system

Five years ago, Venice spent more than 5 billion on a system of barriers against the sea. Now look for a plan B

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There was a time when Venice looked at the Adriatic with ambition. The sea not only shaped the city, permeating its DNA, it also propelled it until it became a naval power who fought for dominance of the Mediterranean. Today things are different. The Serennissima (turned into tourist power) observes with increasing concern the coming and going of the tides, the same ones that in 2019 submerged it under 187 cm of water, flooding 80% of the city. The reason is very simple. Everything indicates that the multimillion-dollar system that Venice was equipped with a few years ago to protect itself from the threat of high water It won’t take long for it to become obsolete. And it is not very clear what the alternative is. One figure: 18. The threat of flooding is not new in Venice. In fact, one of the worst in memory was suffered six decades ago, in November 1966when an intense storm caused the water to reach 194 cm, flooding much of the city. However, experts have been detecting worrying signs for some time. It is not just that Venice sink or the sea level rising (which too). There are increasingly clear signs that suggest that floods will become more frequent in the future. Recently, a group of researchers dedicated themselves to analyzing the “extreme” episodes suffered by the city, those in which 60% of its surface was flooded. Throughout the last century and a half, it counted 28 incidents of those characteristics. The surprising thing is that the vast majority of them (18) were concentrated during the last 23 years. One measurement: 0.42 m. Today more than half of Venice is alone between 80 and 120 cm above the average sea level and projections show that this scenario will soon worsen: in the best of cases, if we manage to drastically reduce our polluting emissions, the sea will rise 0.42m by 2100. In the worst case, it will be 1.8 m, which would greatly complicate the outlook for the Serennissima. In fact, now the high tide already leaves St. Mark’s Square only 30 cm above the water level. One name: Mose. Aware of how much is at stake in Venice, the Italian Government has long been looking for a way to protect itself from floods. The result was Mose (experimental elettromechanical module)a system made up of four barriers and 78 independent mobile gates that allow authorities to protect the Venetian lagoon from what is known as high watertides that flood the city. The objective: to temporarily isolate the Adriatic lagoon and thus protect Venice from the most dangerous tides. To achieve this, the barriers were strategically installed in the inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Each gate also measures 20m wide and between 18.6 and 29.6 m long. An investment: 5,000 million. It is said that the project mobilized an investment of more than 5.5 billion of euros (its execution was marred by corruption). Its work began in 2003 and after several delays it carried out a first test in October 2020, in an event led by the then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. A year earlier, Venice had suffered a of the worst floods that are remembered, during which the water reached 187 cm, flooding part of the entrance to the Basilica of Saint Mark. An indicator: frequency. The problem is that the authorities are turning to Mose much more often than expected. EuroWeekly assures that in less than a month, between January 28 and February 19, the system was activated 30 times. Other media report that since their inauguration at the end of 2020, the barriers have saved Venice from flooding in 154 occasions. The problem is that the use of Mose does not come free to the region, neither in economic terms nor on a social and environmental level. Setting up the enormous Mose floodgates has a direct cost, but it also has another indirect cost: by isolating the lagoon, the system alters, for example, the activity of the port sector and interrupts maritime traffic with the port of Marghera. Guardian points out that pressing Mose’s button has an economic impact of more than 200,000 euros for Venice. For this year’s Carnival alone the total bill would be around five million euros. An extra concern: the lagoon. Not everything is measured in operational cost, maritime traffic and economic impact. Altering the tides in the area also has an impact on its ecosystem and that is something that worries experts like Andrea Rinaldo, from the scientific committee of the Lagoon Authority. Especially if two fundamental data are taken into account: first, the frequency of use in recent years; second, the forecasts for sea level rise. “With one more meter, the Mose barriers would have to be closed an average of 200 times a year, which means that they would practically always be blocked,” explains Roinaldo. “When this happens, the lagoon loses its function as a transitional environment. It would become a pond.” A victim: the lagoon itself. As explains GuardianBy blocking the flow of water, the barriers encourage the growth of algae. The problem is that when these die and decompose they directly affect the quality of the water and the rest of the flora and fauna. Does that mean Mose was a mistake? Rinaldo thinks not. The changes are simply happening much faster than engineers expected, forcing authorities and technicians to think about the future in the medium and long term. At the end of the day, if Mose taught anything, it is that projects of his importance are not approved and executed overnight. One question: What to do? The great unknown. Those responsible for Mose are looking for ways to reduce its impact, but it is not an easy decision. Among other things because the Venetians themselves have become accustomed to the barriers and gates coming into operation at the slightest risk, points out Giovanni Zaroti, one of the system technicians. Rinaldo mentions the possibility of launching an international call … Read more

