traffic

traffic jams, collapsed buses and 400,000 people without a planned alternative

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Closed with a message at midnight and no backup plan. This is what the 400,000 people who take one of the Rodalies trains in Catalonia every day have found. The railway system has come to a complete halt after the an accident in Gelida (Barcelona) in which a trainee driver died and a second train derailed, this one without consequences, between the stations of Blanes and Maçanet (Girona). What has happened? Last night, Rodalies Catalunya reported that a train on Rodalies line R4 in Barcelona had suffered an accident. In it, everything indicates, a retaining wall fell on the train as it passed. On impact A 28-year-old trainee train driver has died and 37 injuries have been recorded, of which five are in serious condition. Furthermore, between the stations of Blanes and Maçanet (Girona), a few hours earlier another train had derailed. This time as a result of a landslide that left some rocks on the road. In this case there have been no victims on a train in which only 10 people were traveling. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Rodalies closes. A few minutes before midnight, Adif confirmed that all Rodalies lines in Catalonia were suspended until the status of all the lines was checked, but assured that, when it was verified that there were no obstacles on the tracks, the service would be restored. This morning, the trains have not left the depots. Rodalies confirmed that the train service will remain suspended until Adif checks the status of all the tracks. Rodalies points to the damage caused by Storm Harry, which has left heavy rains in Catalonia and has even been warned of flooding. The stoppage also comes after SEMAF (Spanish Union of Railway Machinists) will release a statement announcing that they are going to call a general strike in the sector and that they would stop the service if security was guaranteed throughout the Catalan network. Click on the image to go to the original tweet 400,000 people. Every day, around 400,000 people move around Catalonia using the Rodalies service. Today, Wednesday, January 21, they learned that there are no trains to get to work or drop the children off at school. But, above all, there is no alternative plan to replace the trains, so passengers have to find their own means to get around. Rodalies has 134 stations and its 462.7 kilometers of tracks cover the most extensive Cercanías service in Spain. In total, it is made up of 13 Cercanías lines and 6 regional train lines. The Barcelona Cercanías service, with six lines and two branches (R2 Nord and R2 Sud), is the most extensive. a challenge. The suspension of the service without alternative measures anticipated a chaotic day in Catalonia and, especially, in Barcelona. And the forecasts have been fulfilled. In The Country They note that many passengers were not aware of the measure when they arrived at the stations and that they were not offered any alternative there. In The Vanguard They collect complaints from passengers who are not being told when service can return. Some of them, they point out in the newspaper, have waited for an hour at the stations for trains that have never arrived. It was not until 7:00 when the stations closed definitively. From early in the morning, bus services are saturated in Barcelona. In 20 Minutes They collect the voice of a driver from Barcelona, ​​who assures that “it is chaos. Normally we are always full, but today even more so.” Given the difficulties students face in arriving, the University of Barcelona has canceled all exams. The rest of the universities in Catalonia maintain normal activity although they have asked students who cannot travel to an exam to contact their teacher as soon as possible. For now, the only alternative proposed by the Generalitat It is the recommendation to prioritize teleworking wherever it is allowed or possible. The roads. On the roads, Trànsit has chosen to raise the toll barriers on the C-32 south in both directions of travel. To the suspension of Rodalies we must add the impact on traffic on fifteen roads (ten of them are cut off by floods or landslides) as a result of the storm that is hitting the autonomous community. In The Newspaper They report that all accesses to Barcelona are jammed or have been jammed early in the morning. In addition, various accidents have made traffic even more complicated. Photo | Transit In Xataka | The liberalization of the AVE has not gone down well with Renfe, so now it has a plan: delay the Cercanías movement as much as possible.

