time

too much ambition for so little time

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Artemis II has been successfully completedbut this has practically been the beginning of the Artemis missions. NASA’s goal is for a manned spacecraft to land on the Moon and, in the future, to build a lunar base for future expeditions. But for that it will be necessary to take another step in the development of space exploration technologies. Aware that it can’t do everything alone, NASA already has the support of private agencies, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, but that can create complicated tensions. Apollo vs Artemis. When humans first landed on the Moon aboard Apollo 11, they had a ship made up of two modules: a landing module and a command module. Once in lunar orbit, both modules were separated, so that one remained rotating around the Moon and the other carried out the lunar landing. Both had to be manned. Therefore, in all the missions in which the moon landing was achieved, there was an astronaut who did not set foot on the Moon. In the case of Artemis, the goal is for the entire crew to land on the moon. They will travel in the Orion capsule, as they have done in Artemis II and, once in lunar orbit, they will pass to the lander, which will already be there. SpaceX vs Blue Origin. Taking the above into account, it is clear that NASA’s next big step will be the construction of the lander. Orion has already more than proven that it works perfectly. In order to reach the planned dates on time, NASA asked for help from the two largest private space exploration companies: Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. In principle, the initial contract was received by SpaceXfor the construction of a lander called the Human Starship Landing System (HLS). However, there are some delays in production that have led NASA to consider canceling the contract and giving priority to Blue Origin’s proposals. That, logically, has generated many tensions between both companies. Step by step for a moon landing. According to NASA’s schedule, the manned moon landing should occur in 2028. By the time Orion reaches lunar orbit, the lander should already be theredocked to the Lunar Gateway, the Lunar Station to be built through the collaboration of the American, European, Canadian and Japanese space agencies. During the time it remains docked until the arrival of Orion, the HLS will have to receive fuel several times, directly in orbit. When Orion arrives, it will also dock with the Lunar Gateway, so astronauts can transition from the ship to the lander. Everything will be ready for the moon landing. Many steps and very little time. Although the manned moon landing is planned for the end of 2028, before refueling in orbit should be tested and, above all, carry out a complete uncrewed moon landing. It is important to check that it is safe before taking astronauts to the lunar surface. The first steps should be carried out in 2027. But both the Lunar Gateway and the HLS have experienced delays. A way could be found to directly dock the HLS with the Orion spacecraft. In fact, Some tests have already been carried out on Earth successfully.. However, the delays that SpaceX is experiencing make it very difficult to meet the dates. China on the heels. Although there are those who say that NASA has already won the lunar race against China, in reality the winner will be whoever takes its astronauts to the lunar surface first. NASA has taken its people to the orbit of our satellite, but China is working at a good pace. Its goal is to land on the moon in 2030. In principle, NASA would go faster, but delays could truncate its plans. Maybe we should give up racing. In reality, it is more than proven that the greatest space successes are those that come from collaboration. All you have to do is see that, although it has not received the publicity it deserves, Europe has played a key role in the success of Artemis II. The effort to turn lunar missions into a race between China and NASA may obscure the true objective. Demonstrate that humanity, wherever it comes from, is capable of taking that great leap that Neil Armstrong was already talking about in 1969. The best way to jump will always be as a team. Images | NASA (edited) In Xataka | We knew there was water on the Moon, but not why some craters were empty. Finally we have the answer

The most dangerous time of the drought is now. Just when we have the reservoirs full

