Tree

80 years ago Portugal planted an Australian tree to stabilize its soils. Radically changed the way fires spread

by

In the 1950s, much of Europe resorted to large reforestation programs to curb erosion and supply wood to a rebuilding economy. Portugal, for example, opted for an Australian tree which seemed perfect to hold down their soils and feed their paper industry. Eight decades later, that decision is still written on the ground: it forever changed the way fire spreads across the country. The solution of a problem. to understand the current crisis You have to travel to Portugal in the fifties. The country was suffering serious erosion problems, large rural areas were being depopulated, and Salazar’s dictatorship sought to promote a forestry industry capable of generating wealth. That was the main reason that the eucalyptus seems to gather all the qualities imaginable: it grew very quickly, fixed degraded land and provided excellent raw material for the manufacture of paper. What then seemed like an almost unquestionable decision would end up altering the behavior of fires for generations. He not only planted, he transformed his landscape. The real change was not introducing a new species, but redesign the territory. Where previously there was a mosaic of crops, pastures and diverse forests, huge continuous areas of pine trees and, especially, eucalyptus trees began to spread. This new landscape was much more profitable from the economic point of viewbut it also eliminated many of the natural barriers that previously hindered the fire’s advance. Without knowing it, Portugal had created a scenario in which flames could travel for kilometers much more easily. Eucalyptus does not cause fires, it transforms them. One of the biggest mistakes is to think that the tree is the origin of the problem. Fires can start for multiple reasons, but the eucalyptus radically changes his behavior once the flames appear. Its essential oils are extremely flammable and, when they reach sufficient temperature, they cause the tree to burn with enormous intensity. Added to this is a fibrous crust It is easily detached and transported by the wind, converted into small embers capable of crossing roads, rivers or firebreaks and causing new outbreaks hundreds of meters from the main fire. Eucalyptus planted in Portugal When the forest becomes fuel. Fast-growing industrial plantations have little to do with a mature and diverse forest. Being practically made up of a single species, store less carbon long term and offer much less resistance to the advance of the fire than ecosystems where trees of different characteristics and a more humid undergrowth coexist. The result is a vicious circle: Fires return again and again to the same areas, making it difficult for the landscape to recover the diversity that would precisely help stop future large fires. Climate change and a threat. Increasingly frequent heat waves and prolonged droughts have multiplied the risk that this forest model already presented. This year and same as in SpainPortugal is once again facing one of its worst fire campaigns, with tens of thousands of hectares devastated and thousands of interventions by emergency services. The magnitude of the situation has even forced the Portuguese Government to activate the European Civil Protection Mechanism to request international help, aware that some fires already exceed the response capacity of a single country. The solution is not just to put out fires. The experts match in which fighting the flames will be insufficient as long as the landscape continues to favor its spread. The challenge is to recover mixed forests, reintroduce agricultural and livestock activities that fragment the continuity of plant fuel, and diversify forest species. In short, it is about rebuilding little by little a territory that for decades was designed with productivity in mind and not resilience against fire. The consequences of a decision from almost a century ago. The history of the Portuguese eucalyptus demonstrate that some political decisions transform a country far beyond what those who promoted them imagined. What began as an ambitious program to protect the soil and strengthen the economy ended up modifying the country itself. forest fire dynamics. Eighty years later, the great challenge no longer consists only in putting out the summer fires, but in reversing a landscape whose configuration favors each new heat wave to find terrain that is increasingly prepared to burn. Image | anagh In Xataka | Neither to reclassify land nor to install solar panels: the great hoaxes about the fires that return every summer In Xataka | The smoke from the fires in the center of the peninsula is crossing half of Spain: satellites already see it over Andalusia and Extremadura

Spanish cities are full of a tree that litters everything with flowers and fruits. They have a reason to be there

