soil

The liquid tree arrives that does not need soil or space

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In some cities, trees have become a true luxury item: either because there is no space left (or there is no interest in allocating it for this purpose), because the ground is sealed by asphalt or concrete or because pollution prevents their development. This happens in large cities all over the planet, from India to southern Europe. India has released a solution that does not need rain and does not grow: it is a green water tank that does the work of ten trees. A liquid tree. Context. In cities there are two overwhelming realities: They concentrate around 70% of carbon dioxide emissions and almost half of the population lives in them. Some Spanish cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Seville or Murcia deserve special mention, among those with the lowest proportional tree cover on the continent and those with the most deaths due to the heat island effect, according to a study by specialists from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. published in The Lancet. It is not so much a question of having many trees (Madrid, for example, has them), but of having proportional tree cover and here the Spanish state needs to improve, he says. this study of 744 European cities and the recommendations of the European Commission. Al fresco liquid tree. “Liquid trees” are, in a nutshell, urban photobioreactors. Inside there is a closed system with microalgae in aqueous solution to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as if it were a real plant. Up to this point, everything is more or less as if it were a tree, but with the advantage of not needing soil, land to plant it in, or taking root. And that the cleaning function of the liquid tree is equivalent to two 10-year-old trees or 200 square meters of grass, according to the Multidisciplinary Research Institute of the University of Belgrade, to whom they came up with the concept in 2021 following the assignment of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to combat air pollution in the Serbian capital. The first prototype was called LIQUID 3 and was planted in Stari Grad. Why is it important. Because cities are the epicenter of the global emissions problem and if we have already seen that today a good part of the world’s population lives in cities, in 2050 it will be even worse: the UN estimates that the figure will rise to 68%. As explains Dr. Ivan Spasojevicone of the inventors of LIQUID 3, the goal is not to replace forests, but to use this system for urban areas where there is no space to plant trees. Under certain conditions of high pollution, trees suffer to survive, but according to the scientist, algae are not affected. How it works. As you can see in the image on the cover or in the video below, LIQUID 3 is a kind of aquarium with 600 liters of fresh water where there are single-celled microalgae (which we can find in any pond) continuously doing photosynthesis. The contaminated air is introduced in the form of bubbles thanks to the pumping system and a photovoltaic panel provides electricity for both the pump and the nighttime LED lighting. Furthermore, maintenance is minimal: every month and a half you have to remove the biomass generated, which serves as fertilizer (not for the liquid tree, obviously) and replace the water and minerals. They clean more than a lifelong tree. The main reason for this liquid tree compared to a traditional tree is efficiency: while parts such as the trunk, branches or roots do not photosynthesize, everything in the algae is productive. According to the UNDP Serbiathat makes them between 10 and 50 times more efficient than conventional trees. The startup Liquid Trees has quantified the CO₂ removal capacity of its liquid tree at 1.83 kg of CO₂ per kg of biomass produced. From prototype to first street trees. Liquid trees are not something new: as we have already seen, the concept dates back to 2021. However, it has not remained a mere prototype and that’s it. The technology is escalating. In 2024, the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies and the company Lo Carbon Solutions they installed India’s first outdoor liquid tree in Kerala: a 1,000 liter tank equivalent to 10 mature trees. Almost at the same time, the DS business group and the startup Liquid Trees they planted a 1,600 liter unit equivalent to six mature trees. Yes, but. Leaving aside something obvious such as that if the electricity contribution does not come from a renewable source, the real carbon balance is worse than the figures suggest or that it is data provided by interested parties and not externally audited, a scientific review by researchers at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies published in the International Journal of Plant and Environment lists some limitations of the concept, among them a fairly obvious one: investment in infrastructure and maintenance is not comparable to planting lifelong trees. And that’s without talking about the environmental cost: an architectural design study from the University of Alcalá calculation that a photobioreactor façade takes more than 11 years to compensate for the CO₂ emitted during its own manufacturing. Finally, no city has yet implemented the technology at scale. What exists are prototypes and specific pilots, not deployed urban solutions. In Xataka | The Spanish invention to solve the lack of trees and reduce the heat in squares and parks around the planet. It’s cheap and immediate In Xataka | Madrid thought they had a great idea putting awnings against the heat in Puerta del Sol. It turned out so well Cover | UNDP and Sung Shin