wants to connect all traffic as they already do in China

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The connected V16 beacon becomes mandatory on January 1, but the DGT already suggests that this device would only be the first piece of a much more ambitious project. The director of the organization, Pere Navarro, advanced in an interview in Public Mirror that will soon arrive “the connected cones” and other smart signage elements. And that makes perfect sense, since in the end the objective is nothing more than minimizing the risk of accidents through an interconnected traffic network. Something similar to what is already happening in other countries such as China, Singapore, Japan or South Korea, among others. A fully connected traffic network. If we insist on the example of China, applications like Amap, its equivalent to Google Maps, allow drivers to know how many seconds are left before a traffic light turns green. There they have all their road infrastructure connected. Traffic lights, traffic cameras and the vehicles themselves are part of a digital ecosystem that intends to improve traffic and reduce accidents. Europe, and specifically Spain with the DGT at the helm, seems to look towards this model as a long-term reference. The DGT 3.0 platform as the brain of the system. Behind the connected V16 beacon is DGT 3.0the digital platform that acts as the nerve center of this entire smart network. When a driver activates his beacon after a breakdown or accident, the device sends its position through IoT networks in approximately 100 seconds. This information reaches DGT 3.0 and, from there, is automatically distributed to roadside information panels, navigation applications and other connected vehicles. Pere Navarro insist in that the system does not collect personal data: “When you buy the beacon, you are not asked for any information. We don’t even know the vehicle’s license plate.” “The DGT does not want to know where you are at all times, the beacons have not been created for that,” as stated on Antena 3. Smart cones, next step. Navarro confirmed that connected cones will arrive after V16, designed to inform about workers on the road, sports events, demonstrations or special transportation. These cones will work with the same logic: when activated, they will send their location to DGT 3.0 so that the rest of the drivers receive warnings before reaching the conflict point. The objective is to gain reaction time and avoid risky situations. The idea is that these cones can also help better manage traffic during events that require road closures, allowing vehicles to be diverted along alternative routes more efficiently. The V-27 signal, warning inside the car. Another element that is part of this connected network is the V-27 signala triangle with an exclamation mark and three stripes symbolizing connectivity. This signal appears directly on the instrument panel of compatible vehicles when DGT 3.0 detects a nearby incident, either due to the activation of a V16 beacon or for any other reason that the agency considers dangerous. Of course, it only works on connected cars whose manufacturers or service providers are registered with the National Access Point for Traffic and Mobility Information. On secondary roads, where there are no illuminated panels, this system can make a difference by providing early warning of dangers that would otherwise go unnoticed. Towards the autonomous car. If the DGT knows at all times where the broken down vehicles, construction cones, smart traffic lights and surveillance cameras are, it will be much easier to have an effective accident prevention system. For the DGT, connectivity is a solution to eliminate unnecessary risks, such as get out of the car to signal an emergency. Whether the systems are truly effective remains to be seen. But in addition to that, all this information can lay the foundations for the arrival of the autonomous car. And these cars need precisely that: detailed, real-time information about everything that happens on the road. Flexibility. Pere Navarro made it clear that there will be no massive sanctions campaigns during 2026 with the whole V-16 beacon thing. “The objective is not to fine, the objective is an improvement in road safety,” he stated in the interview. The director of the organization assured that the agents will apply flexible criteria while drivers adapt to the new system, prioritizing information over immediate sanctions. Cover image | DGT In Xataka | Someone has created abstract works of art with one of the most unique forms of engineering: highway “knots”

We all turn on our emergency lights when we get into a traffic jam. The DGT knows that we are doing it wrong

