solution

The perovskite had been failing inside for years. The solution was in the octopuses

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For more than a decade, perovskite cells have been the great promise—and great frustration—of clean energy. In the laboratory they already compete with silicon, but they always failed in the same way: they degraded too quickly. Now, a discovery breaks with what is established. The solution has not come from a complex industrial machine, but from a molecule that octopuses and squid have been using for millions of years to protect themselves from chemical damage. The sabotage that comes from within. According to the study published in Advanced Energy Materialsthe problem is not just air or humidity, but a chemical reaction that is activated within the device itself. When sunlight hits the perovskite, highly energetic electrons are generated. These electrons can react with residual oxygen trapped during manufacturing—a process typically performed in air—to form superoxide radicals (O₂·⁻), extremely reactive chemical species. These radicals attack the organic cations that keep the perovskite crystalline structure stable, initiating its decomposition. The entry point. The damage does not begin on the visible surface of the panel, but in a key region known as the buried interface, the point of contact between the perovskite and the tin dioxide (SnO₂) layer, responsible for extracting the electrons generated by light. As emphasized Nanowerknot even the best external encapsulation can stop this process: oxygen is already present inside the device from the first moment. To further complicate the problem, tin dioxide itself contains oxygen-rich defects that, under illumination and heat, migrate into the perovskite and accelerate its degradation from within. Taurine to the rescue. Faced with this scenario, the team of researchers from the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology opted for an unusual route in photovoltaic development: seeking inspiration in biology. The answer came in the form of an ultrathin layer of taurine, a sulfur amino acid present in octopuses, squid and other marine organisms. According to Interesting Engineeringin nature taurine protects cells from oxidative damage, just the same type of threat that was degrading perovskites. Located at the interface between tin dioxide and perovskite, the molecule functions as a smart chemical shield. A defense cycle that does not end. The study details, based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations and laboratory experiments, a two-step protection mechanism that is especially relevant. First, taurine intercepts superoxide radicals as they form. Its chemical structure, called zwitterionic—with positive and negative charges in different parts of the molecule—allows it to electrostatically attract these radicals and convert them into hydrogen peroxide, a much less aggressive species for perovskite. Secondly, the process addresses an additional problem: the molecular iodine generated during the degradation of the material. This iodine tends to form compounds that further accelerate the collapse of the structure. Taurine reduces that iodine back to iodide ions, chemically stable and much less harmful. Most notable, as Nanowerk points outis that after completing these reactions, taurine is regenerated. It is not consumed or degraded in the process, but rather returns to its original state, creating a closed radical neutralization cycle that can be repeated throughout the operational life of the device. From theory to real power. The benefits are not limited to durability. The presence of taurine also improves the electrical functioning of the cell. By chemically binding to both tin dioxide and perovskite, it acts as a molecular bridge that reduces defects at the interface, those small sinks where electrons are lost as heat. In practice, this translates into fewer electronic defects, nearly doubled electron mobility in the tin dioxide layer, and charges that survive longer. The best device achieved efficiency 24.8%, with 1.18 volts in open circuit and a high fill factor. Figures very close to current records, but with an important difference: it lasts much longer. In stability tests, taurine-treated cells retained 97% of their efficiency after 450 hours of continuous operation at 65°C. Under real ambient conditions, they maintained 80% of their performance for more than 130 hours, more than five times longer than conventional cells subjected to the same tests. The story has some scientific irony. While industry refined increasingly complex solutions, biology had already been solving the same problem for millions of years. If this strategy can be scaled and adapted to industrial manufacturing, the future of solar energy could depend as much on engineering as it does on biology. Sometimes, to move towards the Sun, it is enough to look at the bottom of the sea. Image | Unsplash and freepik Xataka | The dark side of solar energy: we are creating a 250 million ton mountain of garbage

