shield

Mexico wants to shield the ancient Mayan city of Toniná at all costs. So he has expropriated more than nine hectares

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Maybe not as well known as Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza or even the neighbor Palenquebut Toniná It is one of the great archaeological treasures of Mexico. The necropolis experienced its heyday between 600 and 900 AD and today it is preserved as one of the most fascinating complexes of the Mayan area and pre-Hispanic urbanism. In fact, it is crowned by a unique pyramidal structure in the region that is taller than the famous pyramid of the sun of Teotihuacan. Therefore, to guarantee its conservation, the Mexican Government has just made a radical decision: expropriate 9.2 hectares of the environment so that they become directly dependent on the National Institute of Anthropology (INAH). What has happened? That Mexico has just shown that it is willing to pull expropriation decree to protect your assets. And he has also done it in a practical way. The Executive led by Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that the National Institute of Anthropology and History has “taken possession” of a 9.22-h property in the vicinity of the Toniná site, in the state of Chiapas. The curious thing is how that land has been obtained, until recently in private hands. The transfer has been possible thanks to a decree that gave the green light to the sale in favor of the INAH. “The action arises from a cause of public utility, promoted in December 2025 by Culture,” clarify the authorities. Why have they done it? The Executive’s objective is twofold: to facilitate the conservation and research of the environment. In the words of INAH itself, the idea is to “guarantee the optimal conditions” of the site. “Toniná is an essential part of the living history of Chiapas and Mexico. This decree protects an asset of the nation and contributes to the exercise of cultural rights through access to knowledge and historical memory,” reasons Claudia Curiel de Icaza, Secretary of Culture. The leader insists that with the measure the State reinforces its capacity to “preserve heritage, ensure its management with technical criteria and sustain conservation, restoration and research tasks.” From now on, the INAH will expand its capacity to monitor, care for and study the ancient Mayan city. Why is it important? For several reasons. Beyond the legal formula used or its advantages to protect, conserve and study the site, the measure is interesting because Mexico wants to take advantage of it to promote Toniná. “In the archaeological zone, a comprehensive reactivation program will be implemented that will create a structured route for its eventual reopening,” keep it up the INAH. In fact, one of the objectives is to promote “responsible tourism.” Click on the image to go to the tweet. Is Toniná so important? Yes. And that is another reason why the recovery of the nine hectares has generated so much expectation. Located on the border between the Mayan highlands and the lowlands, the inhabitants of ancient Toniná left a fascinating acropolis, with overlapping platforms and a pyramidal structure that archaeologists considered “unique” in the Mayan world. In fact, it surpasses in height the famous Pyramid of the Sun of Teotihuacán, 65 meters. “The richness of this archaeological zone makes it comparable to other large sites in Chiapas, such as Palenque. Its heyday goes from the year 600 to 900, within the Classic period, and it was the last witness to the decline of the so-called Old Mayan Empire,” explains the INAH. The most famous governor in its history was Tzots Choj (‘Tiger-Bat’) and its greatest archaeological treasure is offered by its acropolis and central plaza. In it we find a staircase of 260 steps, the enormous pyramidal structure and a labyrinth of temples, palaces and roads. Experts have also located an altar for sacrifices and spaces to play ball. How long have we known her? The first to tell us about Toniná was Brother Jacinto Garridoin the 17th century, but the site has continued to fascinate experts since then. During the 19th century, expeditions continued and throughout the 20th century (especially between the 1970s and 1980s) excavations intensified. It was then when the studies and conservation work carried out by the INAH were launched, which has allowed its secrets to be discovered. Despite years of study, the archaeological institute trust in which there are still surprises: “Toniná still keeps many secrets that will have to be known.” Images | Wikipedia and SC (INAH) In Xataka | The Mayan Train has become a nightmare for Mexico: what seemed like a great plan has run into justice

In 2022, the gas crisis skyrocketed the price of electricity in Spain. In 2026 we have a “green shield” but also a serious problem

