revolutionize

In 1993 Microsoft created Encarta to revolutionize knowledge. Twenty years later it would be devastated by a tsunami

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It became so popular that its logo and the sound of their intros They became two brands just as identifiable as those of Nokia or Windows. If – like the person writing this – you had to go to school or high school between the second half of the 90s and the first half of the 2000s, talk about the Encarta It does not require large presentations. If not, don’t worry; It won’t take us much time. Before Wikipedia offered free online knowledge and even the use of the Internet became popular, Microsoft launched a digital encyclopedia that revolutionized the sector and became a phenomenon between more or less 1993 and 2009. Its name: Encarta. Today, ironies of history, “Encarta” is one more entry in the index of other encyclopedias; but there was a time when it transformed our way of accessing knowledge. From having to spend their eyelashes and fingertips scrolling through pages in search of information, students began to search for information with the click of a button. The Encarta offered an agile, comfortable and above all didactic way to satisfy curiosity. With articles, yes; but also with videos, audios and even virtual visits and games. You could read about Nepalese temples in the Salvat. Or open the Encarta and “tour” one. Its “pull” was so great that it put the old paper encyclopedias in trouble. When the Spanish edition was presented in early 1997, those responsible presumed that the Encarta CD-ROM, a format that you could store in a drawer or even a folder, contained information that It was equivalent to 29 volumes and 1.2 meters of shelving. Not only that. The Encarta cost 24,900 pesetas, four times less than an equivalent printed encyclopedia. To make matters worse, his landing in Spain was protected by Santillanaa publishing house with considerable weight in school classrooms. How to compete with that? The product was liked and published in Spanish and other languages. He did well until, with the same ones with which he had become a phenomenon, ended up succumbing to the competition. In a way, his success is due to his good sense of smell in the 90s; its decline, to the inability to adapt in the 2000s. This is your story. Objective: reinvent the old encyclopedias In the mid-1980s Microsoft He began to think about the idea of ​​creating a digital encyclopedia. The idea was ambitious. Those from Redmond wanted, neither more nor less, to rethink the concept and operation of a product apparently as mature and closed as the volumes that publishers’ commercials were dedicated to selling door to door. To make its debut in a big way, the multinational tried to negotiate a license with the creators of what was probably the most respected publication internationally: the Encyclopædia Britannica. It didn’t go well for them. In the 1980s, paper volumes of Britannica were sold and They left huge profits. As Enrique Dans remembershis books cost about $250 to produce and the selling price ranged between $1,500 and $2,200, depending on the quality. Why would the firm want to digitize content on a CD and risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? Microsoft did not give up and looked for ways to move the idea forward. He even had a name for the initiative: Project Gandalf. Some time later he closed a contract with Funk & Wagnalls to use your New Encyclopediaof 29 volumes, in a database that was created at the end of that same decade. To complete its contents, years later two other McMillan encyclopedias would be added, the Collier’s and New Merit Scholar. They were not the Britannica; but it would have to do. However, doubts arose in Redmond about whether or not the project was viable and they decided to park it. It was resumed at the turn of the decade, in 1991, when Microsoft decided to go all out. In 1993, the first edition of the Encarta Encyclopedia was launched, which included the 25,000 Funk & Wagnalls articles and extra material, such as images and some animations. The tool was comfortable, much more agile than the kilometric tomes and even fun, but it started with a huge mistake: the shot was centered wrong. At the beginning of the 90s there were still many houses without a PC and the marketing price was exclusive. When it came out, the Encarta cost about $400, which greatly limited its range. The cost deterred customers and was not too far from that of another competitor that was testing the same niche with a recognizable brand, Compton, which also launched your own multimedia version in 1990, with text and supports such as images and sounds. In Redmond they knew how to react and soon they were deploying a more aggressive strategy. They launched promotions that allowed you to get the Encarta for 99 dollarsthey included their CD with the Windows software package and negotiated with manufacturers to incorporate it into their computers, a tactic not unlike that used with Windows and Office. The promotion of Microsoft itself gave the final push. The new encyclopedia gained fame and began to chain editions, translate into different languages and enrich content with multimedia supports. In 1995, abridged versions of some articles were offered for Microsoft Network ISP subscribers, and starting in ’96, standard and deluxe editions began to be released, an enriched version that could be updated month by month. In 1998, its creators went one step further and acquired the rights to several electronic encyclopedias. The product was growing and, above all, it demonstrated that the sector was experiencing a clear paradigm shift. The best example: in 1996 the once powerful company Britannica ended up underselling for their difficulties. “It allows young and old to explore the world by themes and characters,” their promoters boasted in the Spanish market. And so it was, indeed. Through articles, photos, illustrations, graphs, maps, timelines, recordings, videos and even virtual tours, Encarta won over an entire generation of students. … Read more

Chips connected by laser instead of cable. It seems like science fiction, but it aims to revolutionize data centers