by

If during these weeks of summer you have walked through the streets of your city, it is very likely that you have stepped on a dense carpet of small creamy white flowers. The person responsible for this summer floral rain is an old acquaintance of the urban trees that we popularly know as “Japanese acacia” and scientifically as Styphnolobium japonicum. Its usefulness. If you wonder why the city councils of cities like Zaragoza, Barcelona or Murcia insist on planting this species on paved avenues, the answer It is in its extraordinary adaptive physiology. Something that is supported by the technical sheets that classify it as a species highly tolerant to urban pollution. It is a tree that successfully withstands traffic pollutionheat islands, drought and poor or highly compacted soils. Added to this is its ability to provide dense shade during the harshest months of the year, making it an ideal candidate for road alignment design. It’s not perfect. The only negative point that this tree may have, despite the long list of advantages, is the annoyance that the massive drop of its flowers and later of its fleshy fruits can cause in pedestrian areas. This is something that can end up being quite annoying and making cities very dirty, which is why it requires good maintenance and cleaning. Late flowering. While most urban trees bloom in spring, the Styphnolobium japonicum Save your energy for the summer. Specifically, flowering occurs in the hottest months, between June and August. Its small papilionaceous flowers not only create that characteristic “carpet” impression on the ground, but are highly melliferous. For weeks, the canopy of these trees becomes a hotbed of bees and other pollinators, fulfilling a vital ecological function in the urban ecosystem during a time when other sources of nectar are scarce. Its fruits, strangled legumes reminiscent of a pearl necklace, remain hanging on the branches for a long time, extending their ornamental value well into winter. The identity crisis. One of the great myths around this tree is in its popular name because it is not an acacia. But around his Japanese origin, his epithet “japonicum“was historically misleading, as its native range is not found in Japan, but in the central and southern regions of China. It was introduced to Europe and East Asia much later, where it became greatly popular due to its biological characteristics. Its toxicity. In the field of ethnobotany and traditional Asian medicine, various parts of this tree are have attributed medicinal propertiesand the reality is that it has been seen to have compounds with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial properties. But the problem is that some parts of the tree, such as the raw fruit, are toxic, so their management should be left to the pharmaceutical industry and moving away from home remedies. Images | Bianka Becsi In Xataka | In the 19th century it was planted in parks for its beauty: today this tree is one of the trees that breaks the most pipes and sidewalks in Spain

Today this tree is one of the trees that breaks the most pipes and sidewalks in Spain

by

The tree that appears above these lines surely sounds familiar to you because you have come across it many times, either because it is in your city or because while walking on vacation through any municipality on the Mediterranean coast it was there, in its most stately gardens. A clue in case you don’t recognize it at first: its seeds have a kind of wings, which helps them spread further and better. It is no coincidence: the ailanthus (Ailanthus altissima) arrive from Southeast Asia two centuries ago for its size and presence, but also because it grew quickly in practically any soil. Today is prohibited by law: It is an invasive species that kills other plants and loads the sewage. Ailanto the colonizer. It can measure up to 30 meters, has gray bark and the leaves are made up of many elongated leaves placed in a row. Its fruits are like seeds with wings, hanging in clusters. One way to recognize it is the (bad) smell: if you tear off a leaf and rub it, it stinks. Since its arrival, ailanthus has spread throughout much of the peninsula, with special intensity in Catalonia and the Valencian Community. This tree colonizes ditches, slopes, degraded banks and abandoned gardens, wherever there is a free piece of land, there is the ailanthus: a single adult specimen It is capable of producing up to 350,000 seeds winged per year and thanks to their wings and the wind, the ailanthus continues to expand. The environmental impact of ailanthus. According to the official MITECO fileailanthus alters the functioning of the forest ecosystem and modifies the chemistry of the soil where it settles, making life difficult for other species. Thanks to its rapid growth and dispersed shape, it competes for space and light in areas close to rivers (rich in vegetation), releasing toxic substances that prevent other plants from growing around it. This environmental study by the Junta de Andalucía It confirms that where there is ailanthus, there is up to 35-40% less vegetation than in areas without it. The impact is not limited to vegetation: the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge points out which can also cause damage to urban infrastructure for one reason: its long and reticulated roots, capable of extending up to 15 meters from the foot. These roots look for cracks and gaps to spread, cracking pipes, sewers, foundations, buildings, and other structures. Context. The ailanthus comes from China, and although there is evidence that it was cultivated as an ornamental tree since the 18th century, the Ministry of Agriculture of Spain gives it as naturalized at the beginning of the 19th century. In the middle of that century, Marcelino Sáez de Sautuola, discoverer of the Altamira caves, wrote a letter to the French Acclimatization Society in which he commented on the success of planting ailanthus, at that time highly appreciated for its ornamental and medicinal qualities. Ailanthus is not only “a fugitive” in Spain, wherever it goes, it has problems. It is present and is classified as an invasive species in almost all the world. In the EU it appears in the list of invasive alien specieswhich forces member states to take coordinated control measures and is common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Danube basin and practically all Mediterranean countries. The ban and fines. That is included within the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species regulated by Royal Decree 630/2013 means that possession, transport, trafficking and trade are prohibited by law throughout Spanish territory. The fines are quite large: from 100 to 3,000 euros for minor infractions, from 3,001 to 200,000 euros for serious ones and up to 2 million euros in the most serious cases. That is state regulation, because each community may have its own additional regulations. What happens then with the ailanthus that there are? This Royal Decree contemplates an exception: those specimens that were already planted in private gardens, urban parks or botanical gardens before the entry into force of the rule. As for those planted in public gardens, administrations must progressively eliminate them. How to keep them at bay. Eradicating them is difficult and expensive. The MITECO report explains Cutting the tree is useless, as it stimulates the appearance of new shoots: the most effective way is to combine the mechanical removal of young seedlings with specific chemical treatments applied to the leaves or stumps. It is what is being done in the Montes de Málaga and the Sierra de Cazorla. Looking to the future, research points to biological control as a more sustainable alternative: the mite Aculus taihangensis has shown be an effective specific agent. In the United States, USDA investigates a soil fungusVerticillium nonalfalfae) that is offering promising results. In Xataka | Spain planted millions of eucalyptus trees to have cheap wood. 90 years later, we have confirmed that they are a green desert In Xataka | The Iberian Peninsula is being invaded: more than 1,200 exotic species have come to stay Cover | Marina Torres

