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We thought that Voyager 1 had already given everything it could. NASA continues to turn off parts to keep it alive

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to some 25,000 million kilometers from Earth, Voyager 1 continues to send us data from interstellar space, Farther than any other ship built by humanity. The probe was launched in 1977 and, almost half a century later, it remains operational with an increasingly delicate condition: to keep it alive, the mission team is shutting down parts of the ship itself. That is exactly what has just happened with one of its scientific instruments, in a maneuver that reveals the delicate moment the mission is going through. The maneuver. On April 17, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California they sent the order to turn off the experiment Low-energy Charged Particlesbetter known as LECP. It is an instrument dedicated to measuring low-energy charged particles, including ions, electrons and cosmic rays from both our solar system and the galaxy. The decision was not improvised. According to NASA, this instrument was next in the order agreed upon years ago by the scientific and engineering teams to cut consumption without terminating the mission. There are no solar panels. To understand why NASA has reached this point, we have to look at how Voyager 1 is powered. The probe does not work with solar panels, but with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that converts the heat generated by the decay of plutonium into electricity. This system has allowed the mission to be sustained for decades, but its capacity is not infinite. According to NASA, both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 They lose about 4 watts of power per yeara small loss on paper, but decisive when you have been managing each watt with extreme care for almost half a century. The scare that accelerated the decision. Although the shutdown of the LECP was part of a previously defined roadmap, there was a recent episode that forced the team to move more carefully. During a routine turn maneuver on February 27, Voyager 1’s power levels dropped unexpectedly. The US agency explains that any additional descent could activate the ship’s undervoltage protection system, designed to disconnect components on its own and protect it. A calculated “pruning”. The shutdown sequence was decided a long time ago, in joint conversations between those who design the scientific part of the mission and those who technically keep it alive. Of the 10 instruments each Voyager had, seven have already been turned off. In addition, the LECP will not be completely disconnected: the small motor that allows the sensor to rotate to scan in all directions will remain on, because it barely consumes 0.5 watts and keeps a remote option open to reactivate it later. The plan that comes now. With this shutdown, NASA does not consider the issue closed, but rather gains time to attempt a deeper intervention. According to the agency, switching off the LECP should give Voyager 1 about a year of respite. During that time, engineers want to complete a more ambitious energy adjustment for the two probes, dubbed “big Bang“The idea is to change several energy-consuming devices at once, turning off some and replacing others with lower consumption alternatives, to conserve the necessary heat and continue operating scientific instruments for as long as possible. When will the maneuver be attempted?. NASA will first test this setting on Voyager 2, which is closer to Earth and has slightly more power. The tests are planned for May and June 2026 and, if they go well, the team will try to apply the same maneuver on Voyager 1 no earlier than July. Images | POT In Xataka | The paradox of artificial gravity: Einstein told us how to do it, engineering tells us it is almost impossible

Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

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In the complex genetic map that surrounds the known down syndromethe problem is not that there is a lack of information in our cells, but that there is an excess. The presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 It unbalances the entire cellular system that ends up generating an entire clinic that today did not have any type of cure. But thanks to clinical advances and revolutionary gene therapies, we have found a way to turn off this gene that is extra in the cells of people with Down. A natural switch. To understand this advance, we must look at how nature itself resolves its own genetic imbalances. And, for those who do not know, in human beings sex is determined by two types of chromosomes: X and Y. If you are a woman, you will have XX chromosomes, and if you are a man, you will have XY. The problem, boiling it down to its most basic, is that always one of the ‘X’ genes must be silenced so that the genetic load is compensated in humans. And this is something that is done thanks to the gene XIST which encodes an RNA molecule that covers the chromosome and alters its chromatin, silencing de facto their genes. Something that has been developed by nature itself in order to maintain the species, and then the question is obligatory: why not use this natural switch to silence the chromosomes that generate diseases as important as Down syndrome? It’s not something new. The idea of ​​using this “switch” to be able to alter the gene expression of the chromosomes that we have in excess is not new, since in 2013 the researcher Jeanne Lawrence demonstrated for the first time that this RNA could induce the silencing of the extra chromosome 21 in human cells that were in culture in a laboratory. Later, in 2020, it was applied to neural stem cells, but the historical problem has always been the same: the very low efficiency when integrating this gene into the affected cells.. A new milestone. This has changed radically, as a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has published a new article in PNAS with a solution to eradicate this bottleneck thanks to the tool CRISPR/Cas9. This system can be visualized as simple scissors that specifically cut into our DNA to eliminate something that was left over or altered. The problem is that it was not very efficient at integrating new genetic material, and to overcome this, scientists have developed a modified version of CRISPR/Cas9 that boosts the success rate of the integration of the XIST gene which will silence the third chromosome 21. Good results. Here we recognize how XIST has been integrated into 20-40% of cell lines that have trisomy 21. Furthermore, the method reliably affects only the extra copy of chromosome 21 without silencing other genes that can cause other diseases. There are problems. Despite the enthusiasm, the technique is far from being applied in humans, since one of the biggest challenges of CRISPR is the mutations off-target, That is, it acts on other genetic points that are its marked objectives. And this occurs when these ‘scissors’ cut a sequence of DNA that closely resembles its target, but which in reality is not. In this way, an error off-target It could trigger severe cellular problems or even cancer. Recent studies show that experimentation on embryos with these techniques often results in mosaicism with edited and unedited cells, as well as incomplete edits. This means that right now we have to work on having greater specificity in the genetic objectives of the therapy so that the consequences of using it are not much greater than the fact of curing a disease. Ethical shock. The controversy is served with genetic therapies in general, since right now one of the lines that are open is to eliminate this extra chromosome directly in a human embryo before implementing it in a woman so that she is not born with this disease. This is where bioethicists they point because experimenting with human embryos damages their physical integrity and poses irreversible risks for future generations. Furthermore, they underline the urgency of distinguishing between the use of CRISPR for purely therapeutic purposes, such as treating symptoms, and its use for “genetic improvement” or the selection of embryos that are much more advanced or genetically perfect. This is also added to the fact that genetic editing in embryos for reproductive purposes is currently prohibited in most countries. Images | Sangharsh Lohakare In Xataka | The surprising thing is not that we have sequenced the DNA of a Neanderthal from 11,000 years ago: it is what it has revealed

Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

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In the complex genetic map that surrounds the known down syndromethe problem is not that there is a lack of information in our cells, but that there is an excess. The presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 It unbalances the entire cellular system that ends up generating an entire clinic that today did not have any type of cure. But thanks to clinical advances and revolutionary gene therapies, we have found a way to turn off this gene that is extra in the cells of people with Down. A natural switch. To understand this advance, we must look at how nature itself resolves its own genetic imbalances. And, for those who do not know, in human beings sex is determined by two types of chromosomes: X and Y. If you are a woman, you will have XX chromosomes, and if you are a man, you will have XY. The problem, boiling it down to its most basic, is that always one of the ‘X’ genes must be silenced so that the genetic load is compensated in humans. And this is something that is done thanks to the gene XIST which encodes an RNA molecule that covers the chromosome and alters its chromatin, silencing de facto their genes. Something that has been developed by nature itself in order to maintain the species, and then the question is obligatory: why not use this natural switch to silence the chromosomes that generate diseases as important as Down syndrome? It’s not something new. The idea of ​​using this “switch” to be able to alter the gene expression of the chromosomes that we have in excess is not new, since in 2013 the researcher Jeanne Lawrence demonstrated for the first time that this RNA could induce the silencing of the extra chromosome 21 in human cells that were in culture in a laboratory. Later, in 2020, it was applied to neural stem cells, but the historical problem has always been the same: the very low efficiency when integrating this gene into the affected cells.. A new milestone. This has changed radically, as a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has published a new article in PNAS with a solution to eradicate this bottleneck thanks to the tool CRISPR/Cas9. This system can be visualized as simple scissors that specifically cut into our DNA to eliminate something that was left over or altered. The problem is that it was not very efficient at integrating new genetic material, and to overcome this, scientists have developed a modified version of CRISPR/Cas9 that boosts the success rate of the integration of the XIST gene which will silence the third chromosome 21. Good results. Here we recognize how XIST has been integrated into 20-40% of cell lines that have trisomy 21. Furthermore, the method reliably affects only the extra copy of chromosome 21 without silencing other genes that can cause other diseases. There are problems. Despite the enthusiasm, the technique is far from being applied in humans, since one of the biggest challenges of CRISPR is the mutations off-target, That is, it acts on other genetic points that are its marked objectives. And this occurs when these ‘scissors’ cut a sequence of DNA that closely resembles its target, but which in reality is not. In this way, an error off-target It could trigger severe cellular problems or even cancer. Recent studies show that experimentation on embryos with these techniques often results in mosaicism with edited and unedited cells, as well as incomplete edits. This means that right now we have to work on having greater specificity in the genetic objectives of the therapy so that the consequences of using it are not much greater than the fact of curing a disease. Ethical shock. The controversy is served with genetic therapies in general, since right now one of the lines that are open is to eliminate this extra chromosome directly in a human embryo before implementing it in a woman so that she is not born with this disease. This is where bioethicists they point because experimenting with human embryos damages their physical integrity and poses irreversible risks for future generations. Furthermore, they underline the urgency of distinguishing between the use of CRISPR for purely therapeutic purposes, such as treating symptoms, and its use for “genetic improvement” or the selection of embryos that are much more advanced or genetically perfect. This is also added to the fact that genetic editing in embryos for reproductive purposes is currently prohibited in most countries. Images | Sangharsh Lohakare In Xataka | The surprising thing is not that we have sequenced the DNA of a Neanderthal from 11,000 years ago: it is what it has revealed

