time

The last time all humans were on earth

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It sounds like the beginning of a science fiction work, but it is a silent milestone in the history of our species. On Tuesday, October 31, 2000 marked the last day in which every human being of the planet was on this side of the atmosphere. Since then, there has not been a single moment in which full humanity has been confined to our native planet. A historical launch. That October 31, 2000, A Soyuz ship took off from the Baikonur cosmodromein Kazakhstan, carrying on board the expedition 1 of the International Space Station: the American commander Bill Shepherd of the NASA and the Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko de Roscosmos. The crew reached an incipient ISS on November 2, 2000. It barely had a couple of modules (the Russian Zarya and the American Unity, assembled in 1998), But since then, the orbital laboratory has been occupied uninterruptedly. For 24 and a half years, there is always some human floating about 400 kilometers on our heads. A quarter of a century. The International Space Station is a collaborative project between five space agencies (the American Nasa, the Russian Roscosmos, the European ESA, the Japanese Jaxa and the Canadian CSA). It is not only an international cooperation symbol, but an unparalleled scientific laboratory, that orbits the land every 90 minutes at a speed of almost 28,000 km/h. In this quarter of a century, the orbital station has reached a habitable volume greater than that of a six -bedroom house, with A 109 meter wingspan and an average of seven people always on board. It can attach up to eight spacecraft simultaneously and has hosted almost 3,000 investigations of more than 108 countries, taking advantage of microgravity to study from particle physics to the effects of space trips on the human body. The ISS gives the witness. Aged and with age of agelike the air leaks that bring their operators head, the ISS members plan to leave it in 2030, before A ship developed by Spacex The towing to a safe place for its atmospheric reentry. NASA’s strategy is clear: ceasing to be the owner and main operator to become a key client, thus ensuring the continuous human presence in the low terrestrial orbit. This will allow to continue investigating in microgravity (which is crucial for future missions to the moon and Mars), maintain international collaboration and promote a commercial space economy. USA It has just reduced the budget for ISS hoping that there is a rapid transition to the new commercial stations. Companies such as Axiom Space (with their Axiom Sation project), Blue Origin (With your Reef orbital) or Voyager Space (With Starlab, in collaboration with Airbus) They are developing new private orbital platforms. What if they are not ready in time? If commercial stations do not arrive by 2030, humanity will continue to inhabit the orbit low thanks to China. Vetada de la ISS, China has expanded its presence in space With the Tiangong Space Stationcontinuously inhabited since 2022. China not only plans to double its size of three to six modules in the coming years, but is already opening its doors to international cooperation, as demonstrated by the recent agreement for Train and send Pakistani astronauts To the Chinese Space Station. With NASA focusing on a commercial model and the exploration of deep space, Beijing is strategically positioned as a central actor and a possible alternative in the low orbit, especially for nations that seek to collaborate outside the US frame. A changing environment. But there is another reason why the United States has focused on the moon and Mars. The low terrestrial orbit faces the increasingly critical challenge of space garbage. Millions of objects, from dead satellites and higher stages of rockets to small undetectable fragments generated by collisions or antisatellite missile tests. These waste travels at huge speeds and represents a risk of collision constantly and potentially catastrophic for astronauts. ISS itself has had to perform numerous evasive maneuvers in recent years. Manage this problem through better follow -up systems (especially for small objects), the active withdrawal of the most dangerous waste and, above all, prevention and mitigation in the generation of new space garbage (such as rapid exorbitation of rocket stages) will be essential to guarantee the safety of future long -term crew. For now, and for almost 25 years, we continue to live the space. On October 31, 2000, it was the last day of an era in which humanity was anchored exclusively to Earth. Since then we have been, uninterrupted, a species with extraterrestrial presence. Human permanence outside the earth seems assured, but its sustainability will require even more global effort and cooperation. Image | THAT In Xataka | Elon Musk has made public its latest recommendation for Trump: exorbiting the international space station in two years In Xataka | Boeing has lost: NASA will cancel the SLS rocket and look for a cheaper alternative to colonize the moon and Mars

