Spain

Spain promised them happiness with its airports increasingly full of tourists. Until someone calculated how it affects rents

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Of the 96.8 million of foreign tourists that Spain received last year, 80.5 million, something more than 83%they arrived through airports. The plane is not only the main entry route for foreign visitors (well above, for example, the road or ports), it also shows a clear growth trend and has led several terminals to arise its expansion to gain capacity and (simply) do not collapse due to the tourist boom. Against this backdrop, someone has asked themselves a question:What impact does it have? that avalanche of ‘air’ visitors in the Spanish real estate market? Tourists and real estate agencies? That tourism influences the residential market, encouraging the flight from housing to vacation rentals and raising prices is not no news. There are studies that have already thoroughly calibrated the phenomenon. What is curious is what the New Economics Foundation (NEF) has done in a report commissioned by Transport & Environment (T&E), an organization to which it belongs Ecologists in Action: Its technicians have examined how the increase in ‘air tourism’ is influencing housing rentals and, above all, whether we can expect a price increase in the short term. And what have they found out? That there is a direct connection. One, by the way, not at all favorable for the tenants. After analyzing “the effects of air tourism” on the real estate markets of the 12 main economies in Europe and calculating the evolution of prices in the medium term, for the period 2019-2031, NEF technicians have reached a worrying conclusion: the increase in visitors arriving in Europe through airports will affect the pockets of tenants. “We show a transfer of wealth whereby landlords benefit at the expense of tenants, as annual rents in some of Europe’s largest tourist economies are projected to rise by more than €150 a year over the next five years,” points out NEFand warns: “These increases, which represent national average increases, will be concentrated in the main tourist destinations and will mainly affect low-income households.” Can it go further? Yes. That is the general photo. The report commissioned by T&E provides other data that is just as or even more curious. For example, if we focus on the largest European economies dependent on tourism, the impact between now and 2031 will be greater: in Greece the annual increase in rental prices will amount to €163, in Portugal to €193, in Spain to €217 and in Ireland (the worst stop) to €251. In the specific case of Spain, NEF estimates that we will face an “extra increase of 1.6%” annually over the next five years, between 2026 and 2031. If we talk about rents, the average increase is 217 euros. In the case of the average price of housing, the study speaks of 3,500 euros. “Taken together, this would mean an aggregate annual increase in the rental burden of 648 million euros for landlords located in Spain. In the same period, the increase in tourist arrivals by air is projected at 11.8%,” explains. There is another key: these figures show national averages, so the phenomenon may worsen in the most touristy regions. More climbs on the islands? The T&E figures give food for thought. After recalling that there are certain parts of Europe where “local reactions” against tourism are taking place, such as the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Crete and Madeira, T&E points out that these areas are also the most exposed to the arrival of air travelers. There, in the tourist centers, the report warns“tourism can reduce the supply of residential housing by shifting it towards tourist rentals, directing new promotions to visitors or non-resident buyers and making it difficult for local households to move or access a first home.” “We cannot separate the protests against tourism that occur in the streets from the increase in flights above our heads. Trying to manage tourist overcrowding while expanding the airports of Dublin, Barcelona or Lisbon is a losing battle,” claims Bosco Serrano, from T&E Spain. For reference, in the Balearic Islands there are 9.2 arrivals of foreign tourists per resident, the eighth highest value of the European regions. In the Canary Islands they are 4.9 and in Catalonia 2.0. The average for the EU as a whole is just 0.9. What are the causes? For T&E the key is in the “uncontrolled growth of tourism”, driven by the increase in supply, investment in new infrastructure and (in general) the rebound in airport traffic. It’s no surprise. In 2025 Aena registered a record data of passengers. It is important to take into account in any case that the flow of visitors that move the airports may “exacerbate” the crisis of rent (something to be expected if we take into account that many tourists from northern Europe with greater purchasing power fly to Spain), but the reality is that there are other factors that influence the evolution of housing prices. And not all of them depend on tourism. What else comes into play? The imbalance between supply and demand, the fact that new housing is built at much less speed from which new homes are created, the increase in price of materials, the concentration of demand in certain points or the attractiveness that apartments have gained as an investment asset also explain the increase in rents. None of these factors depend on tourism. In fact, there are those who already appreciate signs of a “prick” in vacation rentals, with a loss of interest on the part of investors. Does it only affect housing? No. The report analyzes the impact of tourism in other areas, such as labor or business investment. Regarding the first point, T&E warns that the arrival of more visitors on board airplanes does not always lead to better salaries for workers in the sector. “Tourism employment does not necessarily equate to an improvement in well-being. In 2023, hospitality represented 10% of all hours worked in Spain, but only 5% of the national gross added value,” warns the organization. That tourist rentals rise can … Read more