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It is more than likely that when you got your license They won’t mention it, but get into a traffic jam It is easy to turn on the emergency lights while braking. It is something almost instinctive, a warning for the one that goes 120 km/h behind you realize that you don’t brake for no reason. And if you don’t, you’ve probably seen it. However, the curious thing is that the General Driving Regulations do not contemplate this action. Because we do it to avoid accidents, but with the law in hand, the use of warnings It’s not what we have to do when we get into a traffic jam.. And yet, there are even new cars that activate them automatically if the system notices that we brake repeatedly. The most curious thing is that it is not bad nor is it a fault. Simply put, the law was written for cars from another era. Although current cars have been eliminating more and more buttons, relegating them to the screensthe emergency lights is one that has remained a physical and tactile piece. It is logical because it is a security element and it is one that we have well located in the control panel. When braking in traffic jams, it is almost a reflex for many drivers to use the emergency light button to warn those behind them of the situation. In fact, some new cars activate them automatically if the sensors (the accelerometer or the brake pressure sensor) detect a sudden deceleration or if the ABS comes into play. If the braking is progressive, they are not activated automatically. The use of emergency lights in a traffic jam: yes, but no (and vice versa) But… what does the law say? As our colleagues remember Motorpassionhe section C of article 109 The General Traffic Regulations of 2003 establish that the correct way to notify those behind us about this situation is: “The intention to immobilize the vehicle or to brake its progress considerably, even when such events are imposed by traffic circumstances, must be warned, whenever possible, by repeatedly using the brake lights or by moving the arm alternately up and down with short and quick movements.” The problem is that theory is one thing, but in practice, if we are slamming on the brakes It is difficult to walk by lifting your foot off the brake.. Much less by lowering the window and warning with signs. It is much easier to turn on the emergency lights, and the person in the back will also see them better than if we put our arm out the window. Why does the law say this? Because it is an article written in another era. It is an anachronism resulting from times in which the ABS It was not so present and in which, to avoid the wheels locking and the car skidding, we did have to lift our foot off the brake. In this way, we were automatically alerting the person behind us. Therefore, the law does not say that we put on the emergency lights in a traffic jam, but they are not going to fine us for it because the DGT understands the good intention when it comes to notifying other drivers about an anomaly in traffic. In fact, the fact that the law does not establish it, but the cars do, speaks about the discrepancy between the “strict law” and reality. The DGT itself advertises it: In fact, here comes the technicality of “whenever possible”a legal hole that protects us when turning on the emergency lights. Now, where it is mandatory to give these lights is when we cannot travel at the minimum speed on the road. That is, if we are in a traffic jam on a highway and we do not reach half the speed of the road, we will have to turn on our lights. Section 3 of article 49 says: “When a vehicle cannot reach the minimum required speed and there is a danger of overtaking, direction indicator lights with an emergency signal must be used while driving.” Will the regulations be modified at some point to reflect the current situation in which all cars launched these last 21 years Do they have ABS? It is not known, but since it is a universal code to alert of the situation, I imagine that it will not be one of the Administration’s priorities. Of course, you have probably found someone who has used them excessively, giving you a scare for no reason when you turn them on in a non-critical situation. And that, precisely, is what happened with some models from the 2000s that turned on the emergency lights automatically, even when braking to exit the highway. For example, early models of Citroen C4 either Peugeot 307 who were ahead of the rest with something that wasn’t going entirely well. Images | Kathy, Prithivi Rajan In Xataka | The V-16 beacons are here to stay (whether we like it or not): this is all there is to do in case of a breakdown

Japan is the only country in the world where the green traffic lights are blue. And the reason is called “aoshingō”

