turning

is turning old mines into lakes

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The energy transition has a hidden side that often remains in the background: it is not only saying goodbye to fossil fuels but also thinking about what to do with these degraded lands after years of extractive activity. The mines. Leaving these exploited lands to their fate is a waste in every sense. Germany knows this and has promoted the largest landscape intervention in Europe: the Lusatian Lake District. You can see it better in the photo that illustrates this article: the before and after: what began as a network of huge open-pit coal mines is being transformed into a complex system of more than 20 interconnected artificial lakes, a true vacation paradise for sailing or taking a bike ride. In fact, You can now book a getaway over there. The project. Between Berlin and Dresden, Germany is transforming one of the most degraded landscapes in Europe into the largest system of artificial lakes on the continent: Lausitzer Seenland. This is a conversion project of old open pit lignite mines in a network of 23 lakes that occupy 13,600 hectaresten of them connected by navigable canals forming a continuous area of ​​7,000 hectares. The state-owned company LMBV Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft) oversees the technical execution, which includes the creation of tourism infrastructure, such as beaches, ports, cycling and camping areas, along with state-of-the-art facilities. The process is long and need a lot of money: Going from a mine to a long-term safe lake costs between 200 and 600 million euros and in Lusatia alone it has already cost 7 billion euros. Why is it important. This project represents the largest environmental restoration effort of post-mining landscapes in Europe and constitutes a relevant case study for the rehabilitation of degraded areas. As collect this analysis from the German Federal Environment Agency, 19 of these lakes have already achieved good/high ecological potential. That is, recovery is possible. Beyond ecological recovery, the lakes also fulfill water management functions: during 2018, more than 62 million cubic meters were released from the lakes to raise low levels of the Spree and Schwarze Elster rivers during drought, such as collect the local media Niederlausitz Aktuell. The project also has significant socioeconomic implications: the government has destined 40,000 million euros to promote this transition from mining in the eastern coal regions towards other vectors such as sustainable tourism. Context. At the time of the German Democratic Republic were extracted more than 2,000 million tons of lignite from depths greater than 60 meters, leaving enormous craters in the landscape. Lusatia was the country’s gasoline: in 1989, lignite production there reached 195.1 million tons. In total, open pit mining of lignite has devastated 179,490 hectares in Germany. German reunification in 1990 marked a before and after. The fall in energy demand and that the Federal Environment Agency will classify it Since lignite is the most polluting fossil fuel, it brought about a progressive dismantling of its mining. During the 1990s the LMBV was tasked with restoring 19 open pit mining areas in Lusatia. As explains Dr. Uwe Steinhuber of LMBV, it will take at least two generations to complete it. How they do it. The rehabilitation of Lusatia is supported by geotechnical stabilization and active hydrological control, such as collects LMBV in this report. To transform mining craters into safe lakes, it applies deep vibration compaction techniques that prevent liquefaction of sandy soil, while accelerating filling through controlled diversion of flows from the Spree River. The process is monitored by the Copernicus satellite, which detects ground movements. Water chemistry is the other great technical challenge in that the oxidation of pyrite causes extreme acidification such as documents the Canadian Journal of Soil Science. To neutralize it, they use treatment plants and ships, which allows them to reach the quality standards of the Federal Environment Agency. Yes, but. We have already seen that the calendar is long and the budget astronomical, but LMBV warns that still remains: at the moment they have invested 7,000 million euros, but the total cost of the project (which includes other regions) amounts to 13,800 million. The entire process will end in this decade, but it will be necessary to apply surveillance in the coming generations, both for contaminants and the geological stability of the area. Despite all efforts, rehabilitation is far from ideal: of the 36 lakes assessed by the Federal Environment Agency (which includes other lakes outside the tourist district), 12 they got “moderate” classification due to mercury or endocrine disrupting compounds such as tributyltin and one presented “poor” status due to excess nutrients. There is scientific evidence which support that mining soils present severe physical, chemical and biological limitations that make complete ecological restoration difficult. In Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels In Xataka | A mining company believes that under the soil of La Mancha there is a “Gold” of rare earths. And at the moment they won’t let him take it out Cover | Tourismusverband Lausitzer Seenland (Steffen Rasche)

The dogs of La Rioja are turning industrial estates into Need For Speed. The Civil Guard has not been amused

