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SpaceX has already launched more satellites than all of humanity combined. And it will remain that way for a long time

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SpaceX went public just a few days ago, so that is the main topic of conversation around Elon Musk’s space company. However, in the meantime, he has broken a record that has gone much more unnoticed. As explained In his Twitter account, former space industry executive Christian Keil, SpaceX has already launched more satellites into space than all of humanity combined. Colossal figures. As of June 12, when the publication was made, SpaceX had launched a total of 15,262 satellites. The sum of satellites launched by all agencies, public or private, since the space race began in 1957, is 15,138. The most curious thing is that SpaceX has existed since 2002, so it has done in just over 2 decades the same thing as all humans dedicated to space in 70 years. Advances in rockets. Much of SpaceX’s success is due to the advances made in rocket manufacturing and reuse. Its first successful launch took place in 2008, with Falcon 1. It was coming off 3 failed launches and the company was on the line. A fourth failure could have bankrupted him. However, everything went well and just two years later the company’s first great colossus arrived: Falcon 9. As reported from spaceIn 2025 alone, this rocket has been launched 165 times. Most of the launches have been loaded with satellites for the Starlink constellation, in which Elon Musk hopes to have 40,000 satellites. Unless another company suddenly gets its act together, it doesn’t seem like SpaceX is going to lose the record. More releases. In addition to the Starlink satellites, SpaceX is now very focused on its space race to the Moon and Mars. They are already one of the two main private partners of the Artemis Program, but they do not leave aside their individual dream of traveling to the two most coveted space objectives for human beings. That will mean a lot of launches, but also data centers will do it that Elon Musk wants to launch in his quest to diversify the company and turn it into an artificial intelligence giant. It hopes to eventually place a million data centers in space. The launches would be made with its Starship rocket, which is still in the testing phase, although it must move quickly to comply with the steps agreed with NASA. for Artemis III. Most launches are loaded with satellites Satellites only. We should not confuse the launch of satellites with that of rockets in general. For now, the record broken by SpaceX has been around the launch of satellites. If we consider ships for any purpose, the sum of all humanity has launched more. Sticking to the releases, The Soviet Union alone carried out more than 2,000while SpaceX is behind 682 launches. It is true that SpaceX launches are more concentrated in time, but its record is based on the fact that each rocket is usually loaded with many satellites. Even so, the pace does not stop and Elon Musk has already expressed on occasion his interest in launching more than a thousand Starship ships per year. If that is true, it would soon surpass the Soviet Union and, perhaps, eventually, all of humanity. This satellite thing is just the beginning. Image | SpaceX | US Space Force In Xataka | Elon Musk knows that TSMC is overwhelmed: Terafab is his idea to completely change the global chip industry

Since the 70s, every time it rains heavily, west London floods without anyone being able to do anything. Until, in 2023, the beavers appeared

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The truth is that the headline is irresistible: a family of beavers have resolved in a handful of months a problem that London Underground engineers had been unable to solve for years. Rodents 1 – humans 0. The problem is that, as almost always, the story is more complex. It is true that engineers have spent years trying to find the best way to fix it, but the truth is that they did find a way to do it. And that way, it included beavers. What really happened to the London Underground beavers? On October 11, 2023, a family of five Eurasian beavers were released into Paradise Field, a former golf course west of the British capital. In that area of ​​Ealing and every time it rained, the Costons Brook stream overflowed and caused enormous flooding. Since the 70s, whenever it rained heavily, the area became an improvised swimming pool. 2024 was the first year in which this did not happen. “The UK’s first urban beaver count”. Sourced from wild populations in Scotland and financed by the city’s mayor’s office, the project has been a success. Now, in fact, There are now eight beavers that live in the area. Why has it happened? That beavers have “beavered.” Little by little they have built a dense network of dams that retain and release the water slowly, turning the Paradise Field into a sponge. This has protected the subway tracks, the station and the rest of the urban environment. Why is it interesting? For many things, but especially for money. Between 2015 and 2021, the United Kingdom spent about 2.6 billion pounds in flood defenses and estimates spoke of doubling that figure. The beaver colony and urban park system are a bargain by comparison. And not only at the urban level, everything is said. The River Otter trial, in Devon (2015-2020), does allow us to talk about effectiveness and points to a reduction in flood peaks of 30-60%. Can we learn something from it? In reality, we will have no other choice: for years There are people releasing beavers all over Spain. The question is whether we can do something to solve the eternal problem of recurring floods (in a context in which DANAs are going to become increasingly frequent and intense). But, of course, for that we have to understand well what has happened. It’s not like five beavers snuck into London’s sewers like ninja turtles and solved everything. A team of engineers and biologists have designed an intervention in which beavers have turned out to be wonderful. It remains to be seen what happens in the future and begin to accept that it is still better to collaborate with nature than to continue fighting against it. Image | Xataka In Xataka | After centuries of disappearance, there are people releasing beavers into the Tagus and other rivers in Spain. The problem is that we don’t know who