Your solution is Maia 200

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Microsoft has presented the Maia 200, its second self-designed AI accelerator aimed at model inference, that is, executing them once trained. The chip, manufactured in TSMC’s 3 nanometer process, seeks to improve efficiency and reduce data center operating costs and the rest of the company’s AI-dependent services. Below these lines we tell you all the details. What makes this chip special. According to the company, the Maia 200 integrates more than 140,000 million transistors and is optimized to work with large language models. Microsoft promises 30% more performance per dollar than the previous generation, the Maia 100. The company also claims that it outperforms FP4 Trainium3 from Amazon and TPU Google’s seventh generation in FP8 precision. Image: Microsoft Why inference matters. Inference is the process of running an already trained model to generate answers, and it is becoming an increasingly important expense for AI companies. Unlike model training, which requires raw computing power over concentrated periods, inference is a process that must operate continuously and efficiently so as not to compromise the experience of millions of users. Highlighted technical features. The chip incorporates 216 GB of HBM3e memory with a bandwidth of 7 TB/s and 272 MB of integrated SRAM. According to the company, the chip can achieve more than 10 petaflops in 4-bit precision (FP4) and approximately 5 petaflops in 8-bit precision (FP8), all with a consumption of 750W. Just like has shared Microsoft has also designed a hierarchical memory system that promises to distribute workloads more intelligently between SRAM and HBM to keep models fed with data at all times. Where and what it will be used for. Microsoft has already begun deploying the Maia 200 in its Azure US Central data center near Des Moines, Iowa, with the US West 3 region in Phoenix as the next destination. The chip will be used to run models like GPT-5.2 of OpenAI in services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Foundry. Microsoft’s Superintelligence team will also use it to generate synthetic data and reinforcement learning tasks. Less dependency. With the Maia 200, Microsoft joins a growing trend among large technology companies: designing its own accelerators to reduce dependence on NVIDIAwhose chips dominate the market and have a high cost. Google has its TPUs, Amazon has Trainium, and now Microsoft reinforces its hardware with this second chip after the Maia 100 launched in 2023. According to the specifications, the Maia 200 works at almost half the energy consumption of the NVIDIA Blackwell B300 Ultra (750W vs. 1400W), although the two chips are designed for different use cases (inference vs. training + inference). Between the lines. The launch of the Maia 200 is really late. According to they point from Tom’s Hardware, the chip known internally as Braga, was scheduled for 2025 and could have come out before NVIDIA’s B300. Microsoft’s messaging repeatedly emphasizes efficiency and performance per dollar, so it aligns with the company’s strategy to keep AI operating costs in check as much as possible. It also coincides with Satya Nadella’s recent statementsCEO of Microsoft, on the need for the industry to maintain “social permission” to continue expanding its data centers. And now what. Microsoft is already working on future generations of the Maia and, according to share According to Tom’s Hardware, the next chip could be manufactured with Intel Foundry’s 18A process. Meanwhile, the deployment of the Maia 200 will allow the company to test its ability to compete with Amazon and Google on its own infrastructure, while containing the operational costs of running its AI services at scale. Cover image | Microsoft In Xataka | The number of new apps coming to the App Store has skyrocketed. We have a culprit: “vibe coding”

China has a solution that only takes 0.1 seconds

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In the age of electricity, time is no longer measured in minutes, but in milliseconds. As Fatih Birol explainsexecutive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world has fully entered a new era where electricity consumption grows twice as fast as general energy demand. However, this advance has an “Achilles heel”: network stability. Renewable energy, although necessary, is inherently unstable. The great fear of operators is that a small failure in a network saturated with solar and wind energy will cause a domino effect that ends in a total collapse. Faced with this scenario, China has deployed technology capable of detecting, isolating and recovering the network from a failure in just 0.1 seconds. From hours of darkness to the blink of an eye. Historically, managing power grid failures was a slow and manual process. As a South China Morning Post report recallsrestoring power after a community blackout typically required between 6 and 10 hours of work. That year, China already marked a milestone by testing an artificial intelligence system that reduced that time to 3 seconds. However, that is no longer enough. The recent achievement of 100 milliseconds (0.1 seconds) It is the result of a collaboration of more than a decade between elite universities (Tianjin and Shandong), the state corporation State Grid and automation specialists such as Beijing Sifang Automation. This technology is not only faster, but is capable of identifying “micro-currents” of just 100 milliamps, almost invisible faults that previously went unnoticed until it was too late. “Self-healing” versus intermittency. The fundamental problem, detailed in the study published in Energy Informaticsis that modern networks are much more complex. The massive incorporation of renewables and extreme weather conditions make traditional diagnostic methods based on static rules fail due to lack of precision and adaptability. This advancement means that the Chinese power grid —the largest in the worldwith projected consumption in 2025 of more than 10 billion kWh—is moving from a reactive system to a “self-healing” one (self-healing). This capability is so strategic that China already has exported the technology to 12 nationsconsolidating its influence not only as a panel manufacturer, but as the architect of global electrical safety. The algorithms behind the miracle. To understand how this speed is achieved, we must look at academic study by Qi Guo and his team. The system is supported by a dual structure of intelligent algorithms: Fault Location Algorithm (FLA): Uses a fault classifier Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a radial basis function (RBF) kernel. This “brain” analyzes variables such as voltage, line impedance and weather conditions to predict with 92% accuracy where exactly the problem has occurred. Fault Isolation Algorithm (FIA): Once the critical point is located, a decision tree logic comes into play that evaluates the severity. According to the research, if the fault is critical (such as a short circuit near a substation), the system orders the immediate isolation of that section and redirects the energy along alternative routes almost instantly. This hybrid approach allows the system to learn from historical data and adapt to dynamic conditions, something that conventional distance protection systems simply cannot do as effectively. The new geopolitical battlefield. The energy transition not only redefines how energy is produced, but also who controls the rules of the new industrial system. While the West focuses its response on ensuring the supply of critical minerals through initiatives such as ReSourceEU, China advances in less visible terrain but more decisive: the standardization, digitalization and integration of the infrastructures that will sustain the low-carbon economy. Rather than competing for resources, the dispute revolves around who designs the technological architecture on which global growth will function. The ability to recover a network in 0.1 seconds is not just a technical record; It is the life insurance of a highly electrified economy. The greatest current risk is that this clash of strategies between powers ends slowing decarbonization. However, in the race for stability, China has shown that while the rest of the world continues to search for the switch in the dark, they have already designed a system that never lets the light go out. Image | Unsplash Xataka | China dominates the world of renewable energy, but it has an Achilles heel: it depends on the West more than it admits