The Government says Palantir is a risk to national security. NATO, of which Spain is a member, has put it in charge of its own

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Moncloa has begun to ask public companies not to sign new contracts with Palantir, according to Agustín Marco has advanced in The Confidential. The order is not official nor is it in writing, but an agreement has already been reached with the Civil Guard and another with Navantia. The panoramic. Spain joins France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in distrust towards the company of Peter Thiel and Alex Karp. The unofficial argument is the usual one: not to risk sensitive information in the hands of an American company with close ties to the Trump White House. The veto affects Telefónica, Indra, Correos and Navantia, all of them under the umbrella of SEPI. There is no statement, no press conference, no official note. They are indications transferred internally to boards of directors. In detail. The contract that really matters still stands. Defense signed with Palantir in 2023 a 16.5 million euro agreement for the Armed Forces Intelligence Center, and that contract expires in November of this year. According to The Confidentialthe chiefs of the General Staff have pressured Margarita Robles to renew it because there is no comparable alternative. Either Palantir or nobody. The decision remains unmade. The contrast. While Moncloa slides the veto inside, NATO announced this week that Palantir’s Maven Smart System becomes its operating system for military data management. Spain is a partner of the Alliance and has had to approve this decision, like all allies. So he voted yes in Brussels but has chosen the opposite direction behind closed doors. Why is it important. The veto does not touch the only thing that really counts: the Defense contract. Everything else (the Civil Guard and Navantia) were negotiations in progress, but not consolidated relationships. Cutting them costs little. Touching the CIFAS contract (Intelligence Center of the Armed Forces), on the other hand, would require replacing a tool that, according to sources in the military sector itself, has no rival in the market. Again: either Palantir or nobody. Yes, but. The gesture has a clear recipient: the US government. Pedro Sánchez has not received the US ambassador in Madrid, Benjamín León Jr., for months and Its Executive has invested 115 million euros in Openchip and another 5,000 million in a chip gigafactory as a commitment to European technological sovereignty. The Palantir veto fits that narrative. What doesn’t fit so well is that this same story coexists with a Defense contract that no one dares to cancel. And now what. The end of the current contract in November will test whether this was signaling or conviction: If the CIFAS contract is renewed without making much noise, the veto will have been a diplomatic gesture. If it is dropped without an equivalent replacement, Spain will be left without the tool its own military considers irreplaceable. The middle way, replacing it with European or national technology, does not yet exist. In Xataka | AI is crucial for the US military. So he’s naming OpenAI and Palantir leaders as lieutenant generals Featured image | Palantir, Wikimedia Commons

The business ‘Dream Team’ repeats as the best company and the highest valued manager in Spain