There was a time when having a thermometer in the car was a luxury. This is how this ingenious invention solved it in the rearview mirror

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Today we have basic elements in our cars that have remained almost in the same place for decades. For example: the thermometer. For many years we have been able to know what temperature it is outside from the comfort of our car (although sometimes we wonder if the sensor works as it should). However, long before this element was incorporated into the instrument panel or the central screen of our car, some manufacturers opted for another place: under the driver’s side mirror. And at a time when analogue predominated, there was no other choice. The luxury America of the seventies The analog thermometer in the exterior mirror It was an invention born in the United States, in the context of the great American luxury cars of the seventies. A time when the most prestigious brands in the country competed to offer the most extravagant equipment possible, from Cartier watches integrated into the dashboard to garage opening systems or autonomy indicators. Click on the image to go to the post The mechanism was simple as well as ingenious. And just as they collect On the Curbside Classic forum, where owners and enthusiasts have debated this type of vehicle accessories for years, the thermometer worked using a spiral spring made of a material sensitive to changes in temperature (normally two metals with very different thermal expansion coefficients, such as brass or iron-nickel alloys). One end of the spring was fixed to the inside of the mirror housing; the other, to the small outer drum. As it expanded or contracted with heat or cold, the spring rotated the drum, which displayed the corresponding temperature on a graduated scale. There were no cables or electronics. It was pure precision mechanics. Additionally, some manufacturers included lighting built into the fixture, either through a light bulb or fiber optic which came from the dashboard (like in some Cadillacs). This last method was better, since it did not generate heat and did not alter the thermometer reading. Cadillac first, Lincoln later The brand that first offered this peculiarity was Cadillac, the jewel in the crown of General Motors. According to they count In The Autopian, Cadillacs equipped these thermometers in the side mirror around 1976, even before its direct rival Lincoln. The Cadillac Seville, the brand’s flagship model at that period, was one of those that included this accessory in its equipment, which was also available in other models in the range such as the Eldorado, the DeVille or the Fleetwood. Thermometer in a Lincoln. Image: Vanguard Motor Sales (Instagram) From Hagerty Media, in an article about the 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, they say that the thermometer in the side mirror was an option available in that year’s catalog at a price of $18, which placed it among the most affordable extras within a menu of options that included everything from cruise control ($104) to the alarm system ($114) or the radio cassette ($239). The Buick Park Avenue, GM’s other big bet in the premium segment, also carried it from its early years as an equipment package to differentiate itself from the rest. As it appears on the equipment sheetthe original Park Avenue from 1975 already included the mirror with a thermometer along with other elements such as air conditioning and automatic rear leveling in the suspension. For its part, according to account In the middle, Lincoln, Ford’s luxury division, incorporated the illuminated thermometer into its models starting in 1978. A luxury that is difficult to find today Lincoln rearview mirror with built-in thermometer and wiring for automatic mirror control. Image: eBay Just like express the middle the middle, today it is extraordinarily difficult to find these mirrors in good condition. A mirror with thermometer for a 1988 Lincoln Town Car can reach between $140 and $660 on second-hand platforms such as eBay depending on the condition of the part, while one intended for the 1976-1979 Cadillac Seville can exceed $800. The Lincoln thermometer of the eighties already incorporated the double scale Fahrenheit and Celsius, something that the models of the late seventies did not have, as they only showed the temperature on the Fahrenheit scale. However, Cadillac started getting rid of its analog thermometerssince at the beginning of the 80s they already included more advanced temperature systems in their vehicles where the outside temperature was also displayed in digital format. The leap to digital The arrival of increasingly advanced electronic systems made these thermometers obsolete. In the first half of the 1980s, manufacturers they began to integrate digital screens on the dashboards that showed, among other data, the outside temperature. It was the era of “high-tech”, and digital had enormous appeal for the luxury buyer. The first car with digital instrumentation was the Aston Martin Lagondapresented as a prototype in 1976, although its cathode ray tube technology was too expensive for the mass public (imagine how expensive, if buying an Aston Martin wasn’t exactly cheap in itself). It was the arrival of liquid crystal LCD screens, and in particular the technology TN LCDcheaper and lighter, the one that democratized digital panels in cars during the first half of the eighties. From that moment on, show the outside temperature on a display inside the passenger compartment. It went from being a novelty to an increasingly common featurefirst in premium cars and, over the years, in increasingly accessible segments. In the mid-nineties, it was already a relatively common element in mid-high range cars. And if you have ever wondered where the sensor that measures the temperature and that is reflected on your car’s screen is located, usually It’s on the front bumperaway from the heat of the engine. Seen in perspective, the thermometer in the side mirror was a product of its time, but seeing it today, even in images, gives it a glimpse of very picturesque mechanical elegance. Cover image | The Autopian (eBay) In Xataka | Eddie Hall had a Bentley and many millions in the bank: he used both to set the most unlikely … Read more