The most famous bridge in the US recorded more than 2,000 suicides. Until in 2024 they found an “invisible” solution

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When the golden gate Opened almost a century ago, it was celebrated as an architectural triumph of engineering and modernity. It happens that the history of many of the great works has had a second reading. Sometimes they have failed due to technical problemsand others have ended up marked by uses that no one foresaw. Over time, a bridge can become something very different from what its plans imagined. The bridge and its dark history. The Golden Gate Bridge, inaugurated in 1937 between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific, has been for decades one of the places most associated to suicide in the United Stateswith a rate of more than 2,000 jumps confirmed and a real figure surely higher because not all cases are seen nor all bodies are recovered. In 2006 there was one of the worst years, with at least 34 deathsand that was also the turning point in which relatives of victims, as Paul Mullerdecided that it was unacceptable to continue living with that routine of tragedies without a physical and effective response on the bridge itself. The barrier that changed destiny. The solution ended up being a deterrent system “invisible” installed along both sides of the bridge, one based on stainless steel cables of marine grade placed about six meters below the pedestrian walkways. It is not something that can be seen from afar or from normal traffic, but it is evident to those who look over the edge. The idea is simple and tremendous at the same time: if someone tries to jump, they fall on that structure, are injured or shocked, and the possibility of completing the fatal fall into the water is cut off. The barrier created to prevent suicides The effectiveness of the new impact. For many years the Golden Gate recorded an average of about 30 deaths annuallya figure that seemed entrenched and almost impossible to break. However, in 2024, with the facility entering its final phase and with adjustments still underway, the deaths they went down to eight. Last year, in 2025 and with the system already operating for twelve months, there were only four and there were no falls between June and December, a stretch that could be one of the longest without suicides on the bridge, although old records are not always complete. By the way, from the beginning of 2026 there is already a casewhich reminds us that there is no such thing as zero risk. That said, the general decline is so evident that even its promoters see it as clear proof of effectiveness and a mirror for the rest of the hanging architectures. Surveillance and intervention. The barrier does not act alone, because the bridge maintains an electronic surveillance system and a team of agents whose task is to detect and stop attempts before they occur. In the last year, 94 successful interventions were achieved, about half of what was normal before full installation, suggesting that the problem does not disappear suddenly. In fact, there are still people who come with the idea of ​​jumping, but now the margin of action is greater and death is no longer as immediate or as certain as it was for decades. Installation of anti-suicide barriers, February 2020 Against inertia and cost. The truth is that the installation of the barrier came after a very long road full of political blocks, doubts about aesthetics, discussions about price and debates about if it would really work. Already in 1939 it was recommended to raise the railings, but for decades measures were avoided while the death count rose from 500 to 1,000 and it continued to grow with chilling regularity. The organized pressure from family and professionals ended up crystallizing at the Bridge Rail Foundationand after years of paperwork the work started in 2018. The project also became very expensive, going from an estimate of 76 million dollars to a final cost of 224 million dollarsand even took longer to install than the bridge itself to build. The “invisible” barrier Why it saves lives. One of the central ideas is that reducing easy access to a lethal method works, even if it sounds too simple. A 1978 study by Richard Seiden, at the University of California at Berkeley, followed 515 people who had gone to the Golden Gate with the intention of jumping and were deterred, and concluded that 94% were still alive or had died of natural causes. This reinforces the idea that many suicidal crises are acute and not permanent, and that placing a specific obstacle at the exact moment can make the difference between dying and surviving. Bridges and the same problem. There is no doubt, the Golden Gate incident was not an isolated case, and there are other iconic bridges that have ended up with a similar reputation by becoming recurring scenes of suicides. In the United States, the royal gorge bridge next to Hoover Dam, or the Chesapeake Bay Bridgethey have had known histories and episodes that have fueled debates about surveillance and barriers. In Canada, the Bloor Viaduct in Toronto was for years one of the most problematic points until it was installed a great prevention structureand something similar happened in the United Kingdom with the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, where the combination of height, accessibility and symbolism forced action and reinforce early intervention. Also in Australia, the Sydney Harbor Bridge has been targeted of concern and initiatives preventive, and in Europe there are numerous cases on urban bridges and high-rise viaducts that share the same pattern: very busy and at the same time very exposed. The same idea is repeated in all of them, when a bridge becomes a known point, it is not just a problem of physical security, it is a social phenomenon that feeds on itself, and the more famous it is, the more important it becomes to cut that inertia before it becomes part of your identity. The legacy. The Golden Gate had been in operation for decades … Read more