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Red, amber and green. The three colors of traffic lights around the world. All over the world? No, some particular Japanese traffic lights resist today and forever… the Vienna Convention on Traffic Signs and Signals to which more than 50 States are adhered. Although there are curious absences in it, such as those of the United States or, of course, Japan. This regulatory framework was signed for the first time in 1968promoted by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The text reviewed previous regulations with the aim of homogenizing traffic in as many countries as possible. The last review, in fact, is from 2003 and it addressed the modernization of some signs or the priority rules on roundabouts. The intention is that what we understand in Spain as a Stop is also the same in France or Germany. And so it is, in fact, because all of Europe subscribes to said text. But the most striking absences, such as that of Japan, give rise to curious anecdotes. Like finding traffic lights where the priority of passage is not granted with green, it is applied when the light turns blue. Blue, I love you blue And if you travel to Japan and plan to drive, there is one detail that you should not overlook (beyond the fact that you drive on the left, remember): the green light on some traffic lights is blue. Or turquoise, more accurately. The origin must be found in the language itself. The Japanese did not have a specific word to refer to green. To mention it they referred to the word “Ao”. The problem is that “Ao” It refers to a wide spectrum of colors and among them, as you can imagine, blue or greenish blue or turquoise. Some sources suggest that the word “Midori”, which refers specifically to the color green, became popular during World War II for a purely practical matter when it comes to differentiating both colors. However, a good part of society continued to refer to green as “Ao” and, in fact, it continues to be part of words that are applied exclusively to define green objects, such as aoshingō…which is actually the official word for the green traffic light even though it doesn’t specifically mean green. In 1960, Japan signed its own Traffic Law where this term was collected to talk about the traffic light. This law is, therefore, prior to the aforementioned Vienna Convention and remained intact until 1973 when a ministerial order ended up specifying that the traffic light It had to be as blue as possible within the greenas a compromise measure between maintaining the traffic lights that were already installed and approaching international conventions. The result is that the oldest traffic lights have a more intense blue and the most modern ones have a green tone with slight blue nuances that can remind us of turquoise. However, they are not exactly green because the term “Ao” works, as we said, for both blue and green. Photo | Yuya Sekiguchi and Derch In Xataka | Japan needs solutions to its great demographic drama. He is looking for them on a bus

240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic

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Imagine driving for more than two hours without turning the steering wheel even a single degree. No curves, no noticeable slopes, no changes on the horizon. That is the reality of Highway 10 (Highway 10) of Saudi Arabia, which holds the Guinness record as the longest straight road on the planet with a completely linear section of 240 kilometers. A highway born for a king. Highway 10 stretches 1,480 kilometers from Ad Darb to the border with the United Arab Emirates, but it is its segment between Haradh and Al Batha that has received all the attention. The road was originally built as a private road for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, although today it has become a fundamental artery for the transport of goods between the center and west of the country with the Emirates. The Empty Quarter desert as a setting. The road crosses the Rub’ al Khaliknown as the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world. The area itself explains why it is possible to build such a straight line: there are no mountains to surround, valleys to cross or geographical features to avoid. Just sand and more sand as far as the eye can see. The infrastructure is completely paved and has mainly two lanes in each direction, supporting intense truck traffic that crosses the desert. Speed ​​limits adjusted for heavy traffic. The maximum speed allowed on this highway varies depending on the type of vehicle: passenger cars can travel up to 120 km/h on fast sections, buses 100 km/h and trucks 80 km/h. Although in 2018 were announced Upper limits of up to 140 km/h for light vehicles in certain sections, the constant presence of heavy transport makes maintaining these speeds complicated in practice. A mental challenge more than a physical one. Believe it or not, driving on the straightest road in the world is not as easy as it seems, especially due to fatigue. The monotony of the desert landscape and the total absence of visual stimuli can cause drowsiness and even a dangerous disconnection while driving. Added to this is the occasional threat of camels wandering across the road. So, although the route is ‘easy’ to handle, mentally it can become a nightmare. Not for nothing is it found in Dangerous Roads website. Reinforced security measures. Aware of the risks involved in driving on such a monotonous road, the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistics has implemented various improvements safety features, including paved shoulders, reflective pavement markings (known as “cat’s eyes”), protective barriers, kilometer signs, and directional and warning signs. Here the driver’s attention must be vital, especially on a road with so few changes. Other legendary straights. Before Highway 10 snatched the title, the Australia’s Eyre Highway boasted the record with a 146 kilometer straight stretch through the Nullarbor Desert. Although almost 100 kilometers shorter, this Australian road remains one of the most unique driving experiences on the continent. Also noteworthy are roads such as ND-46 in North Dakotathe United States, or some sections of the Argentine Route 40which although they do not compete in length of absolute straightness, offer endless kilometers of visual monotony. Cover image | City Vibes In Xataka | Yes, the V16 beacons transmit your position in the event of an accident. No, the DGT cannot “spy” on you with them