They are the tree of golden eggs

by

A question: What unites Venus, Steve Jobs’ 78-meter-long superyacht, and a remote forestry farm in León? There were many ways to start this article, but I couldn’t resist doing it because of the most unexpected fact: what unites those two things is the poplar. The story is known: before he died, Jobs designed a spectacular boat that he couldn’t have ready before he died. Well, the wood for the kitchen of that luxurious floating mansion came from León. And this, although it does not explain why Spain is being filled with poplars, does give an idea of ​​why. The poplar boom. In Europe the hectares of poplar have grown at 2% annually during the last few years. But Spain is not Europe as far as poplar fields are concerned. With its epicenter in the province of León, the country has some 81,000 hectares of poplar dedicated to production. And it has been that way for a long time. That is, there have been no substantial changes in the cultivated land. However, genetic improvement and more efficient cultivation practices have done that production does not stop growing. In fact, France and Italy have publicly recognized that “they are being left behind” In that sense, the poplar seemed a calm, safe and powerful sector. But things have changed… for the better. The high industrial demand for its wood (and the environmental benefits associated with its cultivation) have revived interest in this tree. Like Flor Álvarez Taboada, the greatest Spanish expert in the sector, explained in the Voice of Galicia“poplar is paid twice as much as pine and three times more than eucalyptus.” That sums it up. And what is the problem? It is not the profitability of the farms (which, as we see, is skyrocketing), but the capacity of the Spanish forest to produce wood on the scale that the industry needs. Alvarez made it clear that “a plantation where there are only about fifty poplar trees is not viable for companies that work with this wood”, that plantations of “at least two or three hectares in area” are needed. The country needs to “create homeowner associations that coordinate and plant poplar trees simultaneously on their land.” That is to say, it is not just a job for ‘lone wolves’; If we want Spain to take advantage of the populculture boom, a structured effort is needed that integrates the industry, administrations and farmers. Some areas, such as the Granada plain, there are european projects coordinated by the University to recover the traditional poplar groves and convert them into a source of quality structural lumber. It is a key step for an industry (construction) that is rediscovering wood at a forced pace. Against the eucalyptus. This is perhaps its greatest asset. We have been listening for years speak ill of eucalyptus. It is usually unjustified fame, but it opens up a whole world of possibilities. And the poplar is one of them. Because due to its rapid growth, the high profitability of its quality wood, its adaptability to riverine terrain and its important environmental (and social) value, it is an excellent forestry alternative. So the question is twofold: will Spain manage to enter the table of the majors in the timber industry? Are we prepared to see the landscape change — again –? Image | Garnica In Xataka | Converting Portugal to eucalyptus monoculture was a disaster. And the latest fires only remind us of this.

the impossible fighter “Christmas tree”

