summer

It is increasingly common to find jellyfish on Mediterranean beaches before summer. And it’s a bad sign

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Last weekend and the one before that I tried to swim at the beach. However, upon seeing a few jellyfish I ended up deciding to spend time reading in the sand. The worst of the afternoon was not that. I found more annoying a few teenagers playing soccer a few meters from my towel. Jellyfish, after all, are in their habitat. But it is true that I had never seen in my entire life jellyfish in the month of May. I did some research and discovered that in recent years their arrival in the Mediterranean at this point in spring has become more and more frequent. They are even starting to appear in other waters in which they are not normally so abundant. Logically, the first thought that came to mind was that is related to global warming. The temperature of the Mediterranean has risen at a dizzying rate in recent years. However, I had the feeling that there must be something more. After all, the water has been warming for many years, but this boom in jellyfish populations (known as bloom, by the way) seems more recent to me. To answer my questions, I have contacted Jose Carlos Báez, Chief Program Researcher at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, CSIC. As I feared, warming water plays a role, but there are even more factors that affect this uncontrolled proliferation that is becoming more and more noticeable. Three phases to give rise to adult jellyfish Although there are small variations between some species and others, in general the reproductive cycle of jellyfish consists of three phases. On the one hand there are the larvae, which float in the water until they find a place to cling to on the seabed. When they achieve this, they move on to the polyp phase, which can last up to a year. When conditions are favorable, the polyp fragments, releasing the ephyras, which are small immature jellyfish that, over time, become the adult jellyfish. The transition from polyp to jellyfish It is known as strobilation and depends on factors such as the temperature of the water, the oxygen dissolved in it or the availability of food. Jellyfish are only released into the water if they are going to be able to live in it. The surface temperature of the water is a determining factor. In fact, it has been observed that with an increase of 1.7°C The rate of asexual reproduction in the polyps of some species is accelerated by 20%. Therefore, strobilation normally occurs at the beginning of summer. It may vary between species. In some it occurs at the end of spring, but it is more common for it to take place from June onwards. According to José Carlos Báez, this is causing “a dilation of the reproductive period“, so we are seeing more generations of jellyfish in a single season. They arrive earlier and leave later. Not everything is going to be global warming The massive proliferations that we are seeing with increasing frequency on beaches are known as blooms. As we have seen, global warming is causing us to start seeing jellyfish earlier and stop seeing them later, but it does not seem to be the cause of the blooms. “It is difficult to affirm with complete certainty that the total biomass of jellyfish in the Mediterranean has increased due to climate change, mainly because we do not have sufficiently long and homogeneous historical series that allow us to compare the current situation with that of past decades,” says Báez. “However, there is evidence that jellyfish blooms, as well as the arrival of large swarms in coastal areas, appear to be increasingly frequent and prolonged.” The problem of overfishing “In a healthy ecosystem, teleost fish eat especially zooplankton, in which ephyras are found,” explains Báez. Among those fish that ephyras eat, sardines stand out, for example. On the other hand, adult jellyfish are typically preyed upon by turtles, but also by large fish such as tunas, to which tuna belongs. All of this, taken together, helps keep jellyfish populations more or less stable. Because of overfishingthere are fewer and fewer predators for jellyfish. There are, for example, fewer sardines being eaten in their ephyra phase and fewer tuna eating adult jellyfish. If we add to all this that more generations of jellyfish are born in a season due to warming water, we have the perfect cocktail for the appearance of blooms. The whiting that bites its tail (pun intended) In 2022, José Carlos Báez’s team published a study in which another less known relationship was described between the populations of jellyfish and sardines or anchovies. We have already seen that fish feed on the zooplankton in which ephyras are found, so they can help regulate jellyfish populations. However, what happens next is not so well known. Adult jellyfish can also feed on the eggs of sardines and anchovies. Therefore, if there are too many jellyfish, they can deplete the sardine population, so there will be fewer of these adult fish to continue feeding on the ephyras. As a result, there are even more jellyfish and we start again. The balance between one predator and another is broken and clearly leans towards the proliferation of jellyfish. Furthermore, in that study a relationship was also found between the proliferation of jellyfish and the decrease in weight of adult sardines. And, in turn, adult jellyfish also feed on zooplankton, which is why they compete with sardines and anchovies for food. If there are many, they do not allow them to feed properly. Not everything is jellyfish in the gelatinization of water With the proliferation of jellyfish, something known as water gelatinization is occurring. Logically, these animals, with their gelatinous appearance, have a great influence. But they are not the only ones who favor that aspect. Other gelatinous animals also proliferate, such as ctenophores. In addition, the water looks cloudier due to excess algae. This is because great eutrophication is occurring in the Mediterranean. … Read more

