secret

China has presented its X-36 aircraft to dominate the air. And then he took him to a secret base where the real surprise was.

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The public appearance of the J-36 and later a “twin”, marks a turning point in Chinese military aviation, placing Beijing in a direct race for air supremacy in the 21st century. Until just a few years ago, the US lead in stealth fighter development seemed assured. However, the new Chinese platforms, first shown on flights captured without censorship and now visible in satellite images in a secret base near Lop Nur, indicate that China has not only advanced in technology: it has decided to demonstrate it. The sixth generation. It became official on October 31, 2025, when several videos shared on chinese social networks and internationals showed what was identified as the new J-36 stealth plane 6th generation Peking flying in formation with a J-20probably the two-seat J-20S, near the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation facilities. The disclosure deliberate imagesoperational integration with J-20S fighters already in service and the parallel deployment of two different sixth-generation designs suggest that China is not simply testing isolated prototypes, but rather building a deeply interconnected aerial ecosystem, conceived to coordinate manned fighters, heavy stealth platforms and swarms of advanced drones in penetration, supremacy and airspace control missions in highly defended theaters. Design break. The J-36the most visible and talked about aircraft, stands out for its queueless configurationa trait extremely difficult to stabilize without advanced algorithmic and computational assistance. Its wide fuselage, long chord wings and air intakes positioned both on the top and on the sides indicate an absolute priority: minimize the radar signal from any angle and operate for long periods within denied zones. This type of design, compared by analysts to a crossover between stealth fighters and bombersis not only aimed at air-to-air combat, but rather at acting as a tactical node in the air: monitoring distributed sensors, coordinating unmanned platforms and providing range and persistence in deep missions. The evolution between the prototype seen in December 2024 and the one shown in 2025 (with modifications to nozzles, landing gear and control surfaces) aims for rapid iteration and a high testing rate, characteristic features of aeronautical industries with mature design cycles. The J-20S bridge cone. He use of the J-20Sthe two-seat variant of the Chinese fifth-generation stealth fighter, as an escort and supervision platform in mixed flights with the J-36it is not a minor detail. The additional cockpit of the J-20S is optimized to manage sensors, data links and control of autonomous systems, making it the “human piece” that oversees what will, in the future, become increasingly automated. This pairing reflects the American operating concept for your NGAD programin which a very high-level fighter does not replace existing models, but rather coordinates and amplifies them. China, similarly, appears to be preparing mixed attack packages: the J-36 opens the way and establishes an information bubble, the J-20S protects and directs, and unmanned platforms execute saturation, deception or attack. Installation near Lop Nur Satellite image providing an overview of the entire facility near Lop Nur, as seen on November 3 Chinese Area 51. And after the show, the J-36 was stored in an unknown location until a few hours ago. The appearance of another prototype alongside the J-36 (the smaller but still heavy one called like J-XDS) at a remote base near the historic Lop Nur nuclear site revealed something crucial: China is transferring the testing phase from manufacturer facilities to an advanced experimentation center, similar in purpose to the US Area 51. The track of more than 5 kilometersnew hangar installations, expansions and projects under construction suggest an environment designed for intensive testing of sensitive systems, stealth operations and doctrine validation. That both models were parked outdoors, knowing that they would be captured by commercial satellites, reinforces the interpretation that Beijing seeks to show capacity and leave it to Western intelligence to fill gaps and debate roles, sizes, engines, automation levels and actual missions. Put another way, ambiguity is part of the strategy: forcing the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia to prepare for several simultaneous scenarios, which disperses resources, planning and budgets. A future combat ecosystem. The key does not lie only in manned aircraft. China is expanding rapidly parallel programs from autonomous and collaborative stealth drones, from naval UCAVs like GJ-11/21 to operate from aircraft carriers to “loyal wingman” type CCAs of similar size to that of a light fighter, planned for accompany the J-36 such as range multipliers, sensors and ammunition. The goal is to create a spectrum of interdependent systemswhere the sixth-generation fighter acts as the aerial brain, while swarms of drones execute risky tasks, absorb fire, open access corridors and saturate long-range defenses. This, in theory, fits directly into Western Pacific scenarios, where any operation requires penetrating dense and deeply integrated networks of surveillance, over-the-horizon radars, satellites and naval missiles. A challenge for Washington. The presentation and the transfer of evidence to one top secret base They underline a reality: China is not building a single aircraft, but rather preparing a complete doctrinal architecture to contest (not just balance) American air superiority. For the United States, Japan and allies, the concern arises not only from technical progress, but from the calendar. Washington plans to deploy its first NGAD fighters towards 2030, but Beijing is already flying prototypes in experimental operational configuration accompanied by mature fighters. Yeah the J-36 or that twin pragmatic J-XDS reach levels of availability and credible doctrine sooner, the aerial map of the Pacific could undergo a profound transformation. What for decades was a question of “whether China would reach the fifth generation” has now become a different and much more pressing question: what the hell will air combat look like in the next decade. Image | Planet Labs, Chinese Social Media In Xataka | China appears to be molding a huge stealth aircraft called the J-36. This image is emerging as proof of his ambition In Xataka | We have been tying ribbons to suitcases for years to identify them at the airport. Your employees warn that it is a bad idea