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Spain has just officially emerged from the drought that it has been dragging on since 2021. And no wonder: the reservoirs are at 83.5%; That is, the highest level recorded in the month of March in the entire historical series. That also explains why we are not talking about it: restrictions have been lifted, administrations have been relaxed and, beyond some very specific places, no one talks about the drought anymore. It is right at this moment that the next water crisis is being prepared. The paradox of abundance. At least, that’s what explains Jorge Rodríguez-Chueca in The Conversation. This professor from the Polytechnic University of Madrid is convinced that now is the time to think about what would happen if it doesn’t rain more all year. Because it is precisely when water begins to run out that the system is most in danger. After all, just one dry year (without changes in consumption) would be enough for the drought to return. The wettest January on record may be, for all we know right now, a mirage. What really is a drought? And it is that, according to the researcherdrought does not begin when there is a lack of water; It begins when consumption is unable to adjust to the variability of inputs. That is why we must stop reactive management and start thinking ahead. But let’s not rush: there are still scars from the drought. And, no matter how happy we are about the current situation, it would be reckless to forget that the effects of the previous drought are still with us. According to many researchers, the It started in 2021 and was the worst drought in 200 years. and, in early 2024, reservoirs reached historic lows. It is true that the situation began to recover shortly after, but it has taken more than two years (and a historic event) for the drought to end. A historical pattern. The most interesting thing about Rodríguez-Chueca’s work is the idea that, in periods of abundance, demand increases (not only is more water consumed, but more is irrigated, more permits are granted, and more facilities and parks are created). When drought hits, consumption is higher and that accelerates the crisis — and the margin for action is smaller. We have seen it many times. As explained in Datadista“since the deep drought of the 1990s, each dry period has served to implement emergency measures (…) or allow practices that were not eliminated when the rains returned, they were used to expand irrigation, increasing the problem of overexploitation and contamination of aquifers and the wetlands they feed.” Will we fall into the same mistake again? That is the big question and there are no signs to be optimistic. Above all, because the problem goes beyond what Rodríguez-Chueca points out: we are talking about a structural problem. Irrigation modernization is a poisoned gift: it reduces water needs per hectare, yes; But that has pushed many dryland farms to be converted into irrigation. Ultimately, each innovation and improvement creates a more efficient system, but more dependent on missing water. This is what has led us to this situation. Image | Anthony Da Costa In Xataka | In the middle of one of the most extreme droughts in living memory, Catalonia has had an idea: start cutting down trees

We have found a time capsule in the form of salt in Chile. And now finding life on Mars is closer

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As we continue to explore how to get to Mars with Artemis II As a critical engineering and logistics bridge in the form of a long-term trial of interplanetary travel, science continues to search for traces of life on the red planet. And it is not easy: although 3.37 billion years ago an ocean covered half the planetMars is today a dry planet devastated by radiation. The question is where to look for that life. The answer, as incredible as it may seem, may be more than 3,500 meters high in the north of Chile, in the Salar de Pajonales, a landscape that is also desolate where there is a range of extreme temperatures ranging between -23 °C and 26 °C, one of the highest solar radiation recorded on Earth, there is hardly any precipitation and winds that exceed 100 km/h. And yet, there is life. There a research team has discovered that plaster constitutes the perfect refuge for life. Spoiler: Gypsum is a common mineral both on Earth like on mars. The discovery. According to this research, gypsum is not only a sedimentary rock, but also a biological repository. Thus, this mineral is capable of harboring both current life in the form of microorganisms that live within the crystals and preserving molecular fossils and microscopic structures. A kind of time capsule that protects organic material from degradation for millions of years. Why is it important. The consequence of this finding in space research is direct: if gypsum is a “magnet” for biological preservation in hyperaridity conditions, the scientific community knows that the abundant sulfate deposits on Mars (such as Gale crater) are a magnificent place to continue searching for traces of extraterrestrial life. If there was life on Mars, gypsum is a likely place to house its traces. Context. The Salar de Pajonales seems like a place from another planet: it is in high mountains where ultraviolet radiation is high, there is extreme aridity and thermal fluctuations reminiscent of the conditions on Mars from billions of years ago, when the red planet began to dry out. In this scenario, life has learned to hide from the unfriendly surface in a lifestyle endolithic to survive. Thus, the mineral functions as a solar shield and moisture reserve. How have they done it. To read what the rocks contain, the Tebes-Cayo team has applied a kind of high-precision molecular and mineral archaeology: With habitability and climate analysis with a meteorological station that recorded data every 20 minutes for 40 years monitoring water activity. Using x-rays, petrography and microfluorescence to create thin sections to distinguish minerals and their distribution without destroying the sample. With microscope, isotopes and DNA sequencing to identify the microorganisms, the trapped corpses and to confirm that the carbon found has a biological and not a geological origin. Yesyes, but. We already know that gypsum is the ideal candidate to search for life on Mars, but that is based on a hypothetical premise: that it ever existed. On the other hand, and although the Salar de Pajonales is reminiscent of the Red Planet, the conditions on Mars are even more extreme than in Chile (there is almost no atmosphere and it is even colder), which may have affected the preservation in a different way. And then there is the practical application: it is one thing to detect these biosignatures in the high mountains of Chile and another to use a robot thousands of kilometers away for the same purpose. In Xataka | Europe has thought of throwing three robots into a volcanic lava tube and now colonizing the Moon or Mars is closer In Xataka | If the question is “how are we going to build houses on Mars” the answer today is “with bricks made of urine” Cover | Luiza Braun and BoliviaIntelligent