a very hard summer marked by the weather, bans and toxins

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As summer approaches, more and more people think of the estuaries of Galicia as a place to spend time. a few weeks of relaxationbetween beaches, good food and a tolerable heat. What is much more difficult (even demoralizing) these months is to think of the Galician estuaries as pantries of seafood. The brotherhoods that work in the area have encountered a perfect storm which has complicated their work and has forced the Xunta to come to his rescue. This reality is already being noticed in the markets. What has happened? These are not good times for the shellfish harvesters who dedicate themselves to combing the Galician estuaries in search of clams or cockles, nor are they good times for the fishermen who they catch fresh octopus or companies that operate mussel trays. The most curious thing is that it is not due to a single factor, but to a sum of conditions, a challenging scenario for the union that The Confidential recently summarized (with a good eye) like the particular “Via Crucis of Galician shellfish.” Toxins, bans and storms seem to have joined forces to complicate life for the sector. looking back. To understand the situation that the union is going through, you have to go back at least a few years, to 2023when the heavens rained down (literally) the shellfish harvesters’ business. In 2023, the sector first encountered an unusual heat wave that was followed, in autumn, by a succession of intense rainfall that they wreaked havoc among bivalve populations. In 2025 things seemed to improve, but the outlook became complicated again at the beginning of this year. “Last year there were signs of recovery with a significant pre-commercial stock that could not withstand the impact of the train of eight consecutive storms that hit our coast between January and February of this year,” they explain from the Consellería do Mar de Galicia. The logic is simple: it rains heavily, the flow of the rivers increases, the reservoirs open their floodgates and all that mass of fresh water ends up flowing suddenly into the estuaries, affecting, among other things, the salinity of the seabed and affecting its fauna. And that impacts catastrophically in the work of those dedicated to collecting cockles, clams or razor clams. Is it that serious? Yes. Both for its consequences on marine fauna and for its economic and social implications. In fact, in 2023, faced with a similar scenario, it was already warned that the high mortality rate of shellfish was leading thousands of families to a “very distressing situation” and an “uncertain future.” For reference, in March the biologist Liliana Solís shared with elDiario the results of the first sampling carried out on the banks of the Muros and Noia estuaries after the storms at the beginning of 2026: in the case of the cockle the mortality was 89%, in the case of the japonica clam 66%, in the slimy clam 96% and 31% in the fine clam. “Pesca de Galicia” graph showing the records of bivalves in the fish markets. The quantity is reflected in blue, in kilos. The golden line shows the price, in €/kg. “The worst crisis”. Shortly after, in April, The Voice of Galicia did a review through the different sandy areas of the community that he headed with an eloquent headline: “Galician estuaries: I check one by one in the face of the worst shellfish crisis.” Their analysis indicated that the most affected areas were those of Arousa, Vigo and Muros-Noia, although the outlook was not very encouraging in the estuaries of Pontevedra or A Coruña either. The ‘photo’ has chiaroscuros (in Vigo and Baiona, clam captures from boats alleviated the decline in shellfish harvesting on foot), but in general it shows a complicated panorama. So much so, that the Xunta has already made a move. This same week the Minister of the Sea, Marta Villaverde, explained in the Parliament of Galicia the measures deployed to “reverse the effects of the storms on the shellfish banks.” Its “central piece,” he defended, is a plan of almost 23 million euros to regenerate sandy beaches and support families in the union. Shellfish harvesters who participate in recovery tasks actually receive compensation of up to 700 euros per month. Do we have data? Yes. The Pesca de Galicia platform, which basically works with “first sale” data in the fish markets, shows a noticeable fall in bivalves during the first months of the year. For example, if in April 2025 it registered 238,544 kilos, in the same month of this year there were only 147,730. Something similar happens with crustaceans. This same week Vigo Lighthouse revealed that until May, 788 tons of mollusks valued at 9.7 million have been shipped in the markets, which translates into falls of 29 and 26%, respectively, and the worst start to the year so far this century. The ‘prick’ of the japonica clam, cockle and fine clam stands out above all, with declines that are around or even exceed 50%. The economic balance for the sector is compensated, in part, by the increase in the price of certain species, which in the face of a shortage have seen their price was shot in wholesale channels. Something more than storms. We said it at the beginning of the report: the big problem in the sector is that does not deal with a single challenge. The adverse weather of 2026 may not have made it easy for Galician shellfish harvesters, but that is not the only headache for the sector. In May the markets saw how it was activated a ban for the fresh octopus that will continue for another month, until july. All with the aim of recovering a species that has also gone through low hours in the estuaries of Galicia and meets increasing competition arrival from other regions. If that were not enough, add the “red tide”which has forced the closure of some 3,400 punts of mussels, the pressure exerted on prices by merchandise arriving … Read more