The secret of Chinese AI companies to compete without Nvidia chips: electricity subsidized by Beijing

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Everywhere we look, there is artificial intelligence. Everyone talks about it, but what is its fuel? It’s not the data or the chips: it’s the electricity. While in the West technology companies are looking for how to power their data centers —increasingly energy hungry—, China has decided to take a different step. Beijing has designed an energy subsidy for its technology sector with a clear objective: to make the energy that powers the digital brains of its next generation of chips cheaper. Energy subsidy. Since September, the Chinese Government banned large national technology companies —including Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent—acquire artificial intelligence chips from the American Nvidia, in an attempt to strengthen local production. However, the consequence was immediate: national processors consume more electricity. According to The Chosun Dailygenerating the same number of tokens with Chinese chips requires 30% to 50% more energy than with Nvidia’s H20, which sent electricity bills skyrocketing and led companies to complain to regulators. To make up for that gap, local governments introduced grants that cover up to a full year of operating costs, according to the Hong Kong media on.cc. In those provinces, industrial electricity was already 30% cheaper than in the developed coastal areas of the east, but with the new incentives the price could fall to 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour, a record figure for the Chinese technology industry. ¿How does the energy plan work? The scheme is relatively simple, but strategic. Local governments offer electricity discounts of up to half to data centers that use chips produced within the country. Operators that use foreign processors – such as those from Nvidia or AMD – are excluded from the program. In addition, the energy provinces receive direct support from the State to finance the discounts, with the aim of reducing dependence on technological imports and compensating for the increased consumption of local chips. According to the Financial TimesChinese data centers that rely on domestic semiconductors are, for now, less energy efficient, but the subsidy seeks to bring their costs in line with those of more advanced foreign chips. These regions—Guizhou, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia—have become hotbeds for data center clusters, thanks to their abundance of hydropower and coal. There, companies like Alibaba or Tencent are building new facilities to house their generative AI models, taking advantage of lower energy costs and tax incentives. This policy combines three strategic priorities: making energy cheaper, promoting domestic chips and reinforcing technological sovereignty. In a context of United States restrictions, each subsidized kilowatt is also a political statement. An industrial policy with a geopolitical charge. Behind the energy plan is a long-range political commitment. The Chinese Government intends for its technology companies to progressively replace imported chips with domestic processors, even if this implies higher costs in the short term. The electricity subsidy acts as a temporary bridge for national giants to adopt local chips without losing competitiveness. This measure is included in a broader national strategy of technological self-sufficiency. As the Financial Times explains in its series The State of AIChina is using its “society-wide mobilization capacity” to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. The country already leads the number of patents and scientific publications in AI, and although the United States maintains an advantage in chips and talent, the gap narrows every year. Analyst Dan Wang, quoted by the same media, points out: “China has achieved a unique balance between engineering capacity, state control and massive industrial deployment, allowing it to advance faster than other countries in the practical application of AI.” Meanwhile, in the West… China’s decision contrasts with the energy challenges of the United States. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned that the real bottleneck of AI It is no longer the chips, but the energy. In fact, he explained that many companies accumulate chips that they cannot connect due to lack of power supply. Both Microsoft and Google are already studying building modular nuclear reactors to power their future data centers, a sign of the enormous energy consumption that artificial intelligence requires. While Silicon Valley seeks electricity, China subsidizes it. This asymmetry reflects two different models: one guided by state intervention and the other by market competition. Both pursue the same goal—sustaining the artificial intelligence revolution—but with opposite philosophies. A future plugged into the State. The Chinese subsidy not only alleviates costs: it redefines the relationship between the State and the private sector in the age of AI. As analyst Arnaud Bertrand observed, US restrictions pushed China towards a different model: more efficient, more open and more collective. “By operating under hardware limitations, Chinese companies have learned to optimize resources and share open models like Qwen or DeepSeek,” wrote Bertrand on the social network That strategy, based on efficiency and diffusion, could give China a long-term advantage in global adoption, since any company in the world can download and adapt its models. The country that controls the plug. China isn’t just making the chips that power its artificial intelligence. It is also building the electrical grid that makes them possible. In a world where data is the new oil, Beijing has decided to subsidize the fuel of the digital brain. While the West debates how to connect its supercomputers, China plugs them in at a reduced price. And in this race, whoever controls the plug could end up controlling the future. Image | FreePik and FreePik Xataka | The world of AI has a problem: there is no energy for so many chips

Russia’s biggest threat in Ukraine is not a drone or a missile. It is a film agency with 30 secret floors