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If we think about which Spanish company is the best ratedit is very likely that Inditex, Mercadona, Banco Santander or Repsol are among the most repeated. The same thing happens when we talk about entrepreneurs who have founded them or managers who direct them. Names like Amancio Ortega, Juan Roig or Ana Botín are the first that come to mind. For the last 25 years, the corporate reputation business monitor Merco make a ranking with the best valued companies and managers in the country. In its 26th edition of Merco Empresas, the duo Inditex and Juan Roig have remained immovable on the podium as a company and manager best rated from Spain. Inditex, again at the top One more year, Inditex tops the list of the 200 companies with the best reputation in Spain. They are closely followed by Mercadona and Grupo Social Once, which complete a podium that barely changes from one year to the next. The Merco Empresas study is prepared based on 65,000 surveys, seven evaluations and 29 different sources, as detailed by the Merco Empresas study. Merco report. In fact, the top 5 of 2026 has not moved one place compared to the 2025 edition. But from sixth place onwards changes do appear. Caixabank rises two positions compared to the 2025 ranking and enters the top 6. The insurer Mapfre also improves its rating, going from tenth to eighth place, achieving 7,111 points from the experts. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, loses four positions and falls to tenth place. Repsol, Iberdrola, Caixabank, BBVA and Santander complete the top 10 best valued Spanish companies. Juan Roig, eight years unbeatable Something very similar happens in the leader ranking. Juan Roig, president of Mercadona, repeats as the highest-rated executive in Spain for the eighth year in a row, as confirmed by himself leader ranking. Ana Botín, executive president of Banco Santander, follows closely behind. Closing the top 3 is Amancio Ortega, followed by Marta Ortega, founder and non-executive president of the Inditex group respectively. This block already has several editions without changing ordersomething unusual in a ranking that measures public perception and not just the figures on a balance sheet of financial results. From fifth place onwards there are new developments. Josu Jon Imaz (Repsol) rises to sixth place and Pablo Isla (Nestlé) enters seventh. Isidre Fainé and Gonzalo Gortázar (CaixaBank) also climb positions compared to the previous year. Antonio Huertas (Mapfre) slips into tenth place after climbing five steps. Florentino Pérez (ACS Group) and María Dolores Dancausa (Bankinter), on the other hand, leave the top 10 this year. From the analysis of this reputation list, two clear conclusions can be drawn. The first is that both Mercadona and Inditex, as well as their directors and founders, are two examples of business success not so much for its good growth figuresbut for having achieved connect with your customerswhich are those that are taken into account in this type of listings. On the other hand, it is striking how the personality or image that a manager projects can even be above the perception levels of the company he or she directs. That is to say, the public recognizes the work of a manager like Ana Botón, placing her in second position but, on the other hand, Banco Santander has not achieved the same connection with users than its president, maintaining ninth position in the company ranking. Amancio Ortega, the boss who no longer commands but continues to weigh Amancio Ortega left the executive presidency of Inditex in 2011 and does not even have a management position in its investment arm Pontegadea. Since then he has lived away from the spotlight in La Coruña. But its shadow is still very long. Ortega continues to be the largest shareholder of the group, with more than 59% of the capital through Pontegadea, and will collect this year a record dividend of more than 3,234 million euros. Furthermore, he remains the only Spaniard among the ten richest in the world, according to the Forbes list of 2026. Ortega no longer signs decisions on a day-to-day basis at Inditex, however, even after his retirement, his name continues to occupy a prominent place in the ranking of managers best valued by the public. In Xataka | Mercadona is doing the opposite of other large companies: freezing Roig’s salary to reinvest it Image | GTRES, Mercadona

The 48 “black flag” beaches that Spain has this summer, on a map

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Summer has its own rituals. And one of those more usually like to the town councils of the coastal areas is to boast of their ‘Blue Flags’the distinctive features that have identified the most comfortable sandy beaches and marinas for decades. In Spain, however, there is another much less comfortable recognition: the ‘Black Flags’banners of Ecologists in Action that point out the opposite. They basically serve to locate on the map the beaches most affected by pollution or poor environmental management. And we already know those of 2026. What has happened? That Ecologistas en Acción has just starred in one of the most uncomfortable moments of the year for coastal cities: the presentation from his ‘Black Flags’ report. Said like this, it may not seem like a big deal, but what the organization does is publicly point out the 48 beaches in the country (both in mainland Spain and the archipelagos, Ceuta and Melilla) that have received the worst results from their quality examination. It is interesting because its authors are dedicated to evaluating two aspects: pollution and the efficiency of environmental management. Are there many beaches? In Spain there are more than 3,500 beaches registered and the Ecologistas en Acción report includes only 48 black flags. It is a low figure. Especially if we take into account that there are 677 with blue badge. That does not mean that the vast majority of sandbanks are in optimal conditions. That there are only 48 ‘failures’ is explained by the NGO’s way of working: although its technicians analyze more than 8,000 km of coast, they limit themselves to giving two flags per province. One for dirt. The other due to mismanagement. “The report, as in previous years, includes the most serious environmental conditions on the Spanish coast, but not all. Unfortunately there could be many more flags that we award year after year,” explains the environmental organization. Their report is interesting for another reason: it is not a new study or a study that just came out of nowhere. It has been taking place since 2005 and its authors have included a “restoration proposal” for each specific case, a kind of diagnosis with which the NGO aspires to contribute to the recovery of the Spanish coast. Why are the beaches suspended? Each of the 48 black flags points to a specific problem, but in general the NGO groups them into eight categories. The most common (responsible for 14 distinctions) are “discharges, deficiencies in sanitation systems and serious purification problems.” Next in frequency are “affects to biodiversity”, causing another nine black flags, and urban developments and works that invade the maritime-terrestrial public domain, which has also caused eight black flags. In seven other cases the problem has been “chemical contamination.” The list is completed by beaches where there is “environmental degradation” caused by tourism and overcrowding, others where the NGO has registered “unnecessary or poorly managed works” and the accumulation of garbage, waste and microplastics. In a specific case, on the Santander coastal paththe flag was assigned for “damage to historical and cultural heritage.” Do we know anything else? Yes. In your report The NGO includes a slap on the wrist to the administrations of the coastal regions, to which it warns: “A good part of the coasts have been and continue to be subject to a continuous process of degradation.” “The regression of beaches, destruction of wetlands and dune systems, marine pollution, loss of biodiversity and increased vulnerability to storms and floods are some of the most visible consequences of a model that puts the coastline at the service of economic interests,” ditch. Images | Ecologists in Action In Xataka | Spain now has more pets than children. So more and more cities open their beaches to dogs in summer