call it productivity and brag about the system

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three years ago I wrote here that spending years trying productivity apps, running like a headless chicken from Todoist to Things and from Craft to Notion, had been a rather unproductive search. I maintain it, but at that moment I had not seen version 2.0 of the problem yet. The one that no longer has to do with apps. There is a scene that is repeated in the spaces where we addicts to productivity (or the false sense of productivity) go. YouTube channels, newslettersX accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers: someone shows their “system”. It can be a Notion very well structured with relational databases, or a Obsidian with interconnected knowledge graphs. The morning routine with a weekly, monthly and quarterly review block. The labels, the priorities with their little flags, the active and latent projects, the someday / maybe. Everything documented, everything perfect. And when you see that you think “this person doesn’t have time to do anything.” It is not a joke but an observation. The most sophisticated productivity system is, in most cases, the most reliable proof that its owner has stopped producing.. I’m guilty too. Because building and maintaining that system requires exactly the kind of sustained attention, cognitive energy, and hours on screen that the system is supposed to free up to do important things. Here’s the catch GTDhe second brain and the entire philosophy of personal productivity have tended unintentionally, or perhaps wanting to: They have made managing work look like work. And looking like work, it gives the satisfaction of work done. Dopamine from task completion without having completed any actual task. Rearranging Obsidian notes for two hours feels like work. It is not. The phenomenon has a technical name that no one uses because it sounds too honest: structured procrastination. Doing things that are legitimate and even useful, but that are not the right thing to do. In its most innocent version, it is tidying up your desk before you start writing. In its 2026 version, it’s spending the afternoon building the perfect idea capture flow instead of having none. AI has multiplied this tenfold. Now the system can be more complex, more automated, more impressive. You can have one agent that classifies your notes, another that summarizes your readings, another that generates the weekly report of everything you have captured. He second brain It has become something like a brain of its own, with its own processes, its own maintenance needs, its own technical debt. And you, meanwhile, feeding it. In the end this shows us an uncomfortable truth: that most of us prefer preparing to do things rather than doing them. The perfect system is a permanent promise of future performance that indefinitely postpones the demands of the present. There is always a reason not to start yet: the system is not ready, a field is missing in the database, the capture flow needs to be revised. Let’s see if there is a better icon for this page. This is not new, of course. Seneca wrote 2,000 years ago that busyness and living are different things. But before procrastination had a bad conscience. You knew you were avoiding something. Now you can avoid it with impeccable productivity, with a label system and weekly review, without anyone, starting with yourself, being able to point the finger at you. Are you working. It is seen. I have a Notion to prove it. Real work, the one that matters, the one that costs, has a characteristic that productivity systems cannot simulate: produces something that did not exist before. Not a neater database or a more refined capture flow. Something that, when finished, justifies the time you have not dedicated to organizing yourself. That something is getting rarer and rarer. And our systems, increasingly more perfect and aesthetic. In Xataka | I’ve tried the Plaud NotePin S: the wearable AI recorder that’s not for everyone, but it’s perfect for some Featured image | Isaac Smith