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If you have ever mounted a PCSurely one of the points on which you have had to pay the most attention is the connections. Because understanding the power of the processor, the GPU or the speed of the RAM is “easy”, but the motherboard is what allows us to interconnect all these components with ‘highways’ in which the data speed can be maximum. In the data centers and serversthis is the same: the better the connections between chips and equipment, the lower latency, higher bandwidth and better performance. These connections are made physically, but there is a French startup that wants to change the rules of the game with NVIDIA. As? Connecting the chips by laser. Chips connected by laser and NVIDIA taking out the wallet Improving interconnection speed is no small feat or a whim. NVIDIA has begun manufacturing its next generation platform, the one named Vera Rubin. It is a system that can be combined with others to multiply benefits. That union, as we say, is physical, but there comes a point at which physics is no longer enough. When that arrives, NVIDIA wants to be ready and, a few days ago, Reuters reported on a $4 billion investment by NVIDIA in two companies that are aggressively researching new technologies to help increase that interconnection speed: Lumentum and Coherent. This is a rack and the nightmare of those of us who hate cables. Specifically, that of the Wikimedia Foundation. Well, imagine that a large part of those cables go outside because the systems are connected by electricity Another of the companies in which they have invested is Scintil Photonics. It is a French startup that this in the testing phase of a technology that, if the industry adopts it, will mark a before and after in this connection on a team scale. The LEAF Light Evaluation Kit is, as detailed, the first dense wavelength division multiplexing single chip to go from theory to practice. It’s like another language, I know, but it’s basically what we were talking about: an optical chip interconnection system instead of copper. And that is the main advantage. With copper reaching physical limits of speed and density, optics are emerging as a solution when connecting clusters of thousands of processors. Each chip has an optical system that is responsible for emitting and receiving light, and in that light goes the data that is currently traveling through cables. The one from the French company it is not the first chip based on photonic communication, but they claim that their technology reduces the energy necessary for them to work by 50%, as well as latency. Results? Well we’ll see. The startup’s CEO, Matt Crowley, has commented that he has “six or seven companies interested in implementing the technology by 2028,” but that due to confidentiality agreements, he cannot name names. The Scintil Photonics prototype The complication in this will be that they get supply of the photonics systems, since the data center racks are built with the idea that they are scalables. That is, it is no longer just power, but how many tens of thousands of units you can interconnect, and a bottleneck in the manufacturing of any of the parties involved in optics would be equivalent to a lack of supply for their customers. At the moment, some prototypes have already been served to select companies for testing, but certainly, using light pulses instead of electrical signals is something that is very interesting in superclusters focused on huge data centers that can scale without the limitations of the physical connection. Images | Victorgrigas, M.I.T., GlobeNewswire In Xataka | Huawei no longer competes: it is building its own parallel reality

Mercedes has the engine that wants to revolutionize electric cars

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Developing an engine, founding a startup and being bought by a company like Mercedes must be the dream come true of any engineer. Precisely, this is what happened when British manufacturer YASA. In 2009, members of the University of Oxford founded the company with one goal in mind: to create axial flux electric motors. After gaining clients like Ferrari, Mercedes saw potential and bought the company in 2021. Now they have created a “tiny” engine capable of delivering 1,000 HP. In this type of motor, a magnetic field and the force that rotates the rotor occur in a system parallel to the axis of rotation. Parts such as the rotor or stator are arranged in the form of flat, facing discs. In a traditional radial engine we have the classic cylinder with the stator outside, the rotor rotating inside and the magnetic field goes from the center to the outside. A axial flux electric motor It is a type of motor in which the magnetic field and the force that rotates the rotor run parallel to the axis of rotation. In a radial one, that happens from the center outwards. The radial is the one worn by the current hybrids and electricsbut the axial flow one arrives as a contender to revolutionize the interior of new energy cars thanks to a key advantage: space. The axial ones are smaller because all the elements are plates on top of each other, which allows them to be much flatter and lighter, as well as capable of developing a lot of power. By polishing its design process, YASA affirms who have achieved a latest generation engine capable of achieving 1,000 HP. The 1,000 HP engine to revolutionize electric vehicles It was a few months ago when the Mercedes-Benz subsidiary announced a prototype of an axial engine thatwith just 12.7 kg of weight, is capable of delivering a peak power of 750 kW. That translates into the aforementioned 1,000 HP and the power ratio is 59 kW/kg. The equipment surpasses the record they also held, that of the density of 42 kW/kg with a total of 55 kW which, in addition, weighed a few grams more, reaching 13.1 kg. Of course, that is the peak power, since YASA itself assures that the objective is for this new engine to be able to offer continuous power between 350-400 kW (about 530 HP). According to the team, they have achieved this increase in power thanks to improvements in both design and thermal dissipation, making the motor more efficient and constant and without using “exotic materials” to achieve those improvements in dissipation and performance. Tim Woolmer, CEO and founder of YASA, claims that his creation “will change the game in the high-performance automotive sector.” Because… yes, this engine is not focused on the electric street car at the moment. It is in the world of high performance where an engine this compact and powerful makes perfect sense. The less it weighs and takes up less space, the more the mass and volume are reduced. of the propulsion system, allowing more efficient chassis and larger batteries that improve final autonomy. Examples of cars that already have YASA engines? He Ferrari SF90 Stradale with three YASA engines that add up to 217 HP and serve as support for the thermal V8 to achieve 987 total HP, the Ferrari 296 GTB with a 165 HP YASA engine on the rear axle, the Koeningsegg Regera with three YASA engines that provide 700 HP or the Lamborghini Revuelto two YASA on the front axle. Mercedes-AMG itself also takes advantage of its technology in the GT four-door coupe. Now, the interest that this has for the average user is that these innovations They have the potential to end up reaching utility vehicles. At the moment, we drive cars with legacy technologies both competition and supercars, and scalable engines that are easy to mass produce and have a good relationship between weight, the power they deploy and the space they occupy is something attractive for the automotive industry. The problem? Precisely, the great virtue of this engine: that it represents a paradigm shift. The build platforms have been optimized for radial motor manufacturing processes and changing everything to accommodate an axial flux motor would involve a considerable investment. For the world of high performance, these engines are already a reality, but for the everyday car they still feel a bit far away. Images | YASA In Xataka | While Europe is thinking about what to do with the electric car, China already knows how to remain a leader in 2040. This is its plan

