solution

China is about to have the ability to make 5 Nm chips, although it faces a difficult solution problem

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SMIC (Semiconductor manufacturing international corp), the largest Chinese semiconductor manufacturer has been working on the development of Your own 5 nm photolithography. In early February 2024 the newspaper Financial Times He said he had access to two experts in the integrated circuit industry who defended that this company was finalizing the refinement of their semiconductor manufacturing processes in their machines deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). Its purpose was to have the necessary technology to make 5 Nm chips massively before the end of 2024, although it did not succeed. If its 5 Nm chips had already been successful in this project, the first Huawei devices or any other SMIC client equipped with this type of integrated circuits would have even seen the market. Be that as it seems, now, this technology is ready. The challenge facing SMIC is the performance by wafer According to Dr. Kiman expert in the manufacture of integrated circuits who has worked in Samsung and who currently investigates for TSMC in the US, SMIC is about to start the production of 5 Nm chips. It is perfectly credible because, as we have just seen, we know with certainty that this company has been working on this technology for several years. And, in addition, Dr. Kim is a reliable source. However, this expert has pointed out something crucial that we should not overlook: the performance per wafer that SMIC has currently achieved in its 5 Nm nodes is less than 30%. An incipient integration technology usually moves in the orbit of 50% performance per wafer When semiconductor manufacturers produce a chip wafer, some of those nuclei do not work properly. It is normal. When they launch a new lithographic node, their performance by wafer usually has a margin of broad improvement, but little by little, as engineers refine their integration processes, This parameter improves. A mature lithography can deliver to integrated circuit manufacturers a very high performance, but an incipient technology usually moves in the orbit of 50% performance, so only half of the chips produced work correctly. The problem is that for an integration technology to be profitable from an economic point of view, its performance by wafer has to be At least 70%. And, as we have just seen, Dr. Kim argues that the SMIC 5 NM node is below 30%. It is objectively a very poor performance, but we know what this low figure explains: the technique used by this manufacturer to produce these semiconductors. It is known as Multiple patterningand SMIC has used it for more than a year and a half to make 7 NM chips for Huawei and other customers. This strategy consists in transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. It works, but is responsible for wafer performance is clearly improvable. SMIC engineers have been forced to resort to Multiple patterning because The US and Netherlands sanctions They prevent Asml from selling their extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment to their Chinese customers, which are the ideal to make chips of 7 nm or less. With the UVP machines that SMIC has, it will be very difficult for wafer performance to be optimal, so in all 5 Nm integrated circuits they will be scarce and expensive. The definitive solution to this problem for SMIC, Huawei and the other Chinese companies that are dedicated to semiconductors inevitably goes through developing their own UVE lithography teams. They are in it. Image | SMIC More information | Dr. Kim In Xataka | The US has declared the total war on Huawei: he does not want him to sell his chips for the most advanced outside of China