On this island in Japan there is a traffic light that only turns green once a year, and not precisely to control traffic

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On the small Japanese island of Himakajima there is a traffic light which remains flashing amber or red all year round. Only during one day in May does it change its usual behavior and activate its green light (or blue, as they insist in Japan). This is not a fault. It was designed this way for a reason that goes beyond traffic control. An educational traffic light. The traffic light was installed in 1994 at the Himakajima East Port intersection, but not to regulate traffic. The island barely has 2,000 inhabitants and few vehicles circulate on its roads. The traffic light exists solely to teach children of the place how the urban signals work before they leave the island for larger cities. One less problem. According to explains the Himaka Road Safety Association, which promoted its installation, minors grew up without real experience with traffic lights. Before, they used small models in traffic safety classes, but the children themselves asked “what does a real traffic light look like?” account Kazuo Sugiura, former president of the association, to the local media Asahi. One day a year to learn. Every May, the traffic light is activated for a full day. Third and fifth grade students from the local school go to the crossing accompanied by teachers, parents and authorities. There they practice how to cross correctly: they wait for the color to change, look both ways and cross the zebra crossing with their arm raised, just as they would in any city in Japan. More difficult than expected. The children also discover that calculating the time they have to cross the pass is not as simple as it seems. “It was complicated because it turned red when I was trying to cross,” explained a third-grade student after practicing with her bicycle. The exercise helps them understand the real times of light change and develop security reflexes that they cannot acquire in their daily life on the island. An unexpected tourist curiosity. This little anecdote has gained notoriety beyond Japan. Every year videos and photos circulate on social networks showing the peculiar educational ritual. Some users even consult the local government website to find out the exact date of “green day” and witness the event, although it varies slightly each season. It is already part of the island’s identity. Once the annual training is completed, the traffic light returns to its flashing lights routine. It does not serve any practical function in traffic control, but it has ended up becoming a small symbol of how the community of this island prepares its children for the urban world. The rest of the year, Himakajima remains a quiet place known for its beaches and octopus dishes, with a traffic light that counts down the days until it can turn green again. Cover image | Google Maps In Xataka | Convenience stores were an emblem of Japan. Until the demographic crisis has revealed the dark side of opening 24 hours

There are so many trips planned to the Moon that the UN has created a “lunar circulation committee” to regulate traffic.

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The Moon is coming into fashion after 50 years of calm. But this time it is not a race between two: it is a commercial race in which old and new space powers, as well as a multitude of private companies, participate. The lunar “jam.” The interest is so sudden that in the last two years there have been 12 attempted lunar missions. This “blitz” of moon landings, driven by public-private programs such as NASA’s CLPS, has proven to be a quick, cheap, but also a little chaotic to reach the Moon. Still, worrying about “traffic jams” on the Moon sounds absurd. Cislunar space (the region between the geostationary orbit of the Earth and the Moon) is gigantic: 2,000 times larger than that of Earth’s orbit. If there is so much room, where is the problem? The problem is that everyone wants the same place. In the same way that on Earth all cars use the roads, on the Moon missions tend to cluster in a very select set of stable orbits. The immensity of cislunar space is, therefore, deceptive, explain professors of International Affairs and Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in an article for The Conversation. To make matters worse. Most government sensors that track satellites in Earth orbit are not designed to detect and monitor objects this far away. The Moon’s own glare makes the task difficult. This uncertainty has a direct consequence: it forces operators to be excessively cautious. When in doubt about a possible collision, agencies prefer to waste fuel and carry out an evasion maneuver, which interrupts scientific missions and shortens the useful life of the ships. 50 satellites are enough for chaos. According to research published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rocketsonly 50 satellites in lunar orbit are enough for each of them to have to maneuver an average of four times a year in order to avoid a possible collision. 50 satellites may seem like a lot, but at the current rate of launches, we could reach that number in less than a decade. And it’s not theory. It’s already happening. The Indian orbiter Chandrayaan-2 had to maneuver three times between 2019 and 2023 to avoid dangerous approaches (one of them with NASA’s LRO probe). And this occurred when there were only six operational spacecraft orbiting the Moon. The UN wants to bring order. This is where international diplomacy comes in. The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the main global forum for space law, has taken action on the matter. In early 2025, COPUOS formally established a new working group: the Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation (ATLAC). The goal of this team is precisely to create a draft of space “traffic rules.” They have until 2027 to study recommendations and a possible international consultation mechanism. Image | POT In Xataka | How many times have we gone to the Moon and why have only 11 military aviators and one geologist set foot on it in all of history?