For the first time an unmanned boat has knocked down Russian combat planes

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At the beginning of February there was An unusual factnot for war in Ukraine, but for any other armed conflict known in history. If the battle of drones was redefining the modern combat, the conflict gave green light to something new: dwarfs of drones “mother” in turn launching other drones to attack in turn to rival drones. The latest: boats with missiles demolishing Russian fighters, and without No one behind the wheel of vessels. Lethal innovation in the Black Sea. In an unprecedented event, the Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR) managed to tear down two Russian fighters Su-30 Flanker using air-air missiles AIM-9 Sidewinder. The surprising thing is from where they launched: Magura-7 naval dronesas Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov declared exclusively To The War Zone. This unpublished action, which occurred in the Black Sea, represents not only the first time that combat planes are dejected From unmanned vesselsbut also the First lethal use AIM-9 missile confirmed from this type of platform, which underlines the degree of sophistication and innovation achieved by Ukrainian forces in the Maritime Theater of Operations. Details of an unusual attack. Apparently, the operation used three magura-7 dronesan anti -aircraft variant of the model Magura-5of which two shot at the Russian fighters. According to Budanovthe first SU-30 was reached and its crew survived after being rescued by a civil ship, while it is presumed that the pilots of the second apparatus perished in the attack. So far, there are only images of the first demolition disseminated in networks social. We remember that the use of AIM-9M missiles, a more advanced variant than R-73 Sovietdemonstrates Ukraine’s ability to integrate Western armament into unconventional platforms. Unlike R-73, the AIM-9M lacks the High-Off-Boresight capacity (Hobs), forcing the missile to be oriented directly towards the objective to acquire white. However, their best background discrimination, infrared countermeasures and smokeless propulsion offer significant tactical advantages, especially in an environment where drones must operate with discretion. Precedents and evolution of doctrine. The incident is put along with the occurred in DecemberWhen Ukraine reported the successful use of an R-73 triggered from a USV to deed a Mi-8 helicopter Russian. Since January, according to Budanov, Ukrainian engineers began to install AIM-9 in these unmanned vehicles, consolidating an evolution that Combine elements of air defense, electronic war and asymmetric naval combat. Although the exact launch configurations have not been disclosed by Ukrainian intelligence, everything indicates that Magura-7 represents A hybrid node high mobility capable of operating in areas where air control is highly disputed. Russian reactions and consequences. Moscow’s response has not been waiting. Through various Channels in Telegrammilitary analysts and commentators have recognized the effectiveness of the attack and indicated the growing deficiencies in the defensive capacity of the Black Sea. The War Cárs correspondent Kitten channel He expressed his alarm For three factors: the loss of the maritime initiative, the degradation of the Black Sea fleet after the destruction of the Moskva cruise, and the apparent Ukrainian domain in the use of unmanned vessels capable of projecting power even on the Russian coastal airspace. The analyst Vladislav Shurygin regretted That the attack followed the same lure and ambush pattern already observed in other Ukrainian operations, criticizing that Russian doctrine seems unable to adapt to these tactics. Meanwhile, the Two Majors channel strongly questioned the Lack of effective means To neutralize the USV, proposing the use of FPV drones or the combination of UAV of Zala recognition With ammunition Lancet Merodetersas already happens on the mainland. Technological implications. No doubt, the use of air-air missiles on non-manned naval platforms redefines the rules of combat in the black Sea. Historically, The Sidewinder They have adapted to naval defense systems Like the Chaparralbut its surface Kamikaze drones grants Ukraine a mobile, hidden and scalable tactical capacity, capable of deterring Russian aviation without compromising high -value human or material resources. In addition, it reflects a constant evolution in the use of donated western systems, many of which, such as AIM-9M, were originally thought For manned fighters and now they are reconfigured on innovative platforms that They multiply its impact strategic. Although the United States and its allies have not publicly detailed how many missiles of this type have delivered to Ukraine, it seems clear that its use is far from limiting themselves to conventional air combat and is expanding the lethality of the Ukrainian autonomous systems. A turning point. In short, the demolition of the two SU-30 fighters by Ukrainian naval drones Mark a symbolic and operational turning point. As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, the control of the maritime space becomes as crucial as the land domain, and kyiv once again demonstrates its ability to convert material limitations in asymmetric advantages. We have come counting as that grew Industry without a paragon Around drones. By integrating Western technologies with its own doctrine, Ukraine is creating a new class of hybrid threats difficult to detect, anticipate or counteract. The incident not only represents a punctual victory in tactical terms, but also a meridianly clear message: Russian naval power is no longer unquestionable not even in front of small unmanned boats that are capable of driving fighters tens of kilometers from the coast. Image | Alex BeltyukovGUR SCREENCAP In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has entered its deranged phase: there are drones throwing drones to attack other drones In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has become a video game. Kill gives points and rewards to exchange in a military Amazon