everything we know so far about the new version of Google’s operating system

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We are going to give you all the information about Android 17so you can learn about everything that Google’s next mobile operating system offers. For now, we are going to tell you everything we know at the moment, but between now and its launch we will update the article periodically to always keep it up to date. As usual, the basic version of Android 17 will be the one that reaches Google’s Pixel phones, while then the rest of the manufacturers will adapt it with their customization layers, which may have additional functions. But we are going to focus on the base version of Android and what we know about its next version. When do we expect Android 17 to be released Google launched the first beta for developers of Android 17 last February. These are very unstable versions and not recommended for conventional users, and where visual innovations are gradually being implemented. The objective is to have the software base so that app developers have time to adapt them. IF Google continues to maintain the accelerated pace launched in 2025, it is expected that the first public beta arrives in May 2026. It will be during Google I/O, the search engine company’s annual event, and these beta versions will already have the main visual novelties. They will launch successive versions where they implement the new features that are to come. And then, The final version will begin to arrive between June and July for Pixel phones, which are always the first to update. Then, the rest of the manufacturers will adapt Android 17 to their customization layers and launch it on their devices between the second half of 2026 and the first half of 2027. What news do we expect from Android 17 Let’s start by telling you what they are the confirmed news of Android 17. They will not be the only ones, nor will they be implemented at the same time in the betas. However, looking at the Canary versionswe know that Google prepare a before and after for the gamersin addition to the beginning of the end of Chrome OS to not have two operating systems, but one. Let’s talk to you about it. ‘Aluminum OS’ and the end of ChromeOS The most disruptive novelty of Android 17 could be at its foundations, although has not yet been confirmed. This is a project with code name ‘Aluminum OS’which seeks to unify both mobile phones, tablets and laptops in the same operating system. Google currently has two operating systems, Android for mobile phones, tablets, watches or cars, and Chrome OS for laptops and computers, although it focuses on the low ranges. Now what they want is have a single operating system that works for everythingand this would mean the disappearance of ChromeOS. The idea with Aluminum OS is that Android can be used on both mobile and desktop. And when you use it on the desktop, it will have the interface of a full operating system. With this, Android will no longer only focus on mobile phones and tablets, but also on laptops and computers of all ranges. Just like we have been learning in recent monthswith this Google wants to attack three different fronts: Unify resources having a single development: Google currently has two parallel developments, Android and Chrome OS. With this, all efforts are focused on a single development. Assault on the high ranges: Chromebooks with Chrome OS are mainly cheap entry-level laptops, and are used for browsing the Internet and not much else. But now, The leaks talk about premium devicesand that Google wants Android to be an option for high-end laptops. Gemini integrated into its core: We have also learned that Google wants to integrate Gemini into the bowels of its operating system, so that it can be used natively on laptops without further complications. Here, what should be clear is that It is not yet confirmed that it will arrive on Android 17. It has been leaked that it is an ongoing development, but we do not know if it will arrive in the next version of its operating system or if it will be fully integrated or it will be a progressive integration. We will be attentive to new information. This is the rest of the confirmed news Remapping of controls for gaming: Android 17 will bring very good news for gamers. The first is that there will be native support for button remapping, to be able to adapt the actions to the controllers and prevent the buttons from not doing what you want if you connect an Xbox or PlayStation controller. Virtual command function: It will allow you to translate touches on the screen into signals from a physical controller. With this, you will be able to use games that were designed only for touch screens with your favorite controller. Universal clipboard: Google prepares a system to copy and paste between mobile and PC, a universal clipboard. The great advantage of Apple is that what you copy on the Mac you can paste on the iPhone without doing anything, and vice versa. Google wants to have technology to do the same between Android and PC. This will allow for more fluidity between devices and put an end to one of the classic advantages of using Apple devices. AI built into the core with AppFunctions: AppFunctions a local framework which allows applications to expose their functions so that assistants like Gemini can execute them directly using natural language. This tool will allow AI to perform complex, multi-step tasks in the background within third-party apps. News in Material 3 Expressive: Google also adds new features to the design of Material 3 Expressive the Android interface. First, you will have a transparency effectsomething similar to Apple’s Liquid Glass. Thus, elements such as the volume bar will have a semi-transparency that allows the color underneath to pass through. It is also expected that all icons They must respect the accent color of the … Read more