an amphibious assault ship to revolutionize its naval capabilities

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On September 3, Beijing was transformed into a catwalk. Not focused on fashion, but on weapons. In one of the most impressive military parades in memory, the Asian giant celebrated the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War with an unprecedented deployment of weapons. Was some things that were savedand that’s where it comes into play his naval strategy. Because he famous Fujian It is not the only new generation ship from China. They have another known as the Type 076 which is already doing tests. And it represents an unprecedented technological leap in the Chinese naval industry. Type 076 Sichuan. If ‘Type 076’ is the class, ‘Sichuan’ is the name they have given to the country’s 51st hull. It is the first ship of this class that, on November 16, completed his first tests of sea after setting sail from the Shanghai shipyard. We have told it on several occasions: the Type 076 impresses with its scale. It is a ship that displaces about 40,000 tons, has a length of about 260 meters, a beam of between 45 and 52 meters and has a deck of about 13,500 square meters, just over two football fields. Those dimensions are considerably larger than those of its predecessor and comparable to the Charles de Gaullethe nuclear aircraft carrier that is the pride of France. Versatility. What stands out most is not its size so that it is not an aircraft carrier: what really stands out is that China has developed a ship that can carry out any type of mission. We are talking about an amphibious assault platform, which implies that it combines traditional landing capabilities with the possibility of performing tasks typical of a light aircraft carrier. That is why its deck is so large: it is designed to house helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and, in addition, it has a deck prepared to house and deploy both landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Its human capacity is 1,000 marines. Electromagnetic catapult. For years, China depended on old Soviet heritage ships, but if Fujian marked a milestone Being the first aircraft carrier developed in-house, the Type 076 also marks a before and after by having the latest technology that the army has developed. To start, it has a electromagnetic catapult system like the one The United States has developed for your latest generation aircraft carrier and like the one Fujian has. It is a technology that will become the new standard for this type of boat, and the comparison with the Fujian is relevant because the catapult of the Type 076 It is the same length as its older brother: about 100-130 meters. This allows the Type 076 to launch conventional fixed-wing aircraft. Other amphibious assault ships can accommodate aircraft, but these must have systems V/STOL vertical or short takeoff. The new Chinese ship does not have this limitation. and electrification. But the catapult is not the only new thing: the propulsion system is fully electric. This is the first for the People’s Liberation Army Navy and the system combines two 21 MW gas turbines with six 6 MW diesel generators. Altogether, it provides about 78 MW of total power. The electrical system is responsible for powering the motors and propulsion, with a rapid delivery of energy, but it is also responsible for the high-power “pulses” such as those needed by the electromagnetic catapult. The use of this gas turbine system offers considerable advantages compared to traditional diesel, such as faster starting, the aforementioned power delivery, a reduction in vibrations, more flexibility and a lower underwater acoustic signature. Fujian deck Armament. Regardless of their transport capacity, assault ships have integrated defenses. It is not so much about carrying out attacks, but rather preventing it from being sunk, for which it has: Three surface-to-air missile launchers short range to intercept aircraft. Three Type 1130 systems with 11 30 mm cannons which provide defense against missiles and low-altitude aircraft. Four decoy launchers which consist of 24 tubes capable of deploying flares and other elements to confuse radars. Sensors similar to those installed in Fujian. These are, as we say, defensive elements, so the Sichuan will continue to depend on auxiliary ships for long-range attacks. But as we are seeing, and at an accelerated pace, it is not a problem for today’s China. Add and continue. During their three-day mission, operators tested the ship’s propulsion system, electrical systems and other key aspects that, according to reportsmet the expected standards. As we say, it is a milestone in Chinese naval modernization by merging traditional amphibious transport and aircraft carrier capabilities. It is like a category in itself and one more example that China is very serious about its maritime conquest. They are giving leaps and bounds in modernizing and expanding its fleetwith three aircraft carriers under its belt and a fourth that is estimated to have nuclear propulsion, as well as ships of other categories that fulfill two missions. On the one hand, that of national protection, but on the other, it is one more message in a territorial dispute scenario in it South and East China Sea that not only has Taiwan in its sights: also islands of Japan that China considers its property. And, of course, Japan is also responding accordingly in what has become an escalation of tension that the other giant of the seas does not want to miss: the United States. Image | 中国新闻社CHINESE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE In Xataka | The plan of one hundred million dead: this is how Japan intended to resist in World War II