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The Civil Guard has been dismantled in La Rioja a modified vehicle hangout whose drivers had a very clear intention: to organize illegal races and perform different illegal maneuvers (skidding, acceleration, etc.) as an exhibition. Although they enjoyed the plan for a few hours, the party ended with 120 people identified, 25 sanctions and crimes such as possession of weapons and driving under the influence of drugs. The Spanish Fast and Furious. A meeting spread through social networks, with the presence of influencers and with more than one hundred participants from several autonomous communities. The Civil Guard had been monitoring the call for weeks, articulating both an intervention operation and a preventive surveillance and control device in various industrial estates in the region. Real images of the meeting, broadcast on the internet. burning wheel. According to the authorities, the agents observed exhibition maneuvers such as skidding, sudden accelerationsburning tires, near the public parking lot of one of the shopping centers in La Rioja. In nearby industrial estates, drivers were detected carrying out illegal races, who are now being investigated for crimes against road safety. It’s not something new. This same weekend the Civil Guard has investigated three people for participating in an illegal vehicle race in the Villaluenga-Yuncler industrial estate, in the province of Toledo. The operation was part of an operation that is underway since Februaryand that has already claimed several arrests for illegal races in the area. Last March Traffic officers detained 33 drivers for the same reason, in the industrial estates of Lleida. Andalusia is not spared either, where recently A gathering was dismantled in one of the main avenues of the city. what’s happening. Nothing that hasn’t been happening for decades. Since the early 2000sillegal racing remains alive in Spain. Modified car hangouts are not a random crime: they are a subculture that has been outside the law for years and that, with the arrival of social networks and messaging apps, has it even easier to attract followers. What for decades was an invisible counterculture, confined to polygons and internet forums, is now announced on social networks, filmed live and exposed more than ever. And if not, tell that to the guy who asked his partner to marry him in the middle of a car meetup… and ended up seriously run over. In Xataka | Saudi Arabia believes the world deserves an F1 circuit on par with Mario Kart. So it’s being built

The largest naval project in German history since World War II is turning out to be a crazy disaster

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In Europe, large military programs often take more than a decade to be completed and, in many cases, end up costing several times more than initially anticipated. It is not uncommon for complex projects to accumulate thousands of technical requirements and go through multiple reviews before reaching production. In this context, some plans are born as emblems of modernization… and end up becoming examples of how difficult it is to bring them to fruition. From something historic to something unsustainable. He program F126 was born as the great symbol of German rearmament and largest naval project of the country since the Second World War, but over time it has become quite the opposite: an example of how an ambitious plan can derail to the point of collapse. Conceived as a latest generation frigateflexible and prepared for decades of service, the project has not only accumulated delays and cost overrunsbut has called into question Germany’s ability to execute large military programs at a time when it aspires to lead European defense. Technical errors and chaos. He told in an extensive report the financial times that the origin of the problem seems as modern as it is devastating: a failed bet on a new software design that was not ready for a project of this scale. What should have been an advanced tool ended up generating cascading errors, from cables incorrectly located on the plans to steel parts manufactured with incorrect shapes, forcing manual corrections and slowing down the entire production. The result was a system that was moving at just a fraction of its planned pace, with delays that pushed the initial delivery several years later than planned. A culture shock. It turns out that the problem was not just technical. Apparently, the media reported that the project was trapped in a deep shock between the Dutch shipyard’s way of working and the German contracting system, known for its extreme rigidity. Thousands of specifications detailed even the smallest elements, while approval processes were they dragged on for months within a complex bureaucracy that required paper documentation and rejected even plans in English. This combination made collaboration a slow, frustrating, and, in many cases, unproductive process. Skyrocketing costs and limit decisions. As the problems piled up, so did made the invoice: The project, initially valued in the billions, began to go off track with significant cost overruns and structural delays. As it is, Germany now faces critical decisions ranging from replacing the main contractor to accepting billions already invested. as irrecoverable losses. At the same time, faster but less ambitious alternative solutions are being studied, reflecting the extent to which the original project has lost credibility. Notice to sailors of rearmament. If you like, the case of the F126 goes beyond a simple industrial failure: it reveals the limits of European military cooperation even among closely integrated countries and raises questions about the continent’s ability to implement complex joint programs. In a context of increasing of defense spending and increasing strategic pressure, the project has become a clear warning: It is not enough to invest more, you also have to know how to manage better. Because otherwise, even the most important projects can end up being, as in this case, a costly and lengthy example of what not to do. Image | Give me In Xataka | Germany is experiencing a new “industrial miracle” that it already experienced 90 years ago: that of weapons In Xataka | Germany was a sleeping military giant: now it has been awakened and it is already surpassing the US in bullets produced per year