The US has signed peace with Iran in Versailles. The last time someone did it was the prologue to an unprecedented disaster

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There is a historical irony that is difficult to overcome: the Treaty of Versailles It was signed in the same room (the Hall of Mirrors) where, in 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed after the French defeat. In 1919, France chose that same place on purpose to reverse the humiliation and force Germany to sign its defeat in the same scenario of its triumph. That peace was intended close a war…and twenty years later, Europe was entering an even worse situation. Peace in the same place, again. donald trump has signed an agreement with Iran in a place steeped in history: the Palace of Versailles. The image is powerful because it inevitably refers to the last great peace treaty sealed there, the one from 1919when Europe believed it was healing the wound of the First World War. That peace, however, was an imperfect peace: humiliated Germany, left open economic and political wounds, and fueled resentment that, two decades later, facilitated the rise of Adolf Hitlerthe collapse of the European order and the Second World War. The symbolism today is disturbing because Trump presents this pact as a historic victory, but many see in it the same pattern: a hasty truce, ambiguous concessions and structural problems that remain intact. From surrender to something else. Just a few weeks ago Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” of Iran. He signed memorandum This week it’s practically the opposite. Washington has agreed to release billions in frozen assets, relax sanctions, allow Iranian oil exports and open the door to a reconstruction fund. of 300 billion dollars funded by regional partners. In return, Tehran promises to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, contain its regional allies and continue talking about its nuclear program. The shift is enormous: from maximalist rhetoric to a negotiation that many in Washington consider a strategic transfer. The weapon that defeated Washington. The most striking thing is that Iran did not win this negotiation on the battlefield, but in the global economy. The closure of Hormuz (through which around 20% of the world’s oil passes) unleashed a cimmediate energy crisis. The threat of a global economic collapse was the factor that, according to Trump himselfpushed him to close a quick deal. I feared a spiral similar to that of Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Therein lies the great Iranian victory: it has shown that it does not need to militarily defeat the United States to impose conditions; just touch the circulatory system of the world economy. What was not resolved. There is no doubt, the central problem is still alive. The agreement barely touches the Iranian ballistic arsenal, leaves the question of its regional militias in the air and only establishes vague mechanisms to manage its enriched uranium. Trump even has publicly accepted for Iran to keep part of its missiles, something that until recently was a red line. The architecture of the pact is dangerously similar to that of the 2015 nuclear deal which he himself demolished during his first term. The difference is that now he signs it with less pressure and with an Iran that has proven its capacity for economic coercion. A peace that strengthens the adversary. Instead of weakening the regime, the war seems to have consolidated it. The apparatus of the Guardians of the Revolution still intact At its political core, the new leadership presents itself as surviving a direct clash with Washington and the flow of money can reinforce its internal stability. In practice, Trump has saved a regime he claimed he wanted to overthrow. That’s one of the most uncomfortable parallels. with 1919: Sometimes treaties do not close conflicts, they simply reorganize forces and give the actors time to recover. The poison of the 1919 Treaty. When the Treaty of Versailles was signed after the First World War, the winning powers imposed gigantic economic reparations on Germany, the loss of key territories, severe military limitations and, above all, the famous “guilt clause”, which forced Berlin to accept responsibility morale of the entire war. On paper it was a punishment. In practice it was a political bomb watchmaking. German society felt that peace not as closure, but as a historical humiliation that fueled a narrative of national betrayal and desire for revenge. From humiliation to Nazism. That resentment found perfect fuel in the hyperinflation of the 1920s, massive unemployment and the economic collapse after the crash of 1929. It was in that broth that Hitler built his rise: promising to break up Versailles, restore German greatness, and return lost sovereignty. And he did it. He reoccupied the Rhineland, rearmed the country, absorbed Austria, and dismantled the European order as Western democracies tried to buy time with concessions. The peace of 1919 did not prevent the following war; He incubated her slowly. and when broke out in 1939was much more devastating than the first. The lesson of Versailles. The great historical teaching of the Treaty of Versailles It was not that peace failed immediately, but that a very bad peace can incubate a worse war. In 1919 it was believed that the European chaos had been contained and what was done was to postpone it while growing up in silence. Today the risk is not a literal repetition, but the logic is recognizable: United States economic pressure easesIran retains tools of coercion and its nuclear capacity remains not completely neutralized. If Tehran concludes that being on the brink of the bomb is not enough to deter and that the real shield is to become another North Korea, this agreement could end up being remembered not as the end of a war, but as the prologue to a much larger crisis. Image | US NAVY, William Orpen In Xataka | The US entered Iran with the intention of disarming it and changing the regime: it is going to leave by strengthening its position and paying it money In Xataka | Iran always thought it would need a nuclear bomb to defend itself against the US: it has … Read more