There was a time when even the shampoos or the Pokéball had a radio. And Spain has rediscovered by force

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The blackout that Spain suffered Last Monday, April 28, with still unknown causeleft a very learning: The radio It was by far the best means to inform yourself Before the crisis. The stations survived the cuts thanks to electrogen equipment and the spotlights of the Spaniards allowed to be aware of the situation. During the hours after the blackout, Tiktok became a stranger transistor showcase. The Radio-Ranathe radio-barbieradios that They emulate those of past centuries… Spanish being Spanish, as we usually do The golden age of the transistor. Between the mid -50s and the end of the 80s the radio became a key medium thanks to the transistor. A cheap electronic device, small and easy to implement in any device. The radio was The most immediate medium To know the news, and the big companies began to obsess with providing this technology to their products. The solution was easy: turn your objects into radios. A cultural phenomenon. Having a radio at home was part of pop culture and was synonymous with modernity, a train to which the big (mainly American) began to join from the 60s. They began to integrate radios into watches, briefcases, coca-cool bottles, hair dryers, backpacks … and even shampoo boats. The radio became more a claim than a real utility with the popularization of TV and the Internet entered the 90s. The most rocambolesque radios. The blackout has left us dozens of videos and memes related to the most hilarious transistors. Some that demonstrate the fever in Spain with these products and, particularly, the resistance to the time they have. An HS shampoo, an informative Pokéball, or the Pizza Hut radius in collaboration with Cocacola for 25 years ago that my partner Rubén had in the drawer. Immune devices to programmed obsolescence and with the only need for a few AA batteries to function. A profitable market. Rescue HS shampoo It has a price of 75 euros on eBay. A Darth Vader head with Radio exceeds 100and a mini Coca-Cola fridge with radio included It costs about 30 euros. The radio culture, lives more than 100 years after its invention, has been the best evidence that Current technology is not infallible, And that there are inventions that far from being obsolete, have not yet been overcome. Image | eBay In Xataka | If you want to see series on blackouts, it makes all the meaning: fictions help explain us reality

How to know the state of trains in real time and what incidents there are

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Let’s tell you How can you have information about trains that circulate in Spain in real time. You can also know What incidents are there in the rail network at all times. For this, we are going to tell you two main methods that you have available. First we will talk about the official adif app to know her and know what you can see with her, and then we will tell you Official information channels for those that Adif informs about incidents and any event. Adif app for traffic traffic The first option you have available is ADIE’s official appavailable In Google Play For Android and In the App Store For iPhone. Do you know those stations information panels with trains arrivals and exits? Well, with this app you can consult them from your mobile anywhere. The first thing you have to do when the installs is to go to the map screen. There, you can Select any station in Spain to access your real -time information. By default you will appear in your town, but you can navigate as far as you want. Once you choose the station you want, you can consult all outputs and arrivalsas well as the combinations of paths. The information is in real time, and you can see Cercanías and Long and Medium Distanceas in the informative panels of the stations. This will allow you to see all the schedules and possible delays that may be. In addition, if you click on one of the trains you can see all its journey and all its arrival schedules. You can also draw routes saying from where and where you want to go to select trains. Web and social networks for information In addition to this application, Adif has A website where it warns of all incidents Throughout the day. There you can check if there are cut stretches or notable and unexpected problems on some paths or with some trains. The address is adif.es/estado-de-la-red. You also have the infoadif profile in X, whose direction is x.com/infoadif. In this account they will also notify in real time of any new incidence and the state of the railway network of Spain. In Xataka Basics | How to use Trainline to get the best and most train tickets in Spain