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That the war in Ukraine has become the largest drone laboratory combat power on the planet is beyond any doubt. In fact, both Russia like, to a greater extent, Ukraine, have elevated these devices to configure a war industry unprecedented that places machines as the army of the future of any conflict. What was not so well known was where most of Ukraine’s drones came from. Origin and metamorphosis. What started three years ago as a location and props agency in basements and garages has mutated into a war industry on an almost industrial scale: Fire Point, whose owner and executives come from from the world of cinema and the construction of outdoor furniture, has gone from assembling drones with commercial parts to producing, according to its executives, hundreds of propelled and long-range munitions from at least thirty secret locations scattered throughout Ukraine. But there is much more, because the company has grown so much that it has currently consolidated itself with contracts for around billion dollars in a single year. A transit that reflects the rapid professionalization and commercialization of initiatives born out of patriotism and urgency in February 2022, when improvised underground workshops became an effective (although precarious and fragmentary) response to a large-scale invasion. Production, design and employment. Fire Point products, such as your FP-1 droneare simple machines in materials (polystyrene, plywood, plastics, and carbon fiber from cycling) but assembled with a logic of volume production: rocket-assisted takeoff, two-stroke engine, range measured in hundreds of kilometers and warheads of more than fifty kilos in some designs. Its catalog also includes the promising Flamingo missilea larger device, with a jet engine and a theoretical autonomy and load that, if confirmed at scale, could reconfigure the Ukrainian capacity to hit deep targets. The Ukrainian industrial philosophy here is clear: cheap, disposable, massive. Efficiency does not require reprocessing or longevity, only that some specimens cross the defense networks and fulfill their unique mission. An FP-1 Military strategy and effects. The proliferation of these munitions has allowed Ukraine to sustain a systematic campaign against energy infrastructure Russian companies (refineries and logistics nodes) seeking not only a tactical effect but also strategic pressure and leverage in eventual negotiations. In fact, the multiplicity of manufacturers domestic forces and technical adaptability have forced Russia to face a daily erosion of its apparent air immunity, forcing it to reallocate defensive resources and contemplate low-cost warfare as a decisive vector. Transparency and control. Fire Point’s meteoric rise has not been free of shadows: Public complaints and audits point out opaque awards, absence of mandatory price negotiations, questions about initial technical quality and the possible involvement of actors linked to the media and business environment close to power. In fact, the National Anti-Corruption Agency has inspected links with figures associated with the presidential circle and there are parliamentary calls to investigate pricesspecifications and the destination of multimillion-dollar benefits. Despite this, the public narrative combines suspicion and exaltation: national heroes and strategic businessmen who have shored up the defensive capacity, while activists and analysts demand more controls and transparency in war contracts. Industrialization and ecosystem. The phenomenon is not an isolated case but the center of an industrial revolution: Thousands of companies, hundreds focused on long-range drones and dozens competing for contracts, attract foreign funds, partners and joint venture projects. State agencies charter incentiveswhile international funds (such as the recent Norwegian-Ukrainian vehicle) show that the ecosystem is beginning to professionalize and seek commercial and technological legitimation beyond the emergency. For European and North American defense, Ukraine now offers a unique experience in unmanned missions and rapid design, which arouses interest both military as industrial. Ethical dilemmas. There is no doubt, the balance raises dilemmas: the domestic war economy reduces dependence on allied donations and scales offensive capacity, but it raises questions on democratic control, accountability and the risk that lucrative war businesses are perpetuated beyond strategic necessity. Plus: the proliferation of cheap and massive systems exacerbates the asymmetric nature of the conflict and poses risks of escalation and diffuse responsibility for selective objectives and collateral damage. Perspectives. In sum, the Fire Point history summarizes the Ukrainian phenomenon: industrial creativity (in many cases, they have no other choice) converted into a strategic muscle, an industry that emerged from volunteering transformed into key actor of the military apparatusbut also in focus of controversy due to its speed, its margins and the opacity typical of a country at war. The future challenge is twofold: to consolidate technological and productive capabilities that continue to perform in combat, and at the same time insert this thriving sector into frameworks of governance and transparency that prevent war efficiency from evolving towards economies of corruption or political capture. How Ukraine resolves this binomial will define whether its revolution dronistics It remains a collective merit or becomes an institutional burden. Image | xMezha In Xataka | They call it Skyfall, Burevestnik, or flying Chernobyl. The problem is not the name, it is what Russia’s latest missile does In Xataka | The war in Ukraine was a drone war. Now it is a war of drones that are not actually combat drones

Science has found the secret of the giant tomato, but it may be at the cost of destroying its good flavor