Spain will take on the maintenance of 1,000 more km of roads: the end of "shadow tolls" comes at the worst time

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One thinks that there are roads in Spain that are free because you don’t pass a barrier and you don’t pay when you reach your destination. You may think that this is not entirely true, that it is our taxes that support these roads. And there is a true part of it. But not everything. Spain uses what is known as “shadow toll” on a good part of its “free” roads. It is a system by which the driver does not pay directly for the use of the highway but the State is doing it for him, since the vehicles that pass through said roads are counted. These shadow tolls have been used for a quarter of a century. Murcia was the first region to use this means of indirect management to getting your RM-15 “free” but the system was replicating. Right now, it is the means used on what are known as “first generation highways.” And those highways will become managed by the State next year. Unless otherwise chosen. In Xataka Until 2020, Spain had the most praised roads in Europe. Now it has something else: a hole of 13,000 million euros 1,000 more kilometers of public management The operation of a shadow toll is simple: the State pays for each and every one of the cars that use that road. That money goes to the company that manages the maintenance of the road, who must preserve its good condition. The Ministry of Transport indicates on its website that the State Highway Network extends 12,091 kilometers throughout the country. Of this figure, 10,656 are highways and multilane roads. Of them, “about 1000 km, the so-called First Generation Highwaysare managed indirectly through concession contracts using the shadow toll method, which is paid directly by the administration.” Those First Generation Highways They are A-1, A-2, A-3, A-31 and A-4whose major reforms in ten sections led the State to opt for the formula of this shadow toll in which the concessionaires assumed the cost of the work in exchange for managing its maintenance, charging for the volume of cars registered in them. In Xataka Spanish roads have a problem in 2026: repairing a kilometer of asphalt is more expensive than ever The contracts end in December 2026 and the intention is for the State to once again take care of the maintenance of these roads. With this reversal of tolls, almost 1,000 more kilometers will be added to the current management of the State Land Transport Infrastructure Society (SEITT). This state management will imply that the State will stop paying the concessionaire company but will have to disburse some 79.4 million euros to be collected in the General State Budgets, according to data from Seopan (Association of Infrastructure Construction Companies and Concessionaires) collected by 20Minutes. The Government’s calculations, on the contrary, indicate that the savings will be 200 million euros annually, they point out in The Economist. The plan to reverse these tolls comes from afar. In 2024Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, has already started talks to assume the management of these ten sections. So, one of the critical points was whether the concessionaire companies had to make any more investment to deliver the road in perfect conditions and complying with the minimum requirements required when signing the contract. {“videoId”:”x9tnvi4″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Why YOUR NEXT CAR WILL SURELY BE CHINESE”, “tag”:”Webedia-prod”, “duration”:”614″} Now, one of the conflicting points is what will happen to the 500 employees who currently work for these companies. It has been valued, they count in 20 Minutes Let the State be the one to surrogate them and take charge of their payrolls. The maintenance of the roads and the involvement of the State has been one of the controversial topics of the last few months. Seopan has been ensuring for some time that there is a shortfall in money dedicated to maintaining roads. The opinion seems clearly influenced by their intention that we pay for roads that right now are “free” but the truth is that This winter’s torrential rains put the debate back on the table. In 2025 they have already dedicated 1,910 million euros to repair roads. This year it has been put on the table dedicate about 1,000 million euroswhich transport associations such as CETM and the Association of Infrastructure Conservation and Exploitation Companies (ACEX) consider insufficient, ensuring that spending should reach 2,000 million euros. In Xataka Spain has one road completely collapsed and another completely empty. They run parallel and arrive at the same place Various associations assure that Spain has a deficit in investment in its roads. According to ACEX, we drag a deficit of 5 billion euros In investment in Spanish asphalt, although not everything corresponds to state management, the money is also distributed among the autonomous communities. The Spanish Road Association (AEC), however, says that half of Spain’s asphalt is in poor condition and that the hole reaches 13,000 million euros (a figure provided before the February rains). Data that the DGT itself accepts as good, which was collected on its website. Starting in December, another 1,000 kilometers will be added to maintain. Just when repairing a kilometer of asphalt is more expensive than ever. Photo |Ministry of Transport In Xataka |Spain has dozens of unique abandoned roads. Now he wants to save them by turning them into “historic roads” (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Spain will take on the maintenance of 1,000 more km of roads: the end of “shadow tolls” comes at the worst time was originally published in Xataka by Alberto de la Torre .