Spain is no longer a problem for Telefónica. But it is not your solution yet

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Telefónica has achieved what seemed unlikely recently: return to your domestic market to the growth field. Upward income, a convergent ARPU triggered and close to the triple digit, customers won on all fronts, terminals and upward alarms, TV in its best form since before the pandemic, Churn at bay … All that is already happening, but The most relevant is not only what happens in the figures, but what happens in the strategy. Spain has ceased to be a river to The Great T.but this has not yet decided to turn it into spearhead. Or that’s what is read between the lines. During The last presentation of resultsthe first of Murtra, Emilio Gayo, newly promoted to CEO after his success at the head of the Spanish subsidiary, heard the positive data of the quarter. But Transcription of the call with investors It transmits some coldness. As if it was enough to run well to change the course of the story. As if the good moment is enough to hold it without mutating it. The needle of the action moves the balance, but also the illusion. What Gayo did not say speak as much as what he did pronounced: Telefónica is not using Spain as a strategic trampoline. It does not position it as a test field for new business lines, nor does it present it as a showcase of what can be a large telecus, but also modern, profitable, diversified. Not even as an operational matrix of Telefónica Tech, although in Spain this segment grows at a good pace. They are still unreottered their margins or their detailed results, it is a promise still locked in an opaque showcase. And what is not seen, hardly valued. Spain works, but The group has not yet shown the same determination to define its course as in Latin Americawhere They opted for an immediate exit After years in red. The context asks something else. Telefónica is in full strategic review (Gayo himself has said explicitly), And that review points in several directions: Consolidation in large markets (Spain, Germany, United Kingdom). Reinforcement of not strictly Telecos divisions (Tech, Infra). Industrial narrative, infrastructure, more than technological, which is the mystique that today is in the markets. In that framework, the logical thing would be to make Spain a success case. A replicable pilot. An example of advanced convergence (average of 92 eurazos per client, rather than in countries with greater purchasing power), premium loyalty, differential content, Diversification of income beyond voice and data. But Telefónica is presenting good numbers as data, not as a vision. It is not just a matter of story, it is a matter of course. Especially Now that Telefónica is running as a key piece in the European consolidation of the sector: The inaugural speech of the MWC crying out for her did not give the CEO of Deutsche Telekom or Vodafone or Orange, Murtra gave it. That ambition is more than Buy or fuse Digis either Vodafonesit implies proposing another way of being a teleco in this new era. And if there is one way, it can only be born from the places where Telefónica is already winning, where it does not play defensive. If Gayo and Murtra want to make Telefónica a European champion (Financial Times He slid days after the goodbye of Pallete that this was the idea with Murtra), there will be more than financial muscle or client volume: a model, a successful narrative, a value proposition that justifies that central role in the European map of telecommunications. Spain could be perfectly that modelbut Telefónica has not yet decided if you want to use it to inspire or just to consolidate. And that indecision has a cost. In a sector where all companies are redefining what they want to be – which They play to be platformstechnological that They rent networkshybrids that They reinvent the service…—, who does not propose stays out. Although their kpis shine, even if their domestic market breathes again. Nokia launched very solid terminals while Apple invented the future that would ruin it. AT&T prioritized the scale without a clear thesis and today has blurred in front of more pre -pre -rivals. Yahoo never knew what he wanted to be and The market decided on it. Telefónica is not at risk of disappearing, but if you are out of the game that matters. He is in time to decide his role, but that time to do so will not be infinite. The most difficult is already done: Spain works again for Telefónica. What has not yet been done is decide what that means. If Telefónica wants to lead Europe, you must first demonstrate it at home. Outstanding image | Telefónica In Xataka | 100 years after his birth, Telefónica faces the greatest existential dilemma in its history: what wants to be older

The reclining seat is the great battle among plane passengers. A Neozylandesa airline believes to have the solution

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If you fly, it is likely that it has happened to you more than once. You are comfortably sitting in your seat, buckled belt, headphones in the ears and a good book in the hands, and suddenly (plas!) The back of the passenger in front It is about you. Your vital space is smiling. You no longer move with the same comfort. And the worst thing is that little you can do to solve it. After all, the seats are designed for that: recline. In New Zealand there is an airline that has had An idea to avoid that kind of situations. Its proposal is still limited (it applies in the premium class), but it provides at least one solution to a problem that is usually a source of infinite discussions (and even fights) on the planes. THE WAR OF THE SEATS. A year Heather Poole, a hostess of an American airline and author of A book in which he speaks of his 15 years of experience with “crazy passengers at 35,000 feet high,” he published on the CNN website An article loaded with irony about one of the big problems with which the cabin staff fought during flights: the fights triggered by the reclining seats. “In addition to the lack of Wi -Fi or a damaged entertainment system, flight assistants listen to more complaints about the reclined seats than about anything else,” Poole explains Before recounting the case of a passenger who came to threaten to punch if the traveler in front of him continued to lower his seat. “A reclining armchair can be reclined, and no one can do anything about it”, Warns the flight attendant. “If you get it or threats to hit someone you will be you who ends up expelled.” And Air New Zealand arrived. The New Zealand flag airline, Air New Zealand, has decided to take advantage of the modernization of part of its fleet to try a way to end the fights for reclining seats. The company, based in Auckland, has taken advantage of the first “reconditioning” of an aircraft 787-9 Dreamliner to replant the design of the cabins, including among other issues new seats. The aircraft includes the Business Premier, Business Premier Luxe, Premium Economy and Economy Business category. Each has its peculiarities but if we talk about the subject that worries Poole (and the rest of the world’s hostess) the interesting is the Economy Premium. In addition to adding some lateral “wings” to the seat to offer greater privacy to the passengers and expand the storage space, the New Zealand company has sought ways to ensure that if a traveler wants to bow his neck, he does not finish a few centimeters from the passenger’s chest behind him. “All seats have a fixed exterior housing, which means that their reclines does not affect the person behind,” duck. Is it the definitive solution? It is of course an interesting idea for a problem that, although it may seem anecdotal, alters the flight experience to many passengers and forces intervene often to cabin staff. The concept of reclining seat with an exterior housing that prevents the backrest from going backwards It is not new (at least in trains) and Air New Zealand limits it to its Premium Economy class. The tourist class seats of its adapted 787-9 are simpler and the company does not specify that they incorporate any novelty related to the inclination. With all the bet is interesting because the airline wants to continue modernizing its 787-9. The first of its reconditioned aircraft will be released on an Auckland-Brisbane flight on May 19, but the company is already working on a second ship in Singapore and hopes to have seven units ready for the end of the year. “The 14 Boeing 787-9 of the Air New Zealand fleet will be updated to the new cabin configuration by the end of 2026,” They clarify From the company. How serious is the problem? “The main problem is that airlines are piling too many seats in a small space. Do you remember the leg space?” Ironiza Poole. Your comment slips a key idea: optimization does not respond only to a matter of comfort, it is also (and above all) an economic issue. Airplanes have a limited capacity and conditioned by the manufacturer, but to the extent that their squares are redesigned by airlines can earn space, travelers … and money. The issue is so relevant that there are airlines that have op reduce degrees of inclination of your seats or limit Its rotation. In the sector even The idea is handled to directly install immobile seats that prevent any degree of adjustment. That without even more radical ideas, such as that of the Spanish entrepreneur Alejandro Núñez and his two height seator the places for passengers They fly standingraised by some Low Cost. Goodbye to the fights? That is the goal. And one of the advantages that a priori offer the seats of the new Air New Zealand aircraft. They are not the only ones who have sought ways to put some “peace” among the people who have to share flight hours in a limited space. There are companies that have come to design Kits that allows the front seat to be tilted and It is not so much Tiktok circulated a trick more than questionable to prevent the passenger from front to incline our lap: activate the air conditioning and guide it towards it. Images | Air New Zealand In Xataka | We have been binding to the suitcases to identify them at the airport for years. Your employees warn that it is a bad idea