by

In the summer of 1955, Nevadans began reporting strange objects flying at impossible heights. Decades later, declassified CIA documents revealed that a large part of those supposed UFOs were actually secret prototypes that were tested at Groom Lake, the facility that would become known worldwide as Area 51. A blurry image and a forgotten idea. It all started a few days ago with a thermal capture taken near Groom Lake, the facility better known as Area 51. The image showed an oddly shaped aircraft, apparently tailless, with large front canards and unconventional wings. The video quality makes it impossible to identify with certainty what exactly it is, but it was enough to trigger a avalanche of theories. The most striking thing is that the silhouette has led several specialists to rescue an idea that seemed buried for more than forty years: an experimental stealth fighter concept designed in 1983 that received the informal nickname from “Christmas Tree Fighter” or Christmas tree hunting. Thermal image appeared near Area 51 The return of the impossible fighter plane. That 1983 design was created by Darold Cummings, one of the engineers who would later participate in the development of the YF-23. At the time, Northrop was looking for radical ways to build a fighter jet with an extremely reduced radar signature. cummings proposed the DP-21an aircraft with such extreme geometry that many considered it impossible to fly. Its configuration sought to achieve a highly coveted feature in stealth design: a structure of only four large main radar reflections, something similar to what was achieved by the B-2 bomber. The problem was that the flight control technology of the 1980s couldn’t safely handle a device so unstable. That’s why the concept was shelved as a technical curiosity rather than a real project. “Christmas tree” fighter project Why has a photo aroused so much interest? The aircraft observed near Area 51 presents some features that vaguely remember to that DP-21. Particularly noteworthy is the shape of the front section, which in certain images seems to draw a kind of double arrowhead. The absence of traditional tail surfaces, the presence of large canards and a general distribution of wings and fuselage that departs from conventional designs also coincide. Nobody claims that it is a direct evolution of the Cummings projectbut the comparison is inevitable because the image seems to recover aerodynamic solutions that for decades were considered too complex or risky to become an operational aircraft. The clues point to the F-47. The dominant theory is that the aircraft could be related to the technological demonstrators of the NGAD program, from which the future F-47 United States. The general shapes match several elements visible in the few official designs published so far: large canards, very set back wings, absence of vertical stabilizers and a configuration optimized for stealth. Furthermore, some researchers have pointed out that the silhouette appears to have been hidden in plain sight for years. An official patch from the office responsible for the F-47 included a stylized figure that, upon closer inspection, striking similarities with the device captured in the thermal image. It wouldn’t be the first time a top-secret program leaves seemingly innocent visual clues. on insignia and emblems internal. Decades of hidden experiments. The possible aircraft also appears to draw influences from other experimental programs developed by Boeing and its predecessors. Among them the X-36 stands outa tailless demonstrator designed to explore new forms of maneuverability, and the Bird of Preyone of the most secret projects of the nineties. Both opted for extremely unconventional configurations and to reduce the radar signature as much as possible. They remembered on TWZ that the technologies tested in those programs never really disappeared, but continued to evolve within classified projects. The catch obtained near Area 51 could be the first public evidence of how far that evolution has come. An unsolved mystery. The reality is that no one outside the most restricted circles of the Pentagon knows what exactly it shows the recording. It could be an F-47 demonstrator, a prototype related to the future F/A-XX naval fighter, a Northrop Grumman project, or even a completely different experimental platform. The only thing evident is that the image has achieved something unusual: bring an idea to the foreground born in 1983 which many considered a footnote in aviation history. Forty years later, the supposed “Christmas tree hunt” is relevant again because a shadow caught in the Nevada desert sky seems to suggest that some of the strangest ideas of the past may have finally found the technology needed to become a reality. Image | X, DAROLD CUMMINGS In Xataka | In September, an unidentified aircraft crashed very close to Area 51. The real mystery began right after In Xataka | The US has just achieved the “holy grail” of air combat: an F-35 not only detects the enemy, but also gets rid of it on its own.

60 years ago a student wanted to study the mountains of the United States. Unknowingly felled the oldest known tree