produces for the first time the ultrapure silicon that its competitors controlled

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China is a powerhouse in quantum technologies. In fact, in this area he looks directly at the US. These two countries have accumulated notable milestones over the past few years, including the quantum supremacybut his leadership diverges depending on the area. In quantum computing The US accumulates 34% of the most cited articles compared to 16% Chinesewhile in quantum telecommunications China leads with 34% of reference scientific production vs. 17% United States. The patent landscape reflects that same duality. China monopolizes around 60% of all requests global quantum technology patents registered in 2024, but when the filter is applied to international patents (those protected simultaneously in several countries), The US leads with 48% compared to 11% Chinese. Although, as we have just seen, China is making important achievements in the field of quantum technologies, it is to some extent dependent on some innovations from abroad. In the current situation of tension with the United States and its allies, this gigantic Asian country needs to become independent from foreign quantum technologies, and has just taken a very important step forward in this direction. The Chinese State Nuclear Corporation has announced that one of its research institutes has for the first time produced high-purity silicon-28 with an isotopic abundance greater than 99.99%. This isotope is decisive because it is considered the raw material for quantum hardware with the greatest scale potential: quantum computers based on silicon. Silence is everything The reason why silicon-28 matters so much must be found in physics. Natural silicon is composed mostly of silicon-28, but contains approximately 4.7% silicon-29, an isotope with non-zero nuclear spin. This detail is innocuous for a classical transistor, but is devastating for a quantum computer because the silicon-29 cores act as sources of magnetic noise that disturb the qubits, causing them to lose their quantum state in fractions of a second. Enriching the silicon until that impurity is almost completely eliminated is equivalent to building an anechoic room for the qubits: an environment where noise disappears and quantum information can persist long enough to operate on. A silicon-based quantum computer uses electron spin trapped in quantum dots (nanostructures manufactured on a silicon wafer) as a basic unit of information. Coherence, that is, the ability of the qubit to maintain its quantum state long enough to operate on it, depends directly on how quiet the surrounding environment is. In natural silicon the magnetic field generated by the silicon-29 nuclei drastically limits coherence In natural silicon, the magnetic field generated by the silicon-29 nuclei drastically limits this coherence. However, in silicon-28 enriched to 99.99% that field disappears. The most recent experiments on wafers manufactured with standard industrial CMOS processes have yielded coherence times of up to 803 microseconds and relaxation times of 6.3 seconds, as well as operating fidelities exceeding 99% in both one- and two-qubit gates. These numbers make sense when put against those of other qubit technologies. Superconducting qubits, the bet of Google and IBM, are extraordinarily fast in the execution of logic gates, but require cooling at temperatures close to absolute zero (around 15 millikelvin) and their coherence times They are measured in tens of microseconds. Trapped ion qubits, for their part, achieve coherences of several seconds and very low error rates, but their operations are slow and scaling them beyond a hundred qubits is extraordinarily difficult. In fact, they require ultra-fine vacuum systems, complex electromagnetic traps and surgically precise lasers. Spin qubits on silicon-28 are not the fastest or most coherent in absolute terms, but they combine sufficiently long coherence with an advantage that no other platform can match. That advantage is compatibility with the semiconductor industry as it exists today. Spin qubits in silicon are manufactured on 300 mm wafers using standard CMOS processes, the same ones that TSMC, Intel or Samsung use to produce classic transistors. This means that, in principle, the transition from a handful of qubits to millions integrated on a single chip is not limited by unknown physics, but by the same manufacturing engineering that the industry has mastered for decades. For China, which has invested many resources in building and strengthening its own semiconductor industry, being able to autonomously produce the base material on which this architecture depends is not only a scientific milestone; It’s a strategic move that connects its quantum agenda with its chip industry. And, as a tip, also with its broader objective of technological autonomy compared to the West. Image | Maxence Pira (Unsplash) More information | SCMP In Xataka | 38% of AI experts in the US have been trained in China. They are essential to sustain your leadership