China is immersed in a nuclear revolution and needs industrial amounts of Uranium. His solution: “fish” in the sea

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China is one of the countries that is most promoting the adoption of renewable energy thanks to Great ‘farms’ and market saturation of solar panels. At the same time, they have approved the Construction of ten new nuclear reactors. It may seem a contradiction, but in the midst of a Strong commercial warit is another step in energy self -sufficiency, and to achieve it they will need tons of uranium. Your solution? Squeeze the uranium of the seas. Marine mine. The country account with 56 nuclear reactors and has between 25 and 29 under construction. This implies that they need a lot of Uranium and the problem is that they do not produce enough. HE esteem That, in 2023, China’s production was only 1,700 tons, 4% worldwide, and although they have strong reserves, they need more. In turn, China imported Some 22,000 tons in 2024 and have begun to put solutions. In 2024 began The construction of the National Project of Uranium Nº1 in Ordos. It will become the largest uranium mine in the country and a few months ago They announced that had discovered another important site, also in Ordos. However, it still is not enough, so they have seen the sea. Uranium fish. Because yes: there is uranium in the oceans. Its concentration is extremely low, about 3 micrograms per liter, but due to oceanic immensity, it is estimated that the total is 4.5 billion tons of uranium. There are a thousand times more uranium in the seas than in known land reserves. Extract Uranium from the sea is not something new and, during the 80s, Japan led the development of marine uranium extraction techniques. The problem is that it is a complex and, above all, inefficient process. That is why researchers focus on active uranium collection methods‘dapando’ different materials to be able to extract more material per liter. It is also a expensive method, about ten times more to extract it from terrestrial sources. Miraculous material. But this is where the Chinese team of the Frontiers Science Center For Rare isotopes of the University of Lanzhou enters. In a study published in NatureThey explain that the key to extracting more efficient marine uranium resides in the MOF, or metal-organic frameworks. It is a crystalline material composed of metal ions that are coordinated with organic elements to form structures of great porosity. It is like an extremely efficient fishing network to catch small particles that, in the case of uranium, allows you to better separate this element from others to which it can be attached. The Chinese team has dopa with Dipniletinelo molecules and claim that this new DAE-MOF material allows an uranium absorption capacity of 588 mg per gram, according to the tests. This involves an efficiency 40 times higher when separating uranium from metals and vanadium and has been tested both in simulated and real sea water. Aim. The idea is now to create test extraction plants this year, with pilot plants on the tons scale for 2035 and with a continuous production by 2050. wait That China’s demand for uranium is more than 40,000 tons in 2040, so land mines in conjunction with these marine alternative sources are essential to achieve the goal. Without a doubt, it is an advance in marine uranium extraction at a time when the rest of the players on this board are also found Looking for ways to get more out of the sea for energy independence at a time when buying to other countries He has put up legs. And the United States, of course, is also in that fight, with the US Department of Energy analyzing The technical, economic and environmental viability of large -scale uranium extraction in its waters. Images | Robordouderio, Robert Taylor from StirlingNature In Xataka | Spanish nuclear have been criticized for their role in the blackout. This was what they did before, during and after collapse