Air conditioners have been wanting to reach the north of Spain for decades without much success. Until the thermometer passed 40ºC

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Here a server is writing these lines from Vigo, with the thermometer reading 28ºC (a temperature that in a few days will fire at 35ºC) and without air conditioning or ceiling fans. My only weapons against the haze are a small table fan that is almost (almost) the same decades old as me and the assurance that, no matter how hot the heat was, the temperatures in Galicia would always be tolerable. The first (the antediluvian fan) may not have done much, but the second did. Or so it was until now. In view of the heat waves that are coming at home, we are already thinking about installing a system that allows us to cool off with dignity. And we are not the only ones. On the contrary. We are one of the many homes from the northern peninsula that already look at brochures of air conditioners and fans. Ready for the heat? In the south of Spain it’s hotter than in the north. That was true before, it remains true now, and probably not much will change in the future. As I write this I enjoy a peaceful 28ºC in Vigo, eight degrees less than what the mercury shows in Córdoba. The problem is that there they are probably much better prepared to weather the heatwave than in this northern part of the country. I’m not saying it. The INE says it. From 64% to 0.4%. Although she is almost 20 years old, the Household and Environment Survey from the INE clearly shows that acclimatization facilities are much more frequent in the Mediterranean or Levant than in northern Spain. While in 2008 54% of homes in the Valencian Community had air conditioning, a percentage that rose to 57% in Andalusia, and 64% in Murcia, in Galicia, the Basque Country, Asturias and Cantabria the indicator did not reach 2% in any case. In the Principality it actually marked 0.4%. The INE data is old, but the SER chain recently disclosed a more recent survey confirms that the air conditioning map is still clearly divided between north and south. According to that study, only 17% of northern homes are acclimatized to the heat, far from 86% of the Mediterranean coast. Another Idealista report shows a gap even bigger. Changing the mentality. If they repeated that survey in a few years, it is likely that the ‘photo’ would be somewhat different. The heat wave that has shaken Galicia, Cantabria, the Basque Country either Asturiasleaving in some cases record temperatures that exceeded 40ºC, with hospitalizations due to fainting and deceasedhas led many families to look for new ways to cool their homes. Take a quick look at the regional press to check it out. Skyrocketing sales. In May The Montañés Diary counted how the demand for fans had skyrocketed by more than 80% in some businesses in Cantabria. Installers and stores of air conditioners and portable appliances also noticed the boom. I had something similar recently The Voice of Asturiaswho has spoken with companies in the sector that have noticed a 25% increase in requests for information. The Basque Journal confirm also an increase in the sale of ceiling fans, just like The Region in Ourense. From shops to homes. The most interesting thing is that the demand for devices does not come only from businesses. Andonio Suárez, from a company in the industry, recently recognized to ‘Hoy por Hoy Cantabria’ who in their business “do not stop” touring the community to install air conditioners. Not only that. Their technicians have gone from working basically in commercial premises installations to doing so in private homes, homes of people tired of being in the heat. “It is practically 50% between homes and businesses,” resume. “Before we managed”. Patricia lives in the province of Pontevedra and is one of the people (more and more) who has begun to think about ways to cool her home, beyond the use of floor, ceiling or table fans. “We had always managed, but now we are studying switching to a portable air conditioner or air conditioner because the fans fall short,” he confesses. In mind, you have devices that do not require the installation of exterior elements, such as evaporative air conditioners or tubeless air conditioners. “We save trouble and can take them from one home to another.” Poorly prepared floors. “The summers are longer and hotter, and the heat waves are more frequent. This year we already had a month of May with a week of tropical nights in which it was difficult to sleep, another in June, and summer had not yet started. A month of July is approaching in which it does not seem that we are going to go below 30ºC on most days,” explains Patricia before remembering that many of the apartments built between the 70s and 90s in Galicia “are not prepared nor do they have good insulation.” for the heat. “It has turned against us”. His experience is similar to that of Manuel, another Galician who recognizes that his house is designed to conserve heat, something ideal in winter, but not so much for the months from June to September. “The increasingly hot summers have turned against us.” Hence, she has opted for two portable air conditioners that she places in the living room and in her daughter’s bedroom, the room that accumulates the most heat. “I had been thinking about it for a while. Years ago it was not something that compensated, since it was not really necessary; but in the last five or six years the heat has been much more intense, even reaching days of 30-35ºC continuously.” More than just heat. Both Patricia and Manuel have opted for portable devices, which, among other things, they admit, has made installation easier for them. For systems that require an outdoor unit, it is necessary something more than you want to cool off: it is important to take into account both the municipal ordinances that regulate noise, urban aesthetics and … Read more