Every time we have placed a GPS on wild boars they have surprised us. The last one in Spain has been no exception

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A team of researchers who followed wild boars with GPS in several European cities discovered something unexpected: Animals did not necessarily avoid human presence, but rather learned to live with it by modifying their schedules and behaviors until they became practically invisible. Scientists went so far as to describe this ability as one of the secrets to their success in environments where, in theory, they should feel more threatened. What each GPS reveals. The truth is that researchers have spent years placing GPS collars to wild boars to better understand how they live, move and survive in increasingly humanized landscapes. The striking thing is that each new follow-up seems to dismantle some preconceived idea. In some cases they have discovered unexpected routes, in others a constant presence near human activities and, recentlya behavior that perplexed even experts with decades of experience. Far from hiding in the most closed and dense shelters, some specimens have developed much more subtle strategies to go unnoticed: remaining motionless in places that are apparently not suitable for hiding and trusting in their ability to blend in with the environment. The wild boar that went viral. One of the most surprising cases was that of a young French wild boar named Phiphi. For almost two years, a GPS collar allowed us to follow each of its movements and revealed that the animal frequently used open areas to restsomething that contradicts the traditional image of the wild boar taking refuge in the densest vegetation. He often lay next to a few ferns or under the minimal protection of an isolated tree in the middle of a clearing. The strategy seemed simple but effective: stay completely still and take advantage of the natural camouflage to practically become part of the landscape. Even when her necklace disappeared for weeks and was later found by hunters, the discovery occurred again in an open area, reinforcing the idea that his success consisted precisely in hiding where no one expected to look for him. Movements of an adult wild boar marked with a GPS collar in the surroundings of a pig farm over the course of a week, evidencing the constant use of the immediate surroundings of the livestock facilities The invisible visitors. He latest scientific work By placing GPS on the animals, he has discovered something that not even the ranchers could have imagined. The studies carried out in Spain by IREC researchers They placed GPS on wild boars in Aragon, Catalonia and Murcia to analyze the risk of transmission of African Swine Fever. The results showed that these animals usually frequent the surroundings of intensive pig farms. without attracting attention of the ranchers. Signs of wild boar activity were detected in nearly half of the farms analyzed, even though many officials claimed not having seen any. The technology showed that the animals visited slurry ponds, feeding areas and other sensitive points discreetly and constantly, revealing a reality completely different from the perception of those who work daily in these facilities. A greater health risk than it seemed. The finding has important implications because the main danger does not lie in direct contact between wild boars and pigs, something relatively rare in intensive farms. The problem arises through indirect connections. Vehicles, clothing, tools or materials can act as a bridge between the environment used by wild boars and farms. The silent presence of these animals in the vicinity multiplies the opportunities for the transmission of diseases such as African swine fevera particularly worrying threat for a country that leads European pork production. The birth of a new tool. All this information has been used to develop the first scientific protocol specific external biosecurity against African Swine Fever in intensive pig farms. Unlike traditional approaches based on general recommendations, the new system analyzes each farm individually, studies its environment, evaluates its weak points and proposes measures adapted to the real risk. The objective is to move from theoretical protection to prevention based on specific data obtained in the field, incorporating for the first time the real behavior of wild boars into the health defense strategy. A species that continues to keep secrets. The common lesson that unites all these studies The fact is that the wild boar continues to surprise those who think they know it well. GPS has shown that it can be hidden in unexpected placesmove around livestock farms without being detected and exploit small vulnerabilities in the human landscape with remarkable effectiveness. Each new monitoring provides information that forces us to review what was taken for granted about the species. And if these works show anything, it is that a good part of the wild boar’s success lies precisely in its ability to be very close to us without us barely noticing its presence. Image | PXHere, A. Savin In Xataka | Neither drones nor snipers: wild boar hunters in Barcelona have a simpler natural and home remedy In Xataka | Putin has become obsessed with eternal life. And that’s why he has scientists experimenting with organs in pigs