five Xiaomi bargains from the AliExpress Summer Promo

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Although next Prime Day is already on the horizon, we are immersed in AliExpress Summer Promo. It is being a campaign with many interesting offers in mobile phones, headphonesconsoles and almost any device. This time, let’s spin a little more finely. and we are going to focus only on Xiaomi products. Discount minimum purchase coupon 1 coupon 3 coupon 4 COUPON 3 euros 15 euros XATAKAES03 WEBEDES03 ESSS03 SSES03 6 euros 39 euros XATAKAES06 WEBEDES06 ESSS06 SSES6 10 euros 69 euros XATAKAES10 WEBEDES10 ESSS10 SSES10 20 euros 139 euros XATAKAES20 WEBEDES20 ESSS20 SSES20 30 euros 209 euros XATAKAES30 WEBEDES30 ESSS30 SSES30 45 euros 319 euros XATAKAES45 WEBEDES45 ESSS45 SSES45 65 euros 459 euros XATAKAES65 WEBEDES65 ESSS65 SSES65 110 euros 650 euros XATAKAES110 WEBEDES110 ESSS110 – Just above these lines you have the discount coupons for this promo, although it is true that there are some that are no longer available (such as those for 45 euros). Despite this, we can still find good offers like the ones these five Xiaomi devices have: POCO X8 Pro by 253.62 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30’, one of the best-selling mobile phones of 2026. Xiaomi A 32 by 79.37 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES10’, a compact and very economical TV ideal for small rooms. Xiaomi L1 Pro Projector by 197.41 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30’, a very interesting option to watch the World Cup wherever you want. Xiaomi Pad 7 by 217.56 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30’, versatile tablet with 8 GB of RAM and a good screen. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G by 257.35 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30’, a phone that stands out for its 6,500 mAh battery. POCO X8 Pro He POCO X7 Pro It was one of the best-selling mobile phones last year and in 2026 it looks like it will repeat its successor, the POCO X8 Pro. It is a fairly balanced phone, which highlights its 6,500 mAh battery with 100 W fast charging, its 6.59-inch screen with 1.5 K resolution and notable performance thanks to its MediaTek processor. Right now it’s coming out 253.62 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30‘. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi A 32 If you are looking for a compact and economical television for a bedroom or a second residence, this one from Xiaomi comes in handy. 79.37 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES10‘. It is true that it has HD resolution, but it is not something that matters too much since it is 32 inches. It has a Google operating system, so we can install almost any app that comes to mind, like DAZN to watch the soccer World CupFor example. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi L1 Pro Projector There is also the option of getting a projector like this Xiaomi L1 Pro, which is a quite interesting option. With it, we can project an image on a diagonal that ranges from 40 to 120 inches. It has speakers, WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as the Google TV operating system. It came out at a price of 299.99 euros, but we can get it for 197.41 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30‘ The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Pad 7 The Xiaomi Pad 7 is one of the best quality-price tablets that we can buy. It has an 11.2-inch screen with 3.2 K resolution and a 144 Hz refresh rate, so we will have a fluid experience that is perfect for reading. It has four speakers with Dolby Atmos and an 8,850 mAh battery. goes out with 217.56 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES30‘ in its version with 256 GB of storage. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G Finally, another mobile. He Redmi Note 15 Pro+ It is a very balanced and versatile phone that, for the 257.35 euros With the ‘XATAKAES30’ coupon that comes out, it’s worth it if you’re looking for something cheap. It has a 6,500 mAh battery that also has 100W fast charging, a 6.83-inch screen compatible with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, and more than enough performance for everyday use. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G 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 | Xataka, Xiaomi In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis In Xataka | Best home theater projectors. Which one to buy and five recommended models from 299 to 18,000 euros

The horror movie of the summer is ‘Backrooms’, and its origin is so surprising that there is a rumor that its director is not real