why the “given time” tastes like glory to you

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It’s a pretty specific feeling to be looking at your calendar and mentally preparing yourself for a string of endless video calls or a meeting that threatens to consume the entire morning. But there comes a time when an email or a written message arrives with a phrase that gives relief: the meeting has been cancelled. The relief you feel is instantaneous, but there is a quite curious phenomenon behind it: the hour that has just been recovered in the day feels much longer and more useful than a free hour that was already scheduled for quite some time. The big question. It may be something that we feel subjectively, and now that you have read this paragraph you have realized that the sensation that is perceived is true. But now science has arrived to answer the question of why this happens. And it is not magic, but rather it is pure behavioral psychology. The answer is in a recently published study where the research team set out to understand what happens in the brain when the clock gives us an unexpected break. To do this, they carried out seven experiments involving more than 2,300 participants. Your conclusions. The first thing that have seen It is precisely that the time “gained” unexpectedly is subjectively perceived as much longer. The researchers explain that this is due to a powerful contrast effect, since the mind was rigidly prepared to not have free time and undergo a cognitive load such as the meeting. When that obligation abruptly disappears, the empty space that remains contrasts brutally with our expectation of saturation. In short, the brain, faced with the sudden absence of scheduled stress, stretches our perception of those minutes. What do we do with time? This altered perception of time has direct and measurable consequences on our behavior, since, as the experiments detail, the feeling of “liberation” pushes us to make very specific decisions about how to invest that time. And because we perceive that we have a lot of extra time, we are more likely to invest it in more extensive, leisure-oriented activities. This explains why, after a cancellation, it is rare that we launch into a harder and more tedious task that we have pending. Instead, that false sense of temporary abundance invites us to have a long coffee, read a pending article, chat with a colleague or do low-intensity tasks. It is as if you were literally tasting freedom. The modern era. With everything around us, science reminds us that there is a cost to living obsessed with the agenda. Previous research suggests that our leisure time drastically reduces how much we enjoy it and makes us perceive that time passes faster. This is why overscheduling contracts our perception of time, while unexpected cancellations expand it. Images | Campaign Creators In Xataka | It is possible that you have been studying poorly all your life: neuroscience is destroying the myth of “crazing” the night before

Microsoft’s problem is not having lost a quarter of its value in three months. It’s just that he’s been wrong for a long time.