by

At a glance ‘Prometheus’ It was a twisted, rugged, whimsically shaped pine tree that stood on a Nevada mountain. Nothing to do with gigantic sequoias of Redwood National Park, also in the USA, where specimens of more than 100 meters high with bases that are around 30 m in diameter. That, of course, at first glance. Although its size was not striking and it barely stood out in the grove in which it sprouted, ‘Prometheus’ was a tree of almost 5,000 yearswhich made it one of the oldest in the world. Why do we talk about him in the past tense? Very simple: because in the 60s a student who was especially diligent with his research felled it with permission from the authorities. With you, the Pinus longaeva. Its name may not be as well known as that of the redwoods, the baobabs or the Douglas firstrees that have been fascinating humanity for centuries due to their colossal dimensions, but the bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) are just as amazing. Not because of its size, but because of its age. Located primarily in the higher altitude mountains of California, this species has managed to survive for several millennia. As? Its growth is very slow and they usually sprout separately from each other, which allows them to adapt to harsh habitats and withstand fires better. The key to its longevity however lies in its “architecture” and adaptations. As remember from the US National Park Service (NPS), the roots of the Pinus longaeva They only nourish the part of the tree that is directly above them. If that root dies, it only affects its section of the tree. Hence, it is not unusual to see specimens with dry bark on one side and that, however, continue to grow healthily. an old acquaintance. In Wheeler PeakNevada, stood years ago a magnificent specimen of Pinus longaeva. Its height was nothing out of this world, but it was so twisted and had such an ancient appearance that mountaineers in the area They baptized him ‘Prometheus’. Seen in perspective, the nickname is still ironic. In the classical mythology Zeus imposed a horrible punishment on the titan of that name for giving humanity the gift of fire and metallurgy. At Wheeler Peak the ‘Prometheus’ that grew rooted to the mountain ended up perishing precisely because of the efforts of a university student to understand the geology of the region. To understand it you have to go back to summer of 1964when Donald R. Currey, a graduate student studying the ice age of eastern Nevada, had an idea: To better understand the formation of glaciers, he decided to extract samples from the oldest trees that grew in the region. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking. The dendrochronologythe discipline that is responsible for studying climate patterns by analyzing tree rings, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. In fact, the idea of ​​obtaining samples from the logs sounded so reasonable that authorities raised no objections when Currey asked for permission to study them. The great unknown. In theory, what Currey proposed was to use a drill bit to remove small samples of the trunk, a kind of cylinders from the trunk. pencil size that could later be analyzed in the laboratory. It came with the different rings and their characteristics being appreciated. When it was ‘Prometheus’ turn, something went wrong. Or so it is believed, since more than six decades later it’s still not entirely clear what exactly happened at Wheeler Peak. Some accounts claim that Currey’s drill bit broke while the geologist was trying to make his way through the dense pine wood, so he requested help from the Forest Service. To solve it, the workers opted for the most radical solution: they took out the chainsaw and cut down the tree. Other versions claim that Currey did not know how to work with such a complicated specimen or that there was simply no error and from the beginning he needed a complete cross section to study the trunk. Regardless, there are two clear details. First, that was the end of ‘Prometheus’. Second, Currey did not work as foreigners. He had permission from the Forest Service. And the surprise came. It was not necessary to cut ‘Prometheus’ in two to intuit that it was a very ancient tree. If Currey looked at this pine and others in the area it was precisely because he assumed that they were old enough to give him a broad ‘snapshot’ of the climatic events that had occurred in the region. The surprise came when he took the piece of wood to his laboratory. As ancient as I suspected ‘Prometheus’ to be, one thing is clear: Currey fell short. When he started counting growth rings, he added neither more nor less than 4,862. Given the harsh conditions in which the pine grew, which could have influenced the formation of the layers, the experts ended up concluding that its age was most likely closer to 4,900 years. That is to say, the ancient tree already appeared on the Nevada mountain when the pharaohs reigned in ancient Egypt or Hammurabi ruled in Babylon. The oldest in the world? Although environmental awareness in the 1960s was not the same as it is today, the mistake was considerable. Especially since it was the Forest Service itself that made it possible. The age of ‘Prometheus’ is in fact so astonishing that the NPS itself recognize which at the time was considered “the oldest tree ever dated.” It even surpassed the famous tree ‘Methuselah’other Pinus longaeva of California that is around 4,850 years old. Today that title is in question. Especially after a theoretically even older tree was discovered in 2012, another bristlecone from more than 5,000 years. The US authorities recognize in any case that it is “very likely” that there are other, even older, undated specimens of the same species. “The bristlecone pines of the Great Basin are notable for being the oldest non-clonal species on the … Read more

It is the key day if you do not want a tree to ruin the August eclipse

by

Can you imagine preparing everything to see the solar eclipse this August 12 and that right at the moment of truth there is a tree that blocks your views? This is more common than it seems, but don’t worry: it can be prevented with a simple drill. This April 30 is the ideal time to do it. a symmetrical orbit. Due to the symmetrical orbit of our planet, the Sun describes exactly the same arc in the sky on two dates of the year with the same separation from the solstice. You could say that they are twin dates when it comes to the location of the Sun in the sky. The date symmetrical to August 12 is April 30. That’s why, from the official website of the Trio of Eclipses They recommend that this Thursday we go to the place we have chosen to see the eclipse and check that we have good visibility of the Sun. We must do it at 8:30 p.m., as that will be when the occultation occurs in August. This way, we will avoid disappointment when push comes to shove. If the place is bad. If at 8:30 p.m. there is an obstacle that makes it difficult for us to see the Sun, we have time to change the location. Just walk around the area and look for that place where you can see the Sun directly, with nothing in the way to prevent it. If you can’t that day: In case you cannot go to the chosen place on April 30, don’t worry. Two days before and after also good results are obtained. Always at the same time, of course. The bad thing is having to travel. Unfortunately, the eclipse will not be seen equally throughout Spain. It will only be observed in its entirety in a strip that goes from the north of Galicia to almost all of the Balearic Islands, passing through Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, the north of Castilla y León and the Valencian Community, La Rioja, and a part of the Basque Country, Navarra, Madrid, Aragon, Catalonia and Castilla la Mancha. In the rest of the country it will be a partial eclipse. For this reason, many people will travel far from their homes on August 12, in search of a luckier environment. Some music and art festivals have even been organized around this astronomical phenomenon.. In case you have decided to travel far, it will not be so easy to do a drill. There you will only have to trust that the locals have done it and can give you a hand when the time comes. More eclipses. The one on August 12 will be the first of what is known as Iberian Trio of Eclipses. And in mainland Spain we will enjoy three consecutive years with a solar eclipse. The dates will be August 12, 2026, August 2, 2027 and January 26, 2028. Those in 2026 and 2027 will be total. That of 2028, cancel. Since they will be seen in different parts of the country, almost all of us will have a more or less close point to which we can travel to see it. And, of course, there will always be a symmetrical date on which to carry out the drill. For now, let’s go step by step and start with the rehearsals on April 30. Even the first Spanish woman astronaut, Sara García Alonso, has echoed these advice. If you have the opportunity, be sure to take the test. You will avoid having to run on August 12. Image | POT In Xataka | The trio of eclipses that await Spain on the horizon: an unprecedented and historic chain between 2026 and 2028