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Just when in Spain we began to breathe a sigh of relief, convinced that we had overcome the inflationary trauma of 2022 “after cutting energy ties” with Russia, history repeats itself. This week a “black Monday” began that has shaken international markets. This time the epicenter is not in eastern Europe, but in the Persian Gulf, after the recent attacks that have been forced to paralyze QatarEnergy facilities. The impact on our country has been devastating. According to data collected in OMIEthe price of electricity in the wholesale market has jumped 60% in just 24 hours, climbing to 90.14 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). To put it in perspective, this represents a 1,300% increase in price compared to what we paid just a month ago. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has already warned that We must prepare for a “long war” with serious global economic consequences. And the fear is already palpable in the street with the long lines that yesterday we observed of drivers trying to fill their tank at gas stations low cost before prices continue to rise. If the gas goes up, why does the electricity go up? To understand why a conflict thousands of kilometers away makes our electricity more expensive almost instantly, you have to look at how our system works. As explained The Confidential in a very didactic way: the European electricity market is “marginalist”. This means that the most expensive technology that needs to be used to cover the demand of a specific day is the one that sets the final price of all energy. If the sun or wind is not enough and the gas plants have to be turned on, all electricity is paid for at the price of gas. And the gas, right now, is trapped in a war funnel. As we have already explained these days20% of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 25% of the world’s oil transit through the Strait of Hormuz (the epicenter of the current tension). Any threat of a blockade in that area generates a domino effect that triggers reference prices in Europe. The energy expert Joaquín Coronado explained in LinkedIn that this panic is already real: The prices of electricity futures for the rest of 2026 have suddenly risen by 24%. As he himself points out, “only the price of gas has changed,” but that is enough to drag down the entire system. The hit in the pocket. All this macroeconomics lands directly in the bank account of citizens. As pointed out The Countrythere are more than 11 million users in Spain who have regulated rates (the PVPC for electricity and the TUR for gas) who will notice this increase almost immediately, since their contracts reflect the daily fluctuations of the market. The calculations about what this crisis is going to cost us are already on the table: The OCU, in statements to The Newspaperestimates that if these prices are maintained, the average electricity bill with a regulated rate will jump from the 62 euros we paid in February to around 82 euros in March. An increase of 30% in a single month. A platform report Roams figures the monthly impact about 12 euros extra for electricity (17% more) and increases of up to 18% on the gas bill. The worst scenario is drawn the comparator Selectra: If the conflict drags on and we return to the panic levels of 2022, the electricity bill could skyrocket by 200%. But energy is just the first domino. Financial Times collect warnings from the chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), who already assumes a short-term rebound in general inflation. As oil rises, transportation rises: from fuel at the pump (gas stations already assume extra costs of 12 cents per liter) to maritime freight of goods and plane tickets, which on some routes to Asia have quadrupled in price. So, are we the same as in 2022? The good news is that we are not exactly at the same starting point as when the Ukrainian war broke out. As analyzed elDiario.esSpain today has three “mattresses” that cushion the first impact: the arrival of spring (which reduces the use of heating), some reservoirs 83% full (which allow generate a lot of hydroelectric energy cheap) and an electric mix where more than 50% of energy is already renewable. Furthermore, the PVPC formula was recently renovated so that it does not depend only on the daily market, softening the extreme peaks a little. The bad news is that we have exchanged one problem for another. To stop depending on Russia, we throw ourselves into the arms of the United States. As the economist José Carlos Díez warns in the chain Vibe Zero44% of the gas we consume today comes from the US. This places us in a position of extreme vulnerability to the new geopolitical “black swan”: the anger of Donald Trump. The refusal of the Spanish Government to give up the military bases of Rota and Morón for the offensive against Iran has caused Trump to threaten to cut off all trade with Spain. If the United States turns off the tap on LNG ships, José Carlos Díez warnsSpain does not have the physical capacity or infrastructure to replace a supplier that gives us almost half of our gas from one day to the next. The social shield and our pending duties. Faced with the threat of the crisis becoming entrenched, the Government is already moving. According to Expansion, If the conflict lasts more than four weeks, Pedro Sánchez’s Executive has on the table reactivating the “social shield” of previous crises: reductions in VAT on electricity, fuel discounts and direct aid. However, fiscal patches do not hide the underlying problems. In Xataka We have put our finger on two great absurdities of our system. On the one hand, we are an “energy island” since we have seven regasification plants capable of receiving ships from all over the world and helping Europe, but we do … Read more

Science suggests that it is a great shield against cognitive deterioration

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In our society, the fact that grandparents end up taking care of their grandchildren throughout the day or having to pick them up from school It is something quite normalboosted mainly by the problems of conciliation familiar. This is something that has been the subject of much controversy because, when you reach a certain age, carrying the burden of having a child under your responsibility can take its toll. But now science indicates that it has important benefits. New tests. A study published this year in the magazine Psychology and Aging points out that being involved in caring for grandchildren provides a benefit to cognitive health, although it has different important nuances related to sex and time dedicated. The science behind. This study focused on data from English Longitudinal Study of Aging where More than 1,700 grandparents over 50 years of age have been analyzed. In this case, to ensure maximum precision in the results, the researchers used a matching method, comparing grandparent caregivers with those who did not care for their grandchildren, but who did share demographic and health characteristics. What did they see? With this sample on the table, what was seen is that both grandmothers and grandfathers who are caregivers showed higher levels of verbal fluency compared to the control group. Furthermore, both genders had better episodic memory compared to matched controls. In this way, it can be concluded that grandparents who take care of their grandchildren tend to show better cognitive functioning than those who do not. Quality versus quantity. One of the most revealing conclusions of the study debunks a common myth: the amount of time spent is not the determining factor. In this way, spending more or fewer hours caring for one’s grandson or granddaughter does not predict the effect it may have on brain cognition. But what really affects brain health in this case is the diversity of tasks. What was seen is that grandparents who participated in a greater variety of activities experienced better cognitive outcomes. These activities include, for example, preparing food for your grandchildren, spending time playing with them, helping them with their homework, or picking them up from daycare or school. Gender difference. Although both grandfather and grandmother showed higher initial cognitive levels when caring for their grandchildren, with the passage of time it changed. In the case of both sexes, it was observed that both verbal fluency and episodic memory improved substantially over time. But the difference is precisely in the temporal decline, causing grandmothers who have cared for their grandchildren to have a slower cognitive loss over time than caring grandparents, who maintain the same speed of loss. Because? The researchers here suggest that these differences may be due to how they relate to different genders and how they collaborate on care tasks. In this case, grandmothers tend to become much more deeply involved in the physical and emotional care of children. If we turn to the grandparents, we find that they are involved in leisure activities and often carry out care tasks in the company of the grandmothers. This way, you are not as focused on care. The limit. Logically, Maintaining multiple productive roles, such as family caregiving, can promote a more active lifestyle that positively impacts people’s cognitive functions. However, research warns that adding care responsibilities to the usual activities of these grandparents can be stressful and leave our grandparents feeling overwhelmed and with little autonomy. Images | Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Your grandmother is an evolutionary advantage: science already knows why they generate an indestructible bond with their grandchildren