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Imagine being able to take a small, bitter, wild eggplant and with a single genetic tweak, turn it into a very different variety, much larger and ready for the market. This, it seems something out of a science fiction movieit may be a reality that is getting closer, as one pointed out published study in the magazine Nature who deciphered the genetic “instruction manual” of the entire eggplant family and also the tomato. The problem. We are currently living in a time in which the climate is changing radically. with increases in temperatures or reduction in rainfall that reach our fields. This forces us to have a ‘plan B’ in the bedroom that allows us to continue having crops efficiently and to be able to feed an entire population despite there being a climate decline. And genetics in this case is preparing for it with different changes. The agriculture of the genetically modified foods is starting to gain strength. The fact of modifying the seed of a fruit so that it comes out with significant improvements, such as being juicier, larger or more efficient, is the future of agri-food engineering. And all to be able to respond to an increasingly growing demand for food, but with a space suitable for it that is smaller. A commitment to flavor. But these genetic alterations raise many questions. The goal right now is to have fat tomatoes or eggplants that are also very elongated but without thinking about anything else. If we eat a tomato on many occasions what we want is for it to be juicy and good. But genetic modification may overlooks these types of essential components to be more ‘productive’ and nutritious. But the objective in this case of the investigation that is currently being carried out is on size. And if one tomato ‘from the future’ can be equivalent to three ‘current’ ones, the truth is that we will have taken a very important step. And this is already being seen. The investigation. An international team of scientists has created the first “pangenome“of the genus Solanum. This is not only the tomato and eggplant family, but also the potato and dozens of other crops consumed locally around the world, and which opens the door to a great evolution in the field of food and the agri-food industry. The objective. For the researchers, the objective was quite clear from the first moment: to know why a gene that produces a desirable trait, such as having a larger fruit in a tomato, does not work when tried to apply it to an eggplant. The answer in this case is quite clear: genetic redundancy. The obstacle. In this case, scientists saw that the main obstacle to this genetic modification not being applied was in gene duplications, known as paralogues. In order to understand this concept we can imagine the light in a room that would be our phenotype and that in order to turn it off we need to press two switches that control it. These switches are what we know as paralogs, and in order to turn off the light it would be necessary to deactivate both. This is what happens in many species, which have created ‘backup copies’ of their switches so that turning off just one would do absolutely nothing and would not materialize in their phenotype, such as their size. That is why this team analyzed 22 species of Solanum and discovered that, although the overall structure of chromosomes is similar, thousands of key genes have undergone different variations throughout their evolution. The brake gene. Scientists have long known that a gene called CLAVATA3 (CLV3) is the master regulator of fruit size in tomatoes. Its function is, basically, to act as a brake. It tells stem cells at the plant’s growing points (the meristems) when to stop dividing. Thus, when this gene is mutated or ‘off’ the brake is released and the plate produces more cells, resulting in larger flowers with more seed compartments and also a much larger fruit. And here is the key to how a tomato will end up being domesticated. The problem is that the tomato has an additional “handbrake”, which is a paralogous gene called CLE9. In this way, even if we alter CLV3, it will not have its full effect, since it will have this extra switch that must also be altered. CRISPR. It is a genetic ‘editing weapon’ that will allow us to achieve the effect we want and cut the brake on CLV3 so that the fruits can evolve. The scientists ran the tests on the African eggplant, a species that lost its CLE9 handbrake a long time ago, but has a functional copy of CLV3. When scientists used CRISPR to deactivate that only functional copy, the result was massive and uncontrolled growth, demonstrating that that gene was the only brake he had left. In another experiment, we used S.prinophyllum that did not have CLE9, but did have two units of CLV3 (CLV3a and CLV3b). In this case, when the researchers edited a single copy, the brake was weakened and the plant produced fruits with more lobes and therefore slightly larger fruits. But when they removed the two brakes, uncontrolled growth was seen again. The surprise find. While research was being carried out along these lines, experts saw something they did not expect: a completely different gene on chromosome 2 called SaetSCPL25-like acted as the main size “switch” in the African eggplant. Something that responded to a small natural mutation of this gene that was associated with the additional locules per fruit. To check this, they did the experiment in reverse. They took this new gene and they cracked it with CRISPR on a standard tomato. The result in this case is that fruits were produced with more locules, that is, they were much larger. In this way, the researchers had found a second genetic path to increase the size of the fruit in addition to breaking its brakes. … Read more

Hangzhou is the city of DeepSeek, Alibaba and Unitree without any of the typical Silicon Valley ingredients. His secret is another