“In Spain we are not immune to the effects of climate change, we need to intensify conservation”

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Europe has lived an inconceivable heat wave until very recently beyond the Pyrenees and the consequences have been dire. France attributes heat as the main cause of more than 1,000 deaths and in the windows they have come to see thermal blankets to reflect the sun’s rays and reduce the temperature in homes that lack air conditioning. The consequences today have been devastating in much of Europe. Melting roads and trams that drag the materials that stick their tracks to the ground. Firefighters who water the bridges so that the steel does not fracture. Trains canceled because the temperature was too high inside. The situation has been so dramatic that more than half of Europe is already looking south. Portugal, Spain and Italy are now the benchmarks when it comes to building new infrastructures, aware north of our borders that these episodes of extreme heat will be more and more recurrent. But Spain doesn’t have it that easy either. Although we have obvious experience in dealing with extreme heat when building our infrastructure, our country also has to remain alert to other episodes of climate change. Although in recent days the discourse has become popular on social networks that Spain has many lessons to teach northern Europe, the truth is that we have our own problems. “We share the same resilience challenges as the rest of Europe,” he warns us. Cesar Francopresident of General Council of Industrial Engineers and director of master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the UAX. Our own challenges While the videos accumulated, the morality lessons piled up on social networks in southern Europe. If you have entered spaces like Or that their infrastructures do not have expansion joints. “It is an inaccurate statement. Joints exist and are essential in bridges, viaducts and concrete structures throughout Europe”, assures César Franco who points out that, in addition, “the use of Via Seamless (continuous welded rail) is an international standard” and is also used in Spain. “The difference is in the calculations. In central and northern Europe, resistance to extreme cold, frost, freeze-thaw cycles and the use of melting salts have historically been prioritized. Now facing prolonged heat waves with records typical of Mediterranean latitudes, the materials and neutralization temperatures of their pathways are subjected to compression stresses outside their historical design ranges,” explains the president of the Council of Industrial Engineers. The question, therefore, is not not knowing how to build an infrastructure, the question is what climatological effects they face. “Today, climate design is no longer limited to the asphalt-steel binomial. The real challenge is the concurrent risk. In addition to the heat, Spain must face episodes of torrential rain, DANA, storms, floods and associated geotechnical phenomena. This forces engineering to focus on general geotechnical stability: the behavior of the slopes, the capacity of drainage works to avoid scours on bridges, and the monitoring of clearings to prevent landslides that interrupt circulation,” explains Franco about our country. That is, while Europe now has problems with extreme summer heat, Spain must be careful with cycles of strong and recurring rainssomething for which, as we found just a few months ago, we are not prepared. “We have very robust regulatory and technical know-how in high temperature scenarios, but we share the same resilience challenges as the rest of Europe,” the General Council of Industrial Engineers emphasize. And the temperature can dilate the tracks of a train until causing the so-called “lateral buckling”. It is not, they explain to us, a structural failure, it is really “a collapse due to elastic instability of the entire system (track-fastening-sleeper-ballast).” The asphalt binder can also lose this stability, which “if it exceeds its softening temperature, it loses viscosity. The mixture loses rigidity and resistance to deformation, and under heavy traffic ruts, undulations or exudations (sticky surfaces) may appear,” explains César Franco. We do not have these problems in Spain because we are adapted to them, but the General Council of Industrial Engineers warns: “We have very robust regulatory and technical know-how in high temperature scenarios, but we share the same resilience challenges as the rest of Europe. Our network faces challenges linked to the aging of assets and the need to intensify preventive conservation. Spain’s advantage is the experience in the behavior of materials under heat; the common European challenge is the financing and speed of adaptation of existing networks to the new climatic normality”. And Spain and Europe face the same problem. Both have to find ways to make their infrastructure suitable during extreme weather events for which they were not designed. The European Union, César Franco reminds us, “requires that the main networks be fully operational and resilient against natural risks with horizons to 2030, 2040 and 2050” but the problem is that, everything indicates, we are not moving fast enough. Photo | Julian Hochgesang and General Council of Industrial Engineers In Xataka | AEMET asks that we prepare because “starting on Friday” a rise is expected that will put Spain “eight degrees above normal”

Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean

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Spain and Portugal are dancing to a different rhythm than the rest of Europe. They are moving clockwise and the consequence is clear: a long-term closure of the Mediterranean that connects the Iberian Peninsula directly to North Africa. The convergence between continents is slow, a few millimeters a year (so we will continue needing the tunnel between Spain and Morocco), but one thing is clear: another Pangea is on the way. And the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco will be a unit. In short. Continental plates move. Some separate, others collide, and that continental drift has caused the emergence the Pangea Ultima theory. In 250 million years, there will only be one continent. There is a long way to go for that, but now, researchers from the University of the Basque Country, in collaboration with the universities of Palermo and Granada, have analyzed geodetic data that allows them to affirm that the Iberian Peninsula is rotating clockwise. This east-west rotation is driven by the convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, and the conclusion is clear: both are moving between four and six millimeters closer each year. This information is not new, but the researchers’ discovery is to specify the processes that take place at the diffuse boundary of the two western Mediterranean plates. Thanks, Gibraltar. Although the boundaries of other plates are well defined, this does not occur in the Western Mediterranean. There, the processes are much grayer, and there is something called “Gibraltar Arch” which plays an interesting role in this tectonic dynamic. To the east of the strait, the crust absorbs the deformation caused by the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. This ‘Gibraltar Arc’ acts as a buffer, but it has a consequence: in the west of the strait there is a direct collision between the plates, while in the east it is absorbed by the Gibraltar Arc. This lack of buffering from the southwest is what causes the clockwise rotation. Rotational strain rate field. Positive values ​​correspond to clockwise rotation, while negative values ​​refer to counterclockwise rotation. Active and potentially active faults are marked with solid and dashed gray lines, respectively. Double analysis. The researchers combined two types of accuracy analyzes to obtain these results. On the one hand, those of satellite deformation through GNSS system (Global Navigation Satellite System). Analyzing the data, they measured surface displacements with millimeter precision, relying on both permanent and occasional GPS markers. On the other hand, they also analyzed information from recent earthquakes that allowed them to determine the tectonic “stresses” in the area. They are independent data sets, but by crossing them they were able to draw a series of ‘lines’ that have allowed them to better specify the boundary between the plates. So that? Well, to better understand which sectors are in direct collision between plates and which are still more protected by the Gibraltar Arc. And the neighbors? The problem is that, although they claim that it is a rapid tectonic movement, this is true in geological terms. For us it is invaluable, but it also comes into play that we only have satellite data since 1999 and detailed seismic data since the 1980s. Even so, if with such a short range of data we have reached that conclusion in the annual approach, it is because the phenomenon is not in a hurry, but it does not pause either. And the most interesting thing is that this only affects the Iberian Peninsula. It is not that we are going to separate from France, since we ‘drag’ the rest of the continent thanks to the effect of the Gibraltar Arc, but we are not turning in the same direction as other neighbors. Italy, for example, experiences a counterclockwise rotation that exerts pressure in the alpine zoneand in the anatolian plate (where most of Türkiye is), there is also this counterclockwise rotation. Hello, Morocco. While in Turkey the consequence may be more earthquakes or mountain formations, this current speed of between 4 and 6 millimeters will cause, at some point, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to unite. This continental collision would close the Mediterraneanbut there is a lot left for it. How much? About 100 million years. They estimate that for 20 million years we will continue at the same speed, but within about 50 million years, things will gain momentum, accelerating the process and turning the region into one of the most active volcanic and seismic areas on the planet. It’s… foolish to worry. present utility. Now, beyond curiosity, the most immediate implication that the researchers point out is a better identification of active faults or areas in which previously unidentified tectonic structures could exist. Asier Madarieta-Txurruka, one of those responsible for the investigation, explains This information indicates where to look for these structures and boundaries to determine what type of folds and faults there may be. Thus, we can anticipate the type of earthquake that there will be and its magnitude in areas such as the Western Pyrenees or the region of Cádiz and Seville in which we know that there are numerous places with significant deformationbut we do not have well identified the active tectonic structures that cause them. And, although there is still a long way to go before the Alps and a new mountain range are founded across the peninsula and all of North Africa to Arabia, knowing better what we have right under our feet is much more useful. In Xataka | We knew that Africa was going to split in half. What we didn’t know was that it would happen so quickly.