the secret “eye” of its most advanced anti-missile system

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In modern conflicts, some military systems operate at speeds greater than Mach 5 and they are capable of distinguishing targets in mid-flight without emitting a single signal, guided only by the heat they detect hundreds of kilometers away. These technologies, designed to be invisible and virtually unrecoverable, rarely leave any trace when they fail. But when they do they are a danger from what they say. The chance find. Yes, because someone in Syria has found something completely unexpected in the desert and has uploaded a video to the networks: nothing less than one of the secret “eyes” of Washington’s most advanced anti-missile system, a key piece of the THAAD system which should rarely appear outside of highly controlled environments. The discovery, supposedly in the southwest of the country near areas where US batteries operate in Israel and Jordan, shows not only the infrared sensor but substantial parts of the interceptor in a surprisingly intact state, pointing to a failure during an interception in the midst of the regional war and turning what should have been an invisible process into a tangible, recorded event and potentially exploitable. How the THAAD “eye” works. As we said, the component found is not a simple fragment, but the system that allows the interceptor to “see” its target, an advanced infrared sensor that guides the kill vehicle call after separating from the booster rocket and freeing itself from its front cover. This system detects the heat of the missile enemy without emitting signals, which makes it resistant to electronic interference, and works together with a complex set of small propellants that adjust their trajectory with millimeter precision to achieve a direct impact at hypersonic speeds, all without the need for explosives, in a process where each microsecond and each adjustment determine success or failure. THAAD A failure that changes everything. And here comes the importance of the discovery. The fact that both the kill vehicle and its cover appeared together and relatively intact suggests that something went wrong in the sequence of interception, although it is not clear whether it was a technical problem, a loss of target or a systems failure self-destruct devices designed precisely to avoid this type of situation. In any case, what was supposed to disappear in the sky has ended up on the ground, and that detail is crucial because it breaks one of the fundamental premises of these systems: that their most sensitive technology never be exposed in sight of no one. The strategic value of the meeting. Recovering this type of technology offers any adversary a unique opportunity to analyze from within one of the most sophisticated air defense systems, if not the most, unraveling how it detects targetshow it discriminates threats and what its real limitations are, something that could translate into new countermeasures, improvements in own systems or even attempts at replication. For countries like Iran, Russia or China itself that they already observe the system’s performance in current combat, the possibility of having physical access to its components would multiply the value of that intelligence and reduce the American technological advantage. A war that leaves traces. If you will, the episode also reflects a reality that is increasingly evident in modern conflicts: the intensive use of advanced weapons increases the probability that critical pieces will end up by the wayside. in unwanted handswhether due to failures, demolitions or simple operational wear. We had already talked about the problem that Washington has with the demolition of their radars more advanced by Iran, and with THAAD being used constantly against ballistic missiles in the Middle East, it is not ruled out that scenes like this are repeated, turning each failed interception into something much more serious than a tactical error for the American side: a possible knowledge leak strategic for his enemies. Image | x, US Army In Xataka | To rescue the pilot lost in Iran, the US has told a story worthy of Spielberg. Some explosive images tell a very different story In Xataka | The US is going to end its war in the Middle East with a very uncomfortable reality: Iran had years of advantage underground

The Aragón justice system has shown how expensive it can be for a company to get involved with dismissal letters: 46,665 euros

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There are mistakes that can be corrected with a simple apology. And then there are errors that, once committedhave legal consequences that no apology can undo. A freight transport company in Huesca discovered this in the worst possible way when it fired one of its employees, regretted it days later, trying to back down, and then fired him again. All of this while the worker was at home on medical leave. What seemed like an internal bureaucratic mess ended up in court and with compensation of more than 46,000 euros. The dismissal letters the devil carries them. Two layoffs, one leave and fifteen days of chaos. As documented in the sentence In the case that reached the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon, the worker had been in the company since 2011, with an indefinite contract, and had accumulated more than a year of medical leave due to a cervical injury when, on December 14, 2023, he received a burofax from his company informing him of the disciplinary dismissal. As indicated in the dismissal letter, the employee had carried out incompatible activities with his low status. The worker did not take long to react and began the process to challenge the dismissal in court. But then something unexpected happened. On December 20, just six days later, a second burofax arrived in which the company declared that the first dismissal was annulled and that an internal disciplinary file was opened in its place. Not satisfied with this, on December 29 they received a third burofax containing another dismissal letter, this time accompanied by the payroll and the corresponding settlement. Within two weeks, the employee had received two dismissal communications and one cancellation while was still convalescing at home. Why the company wanted to back down. As stated in the ruling, the company argued that the first dismissal had been a procedural error and considered that the initial letter had formal defects related to the applicable collective agreement, since the worker had questioned by email whether the merchandise transportation agreement or the chemical industry agreement should apply. The company’s intention was to annul that first dismissal, open the correct disciplinary file and issue a new letter in order. From his point of view, the only real dismissal was that of December 29, which had never been challenged by the worker. The company also tried to demonstrate to the court that the underlying reason for the dismissal was legitimate: a private detective report recorded the worker carrying out physical activity during his medical leave, which he interpreted as a simulation of the disability or, at least, as a behavior incompatible with recovery. A dismissal letter is not a draft. The problem for the company is that the dismissal letter is not a simple administrative communication with the employee, but is a document with key legal value with which an entire dismissal process begins with very well-defined deadlines and procedures to give maximum guarantees to both companies and employees. He article 55.1 of the Workers’ Statute establishes that disciplinary dismissal must be notified in writing, with the facts that motivate it and the effective date. Once that letter is delivered, a legal mechanism is put in place that neither party can stop unilaterally. The law itself contemplates the possibility for the company to retract the dismissal and provides a way out when a company wants to correct a poorly formulated dismissal, but as stated in article 55.2 of the Workers’ Statute, it is subject to very precise conditions and deadlines. Furthermore, it is only admitted if, during that rectification period, the company keeps the worker registered with Social Security and pays them all salaries. In this case, the ruling states that it was not proven that the company had complied with that requirement, which blocked this means of rectification. Without the worker’s acceptance, there is no turning back. On the other hand, and beyond the administrative procedures, there is an additional requirement that the company did not comply with in its process of rectification of the first dismissal: for the employment relationship to be restored, the worker who has been dismissed must expressly accept it. It is not enough for the company to declare on its own that the dismissal is without effect. The Supreme Court already established that a communicated dismissal determines that the worker is not obliged to accept any subsequent retraction from the company, and that claiming before the courts in that situation does not constitute any type of abuse. In this case, the employee did not explicitly accept the annulment of the first dismissal or return to his position. The email he sent to the company questioning the applicable collective agreement was not considered by the court as a tacit acceptance of the withdrawal, but rather as confirmation of his dismissal status. The employment relationship, in the eyes of the law, had been terminated on December 14 and no subsequent communication from the company could change that unilaterally. The outcome: more than 46,000 euros in compensation. The TSJ of Aragón also ruled out the argument about physical activity during sick leave. It was proven that the outputs recorded by detective They were walks or runs of about 40 minutes of moderate duration that, according to the medical assessment, were not contraindicated for the worker’s recovery from the cervical injury. With all these arguments on the table, the court declared the dismissal inadmissible, the first, because the second no longer had any legal value, and established compensation of 46,665.34 euros, calculated based on age of the worker. The company appealed that decision to the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon, which confirmed it in its entirety and also ordered it to pay 800 euros in costs. Dismissal letters, especially if they are not well formulated, are carried by the devil. In Xataka | He had been in the same notary office for 16 years and was fired for not passing the trial period: the Supreme Court ended up seeing the … Read more