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Hangzhou, a city of 12 million inhabitants 180 km south of Shanghai, is home to a striking number of powerful technology companies: Seven reference technologies (the six ‘little dragons’ plus the giant Alibaba) in a city that does not have any of the elements considered essential in Silicon Valley: Abundant venture capital. Leading universities. Links between university and industry. And a robust industrial structure. How could you then Hangzhou emerge well? The facts. Venture capital is plummeting in China. Funds in yuan have fallen from 88.42 billion dollars in 2022 to 5.38 billion in 2024. Funds in dollars, from 17.32 billion to 750 million. Hangzhou has not been a major recipient of investment until last year, when its province –Zheijang– stood out with 41 new corporate venture capital funds. But it was only after Unitree or Game Science had gained national attention. Missing. Hangzhou has only one elite university – Zhejiang – compared to 26 in Beijing, 11 in Jiangsu or 10 in Shanghai. The admission rate at Tsinghua and Beijing Universities for students from the capital (0.85%) is almost ten times that of students from Zhejiang (0.09%). None of the founders of “the six little dragons” or Alibaba created their company directly from university. Liang Wenfeng founded High-Flyer, the hedge fund after DeepSeekeight years after graduating. Jack Ma was rejected for 30 jobs after finishing his studies. Yes, but. The city has innovated by doing away with those ingredients. The explanation offered by Zilan Qian, a researcher at the Oxford China Policy Lab, points out ChinaTalk to “flexible governance”: a model where officials adopt “waiters” and “babysitters” mentality that facilitate rather than control. The context. Hangzhou does not have the political, financial or industrial importance of first-tier cities, which has given it greater local autonomy to shape its technology sector. Zhejiang province was a pioneer since the 1980s in promoting private enterprise during the early phases of Chinese economic reforms. Jack Ma He tried to establish Alibaba’s headquarters in Beijing or Shanghai, but failed due to the cost of rent and bureaucratic barriers. In 2015, Ma explained her decision: “Beijing favors state-owned enterprises, Shanghai favors foreign companies, and Alibaba was nothing in their eyes. If we return to Hangzhou, we become the local only child who receives all the attention and support.” Hangzhou is part of the sometimes called “chinese technology triangle“(sometimes also”golden triangle“) along with Shanghai and Shenzhen. More than a geometric reality, the functional metaphor describes the complementarity of three cities: Shenzhen provides industrial capacity and hardware. Shanghai concentrates finances and internationalization Hangzhou stands out in the internet, AI and an ecosystem favorable to private companies. Each vertex of the triangle has different strengths that, combined, generate an ecosystem where geographical proximity facilitates collaboration and flow of talent between the three poles. Between the lines. The model is described as “market-oriented” but maintains a level of centralized governance. The Hangzhou government sees quality of life as a strategy to attract businesses and talent, but positions itself as an enabler, not a controller. The absence of state-backed research institutes and a strong industrial base contributes to the government’s humble attitude. If Hangzhou were more strategic or more industrial, DeepSeek might not have had the creative space to emerge and provoke the earthquake that caused in January. The narrative of “self-made industry” and “entrepreneurial bureaucracy” admits conflicting readings. What some interpret as facilitation, others read as a euphemism for “dirigiste intervention by the State”, with a very defined plan of action and long-term objectives. “Flexible governance” can be both real local autonomy… and dirigisme disguised as pragmatism. At least it is no longer “a city south of Shanghai” but “Alibaba City” or “DeepSeek City”. In Xataka | China is selling us a future full of humanoid robots. We have (many) doubts Featured image | JinHui CHEN in Unsplash

The secret to continuing to accumulate LEGO sets is not to keep them. This rental service helps you with that.

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Any adult LEGO fan have run into a similar problem. It is enormously enjoyable to set up the sets, but once finished comes the drama: where do we place it? The lack of space in modern homes or the impossibility of collecting several sets due to the space they occupy has led to the creation of a business especially aimed at those who do not want to give up building new sets, but do not need to keep them. Brick Borrow rents LEGO sets… which are then returned. How it works. Brick Borrow offers users the possibility of renting iconic sets by paying a fixed fee, always for an unlimited time. The amount of the fee determines what can be rented as follows: Mystery Set (9.99 euros): Brick Borrow chooses which set to send. Only one set per month. Builder (14.99 euros): The customer chooses what they want from the Brick Borrow catalogue. Unlimited loans every month. Only one set at a time. There is an annual version with a small discount. Master (24.99 euros): Like Buider, but with two sets per month. There are dozens of available setsin a catalog that is constantly growing, and as expected, we can find some of the most iconic: Mario Kart, the Shire from ‘The Lord of the Rings’, the Temple of the Golden Idol from Indiana Jones, Snow White’s cabin, the Creeper from ‘Minecraft’, the house from ‘Up!’, the ship from ‘Jaws’, a Concorde, Hogwarts, the Infinity Gauntlet, a bonsai, Sonic’s first level, Darth Vader’s helmet and a long etcetera… The wonderful world of AFOLs. This is a service clearly aimed at adult LEGO fans (or AFOL: Adult Fans Of LEGO), a typology that ranges from rigorous collectors to creative builders who see LEGO as a form of artistic expression, and who often value the building experience as much or more than the result. Rental introduces an interesting dimension for them: it democratizes access to complex or expensive sets that are sometimes inaccessible to a large part of the community. Aspects that a child does not appreciate, such as completism or playing with rare sets, are thus more accessible to this type of adult fans. To ride. It is more than proven therapeutic value of play in adults. But in addition, services like Brick Borrow (there are others, especially in the US: NetBricks, Brick Library, Blockria, Brickdrop, Lend A Brick, Chorley Bricks and many more) allow us to focus on an aspect of LEGO that sometimes goes unnoticed: building rather than enjoying the finished set. The activity of assembling blocks works as a mental escape and relaxation, similar to meditative or creative practices. The concentration on small pieces and the satisfaction of seeing a structure take shape generates a binding pleasure that transcends simple fun. The economics of access. There is a global trendlinked to a market increasingly dominated by subscriptions and temporary access to goods, for people looking for andxexperiences without the burden of storage or constant spending. Brick Borrow is not a unique experiment: we have seen it before on platforms that rent luxury clothing either technology. It implies a more responsible use of the product, promoting the so-called economy of access and reuse, repair, recycling and waste reduction, unlike the traditional linear model of “use and throw away”. The products and materials thus maintain their value for as long as possible, minimizing the environmental impact and promoting sustainable consumption. In Xataka | I worked for eight years in a sex shop. This is how the sector has changed and this is how it has changed me