On Sunday, Barça-Madrid is played and there will be Laliga IPS blockages. Users have an easy solution, companies do not

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Next Sunday, at 4:15 p.m., Barcelona-Real Madrid will be played of the Spanish First Division of Spanish. Taking into account what we have lived in the last three months, It seems inevitable Let us live new indiscriminate blockages of IPS by LaLiga. This website is not accessible. Once again what seems clear is that They will pay fair for sinners With constant websites that we cannot access. The persecution of IPTV illegal retransmissions is making Companies entering 70,000 euros per month are 40,000. There is clear economic and reputational damage, but there is a clear dichotomy here: for users it is easy to avoid those blockages, but for those who have a website, not so much. Hello, VPN. Since IPS blockades began by LaLiga It was clear that the only effective solution to avoid them on the user’s side was to use A VPN service. Here The options are multiple and in all cases they usually allow to continue enjoying normal access to all services despite the blockages imposed by LaLiga. It is not a 100% infallible method, but it is certainly the safest to avoid these problems. Why this method works. These services allow the IP address provided by the operator to change to a different one that will also belong to the country you choose. If LaLiga does not apply blockages to those countries from which the connection or IP of that VPN server is simulated, it is not in the Spanish ISP lock list, we can normally access the content. And packages encryption. In addition, the VPN encrypt the connection between our device and the VPN server, which makes it greatly difficult for operators or other intermediaries to inspect the traffic content to try to make a selective blockade of certain transmissions. Companies have it much more complicated. VPN services are perfect for users to “jump” LaLiga IPS blockages, but companies affected by blockages do not have it so easy. The reason is that these companies do not depend on themselves, but often have hired Cloudflare services. This company optimizes access to companies’s websites and protects them from possible cyber attacks, but when LaLiga orders to block certain IPS, the operators execute that order and many of them belong to Cloudflare. And there is the problem. The condemnation of shared IPS. Cloudflare, like its competitors, make use of shared IPS To manage all its customers. The same IP is assigned to hundreds or thousands of domains, and then it is cloudflare who is responsible for redirect access to each of them. But if LaLiga and the operators They block an IPThey block access to all domains that share that IP, whether it is legitimate and if it is not. Those who are using Cloudflare and other CDNs affected such as Bunnycdn are therefore impacted: users find that access to those domains is suddenly cut. The remedy is worse than the disease. The only solution for companies is to deactivate the service provided by Cloudflare. That means that they are not affected by blockages, but implies important risks. Cloudflare, for example, avoid (or mitigate significantly) possible service denial attacks that “throw” websites. It also prevents bots from tracking the web can end up unpaid in charging times or in the consumption of server resources. Without the Cloudflare and the like service, the exhibition of the websites of any company in the face of attacks or overloads is remarkable. The remedy can become worse than the disease. New LaLiga Tactics. Those responsible for LaLiga have reinforced their offensive with a curious tactic: Reach agreements with Cloudflare competitors like Vercel, Akamai or CDN77. In LaLiga they promise that these services – which collaborate in the fight against broadcasts – will not affect third parties during blockages, but with that type of alliance there is a great sacrificed: the privacy of customers, which can no longer be shield in those services. Image | LaLiga In Xataka | “Every time there is football, the website falls”: the collateral effects of LaLiga blockages in thousands of users

The DGT has been pressing a five years against Waze or Google Maps. Your solution goes through copying the French model