NATO’s notice to shield our electrical grid

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The blackboard hanging behind the bar at Squat 17b, a venue in kyiv, does not list drink offerings, but instead keeps a countdown of the days Ukrainians must endure the harsh winter. Inside, the bar lacks electricity and is illuminated only by candles, while customers shiver on stools drinking beer cooled by the freezing temperatures themselves. This print, described by Financial Timesis the result of an exceptionally harsh winter, with temperatures reaching -20 degrees Celsius. What is emerging in Eastern Europe is a reality that some analysts They already describe how “thermal terror”: the cold turned into a weapon of war. Russia does not merely seek to degrade Ukrainian military capabilities; It deliberately targets substations, power plants and distribution networks to make everyday life physically unfeasible. Heating, electricity and water become strategic objectives. Away from the trenches, the front line has moved to the transformers and electrical substations. In the first weeks of the year, Russian forces They have attacked the Ukrainian energy sector more than 200 times. Russia has launched coordinated waves of up to 40 missiles and 400 drones in a single night, seeking to overwhelm air defense systems. Ukraine lost up to two-thirds of its electricity generation capacity after the first months of bombing. And yet, the infrastructure resists. The new frontier of sabotage Faced with the increase in physical and hybrid threats, the European electricity industry has begun to issue clear warnings. “The last year has shown us that continuing with the current model in Europe is no longer an option,” said Leonhard Birnbaum, president of Eurelectric, in statements collected by Euronews. For the sector, security of electricity supply It has become a strategic issue. At the end of December, Poland’s security systems they detected what his Government described as “the strongest attack against Polish energy infrastructure in years.” The Sandworm group—a unit linked to the Russian GRU—managed to disable remote terminal units (RTUs) at at least 30 energy facilities. These RTUs do not generate electricity, but they allow substations and plants to be monitored and controlled. The attack affected plants cogeneration and systems that connect wind and solar farms with the grid. To achieve this, they used a destructive malicious code known as wiperdesigned exclusively to delete files and permanently render computers unusable. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned thathad it been completely successful, half a million people would have been left without heat in the middle of winter. This use of a wiper marks a qualitative leap: Russia has gone from simple digital espionage to destructive sabotage against critical infrastructure of a NATO member country. Physical espionage is added to the cyber threat under the sea. The Russian spy ship Yantaroperated by the Russian Deep Sea Research Directorate (GUGI), traveled for almost 100 days through the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Their goal was to map and monitor the undersea cables that Europe and North America depend on for their digital communications and energy. These types of covert operations in the “gray zone” seek to measure NATO’s red lines and open the door to possible power or communications outages to force political negotiations. How did we get here? As the historic American general Omar Bradley recalled: “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.” For any developed nation today, the most critical logistics system is its energy infrastructure. For decades, Europe built a deeply dependent on imported fossil fuels. Dependency became vulnerability. As he remembered Bloombergthe European Union paid almost €22 billion in Russian fossil fuel imports last year, more than it provided in direct financial support to Ukraine. Changing models has ceased to be a climate issue and has become a pure survival instinct. The old continent has proven that filling its territory with renewable sources and electrifying the economy builds a much more solid structural wall than the old addiction to foreign fossils. And the shield is already working. A look at the data collected by the think tank Agora Energiewende In his latest report, Europe’s energy security on the path to climate neutrality, reveals a brutal cushion: the simple deployment of wind and solar technology during the last five years (2019-2024) avoided having to buy and burn 92 billion cubic meters of gas. However, this transformation introduces new risks. Modern power grids are more digital, more interconnected and more decentralized. According to the same report Agora Energiewendethe challenge is no longer just to ensure fuel supply, but to guarantee network stability, cybersecurity and industrial resilience. More nodes mean more potential entry points for attacks. Added to this is the technological dimension. How to collect Euronewsbetween 70% and 80% of the solar inverters installed in Europe come from Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei or Sungrow. In a highly digitalized system, hardware control also potentially implies software control. Energy as defense policy Faced with this vulnerability, Europe is obliged to treat energy security as a defense policy de facto. A coalition of defense experts, including retired military leaders such as British Lieutenant General Richard Nugee and Dutch General Tom Middendorp, has urged European governments to count low-carbon energy spending against NATO’s target of allocating 1.5% of GDP to critical infrastructure and civil resilience. In statements collected by Guardianretired Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee said, “To have a strong military deterrent we need a resilient homeland. And low-carbon energy is a critical component.” According to Bloombergthis vision is gaining ground in the European strategic debate: the energy transition is no longer just climate policy; is security architecture. The tactical key to this new defense is decentralization. Unlike large centralized plants that are easy targets for missiles, wind turbines and solar panels are much more geographically dispersed, making them significantly less vulnerable to large-scale attacks. To sustain this new model, Euroelectric proposes three fundamental pillars: Better planning: Preparedness frameworks should span the entire value chain, include all energy carriers, and anticipate long-term external threats. Massive flexibility: It will be essential to deploy new storage and demand management technologies to complement the variability of renewable energies. … Read more