Why half Spain still does not light at home, and will continue like this time

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From 12.33 this Monday, A massive blackout seriously affect Spain and Portugal. In his appearance, Pedro Sánchez explained that what Spanish Electric Electricity technicians communicate is that “15 gigawatts (GW) of generation have suddenly lost, in just five seconds.” Something that, he said, “had never happened.” It is equivalent, it has mentioned, 60% of the country’s demand at that time. Nevertheless, The Government still does not explain the causes behind the trigger of the blackout. In this sense, a Portuguese electric operator has indicated as the origin of the problem to an “induced atmospheric vibration”a strange phenomenon produced by extreme temperature variations inside the peninsula. In the absence of official confirmation, the possible consequence behind this would be A 0.15 Hz drop on the electrical frequencythat Normally on the European network it is fixed at 50 Hzas we can see in Grid radar. And, while in Spain Red Electrica estimated to recover the service “between 6 and 10 hours”, the Portuguese operator was more pessimistic, stating that “recovering normality could take up to a week.” At 22:30, 10 hours after the blackout, Red Electrica has announced that it has recovered 48.2% of the estimated demand for this time. Let’s see what is behind the “black start” or “autogenous start”, the process of restarting the electrical system, so complicated so that the deadlines can be extended so much. “It has to be done slowly” Click to go to the publication. As Red Electrica explained in one of the first communications, we are facing an “exceptional and extraordinary” event that had never happened. Something like this is not common in the world, like Simon Gallagher explainsEnglish electrical engineer with 20 years in the electrical networks sector: “I do not think that a re -energyization of such a large network with such a high penetration of solar energy (PV) has never been made before.” To this is the electrical analyst John Kemp, who He pointed out that: “No one has ever tried a black start in a network as dependent on renewables as Iberia. The limited number of thermal generators will make it difficult to restore speed and frequency control.” And there is an added difficulty. Although we should be prepared for what the weather events can bring, Gallagher points out that Most emergency plans are elaborated by raising situations where gas or coal plants are the protagonistsand without the relevance of renewables in our network. Gallagher commented in the context of acquaintances that they are writing surprised by how long it takes to return normality to electrical infrastructure. According to this engineer, The slow recovery makes all the meaningbecause there are many critical factors to handle in the resolution. First, you have to operate with great care, spending a lot of time identifying which parts of the system are as they should: which are turned off, which ones lit, what damaged equipment, etc. And it is a process that must be done manually. Islands. The second key is that You have to reactivate the system little by little, in stages. The re -energization process requires controlling that each part that adds to the system works correctly. And that, despite what can be thought of in full 2025, often requires that engineers physically move to the substations to do something as simple as closing or opening a switch manually. When starting, you have to gradually reactivate the different areas of the country as if they were “islands”, that is, small networks isolated from each other. In the case of Spain, Red Eléctrica has some of these islands are the axes Aragon-Cataluña, Galicia-León or Duero-France. If they connect a lot very fast, These islands can saturate the generators and fall. The process, Gallagher explains, is complicated coming from a general blackout, because the load for the generators will be huge by being turned off. For the islands to integrate with others, they must be synchronized with each other, establishing that they work at the same frequency and voltage. This, again, requires extreme care and is expensive in time. Related to this is the speed at which the energy must be introduced to the network, then If very fast, the electrical system can be destabilized again (A sudden variation in frequency is what would have produced the first fall) altering negatively the 50 Hz to which the network must operate normally. The Iberian case is peculiar. A problem that Gallagher points out of our system is that solar energy does not inertia, in the sense that it does not help stabilize the frequency, indispensable requirement, or to start nets that are disconnected. We must then resort to alternatives such as gas and coal centrals, which have to start without help from others, and that is a slow and expensive process in resources. Another added problem, and that lengthens recovery is that The batteries of the substations, which are doing their job from the blackout, begin to run out. That means that, as we said before, they cannot be energized remotely, and it is problematic even if physical displacements occur to them, because base energy is needed for protection systems to work. How is the “Black Start in Spain” From the beginning of the problem, Spain has worked to work with the authorities of France and Moroccowho have collaborated to help re -Energify the areas of the south and north of the Iberian Peninsula. According to Red Eléctrica, together with this foreign aid, Spain has had a group of hydroelectric plants with the ability to start autonomously, without help from others, as we explained before. In doing so, they have begun to be coupled to the network, growing the aforementioned islands. At this time, according to the company, and According to the worldthere are no islands left. “ Image | Alexandru Boicu In Unspash In Xataka |