The new largest plane in the world will be a beast to revolutionize wind. The big question is whether it will fly

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In the Albores of the Ukraine WarRussia took control of the airport space of Hostomel. It was where two aviation monsters, Antonov-124 and Antonov-225They were trapped. The result of the attacks? Serious damage to one of the merchandise transport aircraft more used in Europe and Destruction of Antonov-225the largest plane in the world and pride of Ukrainian aviation. His loss has left a void that a startup wants to take advantage of with the Windrunner, the world’s new biggest plane Focused on the transport of wind turbines. The problem is that there are serious doubts that one day he undertakes the flight, but there is already an interested party that has nothing to do with him renewable energy sector: The Pentagon. Drive wind. The company after this ambitious project is Radiaa startup that considers that, in a Decarbonization scenario and with one artificial intelligence so voracious In energy terms, it is necessary to boost the installation of wind turbines throughout the world. The problem is that, to accelerate that installation, the cadence of Warmers installation And the transport of its elements, such as blades, is a problem. The towers can be set up by pieces, but the blades are another song. Radia considers that none of the load aircraft They have the ability to transport large blades, and there their plan with the Windrunner and a winery that will allow three 80 -meter blades, two of 95 meters or just just or barely one 105 meters long. And it will do it directly on an improvised landing floor at the construction of the wind farm. Comparisons are hateful. To put in context what type of plane we are talking about, if the Antonov-225 was a monsterthis Windrunner would be unqualifiable: Winrunner Antonov AN-225 Total length 108 meters 84 meters Wingspan 80 meters 88.4 meters Height 24 meters 18.1 meters Winery length 105 meters 43.3 meters Bodega volume 8,200 m³ 1,300 m³ Comes with a price. The problem is that putting such a plane in the air has a problem: fuel. For the 250 tons that the Antonov-225 could load, the Windrunner will stay in more modest 72.5 tons. Enough for its main mission of transporting shovels that in its largest lengths are around 60 tons. But autonomy can also be the big problem of that plan that allows winding throughout the world. Driven by four engines that will work with Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAFits autonomy will be up to 2,000. It will be its great limitation, since it will relegate it to an almost local use in Europe, America or Asia, with continuous reposses or with the need for shovels to be manufactured to those 2,000 kilometers of its destination. Windrunner on the left, Antonov An-124 in the center, Boeing 747-400 to the right Serious doubts. It is evident that the Windrunner is promising, but experts from the aerospace industry are not so clear that Radia can materialize their vision. The argument that analysts and experts of the aviation industry use is that Radia is a startup that will need a lot of money and have seen projects with better commercial arguments and lower technological risks. Also, and how we read in BBCRadia goes against everything that is usually done in this industry and, after testing a scale model in the wind tunnel, wants to speed up times and reduce costs passing from that model to scale to real -size test aircraft. As? Instead of building traditional prototypeslooking for digital design tools. And this is not like building a car on your own: once built, an overwhelming aircraft certification process begins. Virtually the interior of the Windrunner is a winery. Trust. In the same BBC article, Mark Lundstrom, founder of Radia, confessed that, although there are numerous challenges, the fundamental principles of the development of the Windrunner go through “not doing anything new and developing the minimally viable aircraft for aviation”. That makes them discarded alternatives such as the airships, which should go through new regulations and supply chains, and also that they have opted for a more traditional supply chain. For example, hiring experienced suppliers Like the Italian Leonardo for the fuselage, the American Afore to review the security or The Spanish Aernnova For wings and pylons of engines. It is not yet known who will provide the engines, but from Radia they commented to BBC that they have “selected an existing certified engine and are working to define the integration strategy in the fuselage.” That is, Radia is using already tested technologies and components, which will allow them to “the unit cost is proportional to the weight and size of the aircraft and, therefore, comparable to that of other civil aircraft of wide fuselage,” according to Radia’s spokesman. And it is expected that the 70% of suppliers of Radia are European. The Pentagon has taken his eye. Of course, Radia is not the first visionary Aerospace Company, but if you do not set the objective of building the Windrunner for its main objective of filling the aircraft planet, whoever has recently called at their door I have something interesting to offer. In May of this year, the United States Department of Defense signed an agreement with Radia To analyze if the Windrunner could transport military load. Although the weight it can carry is much lower than that of the missing Antonov-225, its winery is huge and is something that has captured the attention of the Pentagon. From Radia they maintain that its objective remains to serve the wind energy market, but recognize that the unique capabilities of its plane make it interesting for additional applications. Boeing heats engines. Radia aims to have several real -size test units to make a first test flight at the end of this decade. Again, an excessive ambition if we take into account that planes such as the aforementioned AN-225 barely made a few flights a year … and there was only one. And we will see how the pressure of … Read more

