at this type of consumer has only decreased in the last year. Paradoxically, one of the causes of this decrease in sales would be the increase in the number of millionaires that have been created in recent years. The luxury market has hit the brakes. In 2024, the global luxury products market recorded a drop of 2% compared to the previous year, marking the first decline in fifteen years. Prices and sales of goods such as luxury watches, exclusive mansions, art and liquor have stopped growing and, in many cases, have stagnated or reduced. For example, the index Knight Frank’s luxury investment portfolio (KFLII), which takes into account the market value of these luxury consumer products, has increased by 72.6% in the last 10 years. But if we take the percentage of the last two years we see that in 2023 it fell by 6.6%, while in 2024 it fell by 3.3%. That is, to try to alleviate the drop in sales, luxury product brands have lowered their prices. This drop in sales of luxury products has been noticed in groups like LVMHwhich has been experiencing negative numbers in its wine and spirits division since 2023. Has all luxury gone down equally? However, as how they stand out in The Economistnot all luxury has decreased in the same proportion. A look at the Wealth Report 2025 from the consulting firm Knight Frank gives us a clear picture that only a certain type of luxury goods have fallen, while others, much more exclusive and inaccessible They have continued to grow at the same pace. For example, the high end cars have continued to increase their prices at a rate of 1.2%, as have leather bags from exclusive brands, such as those manufactured by Hermès, which have also maintained their upward trend at a rate of 2.8%. Even a market as bullish as real estate has been altered by the turbulence in the luxury market, reducing its growth rate to just 0.7%. Changes in the perception of luxury. If the data says that in 2025 not only have increased the number of millionaires but those that 1% of the population each time it’s richer Why have sales of luxury products decreased? The answer lies in Thorstein Veblen, an economist of the late 19th century, who in his book “The theory of the leisure class“has already defined that real luxury depends on its scarcity and exclusivity. This theory maintains that, if a luxury good is accessible for many peopleit is no longer perceived as exclusive and loses its value. Therefore, as the number of people who, for example, can pay 200 euros for a bottle of wine increases, it is no longer perceived as an exclusive luxury product and its price is devalued. It’s something similar is happening in the industry luxury fashionwhere “more affordable” brands such as Gucci, Burberry recorded drops in sales of between 15 and 30% while the most exclusive and inaccessiblesuch as Louis Vuitton or Christian Dior, suffered more contained falls of around 1.7%. Scarcity is the hand that rocks the luxury market. You can’t go to a Hermès store and buy the last Birkin without further adoin the same way as Ferrari makes you wait its millionaire clients more than two years to drive their car. This is not because of a production problem, but because tight control of the amount of product that is put on the market for it to exist a permanent shortage. This scarcity not only maintains the price in the store, but also keeps it above those that have already been sold, ensuring that their value not only does not go down, but that it increases because of this “exclusivity” caused by scarcity. If it is mainstreamit is no longer luxury. That concept is what is making some supercar manufacturers they are overturning in creating special editions and even editions One-off to take the concept of exclusivity a little further. Reason that explains that, for example, the invoices for some of these supercars double the price of the base car due to the customizations that are applied to them to make them even more exclusive. The new forms of luxury: exclusive experiences. Just as I pointed out a study of Bain & Company at the end of 2024, the luxury customer is moving away from those products that are no longer exclusive, and is now betting on something that does maintain that exclusivity: the luxury experiences. The Economist quote thatFor example, a night at the Le Bristol hotel in Paris costs twice as much today as it did four years ago. Likewise, tickets for the 2026 World Cup final to be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, they have doubled their price compared to previous finals, with prices ranging between $2,030 and $6,730, although on the resale market They can exceed $25,000. Something that is also common in top-level events such as the SuperBowl or the NBA finals. In Xataka | There is someone playing a gigantic game of Monopoly with real houses and in front of our eyes: Jeff Bezos Image | Unsplash (Jonathan Francisca)