Now a Chinese giant wants to turn it into the storage capital

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Navarra is a consolidated world leader in renewable energy, especially a leader in wind energy: back in 1994, it built its first park and since then it has not only dressed some of its most iconic mountains with wind turbines, but has also created a powerful business ecosystem around them that has earned it the nickname of being the Silicon Valley of wind turbines. The starting point. This industrial and technological tradition has laid the necessary foundations to be a pioneer in the next step of the energy transition. After almost three years of contacts and visits, Navarra has closed the agreement to install a Hithium Energy Storage battery gigafactory. As summarized the president of the Foral Community: “We know that China has decided to go out and invest in Europe and these are opportunities that Navarra cannot miss.” The project. The Government of Navarra together with Hithium Energy Storage will form a joint venture through the public company SODENA for the construction of a plant that will manufacture lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells and assemble complete stationary storage system batteries (BESS batteries). The agreement signed in China contemplates an investment of 450 million euros, according to Qui Tangdirector of Strategy at Hithium, and the creation of around 700 jobs, with the possibility of a second phase that would add about 300 more, as collects News from Navarra. Still with some to be closed, the start of production has been set for 2027 and the location with the most votes for its installation is the old BSH plant in Esquíroz/Ezkirotz, just five kilometers south of the Navarrese capital. Why is it important. The great pending issue for the European energy transition involves stationary batteries: without the capacity to store electricity generated by the sun and wind, the electrical system cannot absorb more renewables without compromising the stability of the network. Europe has a lot of installed generation and little of its own storage industry and that gap is precisely what Hithium comes to solve. On the other hand, manufacturing within the EU allows it to avoid tariffs and other bureaucracy that Brussels applies to Chinese energy products. For Navarra the impact has several levels. Beyond the obvious economic investment and employment, it represents a logical evolution: from becoming a benchmark in clean energy generation to becoming the manufacturing hub for the storage systems that will allow it to be managed. But Hithium will also be the second battery factory in Navarra: Hyundai Mobis already has its own in Noainalthough oriented towards electric vehicles. With this arrival, Navarra consolidates an industrial ecosystem around energy storage at the level of few European regions. Context. The movement comes at a time of reconfiguration of European industrial sovereignty against third parties through the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). That Hithium chooses Navarra makes it possible for its production to carry the “Made in EU” label, thus complying with the sustainability and regulatory standards of the old continent. Navarra already had installed power and leading engineering companies, but it lacked the capacity to store energy. In the midst of the global energy crisis, demand for large-scale storage solutions has skyrocketed and Hithium was looking for a strategic port to supply the European market. The Foral Community has forged this agreement slowly, as the counselor explains of Industry, Ecological and Business Digital Transition of the Government of Navarra Mikel Irujo, after three years of negotiations and seven visits. In fact, Navarra has carried out a strategic project that was initially aimed at Euskadi, as ElDiario.es points out. Who is Hithium?. It may not be as well-known as CATL, BYD or Huawei, but Hithium Energy Storage Technology is a giant in its segment and is also a real teenager. Founded in 2019 in Xiamen (Fujian Province) by Wu Zuyu, engineer specialized in batteries and ex-CATLthe world’s largest manufacturer in the sector. Of course, unlike CATL, whose main business is batteries for electric vehicles, Hithium focuses exclusively in stationary storage for the electrical grid. Less media coverage than electric cars but essential for the energy transition. In record time she has gone from being unknown to becoming one of the leading manufacturers global stationary storage battery companies with a presence in more than 20 countries and more than 1,200 engineering professionals in a workforce of 8,000 people. The one in Navarra will be Hithium’s second factory outside of China (the other is in Dallas, Texas) and will be the company’s reference base for all of Europe. Yes, but. Although the agreement has been signed, Chivite itself has warned that there are still administrative steps pending and the location is still unclear. On the other hand, the joint venture with the participation of SODENA implies that the risk does not fall solely on Hithium: if the project is delayed or does not reach the objectives, the Navarrese citizens assume part of the consequences. The commitment to local employment is explicit and the Provincial government has promised to monitor itbut there are already precedents that invite caution. Leaving aside this specific case, there is a technological question that remains unanswered: Europe has foreign dependence on rare earths or semiconductors and this risk also affects batteries. It is true that a Chinese gigafactory on European soil generates local employment and produces within the EU, but the technology, intellectual property and strategic decisions continue to be made in China. In Xataka | The solar miracle that went wrong: Spain produces more electricity than it can manage In Xataka | We have a problem with heat in buildings. A Navarrese investigation knows how to cool them without air conditioning Cover | Hornsdale Power Reserve and Pamplona City Council