The United Kingdom put an age verification to access PornHub. Immediately afterwards, its traffic plummeted by 77%

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Since the United Kingdom implemented age verification stricter access to explicit sexual content last July, under the Online Safety Act, traffic to pornographic websites has plummeted. Pornhub, the most visited adult site in the world, ensures that its visits from this country have decreased by 77%. Massive traffic reduction. According to Ofcom, the British communications regulator, visits to sites with pornographic content generally have decreased by almost a third within three months after the law comes into force. Google shows that searches for Pornhub have dropped by about half since then. The regulations require that anyone who accesses this type of website from the United Kingdom prove to be over 18 years old through verifications such as facial identification, email codes or credit card data. It must be taken into account that Pornhub is the nineteenth most visited website on the entire Internet, according to data from Similarweb, which gives dimension to the impact of these figures. The VPN effect complicates measurements. The drop in traffic does not necessarily mean that Brits have stopped consuming pornographic content. And there is a tool that makes actual measurement difficult of traffic from the UK: VPNs. The UK has become one of the fastest growing VPN markets in the world. According to data According to Cybernews, in the first half of 2025, more than 10.7 million downloads of VPN applications were recorded in the country, a figure that is already close to 16.65 million for all of 2024. Ofcom esteem that around a million people use VPN daily, tools that are especially useful for hiding the user’s real location and thus bypassing age controls. After the law came into force, VPN apps topped downloads in the British App Store, with at least one provider reporting an 1,800% increase in downloads. “It is likely that some of Pornhub’s ‘missing’ audience has not actually disappeared, but is being reclassified as non-British traffic,” explains Aras Nazarovas, cybersecurity researcher at Cybernews. cunequal compliance. Alex Kekesi, director of Aylo, parent company of Pornhub, explains BBC that the new rules are “unenforceable” and that many platforms benefit from ignoring them. It notes that Ofcom faces an “insurmountable task” trying to enforce the rules on some 240,000 adult platforms, visited by eight million users a month in the UK, while the regulator has only taken action against fewer than 70 sites for non-compliance. Kekesi assures that there are sites whose traffic “has grown exponentially” due to not complying with age verification, and has expressed concern about the content of some of these platforms, mentioning one that seemed to encourage searching for content with minors. Aylo affirms have shared information about these sites with Ofcom. The defense of the regulator. Ofcom defend that prioritizes the investigation of sites according to their risk and number of users, and that the increase in traffic can be precisely one of the factors that triggers an investigation. The organism holds that the 10 most popular platforms already have verification systems in place, representing 25% of all visits to adult content from the United Kingdom. The regulator also insists that more than three-quarters of the daily traffic to the 100 most visited websites goes to sites with age verification. “Sites that do not comply and put minors at risk can expect to face enforcement action,” he said. declared Ofcom. The regulator has launched investigations against 62 services suspected of ignoring the law. The debate over where to check. Pornhub proposes that age verification be done at the device level instead of web by web, arguing that it would be more effective and better protect privacy. Kekesi, who has traveled to the United Kingdom to meet with Ofcom and government officials, stands out That the British country is an exception, since Pornhub has blocked access in other jurisdictions that required age verification, such as France, its second largest market. The difference is that the United Kingdom allows sites to offer various verification methods, including email checks that do not require biometrics. However, experts such as Chelsea Jarvie, a cybersecurity researcher at the University of Strathclyde, they explain to the BBC that “for someone to be truly safe online we need different layers of controls throughout their browsing,” noting that no single approach is a “silver bullet.” The position of the British government. The authorities they have defended the regulator’s actions and have reaffirmed that protecting minors online is a “top priority” for ministers. “Where evidence shows that greater intervention is needed to protect minors, we will not hesitate to act,” the executive states. Ofcom affirms that the new law is fulfilling its primary purpose of preventing children from being able to “easily stumble upon pornography without searching for it.” “Our new rules end the era of an age-blind internet, when many sites and apps did not carry out any meaningful check to see if minors were using their services,” the regulator says. In Xataka | We already know how to retrieve the exact prompts that people use in AI models. It’s terrifying news