Science now suggests that caffeine could be a “shield” against dementia

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For years, the debate about whether coffee is a hero or a villain for health has swung like a pendulum between one position and another. However, science has now given a good reason for the most coffee lovers to drink even more coffee. The reason is in a new study published in JAMA which has put evidence on the table that is difficult to ignore: moderate caffeine consumption not only keeps us alert today, but could be protecting our brain for tomorrow. The data. We talk about how this is evidence that is difficult to ignore precisely because it is not a one-time survey from a weekend, but rather a Harvard research team. analyzed more than 130,000 people for four decades. Specifically, the sample that has been handled in this case has been 131,821 participants, which included health personnel, and a follow-up of up to 43 years was carried out during the years 1980 and 2023. At the end of the study, 11,033 cases of incident dementia were documented, which is what had to begin to be studied. With your diet. Once all this information is available, researchers have had to begin to cross-reference the dietary intakewhich have been updated every four years, with medical histories. Here the primary objective was to look for a pattern that related something in the lives of patients with dementia to their illness. And the truth is that they saw a fairly clear pattern: those who consumed caffeinated coffee had a lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who barely ate it. Something that other studies in the past also pointed out. Neither little nor too much. Logically, the study does not suggest that we should start drinking coffee as if it were water, since the effects of caffeine in large quantities are very harmful to health. Science suggests in this case that the greatest benefit was observed in those who consumed approximately 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day. In concrete figures, it was seen that this consumption reduced the risk of having dementia by 18% and also showed in patients a lower prevalence of subjective cognitive impairment and better scores on objective memory tests. Drink more coffee. According to this specific study, the benefit stabilizes, meaning that it does not improve further, but it does not worsen drastically in this group of patients. But other meta-analyses suggest that with consumption of more than 4 or 5 cups, the benefits can be reversed and generate other problems. Caffeine is key. One of the most interesting findings is the chemical distinction that is made, since researchers separate people who drink caffeinated coffee and those who drink decaffeinated coffee. Here the results were quite clear: decaffeinated coffee consumption is not associated with a decreased risk of dementia or better cognitive performance. This suggests that the neuroprotective effect does not come only from the antioxidants or polyphenols of the bean (which are also in decaffeinated), but caffeine is the active agent main in this equation. The effect of tea. There is a large group of people who do not depend on caffeine to stay awake, but on the caffeine in tea. In this case, tea consumption showed coffee-like associationssince drinking 1 to 2 cups a day was also linked to a reduced risk of dementia and better cognitive function. This is something that reinforces the theory that caffeine and other compounds such as L-theanine play a protective role in our nervous system. Why does it work? Although in this case the study is not focused on telling us the reasons, the authors propose a series of biological mechanisms to understand it. The first of them is that caffeine blocks adenosine receptors in the brainwhich not only makes us more awake, but could reduce the accumulation of beta-amyloid, the protein associated with Alzheimer’s when it is in large quantities. In addition to this, caffeine is also believed to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain, mitigating neuroinflammation that precedes cognitive decline. And if we lacked reasons to defend caffeine, it is added that it improves insulin sensitivity and vascular function, two factors that, when they fail, open the door to dementia. The small print. Although variables such as tobacco, exercise and diet were adjusted for, it cannot be definitively proven that coffee causes brain protection. It may always be the case that people with early cognitive decline give up coffee because it makes them sick, but the researchers tried to control for this by excluding the first few years of follow-up. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that the participants were mostly health professionals with higher education, so the results could vary in populations with other lifestyles or genetics. Enjoy, but don’t force yourself. The person who already enjoys 2-3 cups of coffee a day has one more scientific reason to do so without guilt in this case, since it is in the “sweet spot” of neurological protection. But if there are people who do not like coffee or it makes them very nervous, there is no need to force it, since the quality of sleep and the exercise They remain the undisputed kings of brain health. Images | Fahmi Fakhrudin In Xataka | We believed that the early onset of dementia was due to genetic causes. we were wrong

The hundreds of black dots on train and car windows are not a whim: they are a shield called ‘frits’