There was a time when we thought the birds migrated to the moon. Until an arrow released in Africa fell in Germany

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Spring is a time that I always liked. Not for the Horrible processionarybut for the return of the swallows And, above all, of the storks. After a long winter, They return home to nest. Imagine the surprise if, one day, one of those stork appears in your locality with the neck crossed by an 8 -centimeter arrow. Stop imagining because that happened in 1822 in a German city. And far from being an anecdote, it became a key event to unravel the mystery of why birds They disappeared in winter. The doubt. Now it is no mystery and it is something that we learn at school since childhood, but not so many centuries, people did not know why, good at first, the birds were in autumn and reappeared in spring. Those Migratory processes in which even the smallest of the birds rEcorren thousands of kilometers without stopping They were not understood, which forced the thinkers of the time to launch hypotheses and theories that, in the absence of evidence, since they were accepted without further ado. One of the answers was evident. And it could be none than … Alien birds. That is what thought Charles Morton, a Harvard academic who, in the seventeenth century, suggested that the reason why some birds disappeared in winter was because they migrated … to the moon. Most likely you have raised your eyebrow thinking something like “impossible, they could not be so illusory”, but you have to put into the skin of someone who had no way to check the phenomenon and it was still an answer to a real mystery. Because what they knew was that they disappeared for months, but not the place they were going to. And as they saw the moon from Massachusetts, but not Colombia, because the answer was clear. But don’t believe it was the only crazy theory of the time. Aristotle, already in the IV AC theorized about the possibility of being transformed into other species or even shuffled over his hibernation underwater. Morton rejected this idea because it was too fantasy (not like his, of course). The arrow. Morton even calculated that the trip to the moon had a month away and another back, sleeping much of the time and surviving thanks to his body fat. The truth is that, in the absence of better theories, it was not bad (despite my jocular tone, we talked about the seventeenth century and the media they had). However, little by little the idea that these European birds were going to other places during the winter. And the definitive test was brought by a stork. A good day of 1882, north of Germany, someone shot a stork, who fell down and with a capital surprise for those present: he had an 8 -centimeter arrow through his neck. The question was no longer how I could fly with such a breakdown, but where the arrow had come from. Brava PFEILSTORCH. Thus, they took the body of the stork to the University of Rostock, where the researchers examined the projectile and concluded that it was an arrow belonging to some group in the center of Africa. As it was impossible, or tremendously unlikely, that someone launched something like that on European soil, the response became evident: that stork had traveled more than 3,000 kilometers from the point in Africa in which winter had passed and where it was killed in Germany. Baptized as PFEILSTORCHIt was dissected and preserved in perfect condition in the Zoological Collection of the University of Rostock thanks to its undeniable importance in the world of science and ornithology: it was confirmation to the suspicions that, indeed, migratory birds or became anything else, nor slept four months underwater or went to the moon: they traveled to the warmest places during the European winter. Clue. After Pfeilstorch (which means “Flechy stork” or “storks crossed by an arrow”), they found more specimens In Europe with the same characteristics: arrows stuck somewhere in your body. This is not so uncommon in large birds, which show great resilience to wounds that do not compromise flight or its basic functions. Once they are injured, if not seriously, the wound stabilizes and the bird can continue with its life. With the inclusion Of the rings on the legs of the birds by the Danish HC Mortensen in 1899, the researchers systematized the study of specimens to verify that those who flew from Europe before winter, disappeared and then returned, were the same. Thus, we can say that this arrow launched in Africa that landed in Germany was the first bird monitoring system, a coincidence that allowed obtaining the first conclusive data on the migratory practices of the birds. Images | Thula Na In Xataka | Modern cities have become authentic “headlights.” For thousands of birds it is a problem