ChatGPT urgently needs its users to start paying money. Solution: put ads on them

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It was inevitable. OpenAI has confirmed that is going to start testing ads on ChatGPT. The test will begin in the United States with users of free plans, those who have ChatGPT Plus, Pro or Enterprise are exempt for the moment. It is a movement that marks the beginning of a reality that was seen coming: The user experience of free AIs is about to get worse. All for the AGI. Through your X profileOpenAI has shared what those ads will look like and is striking in the heading of its “advertising principles.” Here they say their mission is “to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity; our pursuit of publicity always supports that mission and makes AI more accessible.” how he jokes Pedro Domingos in Xit seems that the AGI was actually “Ad-Generated Income”, that is, “Income generated by advertising.” Where I said I say…. The AGI is becoming the excuse for everything. To find the true reasons behind this decision, it is enough to look at OpenAI numbers. Or also we can go back to 2024when Sam Altman said that ads on ChatGPT are “the last resort for our business model.” Saying that everything is part of a plan for the benefit of humanity is better than admitting that the AI ​​race is very expensive and OpenAI desperately needs to monetize its AI. This sounds familiar to us. The situation is quite reminiscent of the case of Netflix, which In 2020 he flatly refused to advertising, stating that it was a way to “exploit users” to two years later launch your plan with ads. Since then the streaming experience began to deteriorate and everything indicates that we are at the beginning of exactly the same thing happening with AI. Advertising as punishment. Before, ads were a way to generate income. Today they also function as a pressure tool to push users to pay a subscription. This is what we find on YouTube or Spotify, where the bombardment of ads is constant, repetitive and very intrusive. We pay to end the torture. Objective: subscriptions. ChatGPT has 1.8 billion users, but the reality is that only 5% are subscribed to one of their payment plans. How to increase this figure? If we don’t subscribe ourselves, maybe a few ads will convince us. OpenAI has been the first, but there are also rumors that Google will integrate ads into Gemini. The AI ​​party does not pay for itself, it is a matter of time. There is a loophole. If the big chatbots turn their free versions into a minefield of ads, we will always have the option of use local models such as DeepSeek, Mistral, Llama or ChatGPT itself. Here we get rid of token limits, queues and also ads. The bad part is that the performance is usually lower than the cloud and it also has fewer integrations. Time will tell if they end up being a better alternative. Image | OpenAI In Xataka | Generative AI opens its gap between those who focus on it locally and those who focus on the cloud. There is room for both

In 1925, procrastination was already a problem and someone found the definitive solution: the isolation helmet.