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It seems like not so long ago when many celebrated Microsoft’s commitment to Azure. The decision of Satya Nadella Focusing on cloud computing soon began to translate into good financial results, propelling the Redmond company to achieve record revenue figures. But there was something more relevant in that movement: the realization that it could generate enormous benefits beyond Windows. That strategy, started in 2014ended up marking a before and after that became especially visible in 2019, when the firm reached for the first time a market capitalization of one trillion dollars. However, not even the most long-term oriented strategists, like Nadella, are free from errors. Microsoft has been chaining questionable decisions for some time that have ended up having a direct impact on its quarterly results. Specifically, the company has lost almost a quarter of its value in just three months. To put it in context, we are talking about its largest quarterly drop since the 2008 financial crisis. A decline of this magnitude, logically, does not go unnoticed. From cloud leadership to a strategy under pressure If we want to understand why the story has gone wrong, we have to start with the most obvious: the market has reacted harshly and, above all, selectively. In the first quarter of 2026, Microsoft lost about 23% of its stock market value, according to CNBCwhile the Nasdaq lost around 7%. It is not a minor movement, among other things because we are talking about a drop of a magnitude that has not been seen in almost two decades. This gap compared to the rest of the sector begins to point out problems that go beyond the general context. For a time, the commitment to OpenAI was seen as one of Microsoft’s great strategic successes, and it is not difficult to understand why. The company has invested around 13 billion dollarss to integrate this technology into Azure and into products like Copilot, which allowed it to place itself in a very advantageous position in the race of the artificial intelligence. However, with the passage of time we have also begun to see the other side of that decision: a very high technological dependence and a growing pressure to justify that deployment. As the months have passed, that close relationship has also quietly begun to change. Although Azure remains a key partner for OpenAI, the company led by Sam Altman has started to open your infrastructure to other actors to sustain the growth of its models, which increasingly require more computing capacity and energy. This does not break the alliance, but it does change its meaning, because Microsoft no longer concentrates with the same clarity all the strategic advantage that it had achieved in the first phases of the agreement. If we go down to the field of the product, where all these bets should materialize, the case of Copilot is especially illustrative. Microsoft has tried to make this assistant the axis of its new value propositionintegrating it into Microsoft 365 and a good part of its ecosystem, but the adoption It is not going at the expected pace. According to The Information, almost no one uses Copilot. What we have seen is that bringing artificial intelligence to the daily life of companies is more complex than it seemed on paper. Added to all this is a tension that is not always seen, but is very present in the backroom of this race: that of how to distribute resources in an environment of growing demand. Microsoft is investing massively in infrastructure to sustain the rise of AI, but at the same time it has to decide how it allocates that capacity between Azure and its own services. In January, CFO Amy Hood came to point out that Azure’s growth in the December quarter would have been even greater if the company had allocated more chips to the cloud instead of distributing some of that capacity among services like Copilot. Attrition is not limited to artificial intelligence, and that should also be taken into account. Also this year we have seen notable drops in income and in various areas of the Xbox ecosystemin a context also marked by previous price increases in Game Pass and on the consoles. It may seem like a minor front next to Azure or Microsoft 365, but it helps complete the picture of a company that has been opening too many flanks at the same time. What we have seen is that even in areas where it had a consolidated position, Microsoft is finding it more difficult to keep pace. Put all these pieces together, and what begins to emerge is an increasingly evident disconnect between Microsoft’s operational strength and the way the market is valuing its strategy. The company remains the fourth most valuable on the planetcontinues to grow, with revenue up close to 17% year-on-year in its last reported quarter and with Azure advancing 39% in the December quarter, but that strength is not translating to its price or valuation. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana 2 In Xataka | The ghost of IBM: Satya Nadella’s great challenge is to prevent Microsoft from becoming a technological fossil