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Traveling by car or train means looking around the windows. You probably don’t just look at the landscape, but at all the vehicle interior elementsthe closest being the edge of those windows. A common element on the train and on the car window is a black border with a curious pattern of dots that become smaller as the rows increase. It is not paint or an aesthetic element, but something that fulfills a crucial technical function to protect the integrity of the glass. They are called ‘frit band‘ either ‘frits‘, and it is one of the most important passive safety elements that these vehicles have. The Science of Car Window Blackheads Although it seems like it, these dots are not paint: they are ceramics baked at very high temperatures, which fuses with glass during manufacturing of the same. He process It is most curious, since first the still hot black ceramic paste is applied to the edges of the glass, and then it is baked together with the glass in the tempering and bending process. In Xataka In 2001, Renault launched a car ahead of its time: it was a miserable failure that now has another chance It is a structural element of glass and this process involves a permanent bond that does not wear over time. The dot pattern motif, known as “gradient matrix”it is not a whim either, but a solution to something that could spontaneously break the car window. Black glass absorbs much more heat than clear glass, and this is something you can easily check on a sunny day: the black band will be hotter than the rest of the glass. When the temperature is extreme, and on trips where the moon can being hit by small stonesif there were an abrupt temperature transition between the black border and the transparent area, stress points would be created that could cause cracks. That’s why they pulled out that gradient that works like a processor heatsink: creates a thermal transition zone which distributes heat more evenly. It is something that provides protection to the glass, but they serve something else: to help the bond between the chassis and the glass. On the perimeter of the crystals there is glue that joins the elements, and the ‘frits’ have a rougher texture that allows a better adhesion from glass to chassis. Also, being black, they protect the glue against ultraviolet rays, maximizing its durability and the security of the union of the components. A detail from Jeep, which introduced an Easter egg in these frits In the end, what might seem like a simple aesthetic element fulfills an important safety function. In the train, this adhesion and thermal dissipation, and in the car, added to the above, greater resistance of the moon to shocks. In some cars it has been used to place a nod, and the fact that they are circles and not another geometric element has an aesthetic part, but also functional because it makes us overlook them while driving. It is one more example of all that everyday technology that surrounds us and that perhaps we always wonder if it would have some function, but once that initial curiosity passes, we forget to look. Images | Jeep, Abil Saputra In Xataka |Cars have become gigantic. The problem is that our parking spaces do not (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news The hundreds of black dots on train and car windows are not a whim: they are a shield called ‘frits’ was originally published in Xataka by Alejandro Alcolea .

Faced with the threat of an “orbital Pearl Harbor”, Europe has made the same decision as the US: shield space

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The race to militarize space has accelerated to an extent unprecedented since the end of the Cold War. The reasons are several, but the main one is driven by the combination of explicit russian threatscovert sabotage and an international architecture incapable of containing the emergence of atomic weapons out of the atmosphere. The last one to join: Europe. The war in orbit. Moscow not only has reactivated its classic nuclear discourse, but has opened a second front in low Earth orbit through the development of anti-satellite systems equipped with nuclear warheads that openly violate the Outer Space Treaty. In this context, European and North American experts match in which the Kremlin is lowering the threshold for the use of tactical nuclear weapons both on Earth like in spacewhile experimenting with platforms capable of camouflaging orbital bombs designed to disable satellites essential for the economy, defense and communication. Thus, the very idea of ​​a “Space Pearl Harbor” (a nuclear explosion that destroyed thousands of satellites, blinded entire continents and turned low orbit into a radioactive dump for generations) has forced Europe to abandon the romantic vision of an exclusively civil space and enter a new strategic reality which combines deterrence, diplomacy and operational preparedness. The bet of the old continent. This turn has crystallized in a historic decision: For the first time, European Space Agency countries have approved funding a program designed explicitly for military functions. He ERS projectconceived as a “system of systems” equipped with surveillance capabilities, secure navigation, encrypted communications and Earth observation, marks Europe’s entry into the club of actors who recognize that their future security depends both on what happens on the ground and what happens hundreds of kilometers above it. The approved financing (1.2 billion euros with more to come) comes accompanied by an unprecedented political mandate that redefines the concept of “peaceful purposes” at a time when China multiplies its space capabilities and Russia turns orbit into a space hybrid pressure. The magnitude of the support, bordering 100% of what was requestedreflects an internal consensus: without its own capabilities, Europe would be a vulnerable spectator in a conflict that would be decided by the speed and resilience of its satellite constellations. The French and German response. On this new board, France and Germany have assumed a central role both for its industrial capacity and for its newly adopted conviction that the wars of the future will begin (or be decided) in space. Paris has invested 10 billion euros in its new Space Command, oriented to military operations in orbit, to shield satellites against kinetic attacks and to promote an interoperable architecture with NATO. Berlin, for its part, has announced an investment of 35 billion until 2030 to reinforce its own Space Command, develop guardian satellites and equip itself with advanced early warning systems. Both countries have publicly assumed that orbital infrastructure is so critical such as energy or digitaland that any Russian aggression could paralyze not only defense, but European civil society as a whole. National security is no longer decided solely on the eastern land border, but in a three-dimensional environment where the loss of a single satellite node can destabilize entire sectors. Nuclear beyond the atmosphere. Analysts agree that the most feared scenario is not a specific attack against specific satellites, but the detonation of a nuclear charge in orbitcapable of generating devastating electromagnetic pulses and cascading space junk that would render low orbit useless for decades. Historical precedents, such as try Starfish Prime that destroyed a third of existing satellites in the 1960s, serve as a warning of what it would mean to repeat a similar experiment today, with more than 10,000 active satellites. Such an explosion would kill astronauts, destroy global navigation infrastructure, fossilize the digital economy and cause a domino effect that could move the war from space to Earth. Although some experts hold While Moscow would only resort to such action in a scenario of terminal collapse, the mere existence of these capabilities forces Europe to prepare for a type of conflict that would break the traditional limits of deterrence. Political pressure and a new order. Fear of an orbital conflict has reactivated debates on nuclear disarmamentboth in the United States and in Europe, where legislators are promoting initiatives to revitalize multilateral negotiations that have been stagnant for decades. At the same time, ESA has achieved a record budget (22.1 billion euros) that not only finances its transition towards space security, but also promotes scientific and commercial programs, such as reusable rockets, Martian exploration or new astrobiological missions. This growth, supported by Germany, France, Italy and Spain, reflects the strategic convergence between defense, research and technological sovereignty. In the new scenario, Europe seeks not to be a secondary actor in the face of spatial duopolization between the United States and China, but to develop real autonomy that reduces dependence on private platforms like starlink or American systems such as the space interceptors of the Golden Dome. Militarize space. If you also want, the intersection between russian threatsAmerican technological advances and the European strategic awakening marks the beginning of a stage in which the Earth’s orbit is consolidated as the new global scenario military competition. What was once a scientific and commercial domain has become a space where the resilience of entire societies is decided. He ERS projectthe expansion of national space commands and the growing funding of dual capabilities make up a defense ecosystem that seeks to avoid a conflict that no one wants to imagine. And in that scenario, Europe seems to have understood that the only way to deter orbital escalation is to demonstrate that it has the same means to resist it, respond to it and recover. Image | RawPixelESA/Mlabspace In Xataka | The US wants to build an unprecedented anti-missile shield called “Golden Dome.” And SpaceX has the ideal technology In Xataka | Space solar never worked. A military escalation in orbit is making it a reality