how a relay in Gipuzkoa saved Europe while the Spanish system died of success

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Next April 28 it will be exactly one year of the biggest collapse in our recent history: the great blackout that turned the Iberian Peninsula black and left 55 million people in Spain and Portugal without electricity supply for 12 hours. Almost twelve months later, we finally have the official autopsy. The final report. The European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) has made public the long-awaited final report. Throughout 472 pages, the panel of experts dissects an unprecedented event to the millisecond. The document, which warns from its preamble that it does not seek to assign legal responsibilities but rather to learn from mistakes, reveals a chilling diagnosis: the blackout was the perfect storm caused by the rigidity of new technologies, manual ineffectiveness in the face of a millisecond crisis and an infrastructure incapable of keeping pace with the energy transition. The anatomy of collapse. To understand the ruling, you have to look south. According to the European report, at 12:03 p.m. on April 28 a local vibration was recorded of 0.63 Hz caused by instability in the electronic converters of renewable plants. Minutes later, at 12:19, the swing was amplified, affecting the entire continent. Technical research points to what could be defined as “operational blindness.” The report notes that much of the renewable generation in Spain operated under a “fixed power factor.” That is, the solar and wind plants were blind to the needs of the grid; they could not absorb reactive energy dynamically. When the voltage rose, these plants were simply taken offline for safety. When they stopped generating electricity, their reactive absorption also suddenly stopped, causing a rebound effect that triggered the voltage in an uncontrolled manner. Furthermore, while the crisis required millisecond reflexes, the control of reactances (the machines that absorb excess voltage) was carried out manually. Operators needed vital minutes to assess the situation. The blackout that could have been avoided. The European report not only acts as a notary for what failed, but also puts on the table what should have happened. By diving into the technical simulations of the ENTSO-E document, sector experts such as Joaquín Coronado have drawn a devastating conclusion: The collapse of the Spanish electrical system was not inevitable, but the result of ineffective management of voltage control by the System Operator (Red Eléctrica). The European analysis is blunt. In his simulation of sensitivity (named Analysis 7), the report concludes that if the connection of the reactances – such as the Caparacena shunt reactor at 400 kV – had been automated instead of depending on the slow human factor, the voltage rise would have been limited and the cascade effect avoided. In addition, ENTSO-E simulates alternative scenarios that show that electrical zero would have been stopped cold with measures that should already be operational: an increase in reactive power margins, the requirement that conventional generators absorb more voltage, or the use of the eight new synchronous capacitors that were already planned in the 2021-2026 planning. Without this automated reactive power reserve or dynamic support, the network was orphaned at the worst possible moment. The rescue from Gipuzkoa. The continental disaster was avoided thanks to Gipuzkoa. At 12:33, the high voltage substation in the Osinaga neighborhood of Hernani detected that the Spanish chaos threatened to drag down all of Europe. In milliseconds, the protection relay out-of-step (out of step) decapitated the connection with the French Argia substation. This “shot” left Spain in the dark, but it shielded the continental network. Barely ten minutes later, Hernani became the rescue route, allowing France to inject energy to resurrect the peninsular system from top to bottom (Top-Down). The structural problem of the market. The targeting of clean energy in the moments before the blackout has raised eyebrows, but the sector defends itself by pointing directly to regulatory inaction. In an interview for XatakaHéctor de Lama, technical director of UNEF (the photovoltaic employers’ association), is blunt: “A plant, no matter how large, cannot cause a blackout. Many other factors must come together.” De Lama explains that the current inverters installed in Spain meet very high European technical requirements, but places the structural problem on the roof of the Ministry (MITECO) and the CNMC for not financially incentivizing renewables to provide security services to the grid. “The current remuneration of €1/MVArh is not enough to encourage renewables to provide this service (voltage control) when we are paying combined cycle plants between 100 and 200 times more for the same thing,” details De Lama. The UNEF expert also recalls a historical administrative negligence that took its toll on us on April 28: while Portugal approved regulations to take advantage of the voltage control of its renewables in 2019, Spain took years to implement vital mechanisms such as Operation Procedure 7.4. We were playing with the rules of the past in the face of a crisis of the future. “A gold mine without a road.” This diagnosis fits with the voices of the industry. During the VI Economic Forum of elDiario.esPatxi Calleja, director of regulation at Iberdrola Spain, defined the national system as “a gold mine without a road.” We have enormous cheap generation capacity, but the electricity grid is the great limitation due to lack of investment compared to our European neighbors. And this green shield also has cracks. As we already analyzed in Xatakathe very high renewable penetration shields us from geopolitical crises (such as the increase in gas prices due to the war in Iran) during daylight hours, plummeting prices to zero. However, as soon as the sun goes down, the lack of mass battery storage sends us back to square one, leaving us at the mercy of combined cycles and fossil volatility. The war without quarter. While technicians analyze the ENTSO-E simulations that point to operational failures, a fierce battle is being waged in the offices. The president of Redeia (parent company of Red Eléctrica), Beatriz Corredor, has used the Brussels report in her appearances in the Senate to entrench herself … Read more