The southern entrance to the A5 underground is already 80% excavated, and there is a culprit that has speeded up the work: the soil

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Allow me, if you don’t mind, to use an expression that I have been wanting to use for a long time: there is already light in the tunnel. That’s right, then the burial of the A5 Move against the clock to meet deadlines. And the goal is to open traffic in November. The southern tunnel of the Extremadura highway has already exceeded four fifths of its route under Madrid. There is less left, largely due to the technical innovations that have made it possible. The largest work in Madrid right now. The burial of the A-5 is, today, the largest infrastructure under construction of the capital. Under the streets that connect Madrid with the exit to Extremadura, two tunnel boring machines work in parallel to bury one of the historic entrances to the city and thus free up surface space for urban use. Where is each tunnel. The work runs in two independent galleries. The southern tunnel, through which vehicles entering Madrid will circulate, has been excavated for approximately 80% of its length. The northern tunnel, the exit, is advancing at a slower pace and has completed about half of the route. Although the asphalt has not yet been laid, the interior appearance of the most advanced gallery already allows a fairly clear idea of ​​what the final infrastructure will look like, according to transfer to Telemadrid the technical teams that supervise the work. The key to acceleration: the ground. As the media points out, a new construction system applied to the tunnel floor has made it possible to speed up both the excavation and the consolidation of the infrastructure. For this reason, and because of the work that is being put into the work every day, it has been possible to reach 80% without major delays, maintaining the schedule. 14 emergency exits. Parallel to the main gallery, the work includes the construction of 14 emergency exits, one every approximately 200 meters. Each of them is accompanied by technical rooms where the systems necessary for the operation of the tunnel will be housed, including geothermal installations that will improve its energy efficiency. Jump to the surface. Starting in September is planned that the works also extend abroad, with urbanization actions in the area around the A-5. The idea in this phase will be to definitively integrate the infrastructure into the surface, with the aim of reducing traffic outside and taking advantage of the area for new public spaces. November, the date marked on the calendar. With the tunnel boring machines still in operation, the goal is for vehicles to be able to travel through the new tunnel before the end of the year. November is the date currently managed by those responsible for the work. So we just have to wait a few more months to call it a day. one of the heaviest works of these years in the capital. Cover image | Madrid City Council In Xataka | Portugal had to choose where to take its AVE first. And between Madrid and Galicia, it is very clear