Six secret locations hide a 200 megawatt treasure

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The battle for The electricity supply It has become an essential component of The hybrid war Modern, one where the line between civil infrastructure and military objective is blurred. To the Attack thermal plants Or transmission lines, Russia not only seeks to disable the network, but also sow panic, break morality and destabilize economic life. Now Ukraine has materialized an unpublished plan to combat winter in the war: a 200MEGAVATIOS hide and seek. Light as an act of resistance. Ukraine goes into his fourth winter of war after have survived to three seasons of forced blackouts For Russian bombings, with engineers repairing under -fire substations and millions of citizens supporting cold and darkness. However, this time the country is committed to An unpublished resource: A network of huge American design batteries, distributed in six secret and conceived locations to offer an energy mattress when the network is attacked. Its joint capacity of 200 megawatts It is equivalent to illuminating for two hours about six hundred thousand homes, enough to maintain urban life while the technicians restore the service. The heart of a war system. The Six battery parkslocated around kyiv and the Dnipropetrovsk region, are integrated directly into the national electrical system. They do not replace centrals, but allow to cover the sudden fall of thermal plants or substations achieved by missiles and drones. Its modularity is key: each block can be isolated and replaced without compromising the whole, which reduces vulnerability to direct attacks. Ukraine protects these enclaves with anti -aircraft defenses and the secrecy of its location, aware that a single Russian impact could cause a chain blackout. Energy storage systems in Ukraine Moscow’s offensive. From the beginning of the invasion, more than half Of the Ukrainian generating capacity it has been useless by bombing against thermal plants, coal mines and gas networks. Even nuclear energy, which previously supported most of the system, has been diminished: the largest central is under Russian control and out of operation. The Kremlin strategy seeks to bend the population leaving it without light or heating in the middle of winter. Last year failure Thanks to Technicians ingenuitybut the Mass production Shahed drones predicts attacks more intense and prolongedcapable of saturating Ukrainian defenses. Energy as a weapon. kyiv has also brought the war to the energy field. His drones have Beef Russian refineries And they left tens of thousands of citizens without supply In Belgorodas retaliation for the devastation of your electricity grid. In negotiations sponsored by Washington, he was talking about A non -aggression pact about energy infrastructure, but the ATaques have resumed As the cold approaches. In this pulse, electricity is not only a vital resource, but a strategic weapon that both sides use to erode the moral of the adversary. West as a support. The battery network is part of a 140 million dollar program funded by the Private energy DTEK and Ukrainian banks, with teams supplied by the American Fluence. Washington and Berlin reinforce in turn The air shield With patriot systems, although kyiv insists that protection remains insufficient. He Renewable development As wind and solar add resilience: its dispersion prevents a single attack from demolishing the entire generation, and batteries balance the natural intermittency of these sources. History lessons. If we expand the frame, the use of energy as a battlefield is not, much less, exclusive to Ukraine. In World War II, Allied bombings On German Ruhr hydroelectric plants, they sought to paralyze the industrial production of the third Reich, and in Iraq, both in 1991 and 2003, the coalition headed by the United States Deliberately destroyed electric plants to disorganize Sadam Husein’s forces. Even in Kosovo, in 1999, NATO used graphite bombs that disabled transmission networks without destroying the structures, a reminder that light can be extinguished for military purposes without spilling direct blood. In all cases, cutting electricity meant hitting the heart of the resistance of a country, weakening its productive capacity and, above all, its morals. In Ukraine, possibly aware of history, they prepare to resist what in other wars were decisive. Light as a symbol. If you want also, electricity in Ukraine has become a resistance metaphor. Keeping the lamps on kyiv, járkov or leopolis means demonstrating that neither missiles nor blackouts will break everyday life. In a conflict where entire cities are tried to turn off, the Ukrainians have made light an act of challenge and faith. Image | Ministry of Defense of UkraineDTEK / Facebook In Xataka | The greatest attack of Ukraine on Russian soil discovered a new threat with drones. China has just multiply it In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new. In front of the drones, Russia has taken out its “other” artillery: horses

In Japan, the average trains delay is 96 seconds. It is not magic, his secret is called “Paka-Yoke”