The US and Spacex wanted to revolutionize the delivery of weapons anywhere in the world. A tropical bird had other plans

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Starship is called to be the ship-cohete that Put humanity on Marsbut years ago he caught the attention of Pentagon For something much more earthly: transport military merchandise from one point to another on earth. But what they expected from Spacex And the Pentagon was an enemy who put those plans in check. Tropical birds. Revolutionizing military logistics. After a series of incidents, in 2024 we witnessed something unprecedented. He Starship propeller rocket was intercepted with millimeter accuracy by a mechanical arm. This, which seems little thing, is the starting gun for the revolution of space missions because it promises to reduce costs and shorten times because the rockets are no longer disposable between missions. Long before achievement, in 2021, the Pentagon already showed interest in these capabilities. The United States Air Force had an internal program called ‘Rocket Cargo‘With an ambitious objective, but easy to explain: transport huge amounts of military load from one point to another on the planet in a matter of minutes. Suspense. We are talking about the ability to deliver up to 150 tons of load anywhere on Earth in a maximum time of 90 minutes, which would imply an unprecedented and unprecedented deployment, as well as A tremendous strategic advantage. However, something like this requires evidence beyond those that Spacex itself is doing with its ship-cohete, and the idea of the Air Force was to start trying these rockets in a Pacific Atolón. It is not going to be. How can we read in Reuterson that remote island at 1,300 kilometers southwest of Hawaii, at least 14 species of tropical birds live. And, according to biologists, Spacex and Air Force tests would damage these species that nest in the area. Atoll location And relocation. This atoll, called Johnstonhas only 2.6 square kilometers and is part of the National Marine Monument of the remote Pacific Islands, so, as a source of the Air Force confirmed to the American military magazine ‘Stars and Stripes’, they will have to look for a new ‘patio’ of testing. According to the FFAA spokesman to the American magazine, they are already “exploring alternative places to develop the program”. Mistreating atolls. It is not the first time That the activities of the Musk company damages the flora and fauna of a place. It happened in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2023, when an explosion ended both with nests and coastal bird eggs, which caused legal problems to the company. Problems that Musk reacted with his particular and curious sense of humor, stating that he would stop eating tortillas for a week to compensate. And the truth is that this is a small victory for the tropical birds of the Johnson atolion, since the atolls of the quadrant and their fauna did not have so much luck in the pastwhen they were chosen as Objective for nuclear tests During the cold war, ending with entire islands of a plumazo and causing the Fear of nuclear radiation long before the Chernobyl accident. Images | United States Army Chemical Materials Agency, Steve Jurvetson, Tubs In Xataka | The US is leaving Ukraine without help, so Ukraine has proposed something to Europe: you give me the money, I manufacture my arms

China wants to revolutionize the hypersonic flight of airplanes and missiles with an explosive ingredient: magnesium