four times more visitors than neighbors and a turn to luxury

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Ibiza is one of the biggest holiday destinations in Spain. Also one of the places that most clearly suffers the effects of mass tourism. That’s nothing new. The overcrowding of the island has generated a billionaire businessbut it has also led the neighbors to go out into the street (same as in other points of the Balearic Islands) to denounce its effects, especially in the real estate market. There is, however, a point in Ibiza where the weight of the tourism and its tendencies are felt in a special way: It’s Canarin Santa Eulària. In a way it acts as a huge tourist ‘laboratory’. One town, two realities. If something characterizes the great destinations (in Spain and any other place in the world) it is that their routine is very different depending on the time of year we are talking about. The high season has little to do with the low season. In It’s Canar That dichotomy is felt in a special way, as just remembered elDiario.es, which has revealed a peculiarity of the neighborhood: its tourist offer quadruples (at least) the number of residents registered. One figure: 7,600. According to the Hotel Federation Fehifin the area there are 7,645 tourist places, four times more than the number of residents registered (1,689). As a reference, the ‘Balearic Sea Report’ estimates that in 2023 they will operate in the entire Balearic Islands. 607,500 places legal tourist activities, while the INE counted in the region just over 1.2 million of residents. Although to the ‘legal’ accommodation offer of the ‘Balearic Sea Report’ we must add the one that operates outside the lawthe regional ‘photo’ is different from that of es Canar. “A ghost town”. This duality between summer and low season is deduced from the statistics, but above all it is felt on the street, as recognize some residents to elDiario.es. “What shocks us the most is winter because Canar becomes a ghost town,” says a neighbor. As temperatures and daylight hours rise, the neighborhood itself is transformed. “It’s a bit overwhelming because… Who isn’t overwhelmed when suddenly there are a lot of people in the area where they live?” he adds. In winter, even the surrounding hospitality offer collapses, which is reduced to its minimum expression. Beaches, market… and relaxation. It is not Canar (far from it) the only area from Ibiza or the Balearic Islands whose routine is marked by the flow of tourists. Its offer, however, has made it a popular destination among those looking for family-friendly tourism. To your beach offer adds its urban center, the port, the beach bars, activities and one of its great attractions: the hippie markets. “The truth is that it is tourism, as far as possible, very familiar. (almost all are British families) and respectful. Since COVID-19 it seems that there is also more national tourism, it is not like in Sant Antoni or Platja d’en Bossa”, comment the same resident. Part of this influx of visitors who choose to stay in es Canar do so in large two- and three-star tourist complexes. Changing the model. If the neighborhood is interesting, beyond its registration data or tourist offer, it is because it also reflects a trend that can be seen in other tourist areas of Spain: the commitment to tourism premiumthe one with the greatest purchasing power. It is something that is detected clearly in Madrid or Barcelona, ​​where have been shot luxury hotels and cruises. In recent years, businesses focused on a clientele looking for a higher category have been opening in the surroundings of es Canar and, if everything goes according to plan, in a short time the neighborhood itself will strengthen its offer in that sector. “Non-shrill luxury”. a few days ago Ibiza Newspaper revealed that work has started to build a new five-star hotel in the area. The idea is to provide it with 116 rooms and for it to open for the 2027 season. Its promoters they are already negotiating to choose an operator, but they advance that, although they want to target a higher segment, they will bet on “non-strident luxury.” “This is not going to be a hotel with rooms at 2,000 euros a night. It is a five-star hotel but not very luxurious. We do not aspire to have a media chef.” Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2 Via | elDiario.es In Xataka | Mallorca has been the dream of thousands of European expats for years. Now it has its own ‘Little Sweden’

Brands are eager to turn our cars into a subscription service. Honda has reminded us again