To survive the end of oil, China has resurrected an old German technology from World War II: turning coal into plastic

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While the world assumes that China’s energy transition is based exclusively on solar panels and electric vehicles — and, in part, it is, consolidating as the first great ‘electrostate’—, reality hides a much darker side. Faced with the outbreak of the Third Gulf War, Beijing has not even flinched. Beyond its immense strategic oil reserves, the secret of its resistance lies in an even more daring maneuver: the resurrection of German technology from World War II. An old German technology. Faced with the instability of oil imports, China has perfected the use of coal to produce petrochemical products. This synthesis technology (historically known as the process of fischer–Tropsch) was originally developed by Germany to sustain its military economy during World War II. Although it is widely known in the chemical industry, its main defect has always been the enormous pollution it generated. China has improved it. Far from settling for an outdated process, Chinese researchers have radically improved it. According to the state agency Xinhuaa team from Peking University has achieved a historic breakthrough by adding a minimal amount of methyl bromide (five parts per million) to the catalytic process. This surgically “turns off” the pathway that forms carbon dioxide as a byproduct, reducing these emissions from 30% to less than 1% and opening the door to near-green manufacturing to convert coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) into olefins, the building blocks of plastics. At an industrial level, expansion is already a fact. As detailed South China Morning Postin Turpan prefecture (Xinjiang), construction has just begun on the world’s largest coal-to-ethylene glycol (a toxic compound used for plastics and antifreeze) project, with an astonishing capacity of 2.4 million tons per year. Even, as the magazine highlighted ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineeringresearch is being carried out on how to integrate this process (called PFTO) to chemically recycle tons of plastic waste, converting it into syngas and then back into light olefins. Did you see it coming? It is not the first time that China decides to take sides and prevent rather than cure. The Asian giant has decided to completely decouple its industry from maritime vulnerabilities and Western influence. “This is not China’s war, but Beijing began preparing for it years ago,” points out The New York Times. Everything accelerated during Donald Trump’s first term, prompting President Xi Jinping to demand complete “self-sufficiency” that would insulate China from any disruption to foreign supply chains. Time has proven them right. The war in Iran has brutally increased the price of crude oil, suffocating international petrochemical competitors that depend on black gold. In contrast, local Chinese coal has only gotten cheaper. According to Reutersthis has been a financial triumph: shares of companies such as Ningxia Baofeng Energy, which produces millions of tons of chemicals from coal, have risen 30% since the start of the conflict, while traditional Asian refiners such as Rongsheng Petrochemical have lost up to 27% of their stock market value. Furthermore, the Chinese media analyzed by Carbon Brief They insist on a unanimous nationalist message: in the face of a real emergency, coal is the only resource that the nation truly controls, acting as the great “ballast” guarantor of its national security. A change to other sectors. The change is undeniable. As revealed Bloombergthe country’s main coal miner, China Shenhua Energy, has cut its overall budget by 16%, but has almost doubled its investment in coal-to-chemical conversion, from 2.5 billion to 4.1 billion yuan by 2026. But at a devouring pace, as The New York Times provides information that measures the phenomenon: in 2020, China used 155 million tons of coal to manufacture chemicals; by 2024, the figure jumped to 276 million, and in 2025 it grew another 15%, single-handedly exceeding the total annual coal consumption of the entire United States. The research center CREATE confirms this trend in its reportconfirming that the use of coal in the chemical industry grew by 20% year-on-year only in the first half of 2025. Added to this is that, as the American media explains80% of Chinese nitrogen fertilizer (a third of the world’s supply) is already made with coal rather than oil or gas, allowing Beijing to keep its product at less than half the global market price. Behind it there is a very high cost. All this bold industrial maneuver has a severe climate cost that is already setting off international alarms. China’s draft 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) has set extremely cautious climate goals. As the experts explain CREATE and collect Financial Timesthe set goal of reducing carbon intensity by only 17% is “disappointing” and leaves room for the country’s emissions to continue growing between 3% and 6% in real terms over the next five years. This new government plan de facto reverses the international promise to “phase down” coal consumption, replacing it with a consumption “plateau” and explicitly protecting the large-scale expansion of the coal-based petrochemical industry. Only chemical projects already planned to be built between now and 2029 could increase China’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 2%. The forecasts are resounding. According to Bloomberg, By 2030, China’s chemical roadmap will massively stop using oil as a primary fuel (thanks to the adoption of its electric vehicles) and will take advantage of its modernized facilities to seek 85% self-sufficiency in all advanced materials and chemicals, displacing traditional giants. A feared crisis of overcapacity. The European ideas laboratory MERICS warns of collateral consequences: The Chinese domestic economy, with consumer confidence stagnant since the pandemic, has no way to absorb all this gigantic new production of materials and plastics. As a direct result, Chinese factories are forced to export their immense surpluses to the rest of the world at fire sale prices. This aggressive price war propelled China’s trade surplus to a stratospheric record of $1.2 trillion in 2025. According to the complaint MERICSthese massive exports are cannibalizing the industrial base of other nations; In the European Union alone, up to 500 manufacturing jobs are being lost daily due to the total … Read more