what time is it and how to follow it live

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Let’s tell you how you can see the launch of the Artemis II livethe space mission that will take NASA to the Moon again. This is a manned mission in the direction of our satellite, although the crew will not descend to it. After months of delays and uncertaintiesthis next morning a new attempt will be made. The new lunar landing will not happen until the Artemis IV mission, although this Artemis II is the mission with which NASA will know if it has the technological capacity to carry out a future lunar landing without setbacks. The mission will fly over the Moon between 6,000 and 9,000 kilometers above its far side, and will be launched this morning. Now we are going to give you all the data to see the launch. When is the Artemis II launched? Space mission launches are carried out in time windows in which the meteorology and climatic conditions are favorable so that everything goes well. And the next launch window is Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 p.m. ET, and will last for two hours. This is at 0:24 on April 2 in Spain mainland, one hour less in the Canary Islands. In Mexico the time is 16:24, 19:24 in Argentina, and 17:24 in Colombia. As the window is two hours, the launch in Spanish time will be sometime between 0:24 and 2:24 in the morning. Where can you watch the launch? The launch of Artemis II will be broadcast live to the entire world through NASA’s official YouTube channel, whose address is youtube.com/@NASA. This will allow you to watch it from the browser, from any mobile phone, or on any smart television where you have the YouTube app. When you enter the NASA channel; you will see that there is a section of Upcoming live broadcasts. In it you will be able to see two for the next morning, that of the launch itself and that of the views of the launch from space. You will even have the option to click on the Receive notice so that the YouTube app notifies you and you don’t forget. Cover image | POT In Xataka | We already know what we will eat on the moon: Madrid stew. An American team manages to grow chickpeas in lunar regolith

Science finally shows that they hunted the largest beasts of their time

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The classic image of neanderthal as a brute hominid with no intelligence and that barely survived by scavenging what other predators left behind, it is increasingly being left behind as we make new discoveries. Precisely, we now know that 125,000 years ago, our evolutionary cousins They were Europe’s apex predators, capable of organizing to take down the most formidable land creature of their time: the straight-tusked elephant. A beast that doubled the size of today’s African elephants and reached 13 tons in weight. The mystery of the spear. To reach this conclusion we have not traveled back in time, but rather we have gone to Leringen in Germany. Here in 1948 archaeologists found a skeleton of the straight-tusked elephant, with a 2.4 meter yew spear stuck between the ribs. A priori it seemed like the definitive proof or, as some anthropologists have called it, the smoking gun of Neanderthal hunting. However, scientific skepticism prevailed: was it a coordinated attack or did a group of opportunistic Neanderthals find an elephant trapped in the mud and finish it off? This is where a great debate has been generated that has now been closed in 2026 with the publication of a new scientific article. What have they done? Here the researchers have basically focused on the skeletal remains of the animal that was found, and the objective was to find the details of the hunting process. What they saw was that the cut marks and damage to the bones did not correspond to a simple opportunistic shot, but to a frontal and tactical attack. In this way, experts point out that the Lehringen spear is no longer an anomaly or a happy coincidence, but rather irrefutable proof of systematic hunting behavior. The context. In addition to what has now been known, in the past researchers demonstrated that the hunt for these titans was not an isolated event, but rather a systematic and recurring practice. The problem that was seen is that shooting down a 13-ton elephant raises the obvious question: what do you do with so much meat before it rots? This is where the classic perception of the Neanderthal falls apart. An elephant of that size provided enough calories to feed 100 people for a month, and processing that amount of meat and fat required three basic points: Groups of people larger than previously believed, which break with the idea of ​​small nomadic bands of 20 individuals. Settle in a specific area when you have plenty of food. Master fire and techniques, such as drying meat so that it can last for a long time. A new image. With all this research, the truth is that the textbooks have to be rewritten, since you can see how Neanderthals had the cognitive ability to plan, the communication necessary to coordinate mass ambushes, and the social structure to process and store tons of food. Images | Wikipedia Generation with AI In Xataka | The great mystery of sex between Neanderthals and Sapiens: genetics suggest that Neanderthal males preferred human women

Is it the best time to buy a Poco F8 Ultra or should you wait? This is what the data tells us