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Buying a car today can be a whole box of surprises. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes, as recently happened to a Honda Passport owner, for the worse. And just as has shared user on Reddit, the function to open your garage that previously came as standard, has become an option included in a subscription package offered by the firm. The story has some nuances that are worth mentioning, but the reality is that this example has become another reflection of something that has been happening for years in the automobile industry: manufacturers are determined to turn your vehicles into recurring revenue platformsand software is your main tool to achieve this. From opening the garage with a little button in the car, to doing it from an app The Honda Passport in question has removed the rearview mirror with integrated Homelink, the system that allows the car to be synchronized with the garage receiver via radio. In your place now offers the function as standard through the MyQ applicationintegrated into HondaLink. For it to work, the user needs an internet connection in the car, Apple CarPlay or Android Autoand you must also install a MyQ receiver connected to the home Wi-Fi at home. The result is a system that provides more technical complexity to do something that was previously solved with a small radio control attached to the visor. Sling confirmed According to CarBuzz, customers receive a free 30-day trial period, after which they must contract a three- or five-year subscription. If they don’t, the feature is still accessible through the standalone MyQ app, and Honda also sells a rearview mirror with Homelink as an additional accessory for around $170. That is to say: What used to come as standard now has to be paid separately. The main advantage of the new system (being able to check if you have left the garage open from anywhere with a connection) makes some practical sense. But the price of the subscription, between $129 and $179 for three or five years, plus the possible connectivity costs of the vehicle itself, turns something so simple into a payment chain that is difficult to justify. BMW and heated seats: the case that started it all To understand where we are today with the issue of subscription services in vehicles, it is worth remembering the most talked about episode in recent years. In 2022, BMW began to offer in some markets (South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, among others) the possibility of activate seat heating through a monthly subscription about 18 dollars a month. The problem here is that the hardware is already installed in the car from the factory, and it is the owners who had to pay a monthly subscription to unlock this feature. Both the press and the users attacked them so much that they had to back away. In September 2023, BMW Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Pieter Nota will confirmed to Autocar the end of that practice: “What we no longer do, and it is a well-known example, is to offer seat heating in this way. Either it comes from the factory or it doesn’t.” But BMW did not abandon the subscription model, but rather reoriented it. The brand confirmed that it would continue to expand the services and functions it offers through subscriptions, but that it will stop charging for hardware functions already installed in the vehicle. After the move, the firm continued with its plans to add subscription services, but this time only in its software, such as driving or parking assistance systems. Through your ConnectedDrive platformoffers functions such as adaptive suspension, high beam assistant, adaptive cruise control or even welcome animations with the lights, through subscription. Mercedes: up to 80 horses per subscription BMW’s example ended up spreading to many other firms. Mercedes-Benz launched its “Acceleration Increase On-Demand” function in 2023 for the electric EQE and EQS models: for $60 per month or $600 per year in the case of the EQE, or $90 per month and $900 per year in the EQS, owners could unlock between 60 and 80 additional horsepower and cut the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h by up to one second. They also added a single payment option for life, which is around 2,000 or 3,000 euros, depending on the model. Mercedes’ logic with which it tried to distance itself from BMW’s case was that standard hardwired functions, such as seat heating, would not be offered as “digital extras”, leaving subscriptions for software upgrades. However, the principle is the same– The car has the necessary hardware, but the feature is blocked until the user pays. Mercedes-Benz aimed reach 2,000 million euros of revenue from software subscriptions in 2025, with plans to reach between 7,000 and 9,000 million euros before 2030. This growth would be driven above all by its own operating system (MB.OS) and its autonomous driving system. If we think about it coldly, electric cars usually have lower maintenance costs than combustion cars, which reduces the income of dealers and the brands themselves. Software subscriptions are presented as a way to compensate for that loss. Tesla, GM and Ford: the model that already works Tesla has been the benchmark for this model for years, and in its case the discussion has important nuances. Your system Full Self-Driving Supervised (supervised autonomous driving) could be purchased for about $8,000 as a one-time payment or as a monthly subscription. And we tell it in the past tense because earlier this year, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla would offer this mode only as a subscription service and not as a one-time payment. The good news is that those who had paid to get the lifetime feature will continue to have this feature. The subscription option costs about $99 per month. Perhaps the main difference here with BMW or Mercedes is that Tesla updates its software continuously with new capacities, which gives greater meaning to the recurring fee model. In the case of General Motors, … Read more

97% of a key mineral for Europe comes from China. Spain has a plan of 197 million to turn it around