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“You don’t know who you warn.” With these words, the DGT warned of the danger of giving the alarm of a traffic control through our mobile phone. It is no accident that The article It will be published in November 2024. The article clarifies the entire phenomenon seen with the one known as “Galician Method”. Last year, a person was denounced for alert 15,000 drivers through messages in a WhatsApp group of Civil Guard controls on the road. The problem is that There is no rule in the circulation code that prevents it. In the last decade, drivers have been perfecting the notices. The DGT points out that in 2012 some applications were already alerted to radars or controls but that the first boom came in 2014 with SocialDrive and Waze. Users had, in real time, information about fixed radars (That the public DGT itself) but also of mobile phones and controls. The second boom came with the Coronavirus pandemic. With the increase in road controls, users multiplied and since then many have climbed into a car from which they no longer get off. Who aspires to skip a Civil Guard control has the tools for it in Google Maps, Waze and even WhatsApp. And that is a real problem if we talk about alcohol and drug controls but also if, for a reason for general security, a device has been mounted to stop the suspect of a crime. Trying to put containment barriers, the Citizen Security Law to try to stop those WhatsApp groups with thousands of users. It is something that the DGT itself recognizes that states that in article 36.23 it is expressly prohibited “the unauthorized use of personal or professional data or professionals of authorities or members of the security forces and bodies that may endanger personal security.” However, they recognize that it is not enough and has been pressed to carry out a modification in the Traffic Law. At the moment, all that there is a proposal for the proposition of the Law born in the Commission on Road Safety of the Congress of Deputies at the proposal of the PSOE. It requested that the text reflect the obligation to “sanction those who provide information that hinders or prevents the control work of breaches of circulation standards”. In France it already applies This new wording would serve to end current doubts. The closest thing to receive a sanction for notifying the Civil Guard control is found in article 100 of the Civil Guard GENERAL CIRCULATION REGULATIONwhere the following is exposed: The use of long -range or road light is prohibited as long as the vehicle is stopped or parked, as well as alternative employment, in the form of flashes of long -range or road light and light or crossing light, with purposes other than those provided in these regulations The problem, obviously, is that this analog acting has been disused. This has led to the DGT has press and emphasize in the last five years that their intention is to chase those who use these applications to notify the controls. In 2020, Pere Navarro, director of the DGT, already put the focus on applications during mobility week in A Coruña where he pointed out his will to “Prevent, hinder or limit” Applications like Waze. The referent can have it in France. There, the famous traffic application cannot show mobile radars to users. It is an anomaly in Europe, as they collect in the Gauling country media. They point out that there the decree No. 2012-3 of January 3, 2012, which modified its circulation code more than a decade prohibits “Possession, transport and use of radar detectors”. However, this application extends to mobile applications, something that does not happen in Spain. Here, The law was modified in 2022 To punish the single presence of a radar detector. Until then the use of radar inhibitors and detectors was punished. For three years, the single presence of these devices is also punished with Fines of 200 euros and three points of the driving card for detectors and six points and up to 6,000 euros in the case of inhibitors. What the DGT wants to get is that the notices in mobile applications are also punished and the first step would be the modification in the traffic law that would allow copying the French model. What applications like Waze do is alert “danger zones”. To skip the restriction, the application allows you to add this notice on road sections, never in a specific position. With this notice, the driver already knows that a mobile radar or traffic control will be found later but is not specified in any case to stick or where it is installed. Photo | Waze on Instagram and Pricob ioan In Xataka | The DGT denounces the breakage of seven radars: there are up to half a million euros at stake and three -year jail sentences