Using umbrellas against the sun is the latest fashion in Spain. Science is clear to what extent it really protects us

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It is increasingly common to see how people walk down the street with an umbrella in their hands to protect themselves from the sun. This habit was something that was very internalized among the Asian tourists that we saw in our cities, but with the thermometers breaking records and the sun beating down on the streets, the umbrella is increasingly popular to prevent the sun’s rays from hitting our skin. The underlying idea. As we say, it may be quite logical to cover ourselves from the sun with an umbrella to prevent ultraviolet radiation from freely affecting our skin, something that can cause serious skin problems. But the real question we should ask ourselves here is: does using an umbrella to protect ourselves from the sun really work? It has been investigated. This is something that has already been measured by specialist dermatologists through from a study published in 2013 in JAMA Dermatology. And the results were quite good, since after analyzing dozens of standard hand umbrellas, it was found that they were capable of blocking between 77% and 99% of ultraviolet radiation. But the problem is that not all umbrellas are the same, since the study revealed that black or very dark umbrellas They are the most effective, consistently blocking more than 90% of ultraviolet rays. This is critical, especially for marketers who are already assigning numerical protection factors to umbrellas. as if they were creams. The invisible enemy. The problem of starting to use an umbrella on our streets to protect ourselves can generate a general doubt: can we go outside without sunscreen? Here the resounding answer from dermatologists is no. The key point that the scientific evidence emphasizes is that shade is a partial protective measure. And the sun not only burns us by projecting its rays directly onto our heads from the sky, but there is also what is known as diffuse and reflected ultraviolet radiation. A common effect. To explain this, we must understand that UV rays bounce off the surfaces around us, such as asphalt, sidewalks, pool water, beach sand, or glass in buildings. All that bounced radiation enters through the sides and under the umbrella, directly impacting our exposed skin. This is the same principle that we apply when we go to the beach, where many people, despite being constantly under an umbrella, come home and have several burns on their skin. This is where we clearly see that ultraviolet radiation also attacks despite being under an umbrella. It’s proven. Here a study published in 2017 tested the beach umbrella against a high SPF sunscreen, and the results showed that the group that relied solely on the shade of the umbrella suffered from sunburn. That is why it is always recommended to apply sunscreen before exposing yourself to ultraviolet radiation in order to avoid burns and the rest of the unwanted effects that the sun has on the skin. In Xataka | Science warns of the dangerous success of anti-suncream hoaxes on TikTok: “Despite being a minority, this content is influential”

Spain is burning and its nuclear power plants notice it. This is your strategy to endure