In its darkest time Intel is receiving a crucial economic support from its best client: China

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China is the largest market in which Intel is present. During the fiscal year of 2024 29% of its turnover Proceeded from this Asian countrycompared to 24% of the US. And is that of the 53,100 million dollars that This company entered last year nothing less than 15,400 million arrived from China. These figures reflect very clearly how important the country led by Xi Jinping for Intel is. And also how sensitive it is to the geopolitical context. In fact, SANCTIONS TO CHINA That the US government has deployed during the last two years have prevented this veteran company from selling its most advanced chips to its Chinese clients. Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom or Qualcomm has happened to them, but Intel is at a very delicate moment. Of the economic crisis facing We have spoken in depth In other articles. And, in addition, it can be aggravated by the commercial war that the US and China is currently. Mature chips are helping Intel to survive in China The company founded by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce in 1968 does not design and manufactures only PC microprocessors, GPU for games and games artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum processors. An important part of the Intel business is supported by the commercialization of relatively old integrated circuits that come from their mature lithography nodes. They are not at all avant -garde semiconductors, but they are still necessary. At the current situation of tension between the US and China for this last country, these mature integrated circuits are crucial At the current tension situation between the US and China for this last country, these mature integrated circuits are crucial. Chinese chip designers and manufacturers are capable of supply your own market with The mature chips you need Appliances manufacturers, telecommunications or cars equipment, among other industries. However, many users, research centers and universities in China continue to use software for X86 and X86-64 processors, so at the moment they cannot do without the CPUs designed to execute it. Intel is currently benefiting from this need. And is that, according to ReutersChina is promoting in a very important way the demand for its oldest microprocessors for personal computers and servers. It is evident that in current circumstances this demand represents a very valuable fresh air breath for Intel, although a predictable future exchange of tariffs between the US and China in the field of integrated circuits could greatly degrade this business segment. We will see what happens, but there is no doubt about one thing: China continues to be very important for Intel. Image | Intel More information | Reuters In Xataka | Intel has confirmed that the 20A node will be skipped to reduce expenses. The 18A node will enter production in 2025