The Chinese solution that should not take long to arrive in Spain

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In any corner of China – a restaurant, the reception of a hotel, each plant of that same hotel, a subway station, a neighborhood store – it is impossible not to stumble upon a box full of PowerBanks. They are everywhere and work simply: escapes a QR code with Wechat either Alipay, An external battery is released, and you can take it to load your mobile anywhere. It is not even necessary to return it in the same place: it is enough to find another station of the same supplier, an easy thing when there are literally thousands deployed in the cities. 88 PowerBanks at the Wuhu train station. Image: Xataka. Behind this little logistics miracle are companies like Meituan, Energy Monster, Xiaodian, Jiedian or Soudian. Companies that not only operate portable battery rental networks, but also created An almost invisible infrastructure, perfectly adapted to mobile dependence of modern Chinese life. The price is as modest as the service is ubiquitous: it usually is around 1 and 8 yuan per hour (from 0.12 to 1 euro), with a daily stop that rarely exceeds 50 yuan (about 6.5 euros), especially in high -transit areas. Some companies require a reimbursable deposit, which ranges between 50 and 200 yuan (6 to 24 euros), although many platforms have eliminated this requirement for their verified users. Do like us on this trip and Stay connected whatever your destination. Always navigate at high speed and With unlimited data with the ESIM from Holafly and forget about unpleasant surprises on the bill. Easy to install, keeping your physical Sim card to receive calls and No positions of Roaming. And with a 5 % discount! Council offered by the brand What if someone decides not to return the battery? Nothing dramatic, but does not go free either. In most services, such as Volt+, if the battery is not returned in 48 hours, an amount is automatically charged that usually surrounds 99 yuanes (about 12 euros) through the linked account. So, The rent becomes de facto In a forced purchase: you stay the PowerBankand they charge you for her. In addition, the penalty may vary if returned in another city other than the rental, or if the battery is returned damaged. 12 PowerBanks in a hotel that had the same box on its 33 plants. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. 8 PowerBanks next to the cash register of a restaurant. Image: Xataka. Another pair of boxes from different suppliers in another restaurant. Image: Xataka. Another great Powerbanks reserve in Shanghai. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. At the Shanghai train station. Image: Xataka. This ecosystem is not only useful for the user. The shops that house the stations receive a small commission for each rentalin addition to increasing the flow of customers, something that We have already seen in Spain with the neighborhood stores converted into packages collection points. It has become a new layer of urban services. Parallelism with Spain is inevitable. In our country, the implementation of Digital DNI This year, the progressive disappearance of physical cards – payment, loyalty, even driving card– They draw A scenario in which the mobile is not only accessory, but the core of our operational identity. It is no longer about not being able to call or send a message: running out of battery if we get used to leaving the portfolio at home is not being able to pay for anything, not being able to climb a train, not being able to be accredited before an authority. Just as China has converted battery rent into a trivialized need, Spain seems to integrate similar infrastructure if you want to sustain its transition to a 100% mobile life. And it would be logical to think that we will soon see stations of PowerBanks In coffee shops, gyms, bars or sporting events under an affordable micropago model. Years ago We talk to a Belgian company that proposed thisbut he hasn’t had so much tour. A future without physical wallets It implies a new, much more mundane risk: running out of battery will not be a condemnation of ilocalization or boredom, but a personal collapse. And as in so many other things, China already takes us a few advantage loaders. In Xataka | We have visited the Shenzhen falsification market: China is at another level when it comes to copying other products Outstanding image | Xataka

A country has literally found the bomb -proof solution to the large electrical blackouts: Ukraine

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It happened a few hours ago. Among the multiple calls that the Spanish Government has received from countries, worrying about the emergency situation after The national blackoutone did not go unnoticed. Zelensky, president of Ukraine, called Pedro Sánchezand not only to show your support, but to provide all the necessary help. After all, if anyone knows about blackouts, that is the nation of the East. They have learned to survive in the dark and Russian bomb proof. The devastation of the electrical system. From the beginning of the large -scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has directed a good part of its attacks against infrastructure Ukrainian energy. Last summer, Ukraine had lost and in just three months More than nine gigawatts of generation capacity, more than a third of the one it owned before the war. According to Ukrenergo dataThis would be equivalent to the total demand of countries such as the Netherlands at peak hours, or even the sum of Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Winter. All state thermal plants were destroyed and all hydroelectric plants had suffered damage to missiles or drones. The strategy of Russian attacks was clear: it was not only sought to destroy military capacity, but to break the soul of a society through forced darkness, interrupting the most essential: Heating, running water, elevators, communications, operating rooms or the simple possibility of maintaining an organized civil life. Today, and according to the UN agency for refugees, More than 60% From the country’s electricity generation capacity it has been destroyed or useless. In a country where winter is not only a station but an existential threat, running without energy is running out of heating, without water, without communications. For millions, electricity represents the last bastion between dignity and precarious survival. Survive blackouts. He told the last July the BBC that the blackouts in Ukraine had become a presence as constant as the war itself. In cities such as Odessa, Kyiv or Zaporizhzhia, electricity was an intermittent luxury, a resource that appears and disappears under the buzzing of the generators or the sepulchral silence of the fallen network. In that context, electricity ceased to be just a comfort to become the threshold between life and death. Cases like Tetiana’smother of a child with serious disabilities, who lives that truth every day: her son depends on breathing machines, feeding and receiving medication. Without stable supply, his life hangs from a thread. In your home, prolonged blackouts (sometimes twelve hours a day) force to constantly feed a gasoline generator that, in addition, must stop every six hours so as not to overheat. When your child convulses, the minutes without mobile or ambulance coverage are transformed into torture. In words to the British environment“You can die if you don’t receive oxygen. I am missing words.” Thus thin is the line between chaos and survival. Scheduled cuts. In August of last year there was a substantial change in the struggle of Ukraine to the blackouts. A Mondayhundreds of missiles and Russian drones fell on the nation. First the electricity was cut, then the water. That day marked the Greater Russian air attack against Ukrainian energy infrastructure since the beginning of large -scale invasion. The bombing continued the next day, raising the number of deaths to twelve and leaving millions of people throughout the country. The largest private energy company in Ukraine, DTEKmade a decision: Apply scheduled cuts In multiple regions: Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk. On the periphery of the capital, the neighbors began to live with six hours of blackout followed by two hours with electricity, in the early morning. A rhythm that allowed planning (even if not resting). Loading with energy. The result of the situation is that Ukraine has learned to live with the blackouts. What would have paralyzed the country before, today faced with Decentralized solutions. In Kyiv, the so -called “invincibility points” offer citizens electrical charge and the Internet during the cuts. But many do not even go to them: they have made portable batteries an object as essential as mobile phone or keys. Most shops, from street stalls to shopping centers, already have their own generators. In fact and as we said, that buzz of its engines has become the usual soundtrack of the blackouts. Examples Told the CNN Maksym Holubchenko, a 25 -year -old barista in the capital, that his cafeteria remains open thanks to one of those generators. However, it does not supply to cover all the demand: in winter you can maintain the operation, but in summer they must turn off the air conditioning and parts of the coffee maker so as not to overload the system. Adaptation is not comfortable, it is simply the result of an urgent need, and a resistance without alternatives. For Inna, an 87 -year -old woman from Odessa, the current situation arouses ancient echoes. “I already survived World War, so I have some experience … I bought candles,” He reported. His story underlines a painful paradox: a modern, European country, with full integration ambitions in the West, forced to technologically retreat, to depend on the rudimentary to face the essential. The candles, thermos, the portable loaders, the calendars marked by electric cuts … make up a new normality born of the energy siege. Go to the bank without light. Before prolonged blackouts caused by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, the National Bank of Ukraine has also launched the Power Banking Projecta network of autonomous bank branches designed to operate without depending on the electricity supply. These “unwavering” offices will be equipped with generators, special communication channels, ATMs, additional and effective personnel available, allowing citizens to access essential services such as money withdrawals, payments, transfers, currency change and financial advice even during prolonged cuts. In addition, a “National Roaming System” Between ATMs, with unified limits and without commissions between banks, initiative already adopted by entities Like Oschadbankto guarantee equitable cash access throughout the country. Broken as a resistance symbol. In short, Ukraine applies preventive cuts Not only … Read more