The war in Iran is turning tourism upside down. And that translates into something for Mallorca: thousands more Germans

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In just over a month, the Middle East conflict has reminded the world that, at least in the 21st century, the seismic wave of wars is felt far beyond where the bombs fall. Its effect has already spread to the price of oilthe stock market and geopolitics and now threatens to shake the shopping basket. Another sector in which it is also leaving its mark (and a lot) is the touristwho has seen how in a matter of weeks flights were canceledthey reinforced routes and basically demand swung at a global level. And that is being felt strongly in the Balearic Islands. More flights to Mallorca. That the Balearic Islands see their flight schedule reinforced at the gates of Easter and with summer just around the corner is nothing new. What is curious is that the programming is shielded with dozens and dozens of extra frequencies, such as reveals Mallorca Diarywhich estimates that the war in Iran has led to more than a hundred extra flights being planned between Germany and Mallorca for the start of the season. In practice this translates into something that will soon be noticed in the Balearic Islands: tens and tens of thousands of extra places for German travelers until June. How many flights are there? Yes. The biggest injection will come from Eurowing, an airline low cost based in Düsseldorf and part of the Lufthansa Group. A few days ago its managers announced the scheduling of a hundred extra flights to Palma, an effort that they relate (without mentioning it directly and explicitly) to the instability that the Middle East is experiencing. “The airline responds to the changing demand of the sector and reinforces its offer to the western Mediterranean,” clarify. According to the calculations of the company, the reinforcement of its operations with Mallorca will result in 36,000 extra seats until the end of May. “Around 100 additional flights are planned to Palma, along with around 70 connections to the Canary Islands (Fuerteventura, Las Palmas, Tenerife), as well as to Faro, Málaga, Naples and Nice,” Eurowings specifies before specifying that the new scheduled flights will operate from the airports of Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart. Beyond Eurowings. The Lufthansa airline is not the only one that has decided to redouble its commitment to the Balearic Islands. Condor Flugdienst, another German operator, will reactivate two connections with the Spanish archipelago starting in May: one will be the Dortmund-Palma route, which will be covered daily with an Airbus A321; the other will link the Münster/Osnabrück airport with Mallorca. The list of companies that will target the Balearic Islands offer in the coming weeks are Ryanair and TUI Fly. The first offers a route to Mallorca from Friedrichshaffen, in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Regarding the second, Tourinews inform that a few days ago it announced the scheduling of 68 additional flights with around 10,000 seats from several German airfields, including Hannover and Munich. The destinations are spread across various points throughout southern Europe, including Greece, the Canary Islands and Mallorca. “They have changed their plans”. It is not just that German airlines seem to look with redoubled interest at the great destinations of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The sector itself recognizes a change in trend that is related to the war in Iran and the influence it is exerting on the market. “Many tourists who had not yet booked and were planning to travel to destinations in the Middle East have changed their plans at the last minute and opted for other places,” clarify to Mallorca Diary from the Business Group of Travel Agencies of the Balearic Islands (AVIVA). a few days ago The reason assuredciting data from tour operators, that British reservations have skyrocketed by 40% in the Balearic Islands. The Canary Islands have also recorded an increase of 16%. “Last minute increases”. Last week the Hotel Business Federation of Mallorca (FEHM) calculated that the average occupancy during Easter will be around 70%, a level similar to that of past years, with 92% of its places activated. In the specific case of Palma, the forecasts were somewhat better and almost 90% of the available rooms were expected to be filled. These are, however, the starting data. In general, the group is cautious, remembering the “uncertainty” that reigns in the market internationally and also recognizing that its initial estimates may be out of date, opening the door to an increase in reserves. “There may be increases due to last minute sales,” anticipates the executive vice president of FEHM. Has the scenario changed that much? The truth is that yes. And in several aspects. The war and its consequences, which extend far beyond Iranian borders to the rest of the Persian Gulf, have made tourists from other countries be suspicious of destinations established until now. A few weeks ago, the Mabrian firm studied the security perception indices of nations such as Qatar, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia and found that the indicator had plummeted. The most curious thing is that it has also taken its toll on other distant tourist spots, such as Jordan, Türkiye or Egypt. The study was carried out shortly after the US and Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent reaction, which turned the airspace of much of the Gulf upside down. Since that region plays a key role as an air interconnection point on routes between Europe and Asia, the war also took its toll to connections with countries like Sri Lanka. Surprising (but not that surprising). In reality, the latest movements of Eurowings, TUI Ryanair only confirm what analysts tell us. weeks anticipating: that part of the demand that now views the Middle East with suspicion will be redirected towards other beach destinations in Western Europe. Which is it? In mid-March the BBC spoke from Portugal, Italy and Spain, as well as the Caribbean, Mauritius and the USA. They were not simple predictions. The British chain cites data from a famous travel agency, Thomas Cook, which already at that time … Read more