Predicting a drought six months in advance was a utopia. The UPV has achieved this with a system that uses AI

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In recent years drought episodes have intensified in some regions and fear of a global drought flies over the environment. In this scenario, a team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia have created a system that can predict whether there will be a drought six months in advance. The system. The work has been carried out by the team from the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) of the UPV and has been published in the journal Earth Systems and Environment. The method integrates predictions from four reference climate systems (ECMWF-SEAS5, Météo-France System8, DWD-GCF2.1 and CMCC-SPSv3.5) and are processed using artificial intelligence techniques. From this data, the team calculated two of the most important international drought indices (the Standardized Precipitation Index and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index), using data windows of 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. The method has been applied in the Júcar River basin, which usually goes through stages of recurrent and quite intense droughts. Why is it important. The novelty of this system is that it is not limited to using a single climate model or index, but rather it merges three pieces that are usually used separately and adds AI processing to correct biases and adapt the models to a regional scale. This allows the prediction to be more reliable since it does not depend on a single model. Furthermore, all of this has been integrated into an operational web toolintended to be used in water management and not only as an academic exercise. Results. The system is correct with a reliability of 90% when the prediction is made for that same month. If they want to obtain predictions three months in advance, the reliability is 60%, while for longer periods (12, 18 and 24 months) they do not give a percentage, but they affirm that the model is still useful for predicting what will happen up to six months in advance. Héctor Macián, co-author of the study, states that “The results confirm that the system is especially effective in reinforcing early warning of droughts, a fundamental aspect to anticipate management measures, reduce socioeconomic impacts and increase resilience to climate change.” Action window. As we said, the methodology has been developed in the Júcar river basin, which is a semi-arid area with long, dry and very hot summers, although researchers highlight that it is transferable to other drought-prone areas. Being able to foresee these episodes with up to six months of margin opens a window to implement the drought management plans much more in advance and thus be able to mitigate the effects. Image | UPV In Xataka | The remains of an ancient Mayan city leave us lessons for the future: an amazing system against drought