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Constant technological development has unleashed a silent but relentless geopolitical war. At the center of the target are rare earths and critical minerals, essential for manufacturing everything from mobile phones to electric cars or wind turbines. Nowadays, how to explain Europa PressEurope is in a situation of extreme vulnerability: 97% of the magnesium we consume comes from China and 98% of the borate we import from Türkiye. However, the solution to this deep dependence could be buried under Spanish soil. A new plan. As detailed in the National Mining Exploration Program 2026-2030 (PNEM), the official document promoted by the Government of Spain20 of the 34 raw materials that the European Union classifies as fundamental have been detected in the Iberian Peninsula. Of them, 17 are considered strategic due to their high technological and defense impact. To map and take advantage of this “treasure”, the Executive has launched an ambitious plan. The financing table of the PNEM itself projects a total investment of 197 million euros for the five-year period 2026-2030, adding public financing, aid and private investment that is expected to be mobilized. A breath for Europe and an opportunity for Spain. The European roadmap, crystallized in the Fundamental Raw Materials Regulation (Critical Raw Materials Act or CRMA), is very clear: guarantee access to a safe and diversified supply. By 2030, the European Union has set a goal of extracting at least 10%, processing 40% and recycling 25% of its domestic demand for these materials. In this context, Spain is not a secondary actor, but is the only producer of strontium in Europe, hosting 15% of the world’s reserves in the Montevives and Escúzar basin in Granada, and holds the position of second largest copper producer on the continent. according to data provided by Europa Press. The main focus of exploration is located in the Variscan or Iberian Massif, an extensive geological strip that crosses the west of the peninsula from Galicia to Andalusia, passing through Cantabria, Asturias, Castilla y León and Extremadura. The official document highlights, within this great massif, the so-called Central Ibérica, Ossa-Morena and South Portuguesa Zones as priority areas for general exploration. The private sector takes positions. On a practical level, intentions are already being translated into business movements on the ground. In Extremadura the Junta has granted a license to explore an area of ​​49,500 hectares in the Cáceres regions of Los Ibores and Campo de Arañuelo. In Andalusia, specifically in Jaén, the Australian company Osmond Resources will promote the Orion projectcovering 228 square kilometers in the former mining region of Linares-La Carolina to search for unusually high concentrations of rutile, zircon and rare earths such as neodymium. For its part, the European Commission has already blessed seven strategic projects in Spanish territory to protect the supply, located in enclaves of Ciudad Real, Orense, Cáceres, Badajoz, Huelva and Seville. Cutting-edge technology versus “pick and shovel”. The National Mining Exploration Program does not contemplate blindly digging holes. The Ministry’s text outlines six great performances interconnected to locate these raw materials. The process will begin with an exhaustive review of historical data and geoscientific reports, followed by the preparation of highly detailed geological-mining cartography. From there, technology will take over. Geochemical soil prospecting campaigns and complex isotopic analyzes will be carried out to find anomalies in the terrain. In addition, cutting-edge geophysical techniques will be deployed, using everything from airborne gravimetry and magnetometry equipment (planes and drones), to remote sensing using high-resolution hyperspectral and satellite images provided by the European Space Agency. All of this will be complemented by carrying out physical surveys to confirm the mining interest of the anomalies. Finally, as the official plan highlights, all this huge amount of data will be processed using algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate predictive models of mineralization. The inevitable clash: Mining vs. Biodiversity. However, technology collides head-on with strict environmental reality. The clearest example is in Campo de Montiel (Ciudad Real). There, the company Quantum Minería has been trying to exploit a promising monazite deposit to extract rare earths. But the project has encountered strong neighborhood opposition due to the very high water consumption it requires and an unexpected defender: the iberian lynx. The recovery of this feline’s territories in the area has become a major legal obstacle for the mining company, paralyzing permits due to fear of destroying its habitat. Although before the environmental alarms go off, it is important to make a fundamental point: this National Program serves to know what we have, it is not an authorization to dig it up. The Ministry’s own document clarifies that the plan does not establish “binding or indicative objectives” for exploitation. That is, it is a purely prospective roadmap and data collection that does not compromise or zone the territory to open real mines. The mine is in the “garbage”. Faced with this paralysis and the immense difficulty of opening new mines in natural areas, Spain has an ace up its sleeve: secondary mining and the circular economy. The National Program reserves one of its main transversal lines to respond to article 27 of the European regulations (CRMA), thoroughly investigating the economic potential of mining waste facilities that were closed or abandoned in the past. The Ministry document remember thatalready in the 80s, an inventory was prepared that cataloged 21,673 waste structures (rafts and waste dumps) spread throughout the national territory. Now, the State’s objective is to review this catalog and promote geochemical characterization work to recover those fundamental raw materials that, at the time, were not of interest or could not be extracted and were discarded. As pointed out Europa Press, Research teams from the University of Seville led by professors Joaquín Delgado and Antonio Romero are already working in Río Tinto (Huelva) designing experimental plants to recover valuable metals and rare earths from the acidic waters of abandoned mines. Even beyond the mine. A clear example of this circular bet is the RC-Metals projectled by the National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM-CSIC). … Read more