While the West debates what to do with AI in schools, in China there are already schools turning it into a child tutor

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Anyone who has been a child or a parent knows the scene: the flexo light on, an incomprehensible math problem on the table, tears falling from the frustration of not understanding a lesson or not being able to pronounce a foreign language, and a parent losing patience after explaining the same thing for the fifth time. In China they have found a way to turn it around, parents frustrated and exhausted by their workdays are delegating the academic supervision of their children to artificial intelligence. While in different countries there is a strong debate and fear about whether AI erodes critical thinking of students, the opposite is true in China: a 2025 survey led by KPMG revealed that more than 90% of the Chinese are optimistic about this technology. The phenomenon came to light and sparked debate on social media when a mother in Shandong province discovered her husband playing on his mobile phone while letting her Kimi AIa chatbot capable of processing two million characters, did his son’s homework. But this father is not an isolated case. Many adults are using AI not just to teach, but to do the dreaded “parenting chores.” Mr. Zhang, for example, admitted to using the chatbot Doubao to generate summaries of the Aesop’s Fables and print step-by-step images for your third grader’s craft projects. The market has responded with an avalanche of gadgets. Zheng Wenqi, a working mother, bought for about 375 dollars the “Native Language Star”, a device composed of a mask that muffles your voice in Chinese and a speaker that translates it into English to converse with your children. Others, like university professor Wu Ling, They invested $1,170 in AlphaDoga robot dog powered by the DeepSeek model that practices English, dances and keeps his only son company. There are even parents who have gone one step further by becoming creators. This is the case of Yin Xingyu, a mother from Shenzhen who does not know how to program, but who uses the technique of vibecoding with DeepSeek to create interactive English word games for her 6-year-old daughter, as well as generate personalized comics using the Nano Banana Pro imaging model. For the purist parents, devices have emerged such as the “Youdao AI Q&A Pen”, a smart pen designed from “asceticism”: it has no browser or games, it only guides the child step by step in their mathematical reasoning without giving them the direct answer. A multi-million dollar business in a gray area All this enthusiasm has fueled a runaway educational technology market valued at more than $43 billion. Outsourcing has left the homes to take to the streets and, until July 2024, The opening of about 50,000 was estimated “AI study rooms” across the country. In these establishments, children sit in cubicles in front of standardized tablets; They cannot leave until the indicators on the screen turn from red (errors) to green (correct answers). As detailed on CCTVthe “teachers” in these rooms do not teach, they are prohibited from explaining the subject and they act as mere supervisors and commissioned salespeople. To cope with the monotony of 6 to 8 hours answering questions, some children learn to play Go or Gomoku secretly on the same machines, often with the supervisors’ blind eye. However, former employees and parents report that in many of these centers, “artificial intelligence” is just a marketing façade to charge more, and children simply consume pre-recorded lessons on basic tablets. Behind these study rooms hides a business survival tactic. Many of these centers operate in a gray zone to avoid the strict “double reduction” policy. imposed by the government in 2021which banned for-profit tutoring to relieve financial and academic pressure on families. By arguing that “it is AI that teaches and not a human,” these companies dodge education regulators, registering under names of “cultural media” and avoiding words like “enrollment” or “classes.” Franchises are strategically expanding into peri-urban areas and small towns, where rents are low and parents are equally willing to pay for a place to leave their children. This mass adoption is no accident; is backed by a clear state directive. The Chinese government is promoting the integration of AI in education as part of a national strategy to accelerate its technological progress against global competitors such as the United States. The regulations are already on the table. Starting with the fall 2025 semester, Beijing will require a minimum of eight hours per year of AI education in all primary and secondary schools. The transition has been rapid and planned, with higher education leading the way: 99% of university students and teachers in China already use generative tools, and elite universities such as Zhejiang or Fudan have made AI courses mandatory and transversal subjects. Science supports this dive. An empirical study conducted with high school students in H city showed that the duration of daily use of AI tools significantly and positively influences students’ AI knowledge and algorithmic thinking. That is, constant exposure is already shaping your cognitive and technological abilities. The debate is served The families’ opinions are drastically divided. For many, AI democratizes education. Mothers like Li Linyun celebrate that the Doubao chatbot be a “24-hour, knowledgeable and extremely patient teacher,” which has saved him hundreds of dollars on human tutors and improved his relationship with his daughter. On the other hand, technological dependence terrifies educators and a faction of parents, who criticize that children are becoming lazy and losing the ability to think independently. In study halls, proctors notice that students, desperate to turn the screen green, resort to tactical memorization: repeatedly choosing incorrect answers by discard until the system approves them, without actually learning the concept. Added to this is the “AI illusion” and its hallucinations. Su Xiao, mother of a ninth grader, discovered that the general models They could invent historical data with complete confidence and fluency, or omit crucial data in mathematical problems, offering logically impeccable but erroneous results. This forced her to become a “cyber quality inspector,” … Read more