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Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution They have turned modern humans into perfect machines in one thing: distracting us. No matter where, when or how you are, if you are accompanied or alone, if you are waiting in line at the butcher shop or have a book in front of you, chances are that your attention ends up dispersing for any nonsense. Maybe the flight of a fly. Maybe that sound you just heard in the next room or a stain on the wall. It happens today and it happened a century ago, when a science fiction-loving inventor designed the ultimate machine to end distractions. His patent dates back to 1925, but it addresses a hot topic: procrastination. The war of wars. Since man has been a man, he has done two things, both wonderfully: he is distracted and he procrastinates. Almost 2,000 years ago Seneca warned us about the risks of wasting our time and we know, for example, that distractions were one of the big concerns of the monks of the Middle Ages. Some even thought that if our minds disperse it is due to the influence of devils. In 2026 things are not very different. A quick Google search comes up to find a wide (very wide) list of guides and videos with tips on how to focus and stop putting off tasks. And it is understandable. After all, cell phones, social networks and other inventions of modern technology make our lives easier, but they have been filing our ability to focus. Even science has confirmed that we are losing the ability to focus among so many stimuli. And how do we solve it? We humans have not only been distracted for centuries and centuries. We have also spent some time looking for ways to avoid that annoying wandering of thoughts. Of all the solutions that have been given to the problem, perhaps the most astonishing (and bizarre) is the one proposed just a century ago by Hugo Gernsbachan imaginative Luxembourgish-American inventor. His name may sound familiar to you because, in addition to register patents of inventions and working in the electronics industry, Gernsback excelled in another field: publishing. Throughout his life he promoted several magazines focused on technology (RadioNews), but he also shone in science fiction. We owe him Amazon Storiesa milestone of the genre. His contribution in the field was so important that he is considered one of the parents of science fiction (with permission from Verne and HG Wells) and every year he is honored through the Hugo Awards. Adding facets. A century ago Gernsback combined this double facet, his technical ingenuity and overflowing imagination, to launch a proposal through the pages of Science and Inventiona magazine specialized in technology. In its July 1925 issue, the inventor, editor and novelist presented a creation which he named ‘The Isolator’. The name is striking in itself, but it pales in comparison to the photographs that illustrate the report. They show Gernsback working in his office with his head in a gigantic diving suit, an elongated helmet with two small openings for the eyes and a tube that connects it to an oxygen cylinder. Its purpose: to immerse the wearer in absolute isolation, an ideal state for centering. When silence does not come. Gernsback came to a conclusion very simple: sometimes it is not enough to lock yourself in a room without noise to concentrate. Even so, we risk our mind getting carried away by the flight of a fly or starting to wander after seeing a stain on the table. The way to avoid it, he concluded, was to eliminate all those influences “in one fell swoop.” As? With a helmet prepared to suppress unnecessary noises and visual stimuli. For the first thing, the noises, Gernsback decided to go for a robust multi-layer helmet. Its first prototype was made of solid wood with an internal and external layer of cork and a felt trim. For the second (view) he added three small pieces of glass. The design was completed with a device at mouth height that allowed the user to breathe without noise creeping in. The result, says the inventorit was a helm with an efficiency of “about 75%”. It isolated from external noises, but not completely. There was room for improvement. And how did you improve it? Perfecting the design. Gernsback rethought the material and added an air chamber so that the efficiency of ‘The Isolator’ rose to 90 or 95%, “eliminating practically all noise.” So that vision was not a problem either, the helmet’s glass peepholes located in front of the eyes were painted black, leaving only a narrow transparent strip. “When the two white lines on the glass open, the field through which the view can move is relatively small,” points out the inventor. “It is almost impossible to see anything but a sheet of paper in front of the user. There is no distraction.” Concentrating… and breathing. It is one thing that ‘Isolator’ lived up to its name by isolating the user in a bubble of responsible concentration and another, very different, that it was comfortable or even bearable. The author explains that after 15 minutes with it on the user “experienced some drowsiness”, so he decided to improve the breathing system, connecting it to a small oxygen tank. This improved breathing and “revitalized the subject.” In his article Gernsback added detailed plans of ‘The Isolator’ and even a sketch of an office with a complete distraction-proof installation, which included a ‘noise-proof’ door and an adequate ventilation system. “With this provision you can contemplate an important task in a short time,” boasted. “Building ‘The Isolator’ will be a huge investment.” The power of paper. If humanity has also learned something (including Gernsback) it is that paper supports ideas that are not supported in reality. His helmet may have been eye-catching, it may have even worked, but it didn’t work. We don’t know to what extent its inventor really expected it … Read more

We have been obsessed with the Mediterranean diet for decades. Turns out the Nordics had a much better solution