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‘Backrooms’ premieres today in the United States (it arrives in Spain on June 5). The film, produced by the unstoppable indie A24is expected to be the horror bomb of the summer (hand in hand with the already tremendous ‘Obsession’, which is putting its hand in the face of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu‘). It has 87% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and is expected to open between $45 and $50 million, which would be the biggest debut in the studio’s history. Of course, it faces an unexpected controversy: there are those who say that its director, the very young Kane Parsons, has not really directed the film. What has happened? Days before the premiere, this unexpected rumor has circulated online: a more experienced director would have been working from the shadows. Osgood Perkins, producer of the project and director of the great ‘Longlegs‘. Mark Duplass, who stars in the film alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Finn Bennett, responded in X: “I don’t remember seeing you on set. When I was there, Kane was 100% in control. More than many directors three times his age.” The origin of ‘Backrooms’. As we already explained in detailon May 12, 2019, an anonymous user posted on /x/, the paranormal board on 4chan, a photograph without a signature or context. It looked like a kind of abandoned office: yellowish carpet and walls, fluorescent lighting… It was ridiculously disturbing. The next day someone added a description that spoke of “not clipping out of reality” (a term taken from a glitch of video games in which the player falls into a geometric void beyond the mapping), and ending up trapped in a space that extends infinitely. The backrooms They are an extreme version of what the internet calls liminal spaces: hotel hallways at three in the morning, empty waiting rooms, closed shopping centers, underground parking lots without cars… Recognizable places but stripped of their function and of the people who normally inhabit them. Just like has been explainedthese types of environments activate the same response as the phenomenon of uncanny valleybut applied to physical places. The brain identifies these spaces as known and at the same time does not know how to read them logically. Jump to the cinema. Kane Parsons was 16 years old when he posted his The Backrooms (Found Footage): nine minutes in first person with a VHS filter, in which someone was chased by a strange presence in one of these spaces. The series that followed this first video, full of secret research institutes and dimensional experiments in the eighties, exceeded 197 million views. A24 bought the rights a year later. Youth, divine treasure. One of the apparent hooks of the A24 film, the extreme youth of its director, has worked against it. The press has underlined Parsons’ youthand some conspiracy theorists consider it to be a marketing strategy. In reality, what this talks about is the current situation in Hollywood, which has produced franchised cinema for two decades in which the director is, fundamentally, a technical executor under the creative supervision of the studio. The system of great sagas has normalized the idea that a good film cannot come from the criteria of a single person, a young person without credentials. We viewers are distrustful because that is what the industrial cinema of recent years has taught us. The explanation. Parsons was born in 2005, the year YouTube launched. “YouTube, more than a cultural reference for me, has been the way I know how to do everything I know how to do,” declared. Parsons doesn’t have the kind of resume that the traditional production circuit demands, but rather his only credential is a massive audience of followers who have been reacting to his work in real time for three years. And that is capable of arousing the suspicions of anyone who is buried by the industrial machine logic of modern Hollywood. In Xataka | When a town found a dead whale on its beaches, it decided to dynamite it. 55 years later they still celebrate it

The fires have already grown by 218% so far this year and summer has not yet arrived

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While announcing “the largest deployment of the State”, the Government of Spain has given a disturbing piece of information: the number of fires has skyrocketed by 218% so far this year. And yes, May isn’t over yet. The fine print, however, is interesting. The data, as I say, refers to the number of reported fires, but does not directly correspond to the burned area. In fact, despite to the enormous ‘boom’ of fire outbreaksthe burned land is still below the average of the last decade. In this sense, what is truly interesting is the paradoxThat with reservoirs at historic highs and no signs predicting an upcoming drought, the risk of fire has not stopped. In fact, it has skyrocketed. Clarifying the data on the fire boom. Indeed, between January 1 and May 15, 2026, 127 fires were reported, compared to 40 in the same period in 2025. That is a growth of 218%. And it’s true that “tripling” the fires sounds like a lot: but of those 127 fires, only three were large forest fires and only six required major intervention. The key fact, as we can see, is none of that. During the quarter, 12,946.66 hectares have burned; that is, 2.2 times more than in the same period of 2025 (5,822.12). But it is still 29.6 less than the average for the decade. The key fact is that we have improved a lot in preparing for and putting out fires, but this year the situation is very complicated. The three ways we have of counting fires (Civil Protection, MITECO and EFFIS/Copernicus) say that the year is getting complicated at a forced pace. Above all, because 2025 was a very bad year: three times as many hectares as average were burned. Where is really the problem? In the concentration of damage. According to Greenpeace, less than 1% of fires They already concentrate 86% of the surface burned and the average size of the large fire has gone from 1,500 hectares to more than 6,000. In this context, having more fires means having a greater chance of one of them becoming a superfire. And the countdown has already begun: the fire season is at the door and, despite the grandiose declarations of the administrations, we are not prepared. Image | Marcus Kauffman In Xataka | The satellite that detects fires before firefighters has a problem: it has to avoid space debris and is leaving blind spots on the map