Thus the “time thieves” act and how to recover your productivity

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Starting from the humble basis of accepting that We are not robots but peoplewe can rarely be 100% efficient throughout the day, both when meeting the workday, studies or personal tasks. However, it is very likely that at the end of the study or the study session you have the feeling that You have not advanced In your most important tasks, even if you have not stopped for a moment. According to explained in the podcast Write About Now The writer and productivity expert Laura Vanderkam, this occurs because there are certain habits and routines that act as authentic time thievesremoving minutes and hours without you realizing. Identify and face them can make a difference between A productive day and one full of frustration that affects both your work performance and your personal well -being. Time escapes in small distractions The simplest thing is that the time you dedicate to a specific task ends by diluting, drop by drop, In other distractions. It may be that while you work in a project, you are distracted when you receive a notification, answer a message or check the mail. As they commented on the Asana productivity blogeach interruption can make you lose up to 20 minutes to recover the initial concentration levels. Thus, the minutes are added and, At the end of the day, you have lost a significant amount of time In activities that were not in your plans and, what is worse, that you don’t know where all that time has gone. These time leaks usually go unnoticed because they occur as short interruptions but, in reality, the sum of all of them has a huge impact throughout the day. How to discover what you waste your time The first step to combat time thieves is to become aware of them. Sometimes you know exactly what steals your timebut other times you need to analyze it thoroughly. A simple strategy is to write down for several days in what activities You use your time. This will allow you See patterns and detect habits They make you less efficient. Check the mail As soon as the notification appears on the icon, see a video on YouTube and realize that you have been 10 in a row or send a fast message to a friend and that, without realizing it becomes a 20 -minute conversation. All sum. Detecting and being aware of such behaviors is the first step to minimize them and avoid time leaks during Concentration periods. Another useful tool is the Automatic monitoring. In most cases, we are not even aware of the amount of time we use in tasks. Luckily, Technology does know. Currently, All operating systemsboth smartphones and computers, have a monitoring function of the use of applications. This function tells the time you spend daily (or weekly) in a certain application, which will help you discover if that time is reasonable Or, on the contrary, it is a time thief. The selfish side of time Discover that you spend several hours a day communicating with your classmates with Slack or Microsoft Teams, or seeing in a weekly graphic the time you have gathered are also ways to become aware of the time you dedicate. But much more important, an opportunity to adopt measures and reduce that time applying a “more selfish” profile. After all, Your time is a finite resource And it is necessary to learn to say no and impose limits. If you can’t avoid certain distractions by establishing the “monk mode” for deactivate all notifications And stimuli outside your task, at least limit your access during working hours. For example, you can adopt the strategy of “Ulysses contract“, establishing specific schedules to check emails and social networks, instead of doing so continuously. This helps avoid the habit of entering” just a moment “and end up wasting much longer than expected. On the other hand, nonlinear communication of slack or other professional messaging applications allow to adapt the rhythm of communication to your needs. Just let your colleagues know that You need concentration breaks in which you are going to concentrate on getting your job, and that you will answer as soon as you finish it, so that they do not expect an immediate response during those periods. Reduce meetings time can Look like a chimerabut being aware of the time you spend in video call applications such as Google Meet, Zoom or Teams can make you see the working time that takes you per day and if it is possible to reduce it. A first step is to cut in 10 minutes the usual 30 -minute stripes offered by default calendar applications. On average, attention remains for 23 minutesso if you manage to scratch those 10 minutes to each meeting, at the end of the day Time gain is very remarkable. In Xataka | Lack of motivation is a problem for productivity. The trick to avoid it is simple according to science: start In Xataka | If your chair holds in a job interview, it is no accident: they are evaluating more than your curriculum Image | Unspash (Maxim Ilyahov, Lala Azizli)

For the first time, 100% of Spain’s energy has been covered with renewables. The question is whether we can repeat it

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If a couple of years ago It was a utopia Talking to produce 100% renewable energy in Spain, last year, showed, together with Portugal, how to lead the energy transition with 82% clean electricity. But in a display of energy ambition, last Holy Thursday, April 17, Spain managed to produce 100% renewable energy. Short. At the end of 2024, Spain closed with an installed power of 132,343 MW in its electrical system, being 64.3% of the total renewables. Last Thursday, wind and solar energy covered with more than 100% of demand in Spain, According to the Spanish Electricity (Ree). Specifically, at 2:45 pm he reached the maximum peak at 114.42%. In data. According to the statistics of the Spanish Electricity (Ree)the maximum energy of that day was 114.52% renewable and wind along with the plot reached 100.29%; while, nuclear did not exceed 12%. For its part, like He explained The Xavier Cugat energy analyst, the minimum clean energy data were 55.89%, and the plot together with the wind reached 25.88%; On the other hand, nuclear energy did not reach 7%. Temporary nuclear closure. On Holy Thursday it was a fairly moved day, not only because of the steps of Holy Week, but because in terms of energy matter, the co -chip nuclear power was temporarily closed, leaving only two active nuclear, according to the middle the country. In total, five nuclear were stopped, which raised renewable prominence to more than 77% of the generation. And even with that scenario, According to Energy Analyst Pedro Frescothe situation was export and storage to the maximum, and even renewable energy was waste that was not generated. This context reopens the debate on the nuclear closure calendar. Faced with those who argue that turning off centrals implies more emissions, energy expert Xavier Cugat has sustained otherwise: “Eliminating nuclear does not imply more emissions; it is the only way to continue expanding renewables, which are the only ones that are reducing emissions here and worldwide.” In 2023, According to Irena data The world added 585 GW of renewables, compared to just 3.9 GW of nuclear. So is energy left over? With so many green gigawatts, the big question is what to do with energy when it is left over. Storage has become the great technical challenge and Spain has found a solution in its reservoirs. This system has doubled Its activity in the last 15 years and is key in network management, the last battery megaproject It is located in Gran Canaria. What if there is no sun or wind? In Germany they call it Dunkelflautea word that describes that perfect storm in which there are cloudy days without wind, so the renewable generation plummeted. However, in Spain, this scenario is less frequent. In addition to having a greater solar irradiation and strong wind gusts according to which areas of the country, the system has the support of hydroelectric energy acting as a great stabilizer. Although we still partially depend on gas at times of low generation, the truth is that there is no “Mr. Burns” willing to cover the sun. The problem is not the lack of light, but how to take advantage of it when it is left over. Symptom of something more or a day flower? More and more cases of countries are using 100% of their electrical demand with renewable, there are potential cases such as Denmark that wind production exceeds the total demand of the country or Portugal which managed to supply exclusively with clean energy for six days in a row. In the case of Spain, reaching this milestone does not seem a coincidence since it occurs in a context of strong renewable growth, reinforced infrastructure and improvements in network management. Everything indicates that it is not an anecdote, but a clear indication of a structural change that advances firmly. A historic day. And now what? 100% renewable energy production in Spain marks a milestone and the final destination projected for nuclear. Although it has been a stable source, its high cost, the waste it generates and the thrust of new renewable technologies question their continuity in the energy mix. The key to the future will be to build a more flexible electrical system, capable of adapting to renewable variability and backed by modern storage and network infrastructures. Image | Pexels Xataka | Almost a year working only with renewables. Thus Uruguay has managed to arm the rest of the world