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If we go back to 2009, many of us will remember a program known as The Deadliest Warrior (Deadliest Warrior). The premise was to pit two combatants from different eras against each other to see who would win in a duel to the death. Although on the screen we saw the Viking measure his axes against a Samurai, and the Gladiator against an Apache, we never got to see the direct duel between the colossus of the north and the warrior of the Mediterranean. That “fight of the century” was left hanging on television, but in the field of nutrition, the Roman side (the Mediterranean diet) has been the undefeated champion for decades. However, science has decided to simulate that combat in the laboratory in 2025, and this time the Viking’s ax has nipped Mediterranean leadership in the bud. According to the latest studies, the Nordics have a much better solution. A new discovery. Given that we live in the Mediterranean area, it seems impossible to do without olive oil and wheat. But, as nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner explains in National Geographica “cousin to the Mediterranean diet in colder climates” has emerged that is demonstrating surprising results. Originally created in 2004 by a committee of scientists and chefs—under the premise that health is not incompatible with gastronomic pleasure—the “new nordic diet” It does not seek longevity, but rather does so with a focus on local sustainability that the Mediterranean model often ignores outside its borders. The most recent milestone is the study published in Frontiers in Endocrinology. After analyzing a young and middle-aged population, researchers led by Abdelgawwad El-Sehrawy found that those who strictly follow the Baltic Sea dietary pattern have a 42% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. If the strictest adherence index is used, protection rises to a staggering 52%. This finding is crucial because it shows that the benefits act as a preventive shield from youth, and not only in old age. A shield against modern diseases. The robustness of this diet is supported by an “artillery” of previous research that already pointed in this direction. As a 2024 study details published in Scientific Reportsthe Nordic diet is one of the best tools to combat non-alcoholic fatty liver, reducing its risk by 58%. Added to this is that the benefits do not remain in the metabolism. According to a 2022 meta-analysis published in Diabetology analyzed data from more than a million people, confirming that those who follow this lifestyle have a 26% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a 22% lower risk of premature death from any cause, and a 14% lower chance of dying from cancer. As Dr. David L. Katz states“all good diets are made up of real foods, mostly plants; the Nordic diet is a masterful variation on that same theme.” What does it mean to eat like a Nordic? Many will surely have thought that it would be something like “eating aranques every day”, but (happily) it is not like that. The mainstay is canola (rapeseed) oil, rich in omega-3 fatty acids and more affordable than olive oil, along with: Whole grains: Rye, barley and oats (essential due to their low glycemic index). Forest fruits: Blueberries, raspberries and wild berries. Tubers and cruciferous vegetables: Beets, carrots, cauliflower and cabbage. Fatty fish: Salmon, mackerel and herring. Fermented dairy: Like skyr or kefir. Beyond diet. One of the points to highlight about the diet is that, according to research by British Journal of Nutrition, Women who followed the Nordic diet reached old age with significantly greater physical performance, easily passing walking and strength tests. The Nordic diet has an ‘inevitable’ side effect: weight loss. And it does this by hacking the feeling of hunger. The NORDIET study put to the test to subjects with high cholesterol and the result was a drop in weight and blood pressure without the stress of measuring each gram. But the most compelling data came from the NND trial. in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Participants with abdominal obesity lost an average of 4.7 kg by eating on demand, without quantity restrictions. Compared to the few kilos lost by those who followed a normal diet, the Nordic system appears to be much more efficient. A solution for everyone. What the north teaches us is that health is not the exclusive property of one geography. As dietician Joan Salge Blake points out,the success of this diet lies in its ability to add strength. It’s the mix of fiber, healthy oils and antioxidants that really matters, acting as a balm against inflammation. It is there, in that inflammation that fuels the diseases of our century, where the Nordic diet fights and wins its most important battle.” You don’t have to live in Oslo to benefit. The key, according to experts, is to prioritize whole foods, choose fatty fish (even if they are frozen or canned due to their affordability) and replace white bread with whole rye. The Nordics seem to have found the recipe for a long, strong and sustainable life. In 2025, the fight is over: the Viking knows how to take better care of himself. Image | Unsplash Xataka | Although it may not seem like it, chickens and pigs are not the most farm-raised animals. Prawns are

Snow is one of the few things that can delay the Shinkansen in Japan. To combat it there is a solution as simple as it is effective.