turning the “sea of ​​death” into a carbon sink

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For decades, the Taklamakan desertin the Chinese region of Xinjiang, has had a nickname quite eloquent: “the sea of ​​death.” And it is no wonder, since it is the second largest mobile dune desert in the world and a place where, historically, whoever enters does not usually leave. But faced with this major problem with sand for the surrounding areas, China decided to find a solution. The solution. China since 1978 has been waging an ecological engineering war against sand with a very specific weapon: the Three North Shelter Belt Programbetter known as the Great Green Wall. A name that seems to come out of Game of Thrones, but its objective is to stop erosion and sandstorms. But a new massive study published in PNAS has just revealed an unexpected and monumental side effect: human intervention has turned the edges of one of the driest places on Earth into an active carbon sink. The data. The study has focused on 25 years of data obtained through field work and also with satellites. What the team has found on the margins of the Taklamakan is what they call a “cold spot” of carbon dioxide. This means that in reforested areas the concentration of CO₂ is between 1 and 2 parts per million smaller than in the surrounding environment. And although it may not seem like much, in climatology it is an outrage. The trend in this case is quite clear, since The vegetation cover is increasing every yearand there is also a tendency for soil and plants to be “eating” more carbon than they are emitting. How is it possible? The million-dollar question here is pretty clear: how do you keep 66 billion trees alive in a place where it barely rains? The answer lies in water management technology and species selection. In this case, the project does not focus on planting oaks or pines, but is based on Extremophilous species like him Tamarixhe Haloxylon and the Euphrates poplar, which are plants evolutionarily designed to survive on very little. But the technological key has been the use of drip risk with saline water. Origin of water. China discovered that under the Taklamakan there are immense aquifers, but they are too saline for traditional agriculture. However, these “halophytic” plants can tolerate it, so it seemed like it was done on purpose. That is why groundwater is used to irrigate the protective strips that exist, especially around the famous tarim desert highway. The result with this is that soil moisture drops drastically between waterings, but the plants survive. And, although the salinity of the superficial soil increases, studies indicate that it is manageable in the long term and does not salinize the deep layers. This has made it possible to complete in 2024 a “green belt” of 3,046 kilometers that encloses the desert, stabilizing dunes that previously moved meters each year. Its stability. Unlike the Great Green Wall attempts in the Sahara, which have suffered from political instability and a lack of continued funding, the Chinese project has maintained its course since 1978. This continuity has allowed a “40-year experiment” that is now bearing fruit with important conclusions. The Chinese authorities themselves cite that national forest coverage has gone from 10% in 1949 to 25% today, thanks in large part to this project. As a result, in places like Maigaiti in Xinjiang, sandstorm days have dropped from 150 a year to fewer than 50. It is not the panacea. The source article warns of the limitations of this project: photosynthesis and carbon sequestration are strongly correlated with seasonal precipitation. This means that at least 16 liters of rainfall per month is needed in high season to maximize its effect. But behind it is climate change that is drastically altering rainfall patterns in Central Asia, which could weaken the carbon sink. Although what is happening in Taklamakan is causing a paradigm shift, since now where we see reforestation of deserts, we also see a way to cool our planet by reducing the concentration of CO₂. Images | Wikipedia Jasmine Milton In Xataka | Someone has counted each and every tree in China. Because? Well because now it is possible