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Depending on how the price of the Poco F8 Ultra since its launch and seeing how its predecessor (the Poco F7 Ultra) in the market, this is how we evaluate whether or not to buy the F8 Ultra, in its 512 GB versionwhich is the one we have analyzed. 🟡 CAUTION (WAIT FOR OFFER) Poco F8 Ultra Verdict It is a mobile that has been on the market for a short time and can still be purchased almost at a launch price official RRP 899.99 euros (Xiaomi official store) Target price “on the street” Don’t pay more than 699 euros (Amazon in the 12 GB RAM version) Next release Next Poco F9 Ultra expected to launch in Q1 2027 according to rumors Our recommendation Wait if… If your current mobile still holds up and you are not looking for the bargain of the century, wait a few months (June/July), since the price of the Poco F8 Ultra will have stabilized and you will be able to get it cheaper. Regret cost Medium (about 100 euros). Normally, Poco lowers its terminals when they have been on the market for more than half a year. This means that if you buy it now, perhaps if you wait until summer (or even before), you can save about 100-150 euros. XIAOMI POCO F8 Ultra – 16+512GB Smartphone The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Why is the traffic light yellow? Although the Poco F7 Ultra started with a starting price much lower than that of the Poco F8 Ultra, it is true that its history serves to suggest that, currently, it is a favorable time for wait for it to go down. Specifically, we find ourselves in this situation: A relatively new mobile: With only about three months on the market, it is normal that the price of the Poco F8 Ultra remains stagnant. The ideal is to wait for it to go down, when it has been on the market for a little longer. Future purchase: Waiting means being patient and seeing the different offers that may come out for this mobile (we are aware of them and we will offer them to you). Think that if you wait, you will be able to save about 100-150 euros on purchasing the same mobile phone that you want now and it is money to invest in other accessories or, simply, to have it extra in your monthly budget. Expert Buyer Tip: That the Poco F8 Ultra is a knockout is something about which there is no doubt. Although buying it now for almost the same price as the original price is a financial mistake. If you hold out for a couple of months, you will be buying the same hardware for the real price it should be. Price history and change prediction The graph above compare the prices that the Poco F8 Ultra has had compared to its predecessor (the Poco F7 Ultra) over a year. These are the data that we get in key from this graph: The Poco F8 Ultra has had a aggressive debutpositioning itself significantly above the historical figure of the F7 Ultra (reaching 899.99 euros in month 8). While the previous model (F7 Ultra) maintained notable stability between 550 and 600 euros, the new flagship shows much greater volatility, with rapid corrections of 150 euros after price spikes. The current trend suggests that the F8 Ultra will seek to stabilize around 749.90 eurosa price floor that is still 36% above what its predecessor cost at the same point in the life cycle. If you are looking for the real ground, the prediction indicates that you will have to wait until the last quarter of the cycle to see figures close to 600 euros. The best Poco F8 Ultra deals now: Keep in mind that many of the offers we find are no longer available once we publish the item, either because they end or because stock runs out, so make sure before buying. Right now, we haven’t found very good deals for the Poco F8 Ultra (except in a few stores). XIAOMI POCO F8 Ultra – 16+512GB Smartphone The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Is the Poco F8 Ultra for you now? If you are not sure whether or not you should buy the Poco F8 Ultra, this is what I would take into account: ✅ BUY IT TODAY IF: You want to have the latest of the latest now and you can’t live without it Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Not one more day and you don’t care about losing 100 euros in two months. ⛔ I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT IF: You budget is tightsince you are about to pay the price ceiling (749.90 euros) and you can wait a couple of months to have this Poco mobile. 💡 Good alternatives to the Poco F8 Ultra that I would buy If you still have doubts about buying (or not buying) the Poco F8 Ultra, these are some of the alternatives that I would take into account: Xiaomi 15T Pro: If you want a Xiaomi mobile, one of the perfect rivals from the same manufacturer for this Poco F8 Ultra is the Xiaomi 15T Prowhich you can buy in the brand’s official store from 799.99 euros. It is a mobile phone with cameras signed by Leica, 6.83-inch screen, MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor and 90 W charging. XIAOMI 15T Pro Gray 12GB RAM 512GB ROM The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Realme GT 8 Pro: for a similar price to the Poco F8 Ultra (709 euros specifically in PcComponentes) you can get this mobile with good value for money. He Realme GT 8 Pro It has a 6.79-inch 144Hz 2.K AMOLED display. It supports ultra-fast charging at 120W and comes with Snapdragon 8 Elite. Realme GT 8 Pro 5G 12GB 256GB 6.79″ Blue The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: This … Read more