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We are not going to discover anything if we tell you that the high Spanish speed has not lived its best summer. To get an idea, Four out of 10 Renfe trains They have suffered some type of delay. We have had breakdowns, Lost trains during the night and the final tip of the fires. But beyond summer, the truth is that the Spanish road network is giving important symptoms of fatigue. Only last June, The birds arrived with a medium delay of 19 minutes About the scheduled time. In April the figure was almost 21 minutes. According to the published report by the company, of the 9,607 trains that circulated last June, only one in three arrived in time Or they were delayed less than five minutes. We know this because Renfe herself has published it but the breakdowns have also affected the trains of Iryo and Ouigo that have to circulate on the same ways. The data point to two possible reasons. First, Spain begins to give symptoms of having an infradimensive infrastructure to host the arrival of new operators (OUIGO and IRYO) and a Growth sustained in the number of trips. Second, the data warn that not enough has been invested in maintenance and modernization of the roads. It is very likely that the situation we are living is a mixture of both reasons. But a question overwhelm: if in Spain we have problems with three trains companies … how do they work in Japan where six different companies operate? 96 seconds Move by Japan, especially for Honshu (his main island in which cities like Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka are found) is very simple if you decide on the high -speed train. The frequencies are so bulky and the delays so exceptional that the reliability in the system is absolute. The known as Japan Rail It can, also, be chaos for those who visit the country for the first time, taking into account that even Six companies operate on their lines. However, each of them has its own reserved space so they do not compete on the same roads as it happens in Spain where Renfe has to deal with Iro and Ouigo. Despite this, four of those Six companies (JR East, JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu) are completely privatized and only two (JR Hokkaido and JR Shikoku) are state -owned. There is, however, a fundamental difference. In Spain, following European orders, the management of the roads falls exclusively on Adif (which was public and also had to be privatized) that charges some canons to companies that want to operate in their railway framework. AND The roads are shared partly between medium distance and high speed trains. In Japan, however, companies manage infrastructure and maintenance of the roads in which they operate but the network of Shinkansenthe famous bullet trains, have a completely separated infrastructure from the rest of the trains and is managed by the Railway Construction, Transportation and Technology Agency of Japan (JRTT). This physical separation allows to reduce the risks (a fault of a slower train does not impact bullet trains) and install systems specifically designed for this type of trains. That has allowed them to evolve the acquaintance concept of Paka-Yoke which can be translated as “failure proof”, referring to the fact that all human decisions are supervised by an exahustive system monitoring system, which shields the network of those possible human errors. This has allowed Japan to be a reference in world high speed. Until Spain and China surpassed the country in railway kilometers of this type of trains, the Japanese country was a leader but it still is in punctuality. In 2024, The average delay in the Tokaid line was 96 seconds. However, systems are designed for trains to enter a margin of 15 seconds at the station. Most of them stop in the first 6 seconds scheduled. Japanese punctuality is an extremely valued quality. Culture forces to ask for public forgiveness when schedules are not fulfilled, sometimes reaching surreal extremes. Like the day that a railway company had to make its face because one of its trains He left the station 20 seconds earlier than expected. Photo | Henry Perks In Xataka | Japan asked its citizens what bothers them most about tourists on the train. The responses betrayed the nation

Kim Jong-un’s health has become a state secret. So on your trips something is never missing: your personal toilet

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When one travels normal, it is that a suitcase full of clothes, perhaps a camera, a laptop, a few books or a tablet to watch a couple of movies during the flight. In the case of Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, things are somewhat different. His luggage incorporates something that the common of mortals does not usually carry with us: A trusted wader ‘. Sounds weird, but it has its logic. Visit to China. The visit a few days ago Kim Jong-un made China to participate in the ceremony of the 80th anniversary From the surrender of Japan, he left a good handful of photos and the occasional headline for the story. After all, he agreed with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, among others world leaders. The appointment allowed Beijing to make a blunt military power and (equally important) diplomatic influencebut it will be remembered for something else: the zeal with which Kim Jong-un assistants cleaned the chair in which their leader had sat down while chatting with Putin. In A video Disseminated by CNN and allegedly taxed by an accredited reporter in the Kremlin, an operator is seen passing a cloth to the table and the armchair that had used Kim shortly before. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Cleaning … and something else. The news about the zeal of Kim Jong-un to erase any trace of its passage (literally) by China coincided with another that goes in the same line. A few days ago Nikkei He revealed something curious: North Korean travels with personal toilet. One has one in Taeyangchothe luxurious train that usually uses to move and to which He has resorted too During his visit to Beijing, but it is not strange that when Kim must travel far, he does it with a ‘trusted’ bath. Beyond what happened in China, where Kim had the bathroom of his train-fortress, Nikkei assures that there are precedents. According to its sourceswhen the supreme leader visits factories or even military bases in North Korea, a personal toilet usually has available. Something similar happens on your trips abroad. When in 2018 he participated in A summit On the South Korean side of the border, his team took a toilet. And something similar happened that same year in The meeting With the US held in Singapore. A toilet for Kim was also mobilized. And why do you do it? The big question. Why does Kim Jong-un demand that wherever there is a toilet for his trust? Are you related to the zeal of your employees for meticulously cleaning the chairs in which you feel or the tables on which you support? The key was given It makes popco Reuters: where we see fingers, hairs, grooves and dust (also feces) North Korean power sees a valuable source of information that is not willing to leave available to intelligence services of other nations, no matter if friends or enemies. Is it something exceptional? No. such security measures (applied with greater or lesser rigor) are not exclusive to Kim. Reuters remember That the protocol dates back to his father’s times and in recent days have not lacked media that ensure that there are other leaders who share the same zeal. Financial Express assures That Putin moves with a team whose mission is to recover and eliminate his waste while abroad. And he is not the only one who has echoed that rumor, widely collected by means of everyone. The Latest news On the alleged team responsible for watching Putin’s detritus start from the summit he had recently maintained with Trump. The power of feces. Maybe it sounds crazy or eccentricity, but it has its logic. A button, a cup of dirty coffee or a hez are waste, but also a potential source of information that could reveal data on the physiology of its ‘owner’. Perhaps unknown diabetes, hypertension or perhaps a hobby not revealed by alcohol. And that, in cases like Kim’s, on whose health they have run ink rivers (and speculation), is something to take into account. “The special toilet and the garbage bags necessary for waste, waste and butts serve for a foreign intelligence agency, even a friend, cannot obtain a sample and analyze it” Explain A Reuters Michael Madden, expert in North Korea of ​​the Stimson Centerbased in the US. “It would provide information on any medical condition that affects Kim Jong-un.” “He worries especially”. North Korea seems to have taken that effort to erase traces (for small or more inconsequential that seems) to a new level. In 2019 it went viral A brief video in which Kim is seen smoking while the train on which he was traveling in Nanning, to the south of China. The reason? It shows how her sister holds an ashtray to allegedly prevent the ‘DNA) from the’ beloved leader ‘to end up in unwanted hands. During the summits It is not strange either See how your staff disinfects furniture or North Korean uses your own pen to sign agreements. “The health and biometric information of the supreme leader are a very well -stored secret and are associated with their safety,” Confirm to South China Morning Post (SCMP) Peter Ward, a researcher at the Sejong Institute specialized in North Korea, who is not surprised at the image that was seen a few days ago in China. “Probably what they were cleaning were sweat skin cells, in addition to other possible biomarkers that could reveal health problems.” Images | Trong Khiem Nguyen (Flickr) 1 and 2 In Xataka | We knew that North Korea has been infiltrating workers in companies in the West. Now we know how they do