There are so many drones in Ukraine that they have become cars. So the army has created a DGT to regulate its traffic

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In a battle where drones are already they don’t need humans to coordinate and attack, and where these combat devices have taken technological warfare to a new crazy phase where they are knocking themselves downsooner or later it had to happen. Drones and Ukrainian airspace are increasingly similar, for better and worse, to cars and roads around the planet. The congested sky. The Ukrainian front has turned into an airspace so saturated with drones that its operators they must negotiate between them to avoid collisions and, above all, interference from their own electronic warfare systems. In an environment where thousands of devices they fly simultaneouslythe pilots establish “flight corridors” temporary, agreed by group messages or by radio, to cross areas under friendly control without being shot down by the signal jammers of their own army. This exchange, at times chaotic and spontaneous, reflects how modern warfare is fought both in the air and on the electromagnetic spectrum, where waves, rather than bullets, determine who sees, who shoots, and who survives. The invisible war. we have told before. The battle for dominance electromagnetic spectrum is already one of the most decisive of the conflict. each side try to saturate or protect the other’s frequencies through jamming systems that can nullify drones, missiles or radars, but also blind their own. Pilots as Dimko Zhluktenkoof the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces, they explain Insiere that his work includes identifying Russian electronic warfare systems to destroy them before they block the signal of his drones. Other operators, however, they must coordinate with several units simultaneously, seeking a balance between protecting their troops and the need to keep flight routes open. In many cases, the commanders who control the jamming systems are at higher hierarchical levels, so units on the ground can barely request changes, with no real ability to turn them off or adjust them according to their missions. The chaos of the sky. The device density in the air has created an environment almost impossible to manage. Commercial drones modifiedappliances FPV explosives, reconnaissance dronesinterceptors and systems electronic warfare They compete for space and signal, in a landscape where distinguishing between friend and enemy is increasingly difficult. Many soldiers shoot or activate their inhibitors at any approaching drone, unable to identify it precisely. The similarity between the Russian and Ukrainian models aggravates the confusion, and sometimes the Ukrainians themselves Allied aircraft are shot down out of fear or uncertainty. In this scenario, the war resembles a gigantic air traffic jam where each operator must warn, coordinate and wait their turn to cross the front without being blocked or destroyed by their own side. Non-stop race. In the background, Ukraine and Russia compete to develop technologies capable of resisting the electromagnetic lock. New models include drones no dependence on GPScontrolled by fiber optic cableequipped with artificial intelligence or capable of changing frequency to escape enemy “noise.” However, these innovations slowly reach the front lines, where they coexist with outdated equipment that requires improvisation and constant communication. Thus, each flight is a negotiation between units, each mission a bet against the chaos of the spectrum, and each Russian advance forces an immediate Ukrainian response. The new frontier. Ultimately, the conflict in Ukraine has turned the sky into a laboratory where 21st century war is redefined. It is no longer just about tanks or missiles, but about waves, signals and microprocessors. The coordination between drones and interference systems reveals both the maturity and fragility of an army that has made ingenuity its main weapon. And it also shows a limit: the more saturated the spectrum, the more likely it will be that the technology will turn against those who use it. In that invisible space, where every interference can decide the fate of a drone or a life, Ukraine is waging a war as modern as it is paradoxical: a war in which communication It is the only way to prevent the defense from becoming its own enemy. Image | TASS In Xataka | If the question is how to end the war in Ukraine, the US has a disturbing solution: threaten Russia with a missile In Xataka | Russia’s technological superiority over Ukraine is growing every day. And all thanks to a friend: China