Russia’s elite GRU moves its war against Ukraine’s power grid to Polish soil

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Winter in Eastern Europe is not just a season; It’s a damage multiplier. As my colleague Miguel Jorge described wellwhat is emerging in the region is a ruthless reality dubbed “thermal terror.” In this scenario, extreme cold becomes a weapon of war designed to make civil infrastructure – heating, electricity, water – the cruelest target. The ultimate goal is not only to destroy military capacity, but to make daily life physically unviable. Under this logic of making daily life unviable to wear down the population, the Kremlin’s most feared cyberespionage group has decided to cross a dangerous border. 500,000 homes in the spotlight. As Poland prepared for the holidays, its security systems detected what Energy Minister Milosz Motyka called the “strongest attack against Polish energy infrastructure in years,” as reported by Reuters. The sabotage occurred on December 29 and 30 and was surgical. The targets were not chosen at random, but instead targeted two cogeneration plants and systems that connect renewable energy facilities — such as wind farms — to power grid operators. In other words, directly to the key nodes so that energy reaches homes. local media they collected the statements from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who put figures at risk: if the attack had been successful, half a million people would have been left without heat in the middle of winter. Fortunately, as detailed in the press release of the Polish Governmentthe defenses worked. “At no time was critical infrastructure threatened,” said Tusk, although the incident has been treated with the utmost seriousness, mobilizing the special services to their full capacity. Sandworm’s signature. The attack took on an international dimension when the cybersecurity firm ESET announced the discovery of the weapon used: a destructive malware called DynoWiper. As reported by TechCrunchESET attributed this operation with “medium confidence” to the Sandworm groupan elite unit within the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU). The choice of dates does not seem coincidental. As investigative journalist Kim Zetter points outthis attempted blackout in Poland came almost exactly ten years after the first Sandworm cyberattack against Ukraine’s power grid in 2015, which left 230,000 homes in the dark. For experts, the use of a wiper on Polish soil is an unprecedented event, as it marks Russia’s move from simple espionage to destructive sabotage against a NATO member. Furthermore, this is not an isolated episode because since the beginning of the Ukrainian War, Poland has undergone a sustained increase of cyberattacks attributed to Russian actors. Nevertheless, according to the Ministry of Energy itselfthe December attempt was a turning point both in its intensity and in its objective: it was no longer about probing defenses, but rather about causing a real blackout. Anatomy of the attack. To understand the seriousness of the issue, it is necessary to break down the technology used. Unlike the ransomware commona wiper It is software designed exclusively to destroy. Your goal is not to ask for a ransom, but delete permanently information and leave equipment unusable. In this case, the attackers went directly to the ICS (Industrial Control Systems) systems since these systems are the ones that allow electric companies regulate the supply and monitor the network. So, Sandworm sought to break communication between renewable energy sources and distribution operators. When attacking these nodes, the technicians’ margin of action is minimal because the failures propagate in a chain. A conflict that expands. The Polish Prime Minister directly linked this attack to his country’s support for Ukraine. “We sell electricity there and, in critical situations, we receive it from them,” Tusk explained.. Attacking the Polish network is, by extension, attacking Ukraine’s energy rear. This Russian aggressiveness is not new for Western intelligence services. In fact, the United States government keeps a reward 10 million dollars for information about six GRU officers belonging to Sandworm, responsible for global attacks such as NotPetya, which caused losses of 1 billion dollars. According to Microsoft, Sandworm—whom they call Iridium— has launched nearly 40 destructive attacks against critical infrastructure since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, seeking to degrade not only military capacity, but the population’s trust in its leaders. From NATO’s point of view, attempted sabotage does not automatically activate collective defense mechanisms, but it does reinforce disturbing evidence: hybrid warfare makes it possible to strain the European system without formally crossing the red lines of an armed conflict. The next frontier is no longer territorial, but digital. Faced with the growing threat. The Polish Government is finalizing the Law on the National Cybersecurity System, a regulation that seeks the “autonomy and polonization” of security systems to reduce dependence on devices that facilitate foreign interference, according to official information. However, December’s failed sabotage is a reminder that in modern warfare, the front lines are on power plant servers. While in the trenches of Ukraine soldiers try to hide their thermal trace from drones, in cities like Warsaw or Krakow the battle is being fought so that the simple act of turning on the heating does not become an impossible luxury. For now, Poland has won this defensive battle, even achieving a historical record of energy production a few days after the attack. However, Sandworm’s shadow is still long. The hackers’ message is clear: “If we can’t turn off the light, at least we can scare you.” The war for control of the European switch has only just begun. Image | Unsplash and freepik Xataka | La Gomera has been suffering constant total blackouts for years. Now you have a solution: a cable that is unique in the world

While Silicon Valley dreams of servers in orbit, Russia prepares a nuclear reactor on lunar soil