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China and the United States are immersed in a race that is not fought on the mainland, but in the air with a common goal: to achieve speeds of more than 7,000 km/h. Both have several hypersonic airplanes projects With potential both military and civil And, although the US seems more reserved, China from time to time goes out to the arena to talk about Your technological achievements. The latest is an engine capable of going to Mach 6 thanks to a fuel formula with a special ingredient: magnesium. Mach 6. When we talk about hypersonic speeds, what we use to measure it is the Mach 1. is the one that represents the speed of sound, established in 1,235 km/h. Thus, a Mach 2 speed would be twice the speed of sound. Well, what are testing At Beihang University in Beijing it is a technique that allows to double the thrust of current hypersonic engines to reach Mach 6 and higher speeds. It is difficult to get an idea of ​​the amounts we talk about, since we are talking about speeds of more than 2,000 meters per second or around 7,000 kilometers per hour. It would be like going from Madrid to New Delhi in an hour. That journey, currently, has between eight and ten hours. EITHER cross the Atlantic in three. Scramjets. The objective of the researchers is to redefine hypersonic aviation thanks to a combustion technique that, as we read in South China Morning Postpractically doubles the thrust of a scramjet engine. It is the abbreviation of “Supersonic Combustion Ramjets”, these Ramjets being reaction engines created to reach Mach 3 speeds. To function, the air enters the engine at high speed. They are motors without turbines that compress that air at supersonic speed (do not slowly subsuite like Ramjets) and then the fuel is injected. It can be hydrogen, but also kerosene, which is mixed with compressed air and, as a result, a supersonic jet of hot gases that propels the vehicle is generated. When it occurs for the first time, it is when the sound barrier is broken and something similar to an explosion is heard. “Secret” ingredient. The problem of Scramjet engines is that, at extreme speeds, the energy generated by fuel is stabilized, but adding magnesium to the fuel formula, the thing changes. The Chinese team chose magnesium being a metal with a violent reactivity. When the kerosene burns it generates residual, but when they inject magnesium dust, that CO₂ acts as an oxidant lighting the magnesium particles. Yang Qingchun is the project director and comments that “magnesium does not need atmospheric oxygen”, so those magnesium dust particles react in explosive shapes with the residual gases that were previously wasted, now releasing an additional energy. China hypersonic test vehicle Evidence. And they have tested. Under conditions that simulate a Mach 6 to 30 kilometers altitude flight and using commercial aircraft fuel, magnesium injection increased the thrust by 86.6% with a combustion efficiency of 65.1%. This allows to increase the 613 Newtons-second motor thrust per kilogram at 1,126 Newtons-Second per kilogram. At that speed, the kerosene burns practically completely, the magnesium dust turns to the contact and releases the heat between two and three times faster than only the kerosene. But speed is not the only advantage. Something crucial is not to overheat the turboreactor, so researchers have studied how to optimize the process to increase performance without a temperature increase. Thus, it is the kerosene that acts as a refrigerant of the motor walls through regenerative cooling. The magnesium, which is added later, burns in a “storm of supersonic fire”, according to the researchers, which is stabilized thanks to an optimized flow route that, in turn, helps to achieve that more powerful thrust. Challenges. But of course, the higher the speed, the greater the challenges. We have already commented that the temperature is something that plays against supersonic ships Because they must resist friction that makes the temperature rise above 1,500 degrees Celsius. In addition, at more speed, more turbulence. The team states that this supersonic turbulence entails the risk of an unequal dispersion of magnesium dust inside the postquemor. If there is a bad penetration of the particles, or an irregular injection, the thrust gain falls to almost 20%. It is something that causes the engine to be very unstable. In addition, those magnesium particles that “exploit” are a double -edged sword. On the one hand, the explosion generates that violent reaction that increases the thrust, but at the same time the particles become microcuchillas that can damage the engine. Therefore, you have to investigate engines with the capacity to resist impacts inside. On the other hand, you have to stabilize magnesium injection because it is postulated as something ideal to quickly reach hypersonic speeds and maintain them, but a ship fluctuates in speed, it is an unstable fuel. They have added nitrogen gas to stabilize the entrance of the particles, but the team confesses that it is “as difficult as threading a needle in the middle of a hurricane.” Projects. It is something that China will continue working because it is the team itself that states that it is not something only for airplanes: Yang comments that its design can reduce the launch weight or extend the range of missiles. They will try to inject magnesium on a nanometric scale to see if it is more efficient, but it is clear that it is a project that interests the country. And, yes, China has already tested higher speedsbut what they are looking for is more stability and the way to change between speeds at pleasure, not in such a linear way. And he does it because the United States is also working on it. Not only in aircraft like Blackbirdbut also in systems such as Dark Eagle, a missile with a range of more than 3,000 kilometers and capable of reaching speeds greater than Mach 17 (about 20,000 km/h) with systems to … Read more

Xiaomi wants to revolutionize the Chinese market of the electric car and its next goal is not Tesla. They are your registration