We have been reading about the danger of arsenic in rice for years. So much that we run the risk of not believing it in the worst possible time

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Arsenic is one of the best known toxic elements. The fact that traces of this element can be found in the rice we consume sounds more alarming than it really is: today only very high consumption of this food could involve health risks. The problem is that this can change in the future. Growing concentrations. A new study has pointed out that the increase in temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations (CO2) in the atmosphere can favor the absorption of arsenic in rice crops. This would translate into a greater presence of the element in the dishes elaborated from this cereal. A change whose impact could be significant around 2050. This increase in arsenic concentration could especially affect the population in Asia, where rice represents a higher portion of the food consumed. “Our results suggest that this increase in arsenic levels could significantly raise the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and (cause) other non -carcinogenic effects,” he said In a press release Lewis Ziskka, co -author of the study. The risk of arsenic. Arsenic is considered a heavy metal despite chemically belonging to the semimetal group. He Risk level which implies its presence depends on several factors, for example on the fact of the molecular structure in which it occurs (its organic structures are less dangerous than the inorganic ones). And, of course, it depends on the dose. The risk posed by this element has to do with its accumulation in our body. Its presence can lead to problems in development among the youngest, and in adults it has been related to skin disorders, bladder and cancer of lung. 28 Rice varieties. The team responsible for the study analyzed the effects on the rice of an average increase of 2º Celsius at the temperature and the associated increase of atmospheric CO2. Did it in 28 varieties of this cereal, modeling the evolution of its inorganic arsenic content over 10 years. From there, the team estimated the health impacts that this accumulation could produce in the populations of seven Asian countries around 2050. The result: a drastic increase in cancer cases and especially the cases of bladder cancer. Among the countries studied, China would stand out, which could see more than 13 million new cases of cancer associated with arsenic exposure. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine The Lancet Planetary Health. Not everything is lost. In its study, the team raises some possible adaptation measures dedicated to reducing the future impacts of this problem. The team suggests hybridar varieties of plants to favor those that absorb less, introduce improvements in soil management in rice fields, and improve food processing practices. They also propose consumer -centered measures: education and minitor, they explain, they could play an important role in reducing the impacts of this growing presence of arsenic. The occasional alerts we receive regarding arsenic levels in rice could make this more difficult, by turning this problem into a “Pedro and the Wolf story”: a non -existent problem that we pay attention today could become a real problem that we ignore in the future. In Xataka | What is really happening with white rice (and to what extent should we worry) Image | Shayan Ghiasvand

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