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Until recently, the space race was about seeing who could get there first. Today, the question is different: who will be able to turn on the light on the Moon? While companies like Google or Nvidia imagine satellites loaded with computers for their Artificial Intelligence, Russia has hit the table with a much more earthly (or lunar) plan: installing a small nuclear power plant on the surface of our satellite. A reactor by 2036. The Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, has signed a state contract with the aerospace company NPO Lavochkin to develop a lunar nuclear power plant. According to Reutersthe deadline marked in the contract is 2036. However, the political times are much more aggressive: Yury Borisov, head of Roscosmos, has placed the real operational window between 2033 and 2035. Although official statements sometimes avoid the word “nuclear” directly, project participants dispel any doubts, the Kurchatov Institute (a leader in nuclear research in Russia) and Rosatom (the state atomic flagship company) are in charge. As the Interfax media points outthe objective is to power the infrastructure of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a joint project with China that seeks to move from “round trip” missions to a permanent human presence. But why what nuclear? A colony on the Moon faces nights that last 14 Earth days. During that time, the frigid temperatures and lack of light make the solar panels useless to keep astronauts alive or power life support systems. Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute, he explained in an interview with the Russian agency TASS that Russia must “run forward.” According to this medium, the country seeks to consolidate its leadership through the “Atomic Project 2.0”, which includes new generation reactors and closed cycle systems. It’s not just about science; Russia admits that partners like China and India have learned a lot from them and are now direct competitors. Eyes in the sky: preparing the ground. For the Russian reactor to reach the Moon, Moscow is already preparing the logistics. According to another TASS statementRussia plans to launch 52 satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome. Among them, the Aist-2T stands out, capable of creating 3D models of the lunar terrain and monitoring emergency situations. It is the necessary infrastructure so that the “lunar atom” does not suffer the same fate as the failed Luna-25 probe in 2023. The Moscow-Beijing axis: a long-range alliance. This deployment is not a solitary effort. As Interfax detailsRussia and China formalized their ambition in May 2024 with a memorandum of cooperation for the joint construction of this nuclear plant. They are not starting from scratch: both countries presented a roadmap in 2021 that includes five joint missions to deploy modules in lunar orbit and surface. While Russia brings its historical advantage in space nuclear facilities, China provides the scientific capacity and resources for the ILRS Station to be permanently inhabited from 2030. The board of the new Cold War. Washington has not stood idly by in the face of the Russian-Chinese alliance. NASA has received a clear directive from the current administration, in which they state that They need a reactor on the Moon by 2030. “We are in a race with China,” said Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation and who has led this directive. The background of this urgency is not only prestige, but the control of strategic resources. The Moon is the great deposit of Helium-3, an extremely rare isotope that is emerging as the “fuel of the future” for nuclear fusion. The White House’s fear is that if the alliance between Russia and China comes sooner, they will be able to declare “exclusion zones,” blocking access to this isotope and other essential metals for the technology industry. Faced with this threat, the US has increased the power of its nuclear project from the original 40 kW to a minimum power of 100 kW. Infrastructure over prestige. The space race of the 21st century has ceased to be a question of prestige and has become a question of infrastructure. While Big Tech tries to solve its energy limits with promises of servers in orbitRussia and China have opted for the pragmatism of the reactor on solid, but lunar, soil. Image| freepik Xataka | The race to bring data centers to space promises a lot. Physics says otherwise

40% of the soil is already ‘sick’