The daily menu has been in an existential crisis for some time. Now Mercadona threatens to take it ahead

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“This is more practical and faster. You eat for 6 euros and I don’t spend 45 minutes. I haven’t eaten off the menu since summer.” The phrase It is from David, 35 years old, technical director of a gym in Madrid. The World He interviewed him recently while having lunch at a Mercadona in the capital. His comment may seem like a simple anecdote, but it summarizes a phenomenon that in the coming years threatens to transform the healthcare sector. retailhospitality and even our eating habits: the struggle between the ‘menus of the day’ of bars and supermarket dishes. For now the figures are clear. Why are you going to the supermarket? A few years ago (not that many) that question would sound like a truism. You go to the supermarket to buy fruit, meat, preserves, milk… whatever you need to fill the pantry. At most you leave there with toiletries or perhaps home decorations, if we’re talking about stores. hypermarket type. However, more and more people go to the supermarket with another purpose: to eat. Literally. Go to a Mercadona, Carrefour or Alcampo (to name just three chains with a presence in Spain) and buy ready-to-eat dishes. Some stores even offer tables, chairs and microwaves. “Merchants” they call them. If you look splendid you can even buy a cup of freshly ground coffee. And do they work? Yes. A few days ago a reporter from The World visited a Mercadona in the center of Madrid, and found that, in addition to people shopping, there was a dining room full of customers eating dishes prepared in the supermarket itself. Three caregivers were having lunch together. At another table a woman was eating a hamburger while looking at her cell phone. Tables. Unknown. Dishes. Exactly the same as in a bar. And it is not something that happens only in Madrid. Not even in Mercadona. In another neighborhood, a retiree waits in line at a Carrefour to buy a rice and hake salad in green sauce. It is the menu of the day from the store, although his idea is actually to take it home. What does the data say? That the above are more than simple scenes of customs. It is proof that something is changing in the sector. retaila change that connects with our eating habits and threatens to hit traditional hospitality completely. According to data from the consulting firm Circana, the distribution sector already accounts for almost the fourth part (23%) of spending on food outside the home. And it is not the only indicator that points in that direction. Another recent NIQ report estimates that the prepared food sector in supermarkets, a broad category that includes everything from refrigerated dishes to other ready-to-eat dishes, recorded year-on-year growth in 2025. 11%well above the 5.8% at which the food distribution as a whole grows. In net terms, this translates into a turnover of billions of euros. In general, Asefapre, the association of manufacturers of prepared dishes, estimates that in 2025 per capita consumption amounted to 18 kg per person, 5% more than in 2024. Its most popular products are refrigerated pizzas, frozen potatoes and pasta-based dishes, so it does not exactly coincide with the foods offered in sections such as ‘Ready to eat’ from Mercadona, but it still gives a valuable clue about consumer trends in Spain. Which chains stand out? In Spain, brands with higher weight In distribution by value quota they are Mercadona, Carrefour and Lidl. The ‘photo’ is not very different when we talk about spending on food. At least that is what the data from Worldpanel by Numerator (Kantar) suggests, which recently disclosed a report which shows that the Valencian chain accounts for a value share in food and beverage consumption of 19.7%. Carrefour reaches 6% and Lidl 5.1%. The study leaves another interesting reading: with its share of almost 20%, Mercadona far exceeds the sum of bars, cafes and terraces (with a 11.2% share of total value) and independent restaurants, which remain at 8.6%. That Roig’s chain occupies such a prominent place is no coincidence. Beyond the gap that has been made in the sector retail thanks to the white labelthe group has been betting on its line for years ‘Ready to eat’in which it offers already cooked dishes that can often be enjoyed without having to leave the store. Today the section is implemented in 1,469 stores distributed throughout Spain and Portugal. Only throughout 2025 did the model expand to 210 new premises. What about the menu of the day? As Víctor, the young man from Madrid with whom we started this report, implies, this new offer of ready-to-eat dishes (many of them based on “traditional recipes”) represents direct competition for bars that offer daily menus. That’s interesting in itself. However, there is another reason why it is worth paying attention to this struggle between ‘merchants’ and bars: catch the traditional hospitality ‘menu’ in the middle of the crisis. Its format is largely based on affordability, but the escalation of costs in recent years (and which may yet be yet to come) makes it turn out every time more difficult keep them at attractive prices. At least if hoteliers want to maintain their margins. Have daily menus become more expensive? Yes. The data from the employers’ association show that every day in Spain they continue to serve millions of menusbut that does not mean that they are getting rid of price escalation. Between 2016 and 2024 They became more expensive on average by 19.5% (they went from 11.7 to 14 euros), but even with that increase the increase accumulated by the general CPI is not equal. A quick Google search arrives to find recent news that warns that in the last decade this increase in prices it’s already over 21%complicating the possibility of finding menus by less than 15 euros. What does that mean? That things get complicated for hoteliers, forced to maintain a profitability margin that guarantees their businesses and compete … Read more