We all know that green is to advance traffic lights. Less Japan, defending that green is actually blue

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A long time ago We count A fascinating story that had the traffic lights and China as protagonists. It turns out that Beijing tried to change the color of these key traffic devices because use red to “stop” It was “anti -communist”. Of colors and traffic lights also goes the following story. In Japan they have no problem with red, but with green. The blue traffic light paradox. In most of the world the traffic signal that invites us to advance is unequivocally green, but in Japan that same light It’s called blue And, in some cases, it even seems bluish in the eyes of those who visit the country. This peculiarity He has baffled to generations of foreigners, but for the Japanese it is a convention as natural as saying that the sky is blue. The explanation is not found in lamp technology or in an arbitrary decision of the road authorities, but in a Cultural and linguistic background that sinks its roots in centuries of history. The linguistic origins of “year”. In ancient Japanese, they only existed Four basic words To designate colors: red, white, black and blue. The term AO served to name a much broader spectrum of shades than we associated with blue today, including what we consider green and cyan. This linguistic heritage lasted until the Heian periodwhen the Midori word to specifically refer to vegetation and the vitality of green color. However, the force of custom kept alive The use of AO In situations where, for other languages, green nuance is evident. Thus, it is not strange that a Japanese speaks of blue apples, mountains or blue vegetables, although in the eyes of anyone they are green. The conflict. When Japan introduced traffic lights in the 1930s, the progress light was described as green, following the global convention. But in 1960, with the entry into force of the Road Traffic Lawthe term AO Shingō, the “blue signal” was officially adopted. The clash with international standards was exacerbated after Vienna Convention of 1968which set the green as the reference color. Japan did not ratify that treaty, and with it the right to continue using its own denomination was reserved. In 1973, to reconcile customary and external demands, the government decided that the lights should be of a green With a bluish enough nuance As if I could continue to be called Ao. The result was a curious balance: greenish appearance traffic lights, but culturally blue. Beyond the signals. The persistence of AO It is not limited to traffic lights. Common expressions such as aoringo to designate the green apple, Aonori for the green algae that is sprinkled on dishes such as the okonomiyaki, or Aoba for the young leaves of the trees, show how blue overlaps green in the Japanese tongue. In addition, AO acquired a symbolic value associated withor new and the immature. To say that a person is AOI means that it is still inexperienced, a metaphor equivalent to that in Spanish or English we express calling someone “green.” This crossing of meanings reveals how the language not only names colors, but also organizes cultural perceptions and associations around them. Convention turned into identity. Today, although Japanese traffic lights are in green practice, they continue being called blue by millions of people who have inherited a particular way of seeing and describing the world. What for a foreigner is a rarity or confusion, for a Japanese is a tradition that does not need justification. If you want, the tongue has been imposedwork visual perceptionand the result is an example of how cultural conventions can challenge international standards and become part of national identity. Thus, Japan’s blue traffic light recalls that the way we name things influences how we understand them, and that even a traffic light can tell a story of centuries of history, language and custom. Image | Redoxkun In Xataka | That Japan has 100,000 people over 100 years explains a problem: they are running out of drivers, literally In Xataka | If the question is why there are so many Japanese with umbrella on the street, the answer is simple: for more than the sun

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