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For years we have talked about the desertification as a future threat or a shadow that loomed over the Iberian Peninsula. Now, thanks to data science and to joint work from the University of Alicante (UA) and the CSIC, we have stopped talking about probable futures to talk about tangible presents, and the truth makes us rethink many things. The reality. In order to get an idea of ​​what our country is facing, researchers have prepared the First Atlas of Desertification of Spain (ADE). This is not just a map, but it is a complete x-ray of the Spanish soil health based on decades of data that we had accumulated and that has served to understand the trend of the country. The diagnosis in this case is quite clear: more than 40% of the national territory undergoes a degradation process. But although this is an alarming figure, it is not the most worrying. The Atlas itself reveals our relationship with water: technology and intensive irrigation They are ‘covering up’ a problem that is advancing silently under our feet and that we are not seeing. An exhausted soil. To understand this research, we must first kill a myth: desertification does not mean that Spain is becoming the Sahara full of dunes, although it is a reality that aridity is increasing. How do they explain project coordinators, Jorge Olcina (UA) and Jaime Martínez Valderrama (CSIC), desertification is the degradation of land in dry areas. It is a process by which the soil loses its biological and economic capacity to produce. Stop being fertile. The data. There are two points to take into account in this case. The first of them is that 40.9% right now is showing signs of degradation. But if we go to the ‘dry lands’ such as arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas, the percentage of “sick” territory shoots up to 60.94%. The paradox of irrigation. One of the most interesting points in this case is the role that agricultural technology is playing. And although right now it may be thought that the irrigation system can combat desertification, the study points out that In many cases it can speed it up. That is, the opposite effect. The report details how intensively irrigated agriculture acts as a “cover-up mechanism.” Thanks to fertilizers and massive extraction of groundwaterwe can see very green crops on the surface, which makes us think that there are no problems with them. But the reality is very different. The demonstration. The Atlas has cross-referenced the data on the amount of chlorophyll and biomass that can be seen on earth with the state of water resources and the reality that emerges. For science, we are right now maintaining that greenery at the cost of depleting the aquifers and salinizing the soils, as can occur in the maintenance of very profitable crops such as avocados in the south of the peninsula. A devastating fact from the report illustrates this: in the Guadiana basin, 86% of the aquifers show rates of overexploitation or degradation linked to this phenomenon. And we are giving a lot of weight to maintaining the color green while we are ‘charging’ our water resources. The state by zones. The Atlas, which consists of more than 60 thematic maps generated using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, allows you to zoom in on critical areas. The “zero ground” of desertification in Europe is clearly drawn in the southeast of the peninsula, where there are some highly affected regions: Region of Murcia: it is the most affected community, with extreme water pressure and increasing aridity. Valencian Community and Andalusia with large areas of intensive cultivation that overlap with areas of high climatic vulnerability. Canary Islands with an island location that adds an extra risk factor to land management. La Mancha and Aragón are inland areas that, although less in the media, are suffering accelerated degradation due to agricultural transformation. Specific case. In addition to this information, the report points to strategic locations such as the Sierra de Gádor in Almería, which suffered from 19th century mining and therefore deforested holm oak and espart forests with 52,000 tons of charcoal from half a million destroyed trees, leaving skeletal soils that last for centuries despite repopulation. Changing the rules. This is something really important, because until now Spain depended on more general or outdated maps. ADE changes this by introducing socioeconomic variables into the equation. Not only does it look at how much it rains (which is becoming less and more torrential), but also at how we use the water that falls. The document warns that 42% of the national territory consumes more than 80% of the available fresh water. In a context of climate change, where rainfall will be more erratic and temperatures higher, maintaining this model is physically impossible. Images | giovanni cordioli Being Organic in EU In Xataka | The drought is turning water into a very scarce and valuable commodity in Spain. And there are already organized groups of thieves