The next evolution of tupperware is organic packaging. The reason is very simple: endocrine disruptors

by

Plastic has revolutionized food packaging and storage in recent decades, but today its massive use represents one of the biggest environmental and health challenges globally. The main protagonist in this case are microplastics and toxic substances that migrate into our body and are called endocrine disruptors by altering the body’s information exchange system. More and more concern. Endocrine disruptors are increasingly in the mouths of more people and no wonder, since they can be present in many places, such as coffee capsules when subjected to high temperatures. And it is very important to take them into account because these disruptors are nothing more than chemical substances that alter the hormonal system by posing as a hormone or blocking the effect that our body’s natural hormones have. And this is something fatal. The scientific literature suggests that they can have different effects on our health, by having reproductive disorders such as infertility or precocious puberty, neurological problems or even metabolic diseases important or cancer. But the real problem comes when different endocrine disruptors combine, causing the ‘cocktail’ effect that chronically Yes, it can be a big problem for our state of health. We are surrounded. And when faced with something so dangerous, the logical thing is to ask where it is. The question is that we can see it in many different places, such as in ultra-processed food itself, but also in the containers we use daily such as the famous containers. Conventional plastics, manufactured from raw materials derived from petroleum, They usually contain thousands of chemical compounds as different studies point out, many of which are not chemically bonded to the polymer and can leach or migrate to the food, although it has been seen that it is much more common when heat is applied (such as when heating food or pour hot coffee into a bottle). For example, bisphenols and phthalates, known endocrine disruptorshave been detected in numerous products and their impact on health is significant. As if that were not enough, the generation and persistence of micro- and nanoplastics in the environment, and even in our body, represent another emerging health problem. But it does not remain in these containers, but also in plastic products that we use to cook with heat and that also causes this release of different substances that we are going to ingest. The solution. Faced with this important problem, we must look for alternatives, such as glass containers for storage. But for those who want to bet on plastic, science is already focusing its efforts on the development of bioplastics derived from natural sources and not oil. Starch, polylactic acid, PHA or even algae-based materials are some of the options that are being considered right now because they are biodegradable and do not release harmful substances into food. In this case where we are above all immersed is in bioplastics with improved properties, with new compounds that have better mechanical resistance and barriers to gases and humidity, without compromising their biodegradability and without releasing dangerous chemicals such as different scientific studies already point out. Innovations that make a difference. In addition to new materials, technologies such as edible packaging made with polysaccharides and plant proteins are gaining ground, offering a surprising solution: cConsume the container itself with the foodeliminating waste and possible contamination. Ecological coatings and bioconversion methods are also being explored to transform plastic waste into useful products, closing the cycle and reducing the environmental footprint. Regulation. At European level, new directives guide manufacturers towards packaging that is safer and more recyclable, setting strict limits for migratory substances and promoting materials that do not contribute to microplastic pollution. Spain and other countries are already aligning their regulations to encourage change in the industry. The protagonist in this case is the Regulation (EU) 2025/40 which points the way to reducing waste generation and ensuring that new packaging is reusable or recyclable. A legal framework, which came into force in February 2025 and will be fully applicable from August 2026, establishes a set of obligations for companies of all types and sizes that produce, distribute or use packaging in the European Union. What is most interesting in this case is the point that refers to the need to control the dangerous substances in packaging such as perfluoroalkylated substances and heavy metals. What to expect in the future. Seeing the new regulation imposed by the EU on all countries and the advances in science, the immediate future seems to involve a greater presence of biodegradable packaging in supermarkets and also in restaurants. But this is something that not only responds to the legal obligation, but also to the social demand for these products. Images | Cesar Badilla Miranda Kate Trifo In Xataka | If we want to have more children, a researcher is clear about what to do: clean our ejaculations of microplastics

The Japanese Shinkansen was the fastest train in the world until China defeated it. The reason: the “piston effect”