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Japanese bullet trains are known for their extreme punctuality. However, when the snow appears, neither the most cutting-edge railway system of the world is saved. And to combat it, the country’s railway institutions developed a solution as simple as it was ingenious: sprinklers installed along the tracks that spray water during snowfall. This is done to prevent snow from accumulating and wreaking havoc on the trains. We explain in detail how these systems work. Why is it important. Snow not only causes the system to stop being as punctual as usual, but it can also cause serious damage to high-speed trains. And at speeds above 200 km/h, the snow on the ground rises due to the air current generated by the train, which can cause it to compact under the cars forming ice balls that, upon impact with the ground, throw gravel into the air. This can end up breaking windows and damaging train components if left untreated. Japan has spent decades perfecting systems to eliminate this problem without sacrificing speed or punctuality. The origin of the problem. When the Shinkansen began regular operations in 1964, according to explains JR Tokai (the operating company of the Tokaido Shinkansen), construction was carried out in a hurry and “there was not enough time to consider” alternative routes that would avoid areas of heavy snowfall. In January 1965, just three months after launch, snowfall in the Sekigahara region caused serious incidentsincluding broken windows and shattered water tanks. The investigation revealed that the real culprit was speed, since the wind generated raised the snow, which ended up turning into ice projectiles under the carriages. The solution: sprinklers. To prevent the snow from rising and forming those dangerous ice balls, it was installed a sprinkler system along the tracks that sprays water during snowfall. There are currently sprinklers deployed in a stretch of more than 70 kilometers, covering the lines most affected by the snow. In 2009, the nozzles were improved so that the water reached areas that were not reached before, melting the snow more effectively. The system does not completely remove snow, but changes its consistency to prevent it from compacting and flying, thus reducing the risk of damage. It is not the only solution. The water system is complemented by other resources. During non-service hours, snow plows work at dawn to remove accumulated snow. Since 2003, rotary snow plows have been used that use rotating brushes capable of cleaning up to five centimeters below the surface of the rails. In addition, since 2013, devices with optical sensors have been used to monitor weather conditions, and there are cameras installed under the carriages to detect snow accumulations. When a snow-covered train arrives at stations like Nagoya or Osaka, there are also specialized teams waiting under the platforms with high-pressure washers to quickly remove stuck-on snow. The results speak. All of this operation has radically transformed the Shinkansen’s defenses when the snow arrives. According to JR Tokaiin 1976 there were 635 train cancellations due to snow, a figure that has been reduced to zero since 1994. The average delay due to snowfall has also improved dramatically, dropping to just a few minutes. Beyond the trains. In the northern regions of Japan, where snowfall can exceed three meters, many roads have sprinklers integrated into the asphalt. The system, known as ‘shosetsu’ (disappearing snow) or ‘yuusetsu’ (melting snow), was developed in 1961 in the city of Nagaoka by Yosaburo Imai, founder of a century-old confectionery. Imai was inspired by observing that snow did not accumulate where thermal water gushed from underground. Since then, underground pipes transport geothermal water (at about 13-14°C) to pavement sprinklers that melt snow during winter storms, avoiding the use of salt or snow blowers. Cover image | KUA YUE In Xataka | The straightest road in Spain is located in a place whose name I don’t want to remember: between El Provencio and La Roda

The artificial intelligence race is pushing the US towards an unexpected energy solution: looking to the military sphere

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The artificial intelligence race is not only being fought in laboratories, chips or data centers, it is increasingly being played in the field of energy. In the United States, the accelerated growth of electrical demand associated with AI has exposed a barely visible fragility: the network is not expanding at the same pace as technological ambitions. This imbalance is forcing us to look beyond conventional solutions and reopen debates that seemed closed, including some that connect directly with the military sphere. What has been put on the table. HGP has submitted an application formal to the United States Department of Energy to redirect two nuclear reactors removed from Navy ships to a civil project linked to data centers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The request was channeled through a letter addressed to the Department’s own Office of Energy Dominance Financing, and is part of the so-called Genesis Mission promoted from the White House. According to the documentation, the installation could provide between 450 and 520 megawatts of continuous electricity, aimed at intensive and stable consumption. The main argument in favor of this idea is time. Faced with the construction of new civil reactors, whether large plants or smaller designs, which tend to move on long schedules, or the start-up of large gas plants, also conditioned by permits and infrastructure, the reuse of existing reactors is proposed as a way to gain speed. The logic is simple: start from equipment that is already manufactured and tested, and convert it into a firm supply for the network. It is, at least on paper, a way to add base power while other solutions mature. Behind the scenes of the proposal. The initiative does not come from a newly created startup or from an unknown actor in the energy sector. HGP Intelligent Energy It is a recently created division, but it is presented as part of a developer with previous experience in the US market, supported, according to the company itself, in energy storage projects, electric mobility and development of network-scale assets. At the helm is Gregory Alvaro Forero, president of the division, which appears on your LinkedIn profile as president of HGP Storage since November 2013. That detail helps frame the approach outside of the improvised company pattern. What technology would be reused and at what price. The reactors cited in the proposal come from the US naval nuclear fleet, where aircraft carriers operate with two reactors and submarines typically operate with one. Models A4W, manufactured by Westinghouse, and S8G, developed by General Electric, are mentioned. Adaptation for civil use would have an estimated cost of between one and four million dollars per megawatt, and the project would also require between 1.8 and 2.1 billion dollars in private capital for associated infrastructure. The proposal includes revenue sharing with the Government, a fund for future decommissioning and the intention to request a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, with a first phase “as soon as 2029”. Just because the idea sounds direct doesn’t mean the path is. Bloomberg notes that Reusing military reactors for civilian use would be unexplored territory, and inevitable questions arise: how is it authorized, who operates, under what standards and with what responsibilities if something fails. Coordination between federal agencies and regulators also comes into play, as well as the logistics of moving and adapting equipment designed for ships, not a grid-connected plant. For now, everything remains at the proposal level. Energy sovereignty as a security argument. HGP tries to support its approach with a framework that goes beyond electricity for data centers. In its materials, the company summarizes the idea with an explicit equation, “Energy Supply Chain Sovereignty = National Defense,” and links supply chain resilience to the country’s ability to secure strategic infrastructure, even noting how geopolitical events or social media posts by managers can affect operations and investments. It is the story with which it seeks political and institutional legitimacy. To reinforce the idea that naval nuclear is not synonymous with improvisation, the context of the World Association of Nuclear Operators enters. According to WANOthe US Navy has accumulated more than 6,200 reactor-years of experience without radiological incidents, with 526 reactor cores, as of 2021. The association attributes that history to the standardization of systems, maintenance and quality of training. It is a relevant fact for the public debate, but it does not close it: a solid record in a military environment does not automatically imply that the jump to civilian use will be immediate or easy. Images | General Dynamics Electric Boat | Igor Omilaev | İsmail Enes Ayhan In Xataka | The race to bring data centers to space promises a lot. Physics says otherwise Images | General Dynamics Electric Boat | Igor Omilaev | İsmail Enes Ayhan In Xataka | The race to bring data centers to space promises a lot. Physics says otherwise