The greatest attack of Ukraine on Russian soil discovered a new threat with drones. China has just multiply it

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In 2024, Ukraine managed to enter trucks disguised as mobile houses in Russian terrain. It was the origin of what happened in June 2025, when The Spiderweb operation It was activated giving rise to kyiv’s greatest attack on Moscow since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine. The offensive also staged the Future of the contests. China has taken another step in that threat marked by drones. Show converted into threat. They told them Analysts at The War Zone. China, through the company Damodahas presented a containerized system designed in principle for light shows with drones, but whose concept reveals deep military implications. The Automated Drone Swarm Container System is capable to display and recover Hundreds (potentially thousands) of small grid drones automatically, in a matter of minutes and with a single operator. Although the declared objective is entertainment, the system encapsulates the logic of how a simple container can be transformed into a portable swarm launcher with capacity of saturating skies and objectives at will. What today is a viral show on social networks, tomorrow can be a devastating weapon on the battlefield. From Guinness to War. Damoda already holds the world record with More than 11,000 drones in simultaneous flight in a coordinated show. Now, with this modular system of extensible racks, each container can accommodate At least 648 dronesready to take off and land synchronized. Drones automatically return to their positions and recover in the system itself, which It allows constant repetition With minimal human intervention. The promise for the civil market is speed, portability and cost reduction, but from the military perspective what is shown is the ability to convert a truck or a container into a force multiplier, camouflaged in an innocuous appearance. The precedents. The most immediate parallelism is found in the Ukraine War. As we said at the beginning, in mid -2024, kyiv carried out the call Spiderweb Operationwhere hidden containers as sheds or mobile houses were used as undercover kamikaze drones. Those attacks against aerodromes inside Russia They damaged or destroyed dozens of aircraft, including strategic long -range bombers. The blow was so serious that the Pentagon estimates the loss of at least ten of these devices. Something similar It happened in the Middle Eastwhen Israeli commands used covert structures to launch drones and missiles against goals in Iran during the beginning of the twelve -day war. Both operations show that the container, the most banal and ubiquitous infrastructure of global trade can become A lethal vector of power projection. The military potential. If civil design is extrapolated to the war, the concept is transformed into A swarm weapon low cost with saturation effects. Several trucks equipped with these containers could simultaneously launch hundreds or thousands of drones with diverse missions: from exploration and recognition to electronic warfare, interference of radars or kinetic attacks with small explosive loads. It would be enough Reduced number of systems To sweep an air base, disable radars or cover an urban front with lethal swarm. Its deployment in scenarios where the control lines are diffuse, such as cities in war, would allow devastating and almost impossible to stop with traditional defenses. The defense challenge. The difficulty in repelling a massive attack of swarms is multiplied with each advance in Autonomy and artificial intelligence. A swarm with the ability to Autonomous search and destruction It could penetrate shegars, hangars or buildings in search of objectives, exceeding the limitations of preprogrammed attacks. Let’s think that conventional anti -aircraft systems, designed to intercept specific threats, are overwhelmed in front of hundreds of simultaneous drones. The directed energy weapons, like lasers or microwaveThey offer partial but limited solutions by scope, direction and power. One of the few effective alternatives is to respond with another defensive swarm of interceptor drones, capable of creating a mobile barrier in the sky. Even so, cost-efficacy asymmetry plays in favor of the attacker: while an interceptor missile It can cost millionseach suicide drone barely reaches some thousands of dollars. Representation of a container launch system for the Merodeo ammunition of the Hero family of the German contractor Rheinmetall, as another example of a relevant concept that has previously been shown A show in the contest. The great risk is that what is now deployed as a cultural or tourist show can be transformed With hardly modifications In a gun of war. The camouflage, a priori, is perfect: a load container standard, transported by train, truck or ship, does not raise suspicions until, in minutes, it becomes A lethal swarm. This multiplies the strategic challenge for air bases, ports and cities close to the front, where a single infiltrated container could inflict damage comparable to that of a cruise missile sap. In wars where surprise and saturation are key, this kind of “drone box” emerges as the contemporary equivalent of an unpublished intelligent cluster bomb and precision. Global threat in buds. The truth is that China is not the only country in Explore this land. Defense companies and contractors In the United States And Europe also work in similar conceptssome even thought for naval pitchers. The debate in the US Navy already proposes to install containerized swarms In ships for defense and attack, which shows the inevitability of this transition. The Chinese precedent and the war in Ukraine indicate that the next future of the Air War is not only in the great seasons of sixth generation or in hypersonic missiles, but in low -cost swarms capable of overflowing any defense. The paradox. The Automated Drone Swarm Container System of Damoda It is officially a civil product to illuminate the skies in celebrations. But what projects, beyond its luminous choreographies, is a disturbing mirror of the future of war. Each viral show is at the same time, An essay From what can happen on the battlefield: the replacement of the power concentrated by distributed saturation, the replacement of the missile of millions with hundreds of low -cost drones, the transit of the technological war to … Read more

To carry out its greatest attack on Russian soil Ukraine used a tool as old as wars: bribery