Apple has been resisting turning Siri into a chatbot for years. Until the evidence has been surrendered

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2026 will be the year of Siri, but not because of an internal turn at Apple or because of the maturity of Apple Intelligence. It will be because the pact with Google will allow Apple to use Gemini technology as your assistant’s base. The details about what Apple will do with its assistant have not taken long to come to light and, we have good news: they will arrive in the next version of iOS. The new Siri. Apple has been announcing the benefits of the new Siri since before having prepared their news. With the Apple Intelligence announcement He put on the table a Siri completely integrated into the system, capable of functioning as a complete assistant and functioning mostly locally. The reality? Everything remains practically the same as before and, when Siri doesn’t know how to respond to something, ends up opening ChatGPT. What is going to change. They explain in Bloomberg that Apple, as of iOS 27will surrender to the chatbot model that has worked so well for companies like OpenAI and Google. The mere assistant model has expired, and Siri will become a chatbot at the service of any of our requests. This new chatbot will be integrated into all Apple apps (expecting an API open to developers to integrate it into their apps), allowing us, for example, to find specific photos in the app Photosfunction as a programming assistant in Xcodeetc. What won’t change. The only certainty with the new chatbot model is that Apple will continue to maintain its obsession with privacy and maintaining its AI ecosystem as its own, even if it is based on Gemini. Apple’s intention is to integrate this experience into iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watchmaintaining activation through Voice command “Siri” or holding down the power button on the iPhone. The difference. Today, Siri is an assistant, a command system. You tell him something Siri classifies the intention (set an alarm, call X person, send a message) Execute the order Moving to the chatbot model means having a generative model capable of interpreting natural language, maintaining conversations and a more “human” interaction with the phone. This is what their rivals have been doing for a few years. Adapting to the inevitable. That Siri will evolve in 2026 is proof that the classic assistant model is exhausted. Apple will have to adopt the chatbot model as an inevitable transition, previously led by OpenAI and in which Gemini now seems to be leading the way. The thing doesn’t end here. The destination of the new Siri is not only current Apple devices. As my colleague Javier Pastor says, the company plans to launch a device without a screenits first AI-focused wearable. According to the leaked information, it will have a format similar to that of AirTags, a microphone system and a launch scheduled for 2027. New assistant, new devices, and alliance with Google. The new stage of artificial intelligence for Apple is finally arriving. The question is whether they will manage to offer something new. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Hey Siri: 134 voice commands to get the most out of Apple’s assistant

The remake of ‘Prince of Persia’ aimed to be the turning point for Ubisoft. It has been canceled along with other titles