Setting up a smart home is a nightmare. The solution is Huawei is to set it up for them

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The promise of the smart home where everything works automatically without a problem sounded great, but the reality is that it is still a real chaos of incompatibilities and most annoying bugs. Even if we have all the devices from the same brand, there is still the part of assembling them, hiding cables… Huawei has the solution, although it doesn’t exactly come cheap. The complete pack They count in Panda Daily that Huawei has launched an offer of smart-home solutions that come in various packages with different devices and at various prices. The packages are designed to be installed in new construction homes and also for installation in already built homes. With these options, Huawei seeks to offer a comprehensive solution under the umbrella of your HarmonyOS system. In total they offer six packs, three for new construction homes and three for existing homes. The cheapest is the ‘starter pack’ for already built houses and costs 1,200 euros in exchange and includes the control hub and some essential functions such as lighting, air conditioning and curtain control. The most expensive packages are those installed in newly built homes. The most basic costs more than 3,500 euros in exchange and has WiFi 7 connectivity throughout the house, control of lights, curtains, air conditioning, smoke sensor for the kitchen and smart lock. The premium package goes up to almost 12,000 euros and adds features such as AI cameras, ambient lighting strips, and speakers throughout the house. All packs include installation and Huawei is committed to completing it in just 24 hours in the case of existing homes. The announcement is only for China, where Huawei had already launched similar solutions in the past. The chaos of home automation In Spain there are solutions provided by installation companies, but We do not find similar proposals through brands with smart-home devices such as Samsung or Xiaomi. Typically, we are the users who buy the devices and install them at home ourselves. Mounting cameras and lights is quite simple, but if we want deeper automation, for example controlling blinds or blinds, things get complicated and many times we have to go to an installer. Then there is the issue of compatibility. In my house I have two cameras, several lights, a robot vacuum cleaner and an automatic cat feeder. It’s not much, the problem is that each thing works with a different app and, although I can bring everything together in Google Home, the reality is that there are devices that it does not recognize, others that are deconfigured if the WiFi goes down and in general it is quite cumbersome. The standards like matter They promised to unify this chaos, but to this day it still hasn’t taken off. This same year they analyzed the topic in XDA Developerswhere they criticized that there are still many devices that do not support it and those that do sometimes lose functions compared to native integrations, as happens with Philips Hue. Returning to Huawei’s proposal, I don’t think the solution should be to buy a package worth several thousand euros and tie ourselves to a brand forever. However, the fact that it sounds like a much more convenient option than its alternatives It says a lot about the state of the connected home landscape. Image | Huawei In Xataka | Home automation and leaving for a month: Ana Boria has put all her efforts to the test just before the expected trip

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