Get ready to pay 30% more on your bill this summer

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Spain has come to pay for consuming energy, marking a historic milestone of -10 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on any given Sunday. Red Eléctrica data shows days where photovoltaic solar energy reaches more than 63% of the generation at times of maximum radiation, which is an undeniable success for our electrical system. And yet, this summer the electricity bill It will be almost 30% more expensive than last year. To understand how both things can be true at the same time, you have to understand what happens between the solar panel and your bill. The 41% you see and the 59% you don’t see. You look at the market price and think you understand your bill. You don’t understand her. That price—the one making the headlines, the one that hit negative numbers on Sunday—represents 41% of what you pay. The rest is a whole edifice of tolls, system charges and taxes that doesn’t appear on any headline but does appear on your bill each month. And here comes the most ironic trap of this entire story. The massive deployment of wind and solar achieved something that seemed impossible five years ago: moderating national inflation to 3.2%. An indisputable macroeconomic victory. However, that victory had a side effect that no one celebrated since by not exceeding the legal limit for price increases, the “deactivation clause” of the Government’s anti-crisis decree was automatically activated. The renewable shield worked so well that it disabled its own aids. From June 1, VAT on electricity and gas returns to 21%. During the day, renewable. At night, gas. And always, the invoice. During the day, Spain operates with almost free energy: an average at noon of just 1.65 euros per megawatt hour. The sun covers 67% of the demand for six hours in a row. The electrical system, in those hours, is an extraordinary machine. But as night falls, the story suddenly changes. Water covers only 21% of the demand. The wind, barely 13%. As Antonio Aceituno points outenergy market analyst at Tempos Energía, electricity at night costs 57% more than at midday. This is when the gas and coal plants have to be turned on again. And that nighttime lighting is what sets the tone for your receipt. With the arrival of summer, the equation worsens on all fronts. High temperatures reduce the efficiency of solar panels. Air conditioning triggers demand. The hydraulic shield gives way. And the geopolitical panorama is tightening from the outside: despite the pre-peace agreement between the United States and Iran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, gas travels by ship and those LNG tankers They will not arrive in Europe before August. With European storage stagnant at 37%, Tempos Energía predicts that electricity in the third quarter moves between 82 and 86 euros per megawatt hour. If the pact fails, above 90. 35% more expensive than the previous summer. The market that moves 7% in one afternoon without anything happening. Behind the price of electricity there is another layer that almost no one explains: the European gas market – reference TTF – works, in practice, like a casino. As energy expert Joaquín Coronado describesis a machine designed to transfer volatility to the end consumer. In a single recent session, the index moved more than 7% intraday without any real event to justify it. Only speculation of financial funds. And here comes the paradox that Coronado points out precisely: more than 75% of the energy negotiated in Spain already goes through bilateral contracts, at an agreed price, outside the speculative market. Three out of every four megawatts, shielded. But that remaining 25%—the one that is played every day in the marginalist market—is what sets the price of your entire bill. The minority rules over the majority. Added to this is a dysfunction that comes from the factory in the system design: Spanish demand is inelastic. When electricity shows ridiculous prices at midday, consumers do not react by consuming more to take advantage of the bargain—because they have no real incentives to do so, no smart meters that facilitate it, nor rates that reward it in real time. By not absorbing this excess of cheap energy, agents from France and Portugal end up buying it to export it. And that export, due to the dynamics of European coupling, drags our prices up. We give away the energy and they return the European price to us. Incomplete success. Spain has achieved an indisputable structural feat. We have become a European pioneer by decoupling, for much of the day, our electrical system from the worst international whims of gas, gaining valuable energy independence. However, the transition does not end with installing solar panels. As long as the sector continues to be immersed in internal wars blaming each other, as long as the grid lacks a massive battery system to store megawatts at zero cost and as long as the tax structure continues to suffocate the family bill, cheap electricity will continue to be a mirage on the screens of the financial markets. We generate almost free light at midday, yes, but the labyrinth that that energy runs through until you turn on the plug in your house we will continue to pay at the European luxury price. Image | Unsplash 1 and 2 Xataka | Resolving Spain’s strange paradox: if we generate cheaper energy than ever, why doesn’t the bill go down as much?

Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

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During World War II, many commanders discovered that a simple station could completely alter the rhythm of a military campaign: on the eastern front, the arrival of spring turned roads and fields into seas of mud capable of immobilizing tanks for weeks, while summer suddenly reopened enormous corridors of advance for both armies. The war that no longer advances as before. I counted the weekend the new york times that for months, the Kremlin has tried to sell the idea that a Russian victory in Ukraine is only a matter of time, pressuring even Trump and Western negotiators with the argument that kyiv Donbas will end up losing inevitably. However, on the ground the reality is much less spectacular. Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace practically all year, to the point that, maintaining the current pace, it would take decades to completely occupy the region whose surrender it demands to negotiate peace. The problem is that this apparent paralysis can be misleading. Both Ukrainian commanders and military analysts carry weeks warning that summer is slowly changing the conditions of the front: the dry terrain allows the use of motorcycles and light vehicles to recover, the vegetation offers coverage against drones and Russian infiltrations are beginning to gain effectiveness after extremely difficult months for Moscow. The front is a drone war. The great transformation of this phase of the war is that Russia can no longer advance as in previous conflicts. Massive assaults with armored columns have become too vulnerable in a field of battle saturated by dronessensors and constant surveillance. Every movement is exposed from the air and any concentration of troops can be quickly destroyed. That has forced Moscow to completely modify its tactics. Now small groups of soldiers predominate slowly infiltratingon foot or on motorcycles, trying to open gradual gaps within a huge “gray zone” where control of the territory is no longer clear for either side. In other words, the conflict is looking less and less like a conventional war and more like a technological competition permanent between drones, electronic warfare and improvised survival systems. Russia makes little progress, but continues to push. The big problem for Ukraine is that even these minimal advances remain generating constant wear. Russia has suffered huge human lossesrecruitment problems and technological difficulties, including communications restrictions and obstacles to coordinate your drones. However, the Kremlin appears to have accepted that a slow and costly war remains preferable to launching large, risky offensives that could end in failure. In places like Pokrovsk or Chasiv YarMoscow has been fighting for years without managing to definitively break the front, but it has not retreated decisively either. Their troops infiltrate little by little, occupy temporary positions and turn huge areas of Donbas into spaces impossible for either army to completely control. The sensation is that of heavy, slow and damaged machinery that still continues advancing meter by meter. Summer is coming. That’s where it comes into play the seasonal factor which worries kyiv so much. During the mud and cold, Ukrainian drones have been especially effective at detecting Russian movements over open terrain. But the arrival of summer changes part of those dynamics. Trees and vegetation make aerial surveillance difficult, dry routes allow faster movement, and small Russian units find more opportunities to infiltrate without being immediately detected. In fact, Ukrainian officials recognize that Russian operations are already showing signs of improvement and that offensive activity is intensifying along the front. This is not yet a large mechanized offensive like those at the beginning of the war, but something much more disturbing: a constant pressure and diffuse design designed to exploit any weakness accumulated after years of wear. Between wear and tear and negotiation. All this greatly complicates international negotiations. Putin needs keep the image of a Russia advancing towards victory to pressure Ukraine and convince the United States that time is on the Kremlin’s side. But the real data show an exhausted army, enormous human losses and a front that barely moves. At the same time, Ukraine also does not have a comfortable situation: suffers from personnel shortages, desertions and difficulties in sustaining such a technological and costly war indefinitely. That’s why summer worries so much on both sides. Not because it will produce an immediate definitive rupture, but because it may slightly alter the balance of a war that has been trapped for months in a kind of lethal stalemate. And in a conflict where every kilometer costs thousands of lives, even small changes in the terrain, vegetation or climate They can end up having enormous strategic consequences. Image | Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 7th Army Training Command In Xataka | While we all look at Iran, something is moving in the Arctic Circle: Russia is sending bombers with missiles In Xataka | To achieve the milestone of building the largest drone industry without China, Ukraine has found an explosive ally: Taiwan

Benidorm triples its population in summer and does not run out of water. The secret is a miracle of invisible engineering