The latest whim of millionaires is to build a luxury superyacht around a living tree

by

I will not deny that they die on me even plastic plants, but there are people who have a gift with plants. Others, however, are capable of buying a 73-meter superyacht built around a treely keep him alive as he crosses the seven seas with every luxury imaginable. He Virtuosity It is the second ship of the 74 Steel series from the Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo. Its construction and design took more than four years to materialize. For the first 18 months, the owner and the Sanlorenzo team held weekly calls before design even began. It’s not that there was any doubt: it’s that when someone decides that their new ship will revolve around a living tree, details matter and a lot. The tree that wanted to be a sailor The vegetal protagonist of Virtuosity It is a Ficus Nitida, also known as Indian laurel, planted on the main deck of a luxury superyacht with a modern and elegant design. It is worth noting that the tree in question was not added when the yacht was already built, but was selected before the first structural block of the ship was assembled, and the entire yacht was built around it. So that the plant receives sunlight in its lower parts, two side skylights were installed at ground level and its trunk rises across two decks to let its leaves breathe while looking out over the sea from one of its exterior decks. The tree occupies about 16 square meters in the center of the yacht’s main salon. The tree passes through two covers “With this yacht we decided to rethink the onboard architecture from its very foundations,” explained Tommaso Vincenzi, CEO of Sanlorenzo, to Superyatchtimes. “From the integration of living nature to the transformation of technical volumes into experiential environments, each decision is based on a clear architectural vision,” he added. Details that go beyond luxury As if having a five-meter-high tree on the deck might not be enough, the Virtuosity It also hides one more peculiarity below the waterline: an aquarium so big like the sea On the lower decks we find a 35 m2 wellness area. This room is located right on the waterline of the yacht, allowing guests to observe marine life directly from their seats through a large glass surface of the hull. Without a doubt a quite sophisticated way to see fish without even having to get wet. This wellness area also includes a hammam, sauna and massage room. The master suite of Virtuosity It occupies its own deck with 40 m2 and has a bed facing forward with a dressing room and bathroom while on the main deck there is a second VIP suite and two more cabins for guests. At the owner’s request, a reflecting pool was installed in front of that suite, designed so that the water reflects the sky and sunlight, far from the concept of a conventional pool. A cinema lounge aft and a sensory shower forward complete what the manufacturer describes as a private apartment within the ship itself. By day, the stern of the Virtuosity It functions as a relaxation area with direct access to the water and water toys. At night, and also at the express request of the owner, the beach club is transformed into a nightclub with a permanently installed DJ booth. That someone included a fixed nightclub on their list of requirements for a superyacht says a lot about how this owner understands the vacation at sea. This beach club has been redesigned and is 40% larger than that of the first 74 Steel delivered in 2025. In addition, a glass-bottom pool was installed on this deck that acts as a 28-square-meter skylight to illuminate the lower deck. The triple-height main deck features an exposed wine cellar and a spiral staircase in dark lacquered aluminum, as well as an elevator. A helipad and sports deck are located at the bow of the ship. With 73 meters in length and 13.1 meters in beam (width), the Virtuosity It can accommodate up to 12 guests in 6 cabins and a crew of up to 24 people. Its propulsion system is diesel-electric, with six 700 HP Volvo D13-700 engines and 425 ekW alternators, the same technical package as the first 74 Steel, the Silver Fox. With 180,000 liters of fuel on board, it reaches a range of 6,000 nautical miles at 11 knots and a maximum speed of 15 knots. Power and luxury for the only superyacht where you can boast of having taken a nap under the shade of a tree in the middle of the ocean. In Xataka | The Emir of Dubai bought a 500 million superyacht but discovered that it had a serious problem: there was no mobile coverage inside Image | Sanlorenzo