by

In a very summary way, the piston in a four stroke engine It is responsible for moving the air inside to compress it and facilitate the burning or explosion of the fuel or to push it out of the combustion chamber. That is, it is dedicated to pushing the air up or down. Now imagine a train arriving in a tunnel at more than 300 km/h. Suddenly, the train goes from being outside to moving the air inside the tunnel. To push it to the bottom. Your movement It would be very similar to that of a piston. The train moves in a straight line and around it the tunnel would behave like a combustion chamber. That doesn’t seem like a problem. It doesn’t seem like it if we think that the air is simply pushed to the outlet where it is released without further problem. It’s also not a problem if your high-speed lines run over a bridge more than 100 kilometers long. But if you are a mountainous country and you have made the railway your star medium to move millions of people hundreds of kilometers an hour. Yes, you have a problem. Because the piston effect is pure physics and solving it to gain speed is not being easy. When they were the best In 1964, while Spain began to open up to the world, Abebe Bikila won his second Olympic Marathon in the streets of Tokyo. He did it wearing Puma Osaka shoes.nothing to do with the famous 42,195 meters that he covered barefoot in Rome to win four years before. We do not know if Bikila took that first Shinkansen that linked the cities Tokyo and, precisely, Osaka. The bullet train had begun to operate in Japan that same year, promoted by the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital. Then, the two cities were linked by a train that reached peaks of 210km/hbecoming the first high-speed line in the world. More than 60 years later, Japan is no longer the country with the highest number of high-speed kilometers of the world. Today it is China. It makes sense, taking into account that the country is huge, so if this means of transportation were promoted, sooner or later they would surpass their neighbors. Spain, by the way, also surpassed Japan in this area years ago. But it is very likely that something else has hurt Japan more. China is making the bullet train its flag. Its latest advances with the maglev, which levitates thanks to very powerful magnets to avoid friction with the track, has reached a combined speed of 896 km/h at the intersection of two CR450 trains. The problem for Japan is that China has a lot of money. And if it is necessary to build eight of the 10 longest bridges in the world to solve geographical accidents, they get to work. Japan has to deal with a lot of mountains and a more traditional system: tunnels. And that when you want to make a train pass at very high speed is quite a problem. When a train fully crosses the threshold of a tunnel, what is known as piston effecta problem that prevents increasing the walking speed further. The consequences are as simple as they are serious: loud explosions, breakage of equipment… and the eardrums of passengers. Upon entering the tunnel, the air is compressed and the movement of the train moves it towards the exit. However, some of that air rebounds and generates pressure changes that can be especially painful for passengers, even affecting their middle ear. When moving outside, a pressure wave is created that moves at the speed of sound and when the train leaves the tunnel, a shock wave and a sound explosion are created that, it is calculated, can be heard 400 meters away. It is known as tunnel boom. Japan is now experiencing a problem carried over from the past. Their trains are wider than the European ones but their tunnels are narrower. This was to reduce infrastructure costs but also to run less risk of landslides in the event of an earthquake. At first this was not a problem but when the speed of the trains increased they realized that they could not continue moving. In China, trains also use wide tracks like their neighbors but since they do not preserve inherited structuresthe new tunnels built are wider. This reduces the void effect produced with the entry of the train into the tunnel and, therefore, mitigates the problems for passengers. Furthermore, as less resistance is generated when the train passes, energy expenditure is also reduced. The solution for the Japanese is not simple. On the Tokaido Shinkansen, the first high-speed line (the one that connects Tokyo with Osaka), 13% of total kilometers They run inside tunnels. But the Sanyo Shinkansen line runs through tunnels half of the time. and he Hokkaido Shinkansen which is under construction (this line is only partially open) contemplates the roofing of 80% of the layout. The most effective solution that has been found to the problem is to produce trains with a very long and sharp nose. The aerodynamics tries to imitate the beak of the Kingfisher that can dive into the water generating minimal splashes. Following the same concept, the longer and sharper the nose of the train, the less resistance the train encounters at the entrance and the more gradually the pressure wave is generated. The other solution has been expand the section of the tunnel at its entrance. The “door” is wider and also has side openings that allow part of the air to escape. air moved by the train. This escape route generates a lower pressure wave, allowing the train not to cause unwanted discomfort to passengers and to travel faster. It has even been thought of hermetic trains with controlled pressure. During its tests, Japan continues to search for trains that can reach a top speed of 400 km/h. However, the structures inherited from … Read more

We have been thinking all our lives that prices end in “.99” out of pure psychology. The reason was much more earthly