Everest has become a tourist monster. Someone believes that drones are the solution

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Yeah Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay The cold slopes of Everest are assumed today in the most likely to stay ice cream. And not for temperatures. Since Hillary and Norgay crowned the top in their historic ascent of 1953, Everest has ceased to be an inhospitable place to become a kind of monster touristified. Every year they visit it hundreds and hundreds of mountaineers who leave in their path a millionaire business and a long wasting waftment. That does not mean that crowning Everest is today a simple task. Neither safe. It was not in times of Sir Hillary and Norgay and it is not now, although technical advances make the experience more bearable. Good proof is that in 2023 they disappeared Three Sherpas professionals in the Khumbu ice waterfall. The repeated attempts to recover their bodies served little. Their names have passed to Get the list of dead and missing On the mountain. Now both the work of the sherpas and the experience of the mountaineers and the conservation of the mountain have found a valuable ally: the drones. An ally on heights The disappearance Of the three 2023 Sherpas left its mark on the company that led the expedition, Imagine Nepal, so after the tragedy its responsible began to look for new ways to improve security in Everest. That effort led her to look at what her Chinese colleagues were already doing in Muztagh ata peak of 7,500 near the border between China and Pakistan where companies turn to drones for transport hot food Between camps. “I told myself: why not use drones on the southern face of Everest, especially in the Khumbu ice waterfall section,” remember The director of Imagine Nepal in a recent interview with The New York Times. He was not the only one to think about the possibilities of drones on the roof of the world. A similar idea was responsible for those responsible for Airliftcompany interested in mapping Everest with drones. The theory did not take long to practice and in 2024 there was already a team of the Chinese manufacturer in Nepal DJI testing its cast drones in the area. The devices ended in Airlift olees, which hasn’t taken them to use them. Since then they have demonstrated their Mountain potential. Despite the initial misgivings on how drones would respond in Everest, under conditions of high altitude, cold temperatures, low visibility and wind gusts, the company has already achieved some interesting results. For example, during a cleaning campaign on the mountain they managed to move about 500 kilos of waste from camp one to the base camp. The task required 40 flights from a drone, The CNN requiresbut it could have been finished in much less time. Although the apparatus that the company used is capable of transporting 66 pounds of weight (about 30 kilos), preferred to stay in a little less than 20 kg for security reasons. It is not a bad balance if one takes into account that the accumulation of garbage and feces begins to be A serious problem In Everest, which has even led to local authorities to demand from the mountaineers that They collect their excrements in biodegradable bags. Graph prepared by statista. Drones serve however, for much more than clean the slopes and camps of Everest. In addition to loading trash can transport stairs, ropes, oxygen bottles and other tools that serve the sherpas and the so -called ‘Icefall Doctors’veterans who are in charge of opening (and maintaining) a route in the Khumbu glacier so that mountaineers can cross it. For decades the most experienced sherpas have been in charge of that work, but … what if their knowledge could be combined with the technical advantages of drones? After all, a guide has experience and skill, but it takes between six or seven hours in covering the distance between the base camp, located at 5,464 m of altitude, and camp one, 6,065 m. A drone travels 2.9 km away from aerial distance between them in muco less time: Six and seven minutes. Recent Milan Pandey, from Airlift, assured the CNN that your goal is that the company Help sherpas Already in the 2025 season. Its mission will consist of transporting equipment to the coordinates indicated by the guides and collecting garbage. Without counting that, in addition to stairs or strings, drones can also load with sanitary material (from oxygen bottles to medicines) or even help during geolocation work and rescue missions. The arrival of drones generates expectation for several reasons. The first, because (except during the stop of the pandemic or specific restrictions like the one that followed the Nepal earthquake of 2015) the influx of climbers at Everest has not stopped growing Since the 90s. Now hundreds and hundreds are the successful promotions that are computed every year. The second is that drones can make Sherpa’s job more attractive and recover professionals who have been abandoned to emigrate. Of course not everything is advantages and facilities in the future of Everest drones. The service has a key challenge: money. A single drone can cost More than $ 70,000to which the fuel bill is added to load the batteries, labor, accommodation and logistics challenges. Images | IEWEK GNOS (UNSPLASH), Guillaume Baviere (Flickr), Mário Simoes (Flickr) and Statista In Xataka | Everest grows faster than we thought because a river stole water to another 90,000 years ago