If the question is how to shield the mountain to fires, in Soria they have an ancestral solution: luck of pines

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With tens of thousands of hectares calcinedhundreds of evacuated people, several deceased and an environmental and economic impact that can only be completed with the passing of the weeks, these days do not abound the good news related to forest fires. On Thursday 13, however COLLEGE OF ENGINEERS OF MONTES (Coim), He presumed in networks of an “ancestral formula” that has allowed part of the rural population of the provinces of Soria and Burgos to get rid of the harassment of the flames or, at least, look at the summer with some more peace of mind. His name: “Good luck of pines.” In a place of Soria … For days in Spain, talking about fires is to do it of calcined hectares, evacuations and confinements. That is why it attracts even more attention if it can be published on Thursday A thread of very different tone. In him he remembers that the Pinares regionbetween Soria and Burgos, it seems to have found a formula to reduce the impact of forest fires. And that in the area, between the Natural Park of the black lagoon and the glacier circuses of Urbión, is one of The biggest pine forests from Europe. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Three words: luck of pines. “In the Soriana de Pinares region of Pinares more than 20 years ago there is not a great forest fire. Magic? No … call it ancestral forest management,” starts the school before specifying that the key to that apparent armor in front of the fires is in the “Good luck of pines”“an ancestral management model” that for centuries confers to the neighbors a series of rights and duties over the mountain. Moreover, Coim remembers that a few days ago ray caused a fire conato in Vinuesa, the head of the region, but was suffocated shortly. “Chance? No”, Remar. on Wednesday HERALDO DE SORIA He spoke Of several fire alerts that did not go to adults in the areas of Tera, Gómara and Vinuesa, where in the early morning, around 7.45 h, a fire was detected, probably caused by lightning, which was stifled only one hour later, at 8.42. The intervention of several environmental agents, together with a fire endowment, allowed the flames to raze a reduced surface, of 0.01 hectares of grass. What is the fate of pines? As COIM points out, it has nothing magic. The fate of pines is a way to manage forest resources, a system that goes back centuries ago, to PUEBLAS LETTERS granted during the Middle Ages and has helped establish a strong link between the local population and forests. “This deep link with the forest has created a community that not only lives from the mountain (wood, hunting, mushrooms, tourism), but actively protects it,” They point out from school Before remembering that the formula includes coordination between institutions, prevention systems and continuous surveillance. Going down to detail. Said so maybe it sounds abstract or diffuse, but Philosophy The system is actually very simple: what it raises is the distribution among the members of a community of forest resources such as the wood extracted from municipal pine forests. The cast is made through lots and the beneficiaries must meet certain requirements that guarantee their roots and link with the town, among other things it helps to generate a feeling of local belonging. “The fate of pines is a system to distribute forest exploitation of wood and wood that is integrated into a community such as a practice that has been maintained for centuries uninterrupted thanks to the will of the municipalities and the inhabitants of the peoples, responsible for perpetuating this ritual, transmitting it from generation to generation as a symbol of cultural identity and belonging to the community” explained The Junta de Castilla y León in December, when it decided to declare the well of intangible cultural interest. And how do they do it? “The enjoyment of the lots is carried out through periodic concessions of luck or wooden shorts to the neighbors,” The Board abounds. “These are use divisions in equal portions, lots or lots, which are subject to raffle among the beneficiaries. For a long time, the cast was materialized in kind, with the wood itself. In recent decades, the need to facilitate management and conservation tasks has resulted in the preparation of lots that, once sold, give rise to distribution of money.” Those responsible for controlling and preparing the register of beneficiaries are local municipalities or entities, which sometimes require those who participate that they meet some requirements, such as having roots in the town or taking some time living there. Right now it expands through the regions of Pinares Soria-Burgos and Pinares Llanos de Almazán, for which they extend According to the Junta de Castilla y León to about 100,000 hectares of native forest mass. Is it so old? The truth is that yes. The Board itself recalls that the first written references date back to the 16th century, although its history is actually richer. “The privilege by which the kings granted the right of use that was obtained from the mountains, through letters villages and privileged letters, dates back to the Middle Ages with the repopulation of these territories,” remember. With the passage of time, during the seventeenth, eighteenth or twentieth centuries, the practice was consolidated. At the beginning of the last century, luck was reflected at the legal level through special ordinances and statutes, “turning a situation of fact into a law.” Beyond its tradition and roots, the Board highlights its advantages, as its effect to “link” the population to their environment or its effectiveness to fight depopulation. “It benefits the inhabitants who reside in those locations”, Point out The Government. “It is also an important economic contribution to the community.” The Soriana formula. Whether the pine suertes the key or one more piece of the Forestry Management Formula of Soria, the truth is that for a long time different media The same question have … Read more