by

The omnipresence of the price ending in .99 (today perceived as a consumer psychology) actually has a very different origin. Before the bias was studied and exploited, the figure was used by a machine to not only shield accounting, but also to found an entire culture of compliance, auditability and commercial discipline. The origin. In business at the end of the 19th century, the problem was not so much convincing the client, but preventing them from the money would disappear before reaching the owner. The cash passed through the hands of waiters and clerks without a trace, and the temptation to “keep some” was structural. The solution was not more human surveillance, but a luck of prosthesis mechanics: a machine that would require each sale to be recorded and that, when opened to make change, will leave an audible signal and a verifiable trail. The price at .99 made it inevitable to open the box to return the cent, forcing registration and eliminating the gap through which the money was lost. Trader with engineering instinct. The seed was born in Dayton from a tavern owner who already came from a family with a vocation to invent. James Rittyfed up with losses in his businesses, saw how a machine counted the revolutions of a propeller and suddenly understood that the same could be done with sales: if something can be counted mechanically, it can be audited. So, he returned to Dayton, worked with his brother John (an experienced mechanic) and built the first sales recorder: keys that represented amounts, a visible dial to check the figure and, later, a drawer with a bell and a scroll that left a physical mark of each transaction. Reproduction of Ritty Dial, an early example of a practical cash register NCR: from machine to industrial culture. Shortly after, when John H. Patterson buys the invention from the brothers and creates the National Cash Registerthe mechanism ceases to be an Ohio bar oddity and becomes a compliance standard in American commerce. The idea thus mutated in the industry. NCR not only manufactured boxes: manufactured method. It introduced a sales school, scripts, discipline, metrics, incentives and exported that corporate DNA via its graduates to other companies such as IBM and General Motors. The cash register It was not just a device: it was a way of governing the organization through material evidence rather than blind trust. National cash register from the late 19th century The .99 changes purpose. Decades later, when the reason anti-corruption was already solved by design, behavioral economics discovers that the .99 deforms the perception of value: anchors in the left figure, suggests a bargain, reduces psychological friction and stimulates impulsive buying. The same accounting gesture was now used for a very different war: it was no longer against theft, but against mental resistance of the buyer. The convention is stabilized because it generates economic margin even when the risk of theft has fallen due to digital processes. The .99 mutates from an anti-fraud technique to persuasion toolmaintaining its validity for a reason radically different from the one for which it was born. The device survives not because of tradition, but because it continues to generate economic advantage under a different paradigm. It survives because it works. The truth is that the .99 has lasted a century and a half because solved two problems different at two different times: first it prevented the seller rob the ownerand then helped the owner persuade the buyer. This double utility explains its persistence. If you will, it is proof of how in commerce what begins as compliance engineering ends as behavioral engineering. And every time today we see 4.99 or 9.99 in sales, we are actually reading (without knowing it) the fingerprint fossil of an invention originally created to close a hole economic before consumer psychologists existed. Codifying discipline. Thus, the box that was invented to catch petty theft It altered the physics of commerce: it introduced traceability, professionalized sales, and bequeathed a pricing convention that still programs how we read money in modern societies. A prosaic problem (a waiter who keeps some coins) inaugurated a causal chain that ended up shaping an entire century of business practice. And in reality, the bell that rang to warn the owner more than a century ago, now also rings, silently, in the consumer’s head every time he sees that .99 and decides that “it is less”…than it really is. Image | Enrique Íñiguez Rodríguez, National Cash Register Company, Wmpearl, Biser Todorov In Xataka | The psychology of pricing: a gigantic list of strategies In Xataka | Psychology has explained why it is so difficult for you to leave a job even if it is toxic: the sunk cost fallacy

Nestlé has announced the dismissal of 16,000 employees and its CEO has revealed the reason: “we will automate our processes”

by

Nestlé has announced the layoff of 16,000 employees worldwide, and it will fall especially on so-called “white collar” jobs. Among the reasons that the company argues through of a statement one stands out: “We are evolving and will simplify our organization and automate our processes.” The decision has generated uncertainty both globally and in Spain, where its Spanish subsidiary has more than 4,000 employees and several factories. However, the most surprising thing is that, for the first time, it is a food company and not technological who makes a decision of this nature: cut jobs to flatten the organization and automate office roles. Change to a more aggressive dome. Nestlé has taken a drastic turn in its internal policy by announcing the elimination of 16,000 positions of work. That represents about 6% of its total global workforce. This decision has surprised the markets, since it occurs just after having presented results that show growth in its income and sales throughout 2025. Shortly after, its new CEO Philipp Navratil explained on your LinkedIn profile the company’s determined commitment to automate and digitize its processes under a cost reduction plan driven by the new direction of the company. In fact, the previous board already had an adjustment plan in place in which 541.4 million euros were going to be saved. With the new management leadership, the savings objective has doubled to 1,082.8 million euros by 2027. The layoffs are no longer due to economic problems. When a company announced layoffs, they were usually associated with a bad economic situation. However, as we have seen in different technology companies such as Amazon, Google or Microsoft, layoffs and finances are already They are not necessarily related. In the case of Nestlé, the company recorded organic sales growth of 3.3% in the first nine months of 2025, consolidating its figures in different global markets. As Navratil explained, the main argument for the layoffs is the company optimization to prepare it for a future competitive scenario and, to this end, it was going to focus on simplifying the organization and automating processes (with AI?) when appropriate. The same argument that big technology They have been using it for months in the context of the race for AI. Distribution of layoffs and their impact. As confirmed by Nestlé, the layoffs will mainly affect “white collar” workers and around 12,000 employees will be in the office and administrative functions, while around 4,000 more layoffs will be distributed between production and supply chain departments. The company has not detailed the exact geographical distribution of the layoffs, which maintains uncertainty in key markets such as Spain, where staff and unions have shown concern about the possibility of factories closing or production being reduced in certain cities. Nestlé employs around 4,000 employees in Spain in 10 production centers in five autonomous communities: Cantabria, Asturias, Extremadura, Galicia and Catalonia. In Xataka | Big Tech doesn’t stop firing its engineers. At the same time, they have stepped on the accelerator in hiring Image | Nestle