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We assume that when we turn on the faucet water comes out. It is an almost automatic, everyday gesture that we rarely stop to think about. However, ensuring that this resource springs up clean and safe in Benidorm, a city that its population triples In the middle of the summer high season, it requires a true miracle of engineering and management. In the Marina Baixa, one of the regions of the Valencian Community with greater water stresscatering to millions of annual visitors is a colossal puzzle. As reported by local mediathe philosophy of those who operate this gear is perfectly summarized by Ciriaco Clemente, manager of Veolia in Benidorm: “In a territory where the pressure on water resources is structural and permanent, guaranteeing that the water reaches the tap in perfect sanitary conditions and that, once used, it returns to the environment without damaging it is not an option, it is an obligation.” The challenge of quantity and quality. The water challenge is not exclusive to the Alicante coast, it is a national problem. According to official data from the Ministry of Health (SINAC)the quality of water in Spain is increasingly threatened. The filtration of nitrates from industrial agricultural activity is saturating the self-cleaning capacity of many aquifers, putting local water treatment plants in hundreds of municipalities in check, especially in inland Spain. While much of inland Spain deals with nitrate pollution, Benidorm faces its own perfect storm: extreme seasonal demand and the threat of shortages. The city not only needs to ensure that there is enough water for everyone, but that its quality is impeccable under all circumstances, regardless of whether it comes from the Guadalest reservoir, the Amadorio reservoir or the Bajo del Algar Canal. To overcome this crisis, the tourist capital has shielded itself around two essential infrastructures managed by Veolia: the Drinking Water Treatment Station (ETAP) and the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Beyond thirst. Water quality is synonymous with public health and economic survival. In fact, consuming water with nitrate levels close to or higher The European legal limit of 50 mg/L carries serious risks, and recent medical studies suggest that even much lower thresholds could be linked to oncological problems. Treating water to the millimeter is, therefore, a matter of life or death. On the economic level, as the newspaper highlights Informationfor the enormous hotel plant in Benidorm, opening the tap and letting water flow with total health guarantees “is not a secondary detail: it is a basic requirement to operate and to maintain the trust of visitors.” In addition, the system must be able to withstand the onslaught of the weather. According to Alicante Plazathe ETAP faces extreme scenarios after episodes of torrential rains, when the water collected arrives with enormous turbidity due to the dragging of sediments. Given this, the plant adjusts its treatments in real time. “Our responsibility does not end with there being water; it ends when that water reaches the tap in perfect condition,” says Noelia Llinares, ETAP plant manager, in these media. Leaving behind traditional management. As detailed by Veoliathe answer is in technology. A digital ecosystem has been deployed in Benidorm that includes network-wide sensors, leak detection algorithms and remote control systems. This has allowed the milestone of reducing water losses in the network to minimum levels of 5%. To support this burden, ETAP itself already received a powerful injection of more than 9 million euros in its last major expansion in 2010. But the cycle does not end at the sink. The WWTP works under a strict circular economy philosophy: used water is not waste, it is a resource. Today, 35% of the water that reaches the treatment plant is already reused, mainly for agricultural irrigation. And there is an extra factor that adds complexity: wastewater treatment plants are electricity devourers. To counteract this, María José Martínez, head of the WWTP, details that the facility uses byproducts such as biogas or sludge to generate its own energy. “The objective is clear: for the plant to become increasingly self-sufficient and for its environmental footprint to be as small as possible,” says Martínez. The next challenge: squeeze regeneration. Behind all this there is an ambitious project underway: the Regenerated Water Master Plan. The short-term objective is to take advantage of up to 2 additional cubic hectometers of regenerated water for purely urban uses, alleviating the suffocation of conventional sources and reinforcing the network against drought. Benidorm has empirically demonstrated that the high numbers of mass tourism and water sustainability are not antagonistic concepts, but rather necessary allies. In a context marked by climate change, the experience of the city of Alicante provides an inescapable journalistic and vital lesson: intelligent water management is no longer a simple competitive advantage or a green slogan. It is, purely and simply, a question of survival. Every drop counts, from the moment it is dammed until, thanks to engineering, it is regenerated to start again. Image | Diego Delso Xataka | The future of 150,000 hectares of crops is decided today. We have been fighting for decades, but the wars over water have only just begun

A Falcon 9 has been roaming through space for more than a year. An astronomer believes it will crash into the Moon in summer