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On June 1, what seemed several mobile houses located at various strategic points of Russia were revealed as what They were really: camouflaged trucks with an army of drones prepared for covert operation. The so -called Spiderweb began, the greatest Ukrainian offensive on Russian soil, a devastating attack on the fleet of Moscow bombers. Now, almost a month after the attack, Ukraine has responded to one of the great unknowns: how the hell swarms entered into Russian territory. Redefining modern war. For more than eighteen months, Ukrainian intelligence services They designed meticulously an operation that culminated in an unprecedented attack on thousands of kilometers of its borders: An army of camouflaged drones in those prefabricated mobile houses, which were transported across international borders until they reach Russian strategic air bases. Now, Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Ukraine Security Service (SBU), has revealed the details of the operation in an extensive Interview with Washington Post where he assures that the attack destroyed at least 12 Russian aircraft, including Tu-95 bombersand damaged a total of 41 devices, some of them located More than 3,400 kilometers east of Ukraine, in Siberia. The satellite images analyzed by the post confirmed Partial destructionalthough some visual tests were limited by weather conditions, which suggests that part of the remains could have been removed by Moscow before being captured. How it was created. Maliuk explained That the design of the operation began in November 2023, in response to a new wave of Russian bombings on Ukrainian cities. The idea was to hide drones inside those houses Mobiles that simulate being standard housing units. These structures had to have autonomous energy systems (Solar panels and batteries special) to keep the vehicles unmanned loaded, even in extreme winter temperatures, waiting for the final order. Russian restrictions on the importation of technological components made a tactic as old as the wars themselves: The briberyin this case to customs agents to introduce the materials. No one knows (almost) nothing. Secretism, apparently, was total: each group worked with compartmentalized informationthe engineers who manufactured the drones ignored their real purpose, as well as those who assembled the prefabricated houses they did not know that they housed weapons. In Maliuk’s wordsit was “a tactical symphony” with multiple critical but autonomous parts. Surgical precision. Thus, the morning of the attack, 117 modified FPV drones with double explosive load They were activated from the mobile roofs of the camouflaged houses. Each artifact was directed by A selected operator Among the best in the country, who was assigned A specific objective: A specific plane, whose location and environment were studied with detailed models. Loads They were designed To penetrate the fuselage first and then detonate inside, maximizing damage to key points such as fuel deposits, missile launchers and electronic systems that Russia cannot easily replace. Although Maliuk avoided detailing the communication systems used to The remote guidanceconfirmed that they were multiple and sophisticatedspecially designed to avoid interference and guarantee success. Strategic consequences. The Spiderweb Operation It was just the first blow. Two days later, Ukraine He executed another offensive of wingspan against the Kerch bridge, symbol of the Russian occupation of Crimea, using submarine explosives of 1,000 kilos. Although traffic was restored, the coup had a clear symbolic and strategic effect. Russia replied With a massive wave of drones and missiles that reached civil areas of kyiv, leaving dozens of victims. Far from causing a decalized, the Ukrainian action confirmed A new level In the technological war and demonstrated kyiv’s ability to achieve very much within the enemy territory. According to MaliukSpiderweb is just a sample of the potential of Ukrainian intelligence to alter the rules of the conflict, and represents a logistics, technical and human effort “unified in a single structure.” The future of wars. It We have slipped On other occasions. In full Russian offensive, and given the constant pressure on Ukrainian cities, the Spiderweb operation Mark a milestone In the modern war. Not only because of the depth of scope (from bases in Ukraine to Russian facilities in Siberia), but also for The operational model: Fragmentation of knowledge between operators, bribes, use of civil camouflage, innovation in light armament and ability to launch high precision attacks without resorting to large conventional platforms. In words of Maliuk himselfthis is just “the tip of the iceberg” regarding the work of your agency with drones, networks of agents and undercover operations. In a conflict that is increasingly freed with bits and algorithms than with armored divisions, the offensive showed that the 21st century war is defined by who dominates the stealth, well above the brute force. Image | UKRAINE’S 93RD MEChanized Brigade In Xataka | We suspected that Ukraine drones attack had been destructive. Space images have revealed how much In Xataka | In 2024, Ukrainian trucks disguised as “house” entered Russia. Now they have dynamited their main air bases

TSMC will manufacture its best chips on American soil, although presumably they will be 30% more expensive