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There are games that are not only played, they are remembered. ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time‘ belongs to that category and for years was one of Ubisoft’s calling cards in its most inspired stage. Its remake, announced after a streak of ups and downsaimed to serve as a bridge between that legacy and a new stage for the company. What its cancellation reveals is just the opposite. Ubisoft is going through a period of harsh changeswith delays, cuts and decisions that reflect the extent to which the group is reviewing priorities to adapt to a tighter economic and creative scenario. The announcement came todayJanuary 21, coinciding with the presentation of financial results, and marks a turning point in the group’s strategy. Ubisoft announced a “reset” on a global scale that includes a new creative structure, a deep review of its game portfolio and an adjustment to the size of the organization. The company places these decisions in a more demanding market context, with higher costs and a “more selective” AAA. according to your own diagnosis. The stated objective is to gain agility, accelerate decision-making and guide the business towards what it defines as a more player-centered model. Cascading cancellations and delays. The restructuring has immediate consequences on the catalog. Ubisoft confirmed the cancellation of six games in development, including Prince of ‘Persia: The Sands of Time Remake‘, along with three new unannounced IPs and a mobile project. In addition, the company has decided to delay another seven titles to, as it explains, ensure that its new quality thresholds are met. One of those games, initially scheduled for fiscal year 2026, now moves to 2027, a move that directly impacts its short- and medium-term planning. A new internal map by brands and genres. One of the most profound changes affects how Ubisoft is organized internally. The company is reorganizing its production model to group its teams into five “Creative Houses”, each focused on specific franchises and genres, and supported by a “Creative Network” of studios to support production. The first brings together brands such as ‘Assassin’s Creed’, ‘Far Cry’ and ‘Rainbow Six’, while others group together sagas such as ‘The Division’, ‘Ghost Recon’ or ‘Splinter Cell’. ‘Prince of Persia’ is integrated into the fourth of these units, along with Rayman, Anno or Beyond Good & Evil, with its own leadership and greater creative autonomy. Beyond the canceled or delayed games, the restructuring implies profound changes in the company itself. Ubisoft has reiterated its intention to close studios, reorganize teams and reduce costs continuously over the coming years. In its plan, the company sets a reduction in its cost base of at least one hundred million euros by the end of its 2025-2026 financial year, and adds another two hundred million additional euros to be cut over the following two years. The group admits that the process will be difficult, but presents it as a necessary step to regain stability in a market that is increasingly less tolerant of errors. A new creative focus for the coming years. Looking ahead to this stage, Ubisoft states that it will concentrate its efforts on large open worlds and games as a service. At the same time, he has indicated that he will accelerate investments in “player-oriented generative AI”, a formulation with which he points to uses aimed directly at the player, without yet specifying how it will translate into specific titles. The company also recognizes that the revision of its roadmap will have effects on the release schedule and its financial forecasts. It is, in practice, the price assumed for the model change. Images | Ubisoft In Xataka | Sony has come up with something taboo in the world of video games: that AI starts playing for you when you crash

turning ChatGPT into a pocket doctor

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More than 230 million people ask ChatGPT questions about health and wellness every week. It is not an estimate, it is data from OpenAI published alongside the announcement of ChatGPT Healthyour new personalized section for medical and wellness consultations. ChatGPT Health. ChatGPT Health was presented just a few hours ago as a new section within the app, designed to go beyond the specific queries that users already made. The goal is more ambitious: centralize health data and medical history in a single place, turning ChatGPT into something closer to a health monitoring platform than a simple conversational assistant. How it works. Currently available for “a small number of early adopters” in the United StatesGPT Salud will be integrated as another section within the app. It will allow you to make queries like any other GPT, with some key points: We can integrate it with Apple Health (and all your data on mental health, steps, weight, heart health, etc.) We can integrate it with wellness apps like MyFitnessPal It is specially developed to upload our clinical history and most recent tests In detail. In addition to these integrations, ChatGPT Salud is designed to function as a healthy habits assistant. It will also be integrated with apps like Peloton to suggest classes or guided meditations, apps related to creating recipes like Instacart, or Weight Watchers to guide nutrition in GLP-1 medication users against obesity and diabetes. Why is it important. OpenAI works closely with health experts in the development of its models. Still, ChatGPT has not been without controversy, especially in the mental health space, where the model generated various criticisms and forced response guidelines to be adjusted in recent updates. The launch of GPT Salud is not a rectification, it is a declaration of intent: AI not only does not turn back in the clinical field, but rather aspires to consolidate itself as a “pocket doctor”, always available, increasingly integrated and with a growing role in everyday decision-making related to health. Yes, but. AI-fueled psychotic breaks, demandsand people asking ChatGPT how can you inject botox to herself. OpenAI makes it clear that ChatGPT health is not coming to replace your GP, but use the app as if it were He is a regular. Fairly recent surveys show that 17% of the adult population uses chatbots at least once a month to search for information related to their health. Dependency and retention. ChatGPT is still, by far, the most used AI chatbot in the worlddespite the advance of alternatives such as Google Gemini, DeepSeek or Grok. But OpenAI cannot rest on its laurels, and a of the best ways to stop the drop in users What Gemini is causing you is dependency and retention. ChatGPT is still by far the most used AI chatbot in the worlddespite the push of alternatives such as Google Gemini, DeepSeek or Grok. But OpenAI cannot afford complacency. The growth of Gemini is having an impact on retention of user (with a significant drop in GPT) and, given this, health is a clear winner. They are not one-off queries, they are recurring. By including clinical information, ChatGPT stops being a question and answer chatbot, it becomes a medical agenda. The health app market continues to grow in users, and integrating them natively into ChatGPT retains the user even more Image | Pexels In Xataka | ChatGPT is writing medical and economic studies. We know this because he uses strange words

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