NASA chose it for a critical spacecraft system

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After some delays and problems, the Artemis II mission will take off next April 1, 2026 towards the Moon after half a century without humanity setting foot on the Earth’s satellite. And well, the reality is that the four people who will travel will not touch the Moon: they will simply circle it in a 10-day mission that will put humanity one step further: they will be the human beings who have been the furthest from Earth. And in that ship there will be critical technology made in Spain. Because the Orion ship consists of two modules: a crew capsule manufactured by Lockheed Martin for NASA and the European Service Module, provided by the European Space Agency, with the German Airbus Defense and Space as main contractor. That’s where the Madrid piece is: the thermal control unit, which is carried out by Airbus Crisa. TCU arrives from Tres Cantos. The Airbus Crisa plant in Tres Cantos (Madrid) has designed, manufactured and validated the Thermal Control Unit (TCU) of the European Service Module. As explains the Madrid company on its website, this piece will allow the supply of air and water to the astronauts, while ensuring that the temperature on board remains within comfortable levels for astronauts and equipment. As account for El Mundo Fernando Gómez-Carpintero, general director of Airbus Crisa, Orion does not carry one TCU but two. “Both are identical and redundant, that is, the ship carries two units because all the systems are duplicated in case one fails.” After all, it is the life support of the crew capsule: it monitors and regulates the conditions inside, providing propulsion, communications and energy. ESA module breakdown. THAT Why it is important. Because as recognizes NASA itselffor the first time in history has entrusted a non-American company with the construction of a crucial element for a United States manned space mission. Among the chosen European ones is Airbus Crisa from Tres Cantos and also with a critical component Who is Airbus Crisa. CRISA was born in 1985 independently, but since 2000 is integrated within the Airbus group. Its activity focuses on the development and manufacture of electronic components for space missions, both for the Airbus group and for third parties. In 2012, ESA launched the public tender and in 2014, Airbus Crisa signed the contract. As tells its directorwith Artemisa 1 its units recorded impeccable operation. His resume includes his participation in some of the most ambitious space missions of recent years, such as electronics for the James Webb Space Telescope, monitoring Martian rovers Curiosity and Perseverancecomponents for the Ariane and Vega rockets and also for ESA’s Gaia star mapper or the electronics of the SPAINSAT NG antennaEurope’s most advanced military secure communications satellites. Spain and the moon are old acquaintances. Spain’s connection with lunar exploration is not new. Without going any further, in the Apollo mission the antenna through which we received Neil Armstrong’s first words It was from Fresnedillas de la Oliva (Madrid). Its successor is still in Madrid today, but has changed location: now It is in Robledo de Chavela and remains operational as part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. However, Airbus Crisa’s contribution to Artemis II represents a qualitative leap: we are talking about critical components integrated into a manned spacecraft. In Xataka | Artemis: launch plans and everything we know about the mission to return man to the Moon In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury Cover | Airbus Crisa and NASA

The length of “a day” on all the planets in the Solar System, explained in a revealing video of just one minute

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The Universe is full of unknowns for humanity. What’s more, even data that we know ends up being questioned and reformulated, such as: the distances between planets in the solar system. In fact, as a millennial, when I was a child I learned all the planets at once and then I had to forget about Pluto. However, a reasonably solid and most interesting piece of information is How long is a day on a planet in the Solar System?information that on Earth is approximately 24 hours (23 hours and 56 minutes, specifically). This duration is due to the average time it takes our planet to complete a rotation on its own axis, although translation has an influence. Furthermore, it has evolved historically due to the gravitational pull of the Moon. Thus, and in general terms, we can establish that to estimate this duration, factors influence its radius, its orbit and also interactions with other celestial bodies. The reality is that we are facing a non-intuitive pattern with results that defy logic. To solve the question numerically, the popular science channel The Brain Maze has a great video the most agile and visual to clear our doubts with the figures in just one minute: Now we know how much, but it is even more interesting to understand why. As a summary, there are certain general rules that are met: paradoxically the largest planets are those that rotate the fastest and those closest to the Sun have suffered the effects of gravitational tides in such a way that they have slowed down to almost a stop. Although we already told you that there are quite a few anomalies. The counterintuitive pattern for determining how long a day is The Sun and the planets of the solar system. The sizes are to scale, but the distances are not. By Edits by Pepedavila. Source image on Commons edited by Farry, credited by original uploader to “Martin Kornmesser”, and later an anonymous edit re-credited it to “zaria mayers”. – Edit of File:Planets2008.jpg by Farry., Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20584284 Giant planets have shorter days than the Earth and in short, they spin fast because they grew fast. When the Solar System formed, these early planets accumulated gas and dust with angular momentum. The gas giants captured so much material in a short time that they were able to preserve almost all of that original angular momentum. They go without brakes and it shows: it takes Jupiter less than 10 hours to make a complete revolution on itself, despite the fact that compared to Earth, it is more than 300 times its mass and 11 times larger. With Saturn this also applies, but for Uranus and Neptune the explanation is incomplete: the ice giants also spin fast for the same reason, but their history is much more eventful, either due to collisions or disturbances in the early days. On Mercury and Venus the days become eternal. The rocky planets close to the Sun found a brake in the tides. Mercury is so close to the star that its gravity has dissipated its original rotation over time. If you were on the surface of Mercury looking at the Sun, you would see it stop, move backwards, and move forward again: it is the effect of its elliptical orbit and its slow rotation, compared to its orbital speed. In fact, even has a double dawn in some parts of the planet. Venus is also slowed down by the sun’s gravity, but it also rotates in the opposite direction. Because? Good question, for you, for me and for science in general: it remains a mystery, although there are hypotheses. A curiosity to reinforce the rarities of Venus: a day lasts longer than its own year, it takes 243 Earth days to rotate on itself and only 225 to complete its orbit around the Sun. By the way, the fact that a day on Mars and on Earth lasts practically the same is, according to science, almost certainly a coincidence. This similarity and other factors have fueled for decades the idea that Mars is the ideal candidate to host life. In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury In Xataka | The true size of all the planets in the Solar System, explained in a clarifying video