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Taiwan’s silicon shield It has definitely fallen. The government of this island was determined to protect its economic interests preventing TSMC from manufacturing integrated circuits abroad using your most advanced lithography nodes. This plan entered into conflict with the expansionist strategy of the semiconductor manufacturer most important on the planetespecially at a juncture in which the US is forcing the displacement of chips manufacturers to their own territory. “Since Taiwan has regulations that seek to protect their own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2 nm chips abroad today,” Jw Kuo saidMinister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, on November 8 during a meeting of the Taipéi Economy Committee. “Although TSMC PLANS MANUFACTURE 2 NM CHIPS Abroad in the future, its central technology will remain in Taiwan. “ Kuo’s statements reflected at that time that TSMC could not produce integrated 2 Nm circuits in the US or Europe until it was ready its lithography A14 (1.4 Nm). From that moment the latter would remain in Taiwan and could move the production of 2 Nm chips to other countries. For TSMC this restriction was a problem. And it was because the demand for its most advanced integrated circuits is very high because of the undoubted success that semiconductors are having for applications of artificial intelligence (AI). Chips manufactured by TSMC in the US will be 30% more expensive, according to Walter Bloomberg Finally, the Taiwan government has moderated its protectionist strategy. Jw Kuo He pronounced again In the middle of last January to declare that TSMC may produce 2 Nm chips in its US plants, although the Taiwanese administration will cautiously evaluate the use of this technology in the country led by Donald Trump. “Private companies must make their own commercial decisions covered in their own technological progress (…) TSMC is building factories in the US with the purpose of serving their US clients because 60% of the world’s chips designer companies are based precisely in the US. “ Lisa su and CC Wei have taught the first EPYC ‘Venice’ chip produced in the N2 (2 nm) node of TSMC Today, just four months later, we can be sure that the manufacture of integrated 2 NM circuits on a large scale in the TSMC plants in Arizona (USA) will arrive. Lisa her, the general director of AMD, and CC Wei, the president and general director of TSMC, have taught the first Epyc Chip ‘Venice’ produced in node N2 (2 nm) of this last company. This CPU has been manufactured in Taiwan, but both managers They have confirmed their commitment When strengthening the production of the plants that TSMC is putting ready in Arizona. The first of these factories is about to produce large -scale chips, but its plan does not end here. The second plant will be operational in 2028 and will produce integrated circuits in N3 (3 Nm) and N2 (2 Nm) nodes. And finally, the third factory will not be listed at all until the end of this decade and will produce chips in the N2 (2 nm) node. At the current situation and under the pressure of the US government, which is Pertrechado with its tariff policyit is very likely that the production of 2 Nm semiconductors in Arizona arrives long before 2028. It is not official information, but in the current circumstances it is a very reasonable forecast. However, there is something else that is worth not overlooking. According to G. Dan HutchesonAnalyst in Techinsights, producing a 300 mm wafer in the new Arizona plant costs TSMC less than 10% more than manufacturing that same wafer in one of its Taiwan facilities. It is explained by something that we should not overlook: the cost derived from labor represents less than 2% of the total cost. However, according to the financial journalist Walter Bloomberg TSMC will increase the price of integrated circuits produced by 30% in the US to compensate for the costs triggered by tariffs on the production equipment of imported chips from Europe and Japan. The Government led by Donald Trump has not yet revealed how the import tariffs of photolithography machines used by TSMC, Intel or Samsung plants in the US will affect the import tariffs. Will do it within a period Not exceeding two months. But it seems that Bloomberg assumes that the increase in chips will arrive. We’ll see. Image | TSMC More information | Walter Bloomberg | Tom’s hardware In Xataka | The US confesses its worst nightmare: if China invades taiwan and controls TSMC the US economy will go to pique

half billion dollars to invest in American soil

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Apple has promised to invest 500,000 million dollars in the United States over the next four years, which lasts a legislature, in what seems like a maneuver to avoid Trump’s tariff threat. What has happened. Apple has announced This Monday an investment of 500,000 million dollars and the creation of 20,000 jobs in the United States over the next four years. The plan includes … A new AI servers factory in Houston, which will open in 2026. An industrial training center in Detroit. Why it is important. This investment represents the greatest financial commitment in Apple’s history and is a remarkable increase compared to previous ads: In 2021, during the Biden administration, Apple promised to invest 430,000 million in the US in five years. The press release that Apple published then is it still available. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, he promised to contribute 350,000 million to the US economy. The note too is it still available. The context. Apple manufactures most of its devices in China through Foxconn. The Trump government has just imposed 10% tariffs on all Chinese products this month, and threatens to extend them to other important commercial partners. TSMC, Taiwanese manufacturer, has already begun producing chips for Apple at its Arizona facilities, a project initiated during the Biden administration that received 6,600 million in federal subsidies. Between bambalins. The announcement comes just a few days after the meeting between Tim Cook and Donald Trump, who hinted last week that the company was changing its plans to avoid tariffs. “They don’t want to be in tariffs,” Trump saidsuggesting that Apple had canceled Construction projects in Mexico. Between the lines. Although Apple presents investment as a commitment to American innovation, UBS analysts cited by NBC They doubt that the company can really deploy such amount of money within the announced period, given its history and its dependence on foreign suppliers. Apple’s strategy to avoid tariffs follows the same pattern as during Trump’s first mandate: allow the president to attribute the merit of initiatives that were already underway or planned. Meanwhile, its large products as the iPhone continue to manufacture entirely outside the country. In Xataka | This is how Apple Intelligence works in Spanish. It has been like catching a student with half -duties to do Outstanding image | Apple, Lucas Sankey in Unspash

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