turn a missile into an explosive “storm” in full descent

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In the most advanced missile defense systems, each interception can cost millions of dollars and requires seconds of decision perfectly coordinated. It turns out that these systems were designed under a key assumption: that each threat would be identifiable, unique and treatable as a single objective. Iran has found a “hole.” Multiply a missile. In the last weeks of war, Iran has found a gap in the “millionaire” shield of Israel: convert a missile into everything a “rain” of threats in the middle of the descent, in a matter of seconds and just at the moment when the defensive systems have less room to react. The key is not to launch more missiles, but to change their nature at the critical moment, transforming a single interceptable target in dozens of submunitions that fall at high speed over large areas. It is a subtle but decisive change, because it breaks the logic on which anti-missile defenses are designed: detect, track and destroy a single target before impact. The “rain” that overflows the system. The analysts counted in The Guardian that Iranian cluster warheads release between several dozen and up to nearly a hundred submunitions at high altitude, dispersing them over areas that can span dozens of kilometers. At that point, the system stops dealing with a missile and starts dealing with multiple simultaneous threatsFurthermore, each one with a different trajectory and impact point. The result is an instant saturation where what was a controllable problem becomes a chaotic scenario where the defense must decide in seconds. what to intercept and what notknowing that it can’t cover everything. Chart providing an overview of the typical trajectory of a ballistic missile compared to other missiles and hypersonic boosted glide models The structural failure. The success of this tactic lies in exploiting a fundamental limitation: the systems like David’s Sling or even the iron dome They are optimized to intercept before dispersal, not after. If the missile is not destroyed in high phases (especially in the middle phase outside the atmosphere), the window of opportunity closes quickly. Once the submunitions are released, intercepting them individually is, in practice, unfeasible even for the world’s most advanced defensive networks. The invisible cost. Beyond the physical impact, the Iranian strategy introduces a problem economic and logistic. Intercepting a missile is already very costly, and trying to neutralize dozens of submunitions it is much moreto the point that the exchange stops making sense for the defender. Each attack requires interceptors to be expended expensive and limited against much cheaper threats, progressively eroding arsenals. Thus, even when most attacks are intercepted, the simple act of forcing defense already fulfills a strategic objective. Less missiles, more effect. Paradoxically, Iran does not need to launch large salvos to maintain the pressure. The reason: its current doctrine aims to combine moderate volumes with amplified effects, relying on hard-to-locate mobile launchers and a decentralized command structure designed to survive intensive bombing. This allows you to sustain constant attacks, even if they are few, but with the ability to impact specific objectives and keep Israeli defenses active continuously, forcing them to react again and again. A preview of the war to come. As we have been seeing in Ukraine and since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, what is happening with Iran’s missiles It is not just a tactical adaptation, but a preview of how can they evolve high intensity conflicts. Turn a single system into multiple threats, saturate advanced defenses and wear down the adversary without need for numerical superiority redefines the balance between attack and defense. And if this logic is extended (and everything indicates that other actors are watching it closely), current anti-missile systems could face a challenge for which they were not designed: not stopping missiles, but stopping real storms of explosives. Image | Yoav Keren In Xataka | The US is going to end its war in the Middle East with a very uncomfortable reality: Iran had years of advantage underground In Xataka | If the question is “how close are we to an escalation in Iran,” the answer is US A-10s flying there

We were going to turn trash into clean energy. Now the biogas sector faces its biggest challenge: convincing neighbors

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Spain may be emerging as great power in solar and wind energybut there are other green energies that choke him. The Spanish state is not having a nose for biogas. Or rather: it doesn’t smell good, in the most literal sense of the word. However, the sector has practically gone from zero to one hundred in record time: in just two years there are more than 200 biogas projects on the table in different processing phases. And they bring with them a problem: biogas is the green energy that no one wants close to home. The problem: energy transition vs. social rejection. In the roadmap for Spain’s energy transition (the PNIEC 2030), whose ultimate goal is for the state to achieve emissions neutrality by 2050, biogas has its role. But to make it possible, it is an essential requirement to build and launch plants. And here it collides with a wall of social rejection in the form of citizen platforms, not so much to the technology itself, but to the implementation model. There are no shortage of reasons: from the classic fear of bad smell to the lack of territorial planning, promoter companies that present projects without setting foot on the territory and talking to those who live there, the gigantism of some facilities or the shadow of macro farms as arguments, such as They explain for El País the emeritus professor of Environmental Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia Xavier Flotats and the biologist and researcher at the National Museum of Natural Sciences Fernando Valladares. Why is it important. That biogas appears in Spain’s energy transition strategy implies that, sooner or later, it will materialize; the key now is in the as. It is also a direct path to energy sovereignty that replaces natural gas. Just take a look at the electricity price map in Europe To understand it: countries that depend on imported fossil fuels suffer from price volatility, while those who have opted for their own alternatives They achieve greater independence and stability. But its value goes beyond energy. These plants generate organic fertilizers that replace chemicals derived from petroleum and offer a real solution to waste management. The slurry or agricultural remains will be produced the same, with or without a plant; The difference is that biogas allows them to be turned into a resource instead of leaving them as an environmental problem. Context. A biogas plant is essentially a stomach where bacteria break down organic waste without oxygen, known as anaerobic digestion. From here two products are obtained: a gas rich in methane and a fertilizer. Depending on the gas obtained, the plant is simply biogas or biomethane: biogas is methane combined with carbon dioxide in almost equal parts, so it is a “weak” fuel that is usually burned on site to generate electricity or local heat. However, biomethane plants add a refining step (removing carbon dioxide) to obtain a gas similar to fossil natural gas. In Europe, the biogas sector is a consolidated industry with more than 19,000 plantsof which almost half are in Germany. A picture says a thousand words: this Europe biomethane plants map of Gas Infrastructure Europe shows the density in states like Germany or Denmark compared to the Spanish desert. The ecological dilemma. For engineer Xavier Flotats, the general rejection is a contradiction: “For some activists, it is better that a landfill is emitting methane into the atmosphere than taking the waste to a biogas plant to do something useful with it.” And he goes deeper by explaining that although this outgoing digestate has 95% of the input composition by weight, its composition changes, it is mineralized and converted into fertilizer. Valladares assures that biogas plants are greenwashing in that the process does not make the waste disappear, they only remove 5%. And that “Biogas plants cannot be understood without the macro farms industrial poultry, pigs and cows.” For the biologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences, the only viable plants are few, small, safe and expensive. Marina Gros, representative of Ecologistas en Acción recognizes that “There are discrepancies within the organization because there is debate, there are different visions.” And in fact, have published a guide to evaluate case by case. The elephant in the room. Beneath the biogas dilemma inevitably lies the controversy of macro farms: In the event of a possible deployment of plants, the reality would be that part of the biogas produced in the state would depend on its slurry. There are those who see this as taking advantage of an already existing problem, but for other people it represents a facelift to a type of industrial livestock farming designed to maximize productivity at a lower cost compared to animal welfare and the environmental balance of the territory. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Faced with this flood of projects, experts agree on the importance of distinguishing sustainable plans from those that are not. Some signs that indicate that a project is reasonable include choosing a location close to the waste it manages and operating on a regional scale, with a plan to use the digestate as a local fertilizer and a design that guarantees total watertightness. On the contrary, there are signs that are authentic red flag: that the plant is far from the waste but close to gas pipelines, the absence of plans for digestate, the reception of waste in open pits, competition with other plants for raw materials or a logic of an industrial macroplant detached from the territory. In Xataka | A strange source of energy is putting Europe’s energy unity at risk: manure In Xataka | The ace up Spain’s sleeve to grow even more in the renewable energy landscape: biomethane Cover | Spencer DeMera and Eli DeFaria