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Although they have become a reference in recent years, China has been investing in all kinds of measures to promote the use of the electric car. In recent months we have explained how The supply chain dominate with iron of batteries or how the State has sustained sales applying constant purchase subsidies. But this strategy has been transversal and has also tried to take into account even the slightest detail. One of them, for example, was to give Specific registrations to new energy cars, as they are known in the country to plug -in and electric hybrids. These tuitions are green. As in Spain with the environmental badge of the DGT, These special registrations that began to sell in 2016 They served to quickly identify electric cars or plug -in hybrids. The measure worked quickly because it had a lot of practical and some image. In the first place because some cities began to impose restrictions on blue enrollment cars. That is, all those who were not new energy vehicles. For example, In Beijing Combustion vehicles were forbidden to circulate one day a week to reduce pollution. Vehicles with green registrations were released and to facilitate the identification, the use of the new registration was essential. At the same time, In Shanghaiwhere traffic was hell, the authorities began to restrict the delivery of new registrations with lotteries. But there was another way to get a car: Green enrollment. Because, indeed, if you got with a new energy car you could skip this procedure. And, of course, green registration also had some image. In China it was understood that if you had a green registration in your car it was because You were committed to the environment. As the prices of electric cars could be low, it was not so much a status symbol but it did serve to project an image of a person that embraces the cleaner technologies of the moment. Now, Xiaomi is committed to changing the rules. More and more personalization Once the electric car has gained ground, the use of green registration has lost some sense. At least this is what Lei Jun believes that has proposed a substantial change in the enrollment plates of electric cars. In addition to being the founder of Xiaomi, Lei Jun is also a congressman in the National Congress of the People In China since 2013. His figure has been re -elected on several occasions to participate in this body that the Chinese Communist Party uses to carry out future laws and regulations. Every year, the National Congress of the People meets and the congressmen propose the New laws or the modification of the existing ones. During a period that usually reaches two weeks, the proposals are debated for a subsequent application if the case is. This year, Lei Jun has taken the floor to propose changes in regulation of vehicles and the application of artificial intelligence in their operation. In his speech, Lei Jun has proposed five modifications that You can see in this link. Among them, it encourages to implement changes to develop systems of Autonomous Level 3 and 4 Driving. That is, vehicles circulate for themselves without human attention. In addition, it is committed to investing in a greater production of electric cars and their batteries or facilitating the use of artificial intelligence in them. But what has caught attention is your proposal to change the current registration of new energy vehicles. Lei Jun points out that intelligent enrollment can be incorporated that facilitate traffic management, abandoning current plates. That is, take advantage of digital functions in them. And, taking advantage of this new functionality, it is committed to eliminating the obligation that the registration of new energy cars are green. He points out that vehicles are increasingly interested in the personalization of their cars and that they want to body color does not unravel with registrationas is currently. The interest of buyers in customizing cars has been growing in the Asian country. In Speedhuntersspecialized in vehicle modificationsexplained that In 2023 they had already been surprised With Chinese interest in personalized vehicles. Until now, the restrictions to apply changes in cars have been iron but as they point out in their article, which they accompany with photos, more and more Chinese clients are interested in a culture of customization similar to the Japanese or what we knew here as we knew here as Tunning In the early 2000s. Little by little, customization has been pending among customers to the point that some televisions sell as a disruptive element The factories in which cars are personalized customer taste. The business has reached such a point that The United States Department of Commerce He points out that “the China customization and modification market was valued at 10 billion US dollars in 2021 and can reach 31.2 billion dollars by 2025”. The reality is that in recent years customization in the car market has shot. The state impulse To continue selling cars when in 2022 production had stopped as a consequence of COVID-19 was seen as a bet in this regard. In fact, There are already specific fairs in which only individual modifications are treated for cars. Changing the green of the license plate is, without a doubt, one more step to boost customization in vehicles. A business that has been growing over the years and is especially interesting for companies offered by the most expensive vehicles on the market. In fact, among the richest The purchase of individuals manufactured individually has been popularizedwith the aim of having a unique car that meets all its demands. Photo | S5A-0043 and China News Service In Xataka | I have seen the Xiaomi electric car: SU7 is the clear proof of the brand’s future

For centuries, olive leaves were used to feed cattle. Now some grenadines want our nutrition to revolutionize

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How much is an olive leaf? Here is a question that probably has not done many people in the world and the truth is that it has not been asked for a good reason: because it is almost nothing. In fact, historically no more than as food complement to cattle has been used. Changing that it is gerund. Everything else is A field paid to pseudoscience. That is precisely what you want to change The people of the Biorevaleaf operational groupa group of researchers from Granada obsessed in “fully revalue the olive leaf as a source of phytochemicals and nutrients with bioactive character.” That is, obsessed with the idea of ​​converting that “by -product” into an essential piece to extract functional ingredients in food and enriched oils. But is it really for something? On paper, it serves a lot: the olive leaf is rich in fiber, proteins and Other “phenolic compounds such as hydroxytitus, tyrosol, aglicone, oleaceine and oleocantal, “oleuropein.” What begins to tell us research is that allow reducing oxidative damage And, by extension, many of the diseases that arise with age. The first step would be to introduce all these bioactive components in olive oil (creating a whole new generation of enriched producer). But the second would go further and bring those compounds beyond, throughout the food chain. And how do you want to do it? That, without a doubt, is the most interesting part. It is under study, but Cidaf, the University of Granada, the Oleícola company Torres Morente and Agrifood Cooperativas de Granada They are trying of implementing fermentation processes and ecosstable extraction techniques. Spain in front of the future of the olive grove. In the early 90s, Spain and Italy They disputedhand in hand, the throne of the first world producing country of olive oil. This year, for the first time, Türkiye has surpassed the transalpine peninsula and has become the second great international producer. It is no accident. In the last 30 years and while the world produces twice as much oil that then, Italy first stagnated and then began to decline. Today, Italian olivers cannot produce even half of what the country consumes. Figures. According to the Italiaolivicola Studies Center In 2024, half of 1.1 million hectares of olive trees in the country are in the process of abandonment. 200,000 hectares are in a state of total abandonment and more than 300,000 are managed with “purely maintenance practices.” It is a slow agony that Spain tries to dodge. But it is not easy. The productive bands They put producers in a complex balance that threatens to denaturalize the entire industrial sector. It is not an exaggeration: one of the great paradoxes of Spanish olive oil is that, despite growing 15% a year, More than 500 oil mill will close In the next decade. Initiatives like this leaf or as those that are coming doing with the olive bonethey want to solve this by carrying the olive tree: today, the oil mills (and the rest of agri -food industries) are one of the few industrial structures that articulate empty Spain. If we lose them, the rest of the social framework will suffer a lot. Image | Nazar Hrabovyi | Bee Naturalles In Xataka | Spain faces its greatest agricultural challenge of the century: turn 1,901,529 hectares of olive grove before it is late