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An upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 has been orbiting uncontrollably for more than a year and astronomers indicate that it will end up crashing on the Moon next August. Although at first it may seem serious, the truth is that it does not represent any danger to us. However, that does not mean that the event has once again revived the debate on the space junk and what may happen in the future if the Moon ends up being inhabited. What is going to happen and when. On August 5, at 8:44 a.m. (Spanish peninsular time), an upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket will collide with the lunar surface at approximately 8,700 km/h, which is equivalent to about seven times the speed of sound. The prediction It was published by Bill Grayprofessional astronomer and developer of Project Pluto software, a widely used tool for tracking near-Earth objects. According to Gray, the impact will occur in the surroundings of Einstein crater, on the edge of the visible side of the Moon from Earth. Where does this piece of rocket come from? The stage in question, cataloged as 2025-010D, is the upper part of the Falcon 9 that launched two private lunar landers on January 15, 2025: the Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace and the Hakuto-R from the Japanese company ispace. The first achieved the first completely successful commercial lunar landing in history, touching down at Mare Crisium on March 2, 2025. The second lost contact with Earth during the descent maneuver and crashed. Meanwhile, the rocket’s upper stage continued to orbit. With more than 1,000 observations accumulated since launch, Gray assures There is no doubt: it is this piece of the Falcon 9. Why can’t it be seen from Earth. Although the Moon will be visible to much of the Western Hemisphere at the time of impact, Gray warns that the flash will almost certainly be too faint to detect with ground-based telescopes. The researcher himself remembers what happened with the LCROSS mission from NASA in 2009, when a Centaur stage deliberately impacted the lunar south pole to study the ground and yet no flash could be observed from Earth. The scientific value, if any, will come from further study of the fresh crater left by the impact. No danger, but with a warning. The stage measures 13.8 meters long and 3.7 meters in diameter. Since the Moon does not have an atmosphere, the device will reach the surface intact. There is no risk to lunar infrastructure, rovers or ships in orbit. Still, Gray account which “does highlight a certain lack of care in the way in which remnants of space hardware are disposed of,” he writes in his report. There is a relatively simple technical solution, and that is that with a little more planning and some extra fuel, companies that launch rockets could send these stages to heliocentric orbits (around the Sun), where they would pose no threat to either the Earth or the Moon. Now it matters more. Both the US and China plan to multiply the pace of their lunar missions during the second half of this decade, with the aim of installing semi-permanent bases near the south pole of the Moon. The United States aims for annual missions with Artemis IV and V from 2028; China wants have your own taikonauts stepping on lunar soil before 2030. More missions means more rockets, more unreused upper stages, and therefore more space junk orbiting near the Moon. If there were people or infrastructure on the surface then, things would get serious. It’s not the first time it happens. Gray stumbled upon another rocket stage a few years ago. In 2022, he predicted that a piece of rocket would hit the Moon on March 4 of that year, getting the time right within seconds and the location within just a few kilometers. Gray had initially identified the object as another stage from a Falcon 9, but it turned out to be a booster from the Chinese Chang’e 5-T1 rocket. This time, however, continuous monitoring since launch rules out any doubts. Cover image | SpaceX and NASA In Xataka | We have found something that astronomers have been searching for decades: the precise edge of the Milky Way

we have “summer storms” in the middle of April

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The good news is that AEMET has assured us of calm and peaceful mornings. The bad news is that AEMET has assured us of afternoons with evolving clouds that deliver locally strong showers, with storms, hail and very strong gusts of wind. The funny thing is that this pattern (warm mornings, afternoon convention, and hail cells here and there) is the very definition of “summer storm“The worrying thing is that, well, we are in April. “More typical of June than April.” That phrase from Rubén del Campo, spokesperson for AEMET, has appeared in (at least) four different statements so far in April alone. And that alone is indicative that something is happening. What is happening and what is really new? AEMET forecasts they talk of “a week between April and May with atmospheric instability.” They refer to this pattern that explained: subtropical air on the surface, cold air at altitude and a lot of humidity in the environment (due to the temperature of the seas that surround us). It is the perfect recipe for a convective party. In fact, there are eight different communities with warnings of various types for locally strong storms and coastal phenomena. This episode is the end of a roller coaster of temperature rises and sudden drops that have made April 2026 the second warmest (more than 70 records broken) since 1990. Thinking about it, it’s not so strange: we are seeing how the climate calendar is shifting. Climate change? AEMET, as usual, is cautious when it comes to directly attributing this episode to climate change (if there are no scientific studies on the subject). However, we know that global warming “increases the probability, intensity and precocity” of situations like these. What we can expect. Beyond this week of rapid and internal storms (with possible hail episodes), no one knows anything. We are approaching what may be one of the episodes of Most intense El Niño in recent decades and time is completely dislocated: making medium-term predictions is becoming more difficult every day. What does seem clear is that the world is changing and that, no matter how much we want to escape the problem, we are not prepared for it. Image | Benbaso – Xataka In Xataka | Some say worrying about climate change is a “first world problem.” A macro survey proves him right

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