Singapore is the hidden “heart” of the Internet and global telecommunications. It all started with a tree from there.

by

We live in a connected and globalized world where (almost) everything is in the cloud and available through the internet. Although these connections seem invisible to the eye, they are not: submarine cables are responsible for of 97% of intercontinental traffic. If you take a look at the world submarine cables mapyou will see that there are areas that are true deserts and others that are tangles. One of the most congested points is precisely in Singapore. That the enclave is on the maritime route between Europe, the Middle East and East Asia partly explains why: geography is a historically compelling reason. However, the real trigger was a very curious Scottish doctor and a tree native to the Malay Peninsula. The impressive Singapore node. That Singapore is Asia’s great connectivity hub is a reality: it unites East Asia, South Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and Europe. But it is not only a busy area, it is among the large exchangers that keep the world connected through their interconnection density and operational resilience. Approximately 30 active cables and many others in imminent deployment converge in just 720 square kilometers of territory, according to TeleGeography. To prevent your seabed from becoming a tangle of cables, the deployment is restricted to three specific areas awarded in strict order of arrival eight landing stations. On the Equinix campus is the Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX), a point where traffic is literally exchanged between hundreds of operators throughout Asia at a very short physical distance, which translates into ultra-low latency. In addition, its redundant capacity is such that when other critical routes fail, it is capable of absorbing traffic diversions, as happened during the Red Sea crisis in 2022. That tangle of cables is Singapore. Submarinecablemap Context: geography as state policy. Singapore’s reality as a first-rate hub is largely to blame for its strategic location: it is at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula, where the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea meet. In the Strait of Malacca, right where it becomes the Strait of Singapore, its narrowest point is only 2.8 kilometers wide and there are areas where the depth around 25 meters. over there 80,000 ships pass through each year. Its position is key, but there is a milestone that marked everything: in 1819 the British East India Company obtained the right to establish a trading post over there. Since then, the Strait of Malacca has been a usual suspect in international trade: it is where much of the world’s oil (even more so than Hormuz, which is currently raging with the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran). Is one of China’s doors to the world. And also the area through which any cable that connects the West with East Asia passes. Many ships, many cables and little space constitute a potential recipe for disaster, which your government conscientiously manages and continues to promote vigorously. favorable regulatory conditions to attract more wiring. The material that started submarine cables. We have made a small flashback to the 19th century with the British East India Company that we now return to. When in 1822 the Scottish surgeon William Montgomerie was in Singapore precisely at the service of the East India Company, something caught his attention: the handles of parang (a type of machete) were made of a material that looked like plastic wood. Of course, unlike wood, this material did not splinter, was resistant to impacts, molded to the workers’ hands and was immune to water. A marvel, come on. A material with properties that he had never seen in his life, so he sent a sample to London for exhibition at the Society of Arts. There were no wires in Montgomerie’s head, what he had in mind were surgical instruments. In 1845 the Society awarded him an award and engineers began to work with this prodigious substance. Illustration of the Palaquium gutta. Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen – (1883) Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem. Plastic before the plastic boom. Gutta-percha is the dried sap of trees native to the Malay Archipelago such as the Palaquium gutta, a natural latex that becomes rigid when cooled and has waterproof, saltwater-resistant and electrically insulating properties. Taking into account that Bakelite did not arrive until 1907in the 19th century it was the only material with that magnificent combination of properties, ideal for insulating an electric cable at the bottom of the sea. At that time there was no fiber optics, but there was telegraph. The rapid industrialization of gutta-percha. British engineering stepped on the accelerator and by 1851 we already had the first submarine cable with gutta-percha crossing the English Channel, led by the brothers Jacob and John Watkins Brett. The “nervous system” of the British Empire It grew at dizzying speed: by 1866 it had 15,000 nautical miles and by 1900 it reached 200,000 nautical miles. Singapore was already on the wiring map thanks to London’s connection to Hong Kong through India and the Strait of Malacca, laid by the British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company. That stretch of coast where the cable reached in 1871 is where the Meta or Google cables pass today for identical geographical reasons as they do now, a century and a half later. The environmental drama. We have already seen that in the West there was a real furor over gutta-percha, the obtaining of which had small print: unlike rubber, it was not enough to bleed the tree, it had to be cut, removed the bark and boiled. An adult tree produced between one and seven kilos. For the first attempt at a transatlantic cable, which dates back to 1858, it required an enormous amount: for 2,500 nautical miles in length (4,630 km) 300 tons were needed. Only two years after Montgomery introduced gutta-percha to the old continent, Tomas Oxley estimated that the 412 tons exported to Europe had caused the felling of 69,000 trees. He Palaquium gutta disappeared from Singapore by 1857 and much … Read more