BYD’s plan so that charging your electric car takes the same time as stopping for gas

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In recent years we have seen how Chinese brands have begun to conquer Europe with the accelerator pressed, with BYD as the main protagonist. However, let us remember that BYD is not only a manufacturer of cars: it is also a manufacturer of batteries and charging technology. That is why he is going to bring out all the heavy artillery in Europe as well, with a plan of 2,000 million euros to plague the region of ultra fast chargersthose that charge their cars in five minutes and that the brand itself showed us during the presentation of the Denza Z9GT. Breaking down obstacles. Charging has historically been the Achilles heel of the electric car. Not so much because of the capacity of the batteries, but because of how long it takes to charge the batteries compared to a brief refueling in a combustion car. BYD aims directly at this psychological brake with its own infrastructure that equates recharging an electric car to filling the tank of a combustion car. If it manages to impose its infrastructure, it would eliminate one of the great barriers of those who are skeptical about the electric car. Technology. The system Flash Charging It uses chargers with up to 1,500 kW of power, three times more than the most modern Tesla Superchargers, which are around 500 kW. To make the most of it, the car must equip the second generation of the BYD Blade Batteryspecifically designed to withstand these extreme loads. With that combination, going from 10% to 70% battery takes five minutes. The first European model with this capacity is the Denza Z9GT, which we were already able to try first-hand last April and which has a starting price of 115,000 euros in its electric version, acting as a technological showcase for the brand. Already in the presentation we were also able to see how the car, in fact, only took about five minutes to reach 70% of its charge, although the infrastructure that the brand must put in place to reach those figures is no small feat. Numbers. The plan involves adding about 3,000 stations in Europe before the end of 2027, of which 600 correspond to the United Kingdom, where BYD has already inaugurated its first ultra-fast charging point. On the other hand, the manufacturer told us at the time that the idea in Spain is to start with about 200 or 300 chargers. “It’s a lot of money, with each charging point costing almost half a million pounds,” counted Stella Li, the group’s top international executive, told the Financial Times. How they avoid saturating the electrical grid. One of the technical challenges of very high-power chargers is the impact on the electrical infrastructure. BYD solves this with a system of stationary batteries installed at each charging point, which are recharged during hours of lower demand (normally early morning) and act as an energy reserve when a user connects their vehicle. Thus, the peak demand on the network is much lower. The real bottleneck. Curiously, the main obstacle is neither technical nor economic. Bono Ge, head of BYD in the United Kingdom, counted to the FT that “the challenge does not lie in the infrastructure, but in the speed with which the town councils can give their authorization. We can implement it very quickly.” Technological showcase. The move is very reminiscent of Tesla’s Supercharger network, which was key in its commercial expansion by minimizing that recurring thought of having to recharge the car on long trips. Europe already has extensive networks, in fact Tesla has about 20,000 points on the continent, but BYD is betting on fewer and much more powerful stations. The idea is to continue expanding its technology, and make it so that other vehicles can also use their chargers, regardless of the manufacturer. BYD’s market share in the EU has already risen from 0.8% to 1.9% in the first four months of 2026, according to data from the European automobile association ACEA, and in the United Kingdom it reaches 3.4%, above Renault and Volvo. In Xataka | The best electric car chargers 2026: Which one to buy and six recommended models