Half a year after the blackout, Red Eléctrica still has problems stabilizing the voltage. And there is a geographical reason

by

Just six months ago, Spain was left in the dark. The “electric zero” of April 28, 2025 was the most serious warning of a system that he believed himself invulnerable. Since then, Red Eléctrica (REE) operates in “reinforced mode”with dozens of gas plants turned on every day to prevent tension from skyrocketing. But, half a year later, the problem is still there: the Spanish grid is faltering not because of a lack of energy, but because the gas is in the north and the sun is in the south. How are the measurements now? At the beginning of October, the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) approved, at the request of REE, an emergency resolution to introduce exceptional measures “in the event of sudden voltage variations” detected in the system. The document details changes to several operating procedures that affect the way the electrical grid is programmed and regulated. In practice, the rules of the game were tightened for everyone: from solar producers to gas plants. Among the most significant measures is the obligation for renewable plants to carry out their power transitions in a minimum of 15 minutes, when before they did so in two. The intention, have explained from REEis to avoid sudden changes that could destabilize the system and give the thermal power plants time to react. As explained in Cinco Díasthis instruction allows gas plants to “absorb” excess renewable energy without causing power surges. But for many expertsthe underlying diagnosis is different: the problem is not speed, but geography. Two electric Spains. The country is experiencing a geographic imbalance that we already saw it coming. On the one hand, the north and the Mediterranean coast concentrate the majority of thermal power plants and combined cycle plants – the only ones capable of providing the so-called “rotating mass”, that is, inertia and reactive power that stabilize the network. On the other hand, the south of the peninsula—Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha—has been filled with solar plants and domestic self-consumption, technologies based on power electronics that do not generate natural inertia. “During peak radiation hours, the south produces more electricity than it consumes, the lines are discharged and the grid becomes extremely sensitive,” explains in his column Joaquín Coronado, president of Build to Zero. Under these conditions, starting a thermal power plant in Asturias to stabilize a voltage problem in Seville is as useless as trying to put out a fire in Andalusia with water pumped from Galicia. The tension starts from the local. The error of approach is in confusing frequency with tension. The electrical frequency is a global magnitude: it is the same throughout the synchronous network. But the voltage is a local variable, which depends on the reactive power flows in each area. Coronado sums it up clearly: reactive power “does not travel well.” On 400 kV lines, its radius of action is 30 to 80 km. In 220 kV networks, from 15 to 40 km. And at 132 kV or lower, just 5 to 20 km. This means that a turbine in the north cannot stabilize the voltage in the south, no matter how much power it has. The CNMC, in its resolutionrecognizes precisely that “rapid voltage variations” appear in periods of low demand and high solar production, aggravated by the growth of self-consumption that “reduces the observability of the system” and leaves the operator without control over thousands of small installations. In summary and how we have explained in Xataka: we have more sun than cables. This shows in the pocket. REE’s response has been to maintain lit every day between 20 and 30 combined cycles to ensure stability. This “reinforced operation” has cost more than 1 billion additional euros since April and could add 3 billion more with the new measures. Adjustment services – energy that is paid outside the daily market to keep the network stable – have gone from 240 million in 2019 to 4 billion in 2025, according to Cinco Días. The result is paradoxical: Spain has one of the lowest wholesale prices in Europe, but one of the highest electricity bills. Ember’s report explains why: the market price only covers half of the bill; The other half are fixed network costs, tolls, taxes and system stability, which do not go down even if energy is cheap. Slowing down is not stabilizing. The decisions adopted by REE and temporarily endorsed by the CNMC are “a defensive strategy” for Coronado. Furthermore, he points out that instead of providing the system with rapid response capacity, it is chosen to slow it down to give time to the thermals. The result is maintaining “a 21st century system operated with a 20th century mentality.” Slowing down the renewable ramps does not provide voltage control where it is needed, because the problem occurs in seconds and in specific places, not in the 15 minutes that these ramps last. The measures, therefore, gain time, but they do not gain effectiveness: they mitigate the frequency, not the tension. Is there any future perspective? The solution is to bring the control capacity closer to where the energy is produced. In fact, we have already discussed in Xataka some of those possible solutions that agree with what Joaquín Coronado says. Grid-forming inverters in solar and wind plants, able to behave as synchronous generators and stabilize the network in milliseconds. Batteries strategically distributed in the southern nodes, which provide instantaneous active and reactive power. Devices FACTS and synchronous compensators in critical substations (Guillena, Mérida, Puertollano…) to dampen local voltage changes. Flexible demand from large industries to modulate consumption in real time. And predictive algorithms based on artificial intelligence that anticipate local instabilities. Some of these solutions are already underway. Spain prepare the installation of eight synchronous compensators and 2,600 MW of batteries, with 340 MW already approved. These devices could save 200 million euros annually by reducing the use of gas for network services. A model that is exhausted. Beyond the technique, there is a structural dilemma: how … Read more