China has a key technology to create a more effective antimisile shield than the iron dome: a beetle

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During the recent one Conflict between Israel and Iran There was a lot of talked about the powerful Israeli antimile defense system, known as the ‘Iron dome’. Europe too wants to build yours and United States shuffled the creation of a ‘golden dome’ that would use a satellite network and would be able to Stop hypersonic missiles. And what about China? Although they have Several antimile systems At different levels, they do not have a “total” shield like the one who wants to build the United States. What they do is a technology that, if applied, would far exceed the detection of missiles from other countries. A beetle. This kind of beetles receives that name for its ability to detect fire up to 80 kilometers away Thanks to an organ in its most sensitive exoskeleton than most infrared sensors in the market. This has been the inspiration of these Chinese researchers for their new creation: a system that mimics this same sensitivity and allows you to detect hot objects quickly and precisely. The system. During the investigation, Posted in Nature magazinethe scientists carried out several tests to verify the effectiveness of the system. In the first they built an ‘heteroestructure’ with divel -divelur, a material that offers a high absorption of the middle infrared range, and pentacene, an organic semiconductor. The device could detect radiation to an intensity of only 0.5 millivats per square centimeter, a sensitivity close to that of the beetle. In the second test they used black phosphorus and Indian seleniuro, achieving a photonic memory of 0.5 microseconds, 20,000 times faster than conventional optical storage. Capacities. Researchers affirm that this technology is able to “detect and identify objects in difficult environments, since it can penetrate obstacles such as smoke, fog and dust, providing clear images and precise detection of objectives.” In addition, it works at room temperature without refrigeration. This technology could be used in various scenarios: fire detection, autonomous driving, night vision systems and of course military environments. Antimisiles. As we said, China does not have an “dome” antimile system, but this technology could open the door to the creation of one that, According to South China Morning Postit would be much more precise than the ‘Golden Dome’ that Donald Trump wants to build. The key point is that the system integrates detection, memory and processing functions. Current antimisile systems are based on traditional silicon semiconductors and hardware separation (sensors and processors) prevents them from reaching those response speeds. Nothing concrete. Donald Trump’s ‘golden dome’ is, for now, a proposal that has not yet materialized, just like this hypothetical Chinese dome. What we do know is that China did not make any grace The announcement of this project because “it would raise the risk of converting space into a war zone and creating a career for creating space weapons.” Currently, China has several antimile defense layers: Dong Neng-3an exoatmospheric missile interception system, HQ-19 for medium-range interception and HQ-29 with antisatelite capabilities. Images | Flickr (1, 2) In Xataka | The day a missile killed 28 soldiers because the antimile defense system ignored an error of 0.000000095 seconds