The liquid tree arrives that does not need soil or space

by

In some cities, trees have become a true luxury item: either because there is no space left (or there is no interest in allocating it for this purpose), because the ground is sealed by asphalt or concrete or because pollution prevents their development. This happens in large cities all over the planet, from India to southern Europe. India has released a solution that does not need rain and does not grow: it is a green water tank that does the work of ten trees. A liquid tree. Context. In cities there are two overwhelming realities: They concentrate around 70% of carbon dioxide emissions and almost half of the population lives in them. Some Spanish cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Seville or Murcia deserve special mention, among those with the lowest proportional tree cover on the continent and those with the most deaths due to the heat island effect, according to a study by specialists from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. published in The Lancet. It is not so much a question of having many trees (Madrid, for example, has them), but of having proportional tree cover and here the Spanish state needs to improve, he says. this study of 744 European cities and the recommendations of the European Commission. Al fresco liquid tree. “Liquid trees” are, in a nutshell, urban photobioreactors. Inside there is a closed system with microalgae in aqueous solution to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as if it were a real plant. Up to this point, everything is more or less as if it were a tree, but with the advantage of not needing soil, land to plant it in, or taking root. And that the cleaning function of the liquid tree is equivalent to two 10-year-old trees or 200 square meters of grass, according to the Multidisciplinary Research Institute of the University of Belgrade, to whom they came up with the concept in 2021 following the assignment of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to combat air pollution in the Serbian capital. The first prototype was called LIQUID 3 and was planted in Stari Grad. Why is it important. Because cities are the epicenter of the global emissions problem and if we have already seen that today a good part of the world’s population lives in cities, in 2050 it will be even worse: the UN estimates that the figure will rise to 68%. As explains Dr. Ivan Spasojevicone of the inventors of LIQUID 3, the goal is not to replace forests, but to use this system for urban areas where there is no space to plant trees. Under certain conditions of high pollution, trees suffer to survive, but according to the scientist, algae are not affected. How it works. As you can see in the image on the cover or in the video below, LIQUID 3 is a kind of aquarium with 600 liters of fresh water where there are single-celled microalgae (which we can find in any pond) continuously doing photosynthesis. The contaminated air is introduced in the form of bubbles thanks to the pumping system and a photovoltaic panel provides electricity for both the pump and the nighttime LED lighting. Furthermore, maintenance is minimal: every month and a half you have to remove the biomass generated, which serves as fertilizer (not for the liquid tree, obviously) and replace the water and minerals. They clean more than a lifelong tree. The main reason for this liquid tree compared to a traditional tree is efficiency: while parts such as the trunk, branches or roots do not photosynthesize, everything in the algae is productive. According to the UNDP Serbiathat makes them between 10 and 50 times more efficient than conventional trees. The startup Liquid Trees has quantified the CO₂ removal capacity of its liquid tree at 1.83 kg of CO₂ per kg of biomass produced. From prototype to first street trees. Liquid trees are not something new: as we have already seen, the concept dates back to 2021. However, it has not remained a mere prototype and that’s it. The technology is escalating. In 2024, the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies and the company Lo Carbon Solutions they installed India’s first outdoor liquid tree in Kerala: a 1,000 liter tank equivalent to 10 mature trees. Almost at the same time, the DS business group and the startup Liquid Trees they planted a 1,600 liter unit equivalent to six mature trees. Yes, but. Leaving aside something obvious such as that if the electricity contribution does not come from a renewable source, the real carbon balance is worse than the figures suggest or that it is data provided by interested parties and not externally audited, a scientific review by researchers at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies published in the International Journal of Plant and Environment lists some limitations of the concept, among them a fairly obvious one: investment in infrastructure and maintenance is not comparable to planting lifelong trees. And that’s without talking about the environmental cost: an architectural design study from the University of Alcalá calculation that a photobioreactor façade takes more than 11 years to compensate for the CO₂ emitted during its own manufacturing. Finally, no city has yet implemented the technology at scale. What exists are prototypes and specific pilots, not deployed urban solutions. In Xataka | The Spanish invention to solve the lack of trees and reduce the heat in squares and parks around the planet. It’s cheap and immediate In Xataka | Madrid thought they had a great idea putting awnings against the heat in Puerta del Sol. It turned out so well Cover | UNDP and Sung Shin

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.