The price of silver is exploding to levels not seen since 1980. The reason: we need too much

by

The silver has just reached 51 dollars per ouncea level not seen since 1980. The metal is up 75% so far this year, even surpassing the spectacular gold rise. This increase corresponds to the growing industrial demand for said metal, especially in a context in which mining production stagnates and forms an imbalance that puts a price on the shortage. Structural deficit for the fifth consecutive year. The silver market has been in supply deficit for years. Mining production is not growing at the rate that the industry needs, and this gap is reaching historic levels. Metals Focus projects that the 2025 deficit will be 187.6 million ounces, one of the highest figures ever recorded. Therefore, less and less silver is extracted than the world consumes. The technology that devours silver. industrial demand It already represents 59% of total consumption of silver, according to the Silver Institute. Solar panels are behind much of that pressure. And it is that are expected to absorb 195.7 million ounces this year. But it is not the only thing: the semiconductors that shape artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and consumer electronics also pull strongly on this metal. A refuge at a lower cost than gold. Silver also benefits from the drag effect of gold, which just surpassed $4,000 per ounce for the first time in its history. Many investors who see the gold market as too saturated they are looking towards the silver as a more accessible alternative to protect against economic uncertainty, geopolitical instability and the weakening of the dollar. Flows into silver-backed exchange-traded funds have already reached 2025 the highest levels since 2020. The psychological barrier of $50. The silver has never been able to maintain sustainably above $50. Each time it has approached that level (in 1980 and in 2011) it has been followed by deep corrections that have scared away investors. “Psychologically, silver has never gone above $50 and has really stayed there,” explained David Morgan, editor of the Morgan Report, to the specialized media Investing News Network. Morgan calls it “crossing the Rubicon,” a defining moment that could open up uncharted territory for the metal’s price. India strongly joins the demand. Since its regulator approved silver exchange-traded funds in 2021, India has become a key source of new demand. Silver-backed products accounted for 40% of the country’s total retail investment in 2024, and Indian imports are at all-time highs. China, for its part, industrial consumption is increasing for technological installations and solar panels. Two Asian giants pushing demand at the same time. And now what. Morgan don’t wait Silver will shoot up to $70 in the short term, but it will consolidate above $50 if it manages to cross that barrier solidly. HSBC projects that the price could reach $55 in 2026 before retreating in the second half of the year. What seems clear is that, as long as the technology industry continues to need more silver than it can be mined, the pressure on the price is not going to disappear. Cover image | Scottsdale Mint In Xataka | OpenAI is the King Midas of the stock market: everything it touches skyrockets

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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