A shield as a prelude to an army of Shaheds

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That Shahed’s drones of Iranian origin have become a bomb of systematic terror In Ukraine it is out of any doubt. However, on the weekend Russia carried out the largest air attack of the war that is fought in Eastern Europe, and did so with a swarm of Shaheds and a novelty: the drones were accompanied by an enemy improved against kyiv. Your name: Lancet. A night of fire. In what has already been described as the Greater air attack From the beginning of the large -scale invasion in 2022, Russia launched 537 air weapons against Ukraine in a single night, marking a dramatic intensification of its military campaign and advising a hard blow to the already diminished hopes of a negotiated solution. The bombardment included 477 Explosive drones and of distraction, as well as 60 missiles of diverse type, of which 211 drones and 38 missiles were intercepted by the Ukrainian defenses. The magnitude of the attack seems to show a deliberate strategy of Moscow for Erosion systematically The Ukraine Air Defense Network, wearing its western arsenal and causing a logistic collapse in its response capacity. In Lviv, near the border with Poland, several critical facilities were impacted, while in kyiv, Jersón and Járkov they registered dead and residential damage. An F-16 falls. With an increasing Your combat planes As part of its defensive shield, a limited and risky resource. In fact, the F-16 pilot Maksym Ustymenko died After demolishing seven aerial objectives, diverting its aircraft from populated areas before crashing. The Trump administration refusal to sell More patriot systems He has forced Kyiv to reiterate his willingness to acquire them on his own. Zelenskyy, when claiming more western help, He stressed that “Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capacity to launch mass attacks” and demanded greater international pressure on the Kremlin. According to official figuresin just one week, Russia has launched more than 1,270 drones, 114 missiles and about 1,100 planning bombs, in an unpublished aerial offensive that seeks not only to exhaust resources, but also break the moral of the population. Drones and evolution. We have coming counting These weeks. Ukrainian defense minister, Rustem Umerov, explained that Moscow has intensified the combined use of missiles and drones, most of them of the Shahed typeIranian design, which now fly higher, faster and with a greater explosive load, escaping within reach of Ukrainian anti -aircraft mobile units. This qualitative leap in the ability of drones has forced a constant intellectual struggle to Adapt the defenses and find effective solutions. Ukraine has been working for years in electronic and neutralization tactics, but the Technological evolution Russia forces an increasingly sophisticated response. Adaptation cycle. He Shahed-136also known as Geran-2 when used by Moscow, it has gone from being a simple low-cost Iranian drone to become A key piece in the technological war of Ukraine. Its low price, long -range and considerable explosive load have made it especially useful for both attacks and For tactical operations. Despite its intensive use, Ukraine had initially achieved a high index of neutralizationusing a combination of electronic interference, MI-24 helicoptersfighters MIG-29 and machine guns mounted on vehicles to intercept these drones. However, in recent months, a significant evolution in design and tactics has allowed a Increasing number of Shaheds overcome Ukrainian defenses. That, and something More, they have led to Greater air attack to date. The Iranian redesign. The Ukrainian reports They point to several significant improvements in the most recent Shahed. The most obvious: the armor of the motor compartment, which now resists the machine gun shots, while fuel deposits have been relocated from the wings to the central fuselage, reducing vulnerability to lateral impacts. Thus, the most disruptive innovation is the Incorporation of submunitions. These new versions are not only limited to impact, but they can disperse small loads Explosive during the flight, increasing its effectiveness against formations of troops or fortified positions. These artifacts can be released anywhere on the journey, expanding their operational flexibility. In fact, Ukrainian troops in the regions of Sumy and Járkov They have reported The most disconcerting encounters with these drones: no impact is heard, and twenty minutes later an unexpected explosion ensues. Lancet prototype Lancet In addition, and equally important, Shahed Russian waves are now not alone. Together with physical improvements, Russia has changed its way of deploying them. One of the new tactics consists in launching the drones in pairs: one at low altitude, the other at a higher height. The lower drone acts as a decoy, attracting Ukrainian radars, while the superior It goes unnoticed Until the first is destroyed, gaining time and increasing its chances of achieving the goal. The other novel tactic has been the combination of Shaheds with the so -called Lancet drones. We talk about devices smallervery difficult to detect and lethal. Lancet are used to Attack specifically To the Ukrainian teams of antidrón defense, clearing the way for the Shaheds to arrive without opposition. In other words, the evolution of the Lancet has made them a kind of shield before the offensive of Shahed’s swarms. A strategy, the “attack on interceptors”, which has seriously complicated the effectiveness of Ukrainian land mobile defenses. Russian advance on land. Simultaneously to massive air attack, Russian forces advance on the eastern front to the fastest rhythm Since November, supported by high -precision and non -interferible drones guided by optical fiber. Ukrainian commander, Oleksandr Syrsky, He warned On attempts to break the defensive lines in three directions, particularly around the key cities of Kostyantynykka and Pokrovsk, which could be fenced if the offensive rhythm continues. In the north, the Russian troops advance from the Kursk region to Sumy’s, threatening to place themselves soon artillery of its regional capital. Ukrainian government sources They have anticipated that Russia’s terrestrial and aerial offensive will intensify throughout the summer. Doctrinal change and antipersone mines. Plus: Before the worsening of the conflict, Zelenskyy signed A decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Conventionthe same that … Read more

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