Spain has a huge problem with contaminated waters. These researchers believe that the solution is the poplars

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We say little, but Spain is an aquifer country. According to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transitionthese cover more than 90% of the national territory. To the point that the supply of two out of ten Spaniards depends on them. In this context, it is still worrying that the country has been overexploiting them, contaminating them And even making them disappear. And, eye, between 20,000 and 30,000 cubic hectometers of water come from there. Is there any way to save them? There are many. Many. But historical experience tells us that everything that entails rationalizing consumption is not simple in the medium term. Is the “Say law“In full performance: each resource is free for the efficiency improvements that the water system has achieved thanks to the new restrictions, investments and management improvements, they are dedicated to other economic sectors. They take it pointing at the Datadista For years: decades of “emergency measures” in front of drought has only ended up serving to “expand irrigation, increasing the problem of overexploitation and contamination of aquifers and wetlands.” The point is that the problem continues to grow, we continue to take water from the subsoil and the consequences begin to be very serious. The management that never comes. Wwf Spain revealed in 2019 that The four most important aquifers in the country have been sheared for years.Beyond: According to the reports of the Geological and Mining Institute“For decades, salinization of Mediterranean and insular Spanish coastal coastal aquifers have been known.” Despite this, “only in a few cases this situation is well managed.” What if we look for another way to ‘save’ the aquifers? That has been asked at the University of Granada and Institute for Agricultural and Fishing Research and Training of the Junta de Andalucía. And thanks to the European project Life Wood for Future, they have analyzed the impact of the chopperras on aquifers. Your findings They are very interesting because “It has shown that the chopperras purify the waters contaminated by agricultural fertilizers and that this crop has the capacity to take advantage of nitrates in their growth and prevent contaminating groundwater.” And no, it is not a theoretical issue. The researchers They are convinced That “the chopperras prevent the most important groundwater from the province, which covers 39 municipalities and widely exceeds the maximum concentration limits of legally established nitrates, 37.5 mg/l in groundwater, be contaminated.” An incredibly powerful approach. Because “due to their rapid growth, since they can reach about 20 meters high in ten years”, the poplars not only purify nitrate water naturally, but “They have a great ability to kidnap CO2 of the atmosphere, up to 20 tons per year. “ It is funny (so to speak) because suddenly two of the country’s large pending subjects, the management of aquifers and The health of treesare so intimately connected. Image | Silvan Schuppisser / Garnica In Xataka | In Spain, cutting urban trees looks like national sport. These Swiss have just demonstrated that it is a mistake

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