The Swiss invention that wants to revolutionize how you consume caffeine

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Preparing that daily coffee has become a ritual for many. The choice of a good coffee, prepare it in the Coffee maker that we like the most and with accessories that we have been buying Little by little they are part of a process that goes beyond the pragmatism of “making coffee.” However, we do not always have the time or the possibility of doing so, and that is where canned coffee comes into play. Tube coffee, to be more exact. Travel coffee. For those who cannot spend a day without a couple of coffees, traveling is a headache. You do not know if you will find a good cafeteria and, if you load with the equipment, as you can carry something like an aeropress or a Portable coffee makera coffee bag already ground (which is losing properties) and you will need hot water to perform the process. And that’s where the Swiss company ‘non -normal’ has seen a hole to do business: sell coffee in paste. Not normal. The idea It was the work of two passionate about coffee and adventure that “reject mediocre coffee” and that, due to their excursions, needed to find a way of having instant coffee, good taste and easy access. They occurred to them to create a coffee paste that is stored in a tube, such as toothpaste. It is a coffee extract that, according to them, can be prepared directly next to water or hot or cold milk. Depending on the amount of liquid used, we will have a more or less long coffee, but we must bear in mind that the roasting of the grains is strong, which moves it away from many palates. The color of the pasta itself or coffee is ready is a fairly clear indicator. Coffee to chew. Not being a dust, this coffee can give game to experimentation, and those responsible have put some examples that have made me lift my eyebrow: spreading it in a toast (in the comments someone has tried this, as we will see later), combining it with banana or chocolate … and mixing it with yogurt and oatmeal. There is also a photo on its website on which it consumes it directly from the tube, as if it were an energy gel. By the way, these are your ingredients: 46% of Arabica coffee from Colombia. 15% of Colombia’s Arabica ground coffee. Swiss beet sugar, water and thickening. Specialty price. They affirm That it is tastier than most instant coffee because it is concentrated coffee, retains the flavors of newly prepared coffee and have selected roasted grains so that the product is the best possible. As for the price, there is only one option right now: the strong tums. Each tube costs 17.95 euros (more than 10 euros of shipping to Spain) and gives for 20 cups if we apply five grams services each time. There are options such as three pipes for 53.85 euros or six for 86.16 tubes, these two free shipping options. Caffeine. The tubes have a useful life of up to 12 months if it closes correctly and does not need a refrigerator for its conservation. And, at this point, something you can ask yourself is how much caffeine has a “coffee concentrate” like this. Caffeine is still A concern For many people, although there is evidence that it is needed take a huge amount So that we notice any consideration, and each service of five grams has about 47 mg of caffeine. On the web, They clarify that a conventional espresso have about 63 mg of caffeine and that the teaspoon of its pasta has more … or less. In the end, it is something that depends on both conventional espresso and the coffee variety or, if we talk about the non -normal coffee, the amount of pasta we use. What seems, at least much of the advertising that accompanies this coffee so, is that the target user is athlete and mountaineer, who is the one who has most complicated would have access to caffeine a hot coffee during their activities. Flavor? That is the big question. The commercial video makes me funny for the face that one of those responsible for the coffee puts after trying it, but it is obviously impossible to judge something like that until it is proven. I am not one of those who trust the assessments of the users within the websites of the owners of a product, but it is curious to see the difference in criteria when assessing its flavor. Most of the Scores They are very positive -logical-, but beyond that detail, it is interesting to see that there are several comments that claim that it is a bit sweet for their standards … and others comment that too strong. There are those who say that it has too much sugar and others that have very little. They also emphasize that “she knows horrible” smeared in a toast (I have to try that) and there are those who comment that it is a good idea, but that he would like to see a model with an average gang. As I say, it is funny to see the difference in opinions due to the variety of palates and the sensations before the same product, but what stands out is something that, regardless of the flavor that may have, seems evident: its practicality. Images | Not normal In Xataka | The first step to improve coffee you drink is to grind it yourself. Science has the explanation

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