a system governed by AI agents

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The way we use mobile apps could be entering a new stage. Until now, the Android experience has been based on something very simple: opening applications and performing step-by-step actions within them. However, Google is exploring a different model, in which artificial intelligence acts as an intermediate layer between what we ask for and what apps can do. In that scenario, we won’t always be the ones scrolling through menus or completing processes manually. In many cases, it will be enough to express what we want to do so that the system will try to solve it for us, coordinating different phone functions. The next step in Android. In a post on the official developer blogthe company presents new capabilities designed so that applications can work directly with assistants and AI systems. These functions are designed so that tools like Gemini can discover and execute certain actions within some apps. The project is still in an early phase, but it suggests a very specific direction: begin to reconfigure Android as an environment in which artificial intelligence can help complete tasks. What do we understand by agent. In the field of AI, an agent is a designed system to move from response to action. While early digital assistants functioned as consultation tools, agents attempt to understand an intention and plan how to carry it out. To do so, they combine several capabilities: understanding natural language, evaluating the context and deciding what steps are necessary to fulfill a request. It is not just about generating text or suggestions, but about organizing a small chain of decisions oriented towards a specific objective. If we follow the reasoning that Google presents in its publication, the change does not only affect AI, but also how applications are conceived within Android. For years, the main objective of any app was to get the user to open it and complete all the necessary actions within it. However, now that criterion is beginning to shift. In this new scenario, success begins to be measured less by getting us to open an app and more by its ability to help complete a task, even when the user does not directly interact with its entire interface. One of the first pieces of change. The first path that Google proposes to move in this direction goes through something it calls AppFunctions. It is not a user-visible function as such, but rather a set of tools with which developers can expose functions and data of their apps to intelligent assistants such as Gemini. The example mentioned by the Android blog itself is quite illustrative: on the recently introduced Galaxy S26 seriesGemini can access Samsung Gallery features to locate specific photos based on a natural language request, such as asking to show images of a pet. In that case, the assistant interprets the request, activates the corresponding Samsung Gallery function and returns the result without requiring the user to manually navigate through the gallery. The other way of Google. Along with direct integrations, the company is preparing a second formula to extend this model to more applications. As he explains, it is an interface automation system that will allow Gemini to take care of generic multi-step tasks without depending on a specific connection between the app and the assistant. Instead of relying on a function previously exposed by the application, the AI ​​acts directly on the interface. Google notes that this initial preview will be tested on the Galaxy S26 series and some Pixel 10within the Gemini app and with a limited selection of delivery, grocery and transportation applications in the United States and Korea. The company also ensures that the user will be able to follow the process through notifications or a live view, resume manual control at any time and receive notifications before sensitive actions, such as a purchase. Looking to the future. If Google’s announcement makes anything clear, it is that Android is beginning to prepare for a different stage. The functions presented are still in development and their deployment will be gradual, but they point to a specific direction: an operating system in which artificial intelligence plays an increasingly active role in the way we perform daily actions on mobile phones. Pixel and Samsung appear for now as the most visible references, although Google suggests that it wants to bring these capabilities to more manufacturers as the ecosystem evolves. As is often the case with these types of changes, the final result will depend on how the tools, integrations and the response of the users themselves evolve. Images | Google In Xataka | The iPhone has been a “made in China” phone for decades. Now it is changing countries at full speed: India

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