Experts agree that “the quality of rest depends on whether you go to bed at the time when your body is ready to sleep”

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When you read the question “what time should you go to bed?” He usually waits for a number, a specific time, a recurring pattern to do as the day ends. Bad news. What research has discovered is that the ‘perfect time’ for going to bed is with parents. That is, genetics (chronotype) and a handful of other things. That’s why it’s time to see what the experts say. The time to go to sleep. These days, there are some statements from dr. Celia García Maloneurologist specializing in Sleep Medicine and co-director of the Madrid Clinic CISNe in which she explains that the quality of rest does not depend only on the number of hours. On the contrary, it often depends on sleeping at a time when the body is biologically ready for it. This is interesting because it shows a paradigm shift in global sleep science. That moment matters, yes (but not that much). In 2021, Nikbakhtian and his team reviewed sleep routines of more than 100,000 adults. The interesting thing about this study is that they did not use self-reported responses, but rather what a week of wrist accelerometer data said. Their conclusions were clear: going to bed between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. was associated with a lower cardiovascular incidence. It was bad news for Spain, the European country that takes the longest to go to bed. However, the details are important: it was not a question of ‘the earlier you go to bed the better’ (because going to bed before 10pm was also a problem); It was about finding the appropriate moment for each society, country or culture. And that’s where the surprises begin. Because what we are discovering is that regularity is the key. In this case, the Windred team reviewed data from six years of life of about 60,000 people. Their conclusions were that the most regular quartiles showed between 20% and 48% less mortality from all causes compared to the most irregular ones. This is because, we now believe, genetic variants are associated more with schedule than with duration and quality of the dream. The researchers’ thesis is that when we find a stable time to go to bed, the rest of the pieces begin to organize themselves. What does all this mean? For us mortals who just want to sleep, there are a handful of consequences: There is no magic hour. What we have to do is look for a stable window: if we find a time to go to bed, the rest of the system tends to adapt. However, chronotypes exist. It’s a good idea to find out which one is ours and “negotiate with it.” Take care of your dream. Although we sometimes insist on sleeping at a certain time, we often forget that sleep hygiene (and, above all, light) is one of the most important things to sleep well. Image | Annie Spratt In Xataka | You take some melatonin and fall asleep. It seems like a harmless practice for your health but it is not so.

It can save you a lot of time every day (and now it’s cheaper)

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When working in front of the computer, anything we can do or have to save time, the better. An example that we all have very internalized is having one ultrawide monitor or two monitors above the desktop, something that allows you to work with more windows open at the same time. But be careful how good a Stream Deck can be for us: you have this MK.2 model in white reduced to 129.99 euros. Elgato Stream Deck MK.2 White – Studio Controller, 15 Macro Keys, Activate Actions in Apps and Software like OBS, Twitch, YouTube and Others, Works on Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links If this is out of your budget and you want a cheaper option, you also have the Stream Deck Mini available for 77.25 euros. It is true that it is not its lowest price, but it’s cheaper than the previous one. And the only difference is that, instead of having 15 keys, it only has 6. A very versatile and customizable gadget to work with This device has always been closely associated with the world of streaming, but it is useful in many other areas. It is a composite panel, in this model, by 15 keys that we can customize almost to the millimeter. There are thousands of possible options: from assigning an application to one of those buttons (for example, to open Spotify or the email manager) to much more complex actions. What do we mean by that? Let’s imagine that, to work, you need to have three or four programs open, such as the Internet browser or Photoshop. With Elgato software, you can customize one key to open everything at once, ideal when starting the work day. You can also customize the keys for certain specific functions of tools such as Excelso it will also help you once you get to work on your day. Furthermore, since they are LCD keys, they also you can customize the look they havewhich makes it very intuitive to use. It is true that it is not a cheap gadget, but it is very useful to improve daily ‘workflow’. And, although it is not at an all-time low (which is approximately 92 euros), it is a great price if we take into account that it was costing almost 170 euros a few weeks ago. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Elgato In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis In Xataka | This is the gaming tower that I would buy. The computers with the best quality-price ratio for gaming recommended by Xataka

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