There is a ‘good’ fat that hides a secret to aging better and being fit. It only remains to get the pill

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Aging is inevitable, and with it it comes A progressive loss of physical capacity that causes it to be more difficult to walk or stand up. This makes Stay fit It becomes much more difficult and therefore the resistance begins to decline. But … what if this decline can be slow down? This is precisely what science is focused on. Fat as anti -aging. Researchers at the Rigers New Jersey Medical School They have discovered That a special type of adipose tissue, known as brown fat, could be the key not only for healthier old age, but also Improve physical performance. A study of great relevance, since it can open a new route in the anti -aging field. The team that has led this research has been able to identify an unusually powerful form of this ‘good fat’ in mice, which not only Increased his life expectancybut improved its exercise capacity by an impressive 30%. Now, the race has begun to be able to replicate these same effects in humans through a drug. Not all fat is bad. When we think of fat, the White fat or white adipose tissue. Its main function is to store excess calories in the form of triglycerides and is the one that can bother us aesthetically throughout our lives. Although in essence it is a large energy deposit. But, nevertheless, there is another type of fat that is much more interesting: brown fat or Brown adipose tissue. Unlike white, brown fat is specialized in burning calories to generate heat in a process called thermogenesis. This is possible thanks to the fact that their cells are full of mitochondria, which are the organelles that act as cellular power plants and that give it its characteristic brown color. In our life where we have more fatty fat in our body is when we are babies, since here it is crucial for Keep body temperature. But when we grow, the brown fat is lost until some cracks are around the neck and shoulders. But here the white fat is the one that dominates our body completely. One step further. Knowledge about brown fat already has a long journey in scientific literature. But it is now when this study goes further to point that it is linked to having a healthier longevity and with a much more appropriate physical exercise. How they knew it. To get to this conclusion, the researchers worked with a genetically modified mouse model to lack a protein called RGS14. The mice without this protein lived approximately 20% than their normal partners, and curiously the females lived more than the males in a pattern similar to that followed by humans. Even at the advanced ages, these mice avoided the typical signs of aging such as body atrophy, hair loss or the graying of the fur. But it does not stay here, since when submitting them to physical tests, the modified mice showed a 30% higher performance, both in distance traveled and in resistance. And all this because mice without RGS14 developed a dense and powerful brown fat than who expressed the protein correctly. The definitive test. To confirm that it was brown fat, and not another effect of genetic modification, scientists conducted a crucial experiment: transplanting the brown ‘supergras’ of mice without RGS14 to normal and healthy mice. The results were overwhelming. The mice that received this transplant improved their ability to exercise in just three days. On the other hand, when brown fat was transplanted from a normal mouse to another, an improvement was also observed, but much more and with eight weeks ahead to manifest its effects. Something that showed that the fat of the genetically modified mice was exceptionally powerful. Because? The mechanism seems to reside in an improvement in blood circulation. The indications suggest that brown fat promotes the creation of new blood cases in the muscles that improves the flow of blood and oxygen during exercise. The goal. Research suggests that this brown fat not only improves physical performance, but also protects against a series of ailments associated with age, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and even cancer and Alzheimer’s. Vatner’s team is already working with collaborators to develop a drug that imitates the effects of this powerful brown fat, hoping to have a compound ready to be tested in approximately one year. But the idea is not only to increase life expectancy, but “healthy life expectancy.” That is, even if you live longer, these ‘extra’ years enjoy good physical and mental health. While we expect that future pill, there are techniques such as deliberate exposure to cold (the famous ice baths) that can naturally increase our brown fat levels. However, as Vatner points out, most people would prefer to take a pill to take an ice cream bath. Images | Tatiana Zanon In Xataka | Our brain has its own backup. It is already known how to create copies in parallel of each memory

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