The good news is that the Ebro reservoirs are at a historic 85% water level. The bad thing is that we are going to spend it in a short time.

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There are 6,640 hm3 of water in the Ebro basin. The reservoirs are at 85.1% of its total capacity at what is its highest level (for this date) of the decade. And yet, the fact that there is a lot of water is not news. All of Spain is the same (83.3%). The news is that we are going to spend it. A structural problem called ‘Mediterranean’. Every year, the pressure of the Mediterranean summer and the irrigation campaign empty the reservoirs very quickly. AND, as history has shown usthere is never too much water: “each dry period has served to implement emergency measures for agriculture that were not eliminated when the rains returned, they were used to expand irrigation, aggravating the problem in the following drought”, said Ana Tudela and Antonio Delgado. And that, precisely that, is what we are about to see. The complete image. Seeing the figures for the reservoirs can lead us to forget that, just three years ago, 85% of the basin’s surface was in “prolonged drought“and 45% of them declared themselves in shortage emergency. Mequinenza, the largest swamp, reached historic lows. It was a catastrophe not only in water terms, but also in energy terms. Now, however, all that is in the past. And Say’s Law lurks in the dark. What the old French economist Jean-Baptiste Say argued at the end of the 19th century is that “every supply creates its own demand“and, translated into this situation, this means that the fact that there is more water generates all the incentives in the world for there to be more irrigation. As soon as we do it, this becomes clear. After all, not all of the basin’s storage capacity is enough for a full year of agricultural demand. Without the annual rainfall and the melting of snow, we could already consider all its reserves exhausted. March is the key month. The irrigation campaign runs from April to September and that means that March is the key month for planning the year. It is true that the thaw has not yet begun (which this year is going to be very intense), but it helps us estimate what quantities of water are really available. All irrigated agriculture in the valley depends on the water we are able to store during the spring. The question from now on becomes: how do we conserve as much water as possible before we once again enter a situation of risk? And the problem is that we don’t have answers. Especially in a regulatory context in which are not foreseen widespread restrictions on irrigation. Economic, social and institutional incentives tell us that we are not yet prepared, as a country, to address the really important question: we do not have a water problem, we have a consumption problem. There is still room for improvement in management, yes. But that won’t solve the problem: it only postpones it. And that 85% of reservoir water has given us unbeatable weather, we just have to hope that we can take advantage of it. Image | Manuel Torres Garcia In Xataka | The great battle of the Ebro is not between Murcia and Aragón, it is between the headwaters of the rivers, the large cities and the delta

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