turn a neighborhood into an unbearable oven

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In some cities around the world, the shape of a building has come to alter its environment greatly. more than expected: from skyscrapers that generate dangerous winds at street level to facades capable of concentrate sunlight as if they were giant mirrors. Contemporary architecture, in its search for recognizable icons, has shown that even the most invisible details can have very real consequences. From icon to problem. At the end of the 20th century, the city of Los Angeles decided to build one of the most ambitious concert halls in the world and commissioned the project to Frank Gehryalready converted into a global figure after the success of Bilbao Guggenheim. The result was the Walt Disney Concert Halla shiny, curved steel building that promised to redefine contemporary cultural architecture. However, in this commitment to formal spectacularity, the a basic factor: the actual behavior of materials in a dense urban environment. What should have been an icon became a source of risk, capable of reflecting sunlight with such intensity that it turned nearby streets and homes into authentic ovens. The invisible failure. The problem was not simply aesthetic, but physical. Some of the stainless steel surfaces, especially the more polished ones with concave shapes, acted like parabolic mirrors capable of concentrating solar radiation at specific points in the environment. This effect, amplified by execution decisions that altered Gehry’s originally intended finish, generated extreme glare and raised the temperature in nearby areas to dangerous levels. What on paper was a play of sculptural light became a real thermal phenomenondemonstrating how small deviations between design and construction can trigger unforeseen consequences in large-scale projects. Heat, complaints and public alarm. Shortly after its inauguration in 2003, the complaints from neighbors and workers of nearby buildings. The main problem? The reflection of the sun on the façade generated heat spots that They exceeded 60 degrees Celsius, affecting homes, sidewalks and even traffic, where drivers reported dangerous glare. The building, intended as a cultural symbol, began to be perceived as a threat urban. The local press documented how some areas became practically uninhabitable during certain hours of the day, turning the work into a paradigmatic case of how iconic architecture can fail when it ignores its impact on the immediate environment. An unusual solution. In the face of growing public pressure, the solution was as radical as it was symbolic: sand the building. Specialized teams subjected part of the façade to a process “sandblasting” to remove the polished finish and reduce the reflective ability of the steel. In practice, this meant physically altering one of the most distinctive features of the original design. And although Gehry defended that the problem derived more of the execution From conception, the episode made clear that even the most celebrated works can require drastic fixes when they come into contact with reality. As various media reflected at the time, the icon had to be “domesticated” in order to coexist with the city. Lessons from a partial failure in modern architecture. The case of the Walt Disney Concert Hall It was neither a structural collapse nor a total failure, but it was a strong warning on the limits of spectacle architecture. He demonstrated that formal innovation, when not accompanied by a deep understanding of factors such as solar radiation, the urban environment or real materials, can generate problems as serious and unexpected. Not only that. It also highlighted the fragility of the balance between aesthetics, engineering and habitability in contemporary architecture. The legacy. There is no doubt, today, the concert hall continues to be one of the most admired buildings in the world and a cultural reference in Los Angeles. But his story carries an uncomfortable lesson: even the most prestigious architect and a client with unlimited resources can overlook the most essential. In their search for a global icon, they forgot for a time that architecture is not only looked at, you also live. And in this case, for a few months, living near the work could mean something as simple and brutal as enduring unbearable heat generated by the building itself. Image | Pexels, Wally Gobetz, Slices of Light In Xataka | If the solution to the housing crisis is to “build high”, Spain has the best possible example at hand: Benidorm In Xataka | If the question is whether a skyscraper can be erased without demolishing it, Paris has the answer: yes, in exchange for a fortune

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