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Spain is sweating again. extreme temperatures At the end of June, alarm bells have gone off in a good part of the country, and the Spanish nuclear park, responsible for about 20% of electricity what we consume, is not alien to this phenomenon. However, it is worth clarifying something from the beginning: whether a plant reduces its power or stops during a heat wave has nothing to do with a security failure. The seven nuclear reactors in operation in Spain (Almaraz I and II, Ascó I and II, Cofrentes, Trillo and Vandellós II) have been dealing with demanding summers for several decades, and their cooling systems were designed precisely with scenarios like this in mind. The Nuclear Safety Council publishes in real time the operational status of each plant, so anyone can check how they are responding. The key is in the external cooling circuitresponsible for evacuating the heat dissipated by the electricity generation process into the environment. In pressurized water plants, such as Almaraz, Ascó and Vandellós II, this circuit is the third in the installation, independent of the primary (which surrounds the core) and the secondary (which moves the turbine). Cofrentes, the only Spanish plant with a boiling water reactor, has a different architecture, a direct cycle, but it also depends on that same external circuit to cool the condenser. And this is where each plant plays its own cards depending on its geographical location. Three ways to beat the heat Ascó I and II, Cofrentes and Trillo are fed by river water, but they do not return it directly to the riverbed after using it. First, it passes by the cooling towers, those structures more than 160 meters high that we have described so many times when explaining the internal workings of a nuclear power plantand that dissipate heat into the air by convection and evaporation before any pouring. This drastically reduces the amount of water they need to extract from the river, up to twenty or thirty times less than if they did not have that tower. The sea has a thermal stability much greater than that of a river Almaraz represents a particular case because it does not depend on the flow of a natural river. It uses the artificial Arrocampo reservoir, conceived as a closed system that acts as a large heat exchanger. This independence of the river regime allows it continue operating normally even when temperatures soar, something especially relevant in a plant that will be the first to shut down: Almaraz I will close in November 2027 according to the current government calendar. Vandellós II draws on another resource: the water of the Mediterranean. The sea has a thermal stability much greater than that of a river, so it absorbs heat without its temperature rising appreciably. And, what’s more, it varies much less during heat waves. It is the same thermodynamic logic that explains why so many power plants in the world, from those that are cooled with seawater to those that use closed circuits like the one in Almaraz, prioritize the thermal stability of the cold source over any other consideration. When safety forces you to stop What can happen, and in fact happens quite frequently during the strictest summers, is that a nuclear power plant reduces its power or stops temporarily. The reason is not to protect the reactor, but the aquatic ecosystem. And the regulations limit the temperature at which water can be returned to a river or the sea, and if these limits are close to being exceeded, the facility prefers to slow down rather than breach them. It is an environmental decision, not a safety emergency. Meanwhile, the clock of the Spanish nuclear blackout continues to tick in parallel to these episodes of extreme heat. The current calendar starts in 2027 with Almaraz I, followed by Almaraz II in 2028. In 2030 it will be the turn of Ascó I and Cofrentes; Ascó II will close in 2032; and The process will be closed in 2035 with Vandellós II and Trillo, the last two plants to go out. Until then, each summer will be another test of resistance for a park that continues to provide a fifth of the national electricity. Image | Nuclear Forum More information | Nuclear Forum In Xataka | SMR reactors are going to make the never seen a reality: the first floating nuclear power plants

This is the new Devolo mesh system, now available in Spain

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He Wi-Fi 7 little by little it is reaching our homes and more and more operators are offering WiFi 7 routers to their customers. But what if you want to maximize this network in your home? Then, the new mesh system from Devolo, a European brand, may come as a hit to you. This one, called Devolo WiFi 7 Mesh BE6500can now be purchased in Spain: part from the 149.90 euros and we are going to tell you everything you need to know about him. devolo WiFi 7 Mesh BE6500 Extension The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A European solution to boost your WiFi 7 network Let’s go in parts. This Devolo mesh system can be purchased in three ways. The price we indicate above corresponds to a single unit, ideal if you simply want to extend the network in a small home. If you need more coverage, then you can buy the package with two units (for 279.90 euros) and the three-pack (for 399.90 euros). This mesh system offers triple band (2.4, 5 and 6 GHz), one of the keys to this new standard. The 6 GHz band is currently more uncongested and offers much faster connection speeds, although this system allows compatible devices connect to two bands simultaneously (what is known as MLO or Multi-Link Operation). This allows for a faster and more stable connection. Additionally, each unit has three gigabit ports and one 2.5 Gbps WAN/LAN port, ideal if you want to place one near a computer and want to connect it directly with a cable. The only thing we must keep in mind is that, in order to use WiFi 7, we need to have devices that are compatible. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: WiFi 7 Mesh BE6500 ✅ THE BEST It has a 6 Ghz band and MLO: By having triple band and allowing devices to connect to two of them at the same time, we can expect a very stable and fast connection. You can buy the ones you need: Depending on your home, you can buy the units you need to set up your mesh network. You can also buy one and, in the future, add more. ❌ THE WORST Only for supported devices: To use WiFi 7, your device must be compatible, otherwise you will not be able to take advantage of its benefits. 💡 BUY IT IF… You want a mesh solution to bring your WiFi 7 to your entire home, especially if it is large, has several floors, or has many walls. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You live in a small home and your WiFi 7 router offers almost total coverage throughout it. You may also be interested TP-Link Deco BE3600 (2-Pack) – Dual Band Wi-Fi 7 Mesh up to 3.6 GB/s, Combined wireless and wired backhaul, MLO, 2 Gigabit Ports per Unit, HomeShield Security The price could vary. We earn commission from these links ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 2-Pack – Tri-band WiFi 7 Mesh, 14 Gbps, Two 2.5G Ports, Security and Parental Control included, Smart Home Master SSIDs, 4G & 5G Mobile Tethering, White The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Devolo In Xataka | WiFi 7 routers are very good, but you will not take advantage of them if you do not have a compatible mobile phone: these are the ones that support it in 2026 In Xataka | WiFi 7 really shows: five things that are much better than using WiFi 6

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