underwater

At 11 km long and with a roof with a light show, China’s longest underwater tunnel has become a tourist attraction

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Under the waters of Lake Taihu, in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, lies the longest underwater tunnel ever built in China. Although it serves today as a great solution to decongest one of the most dynamic regions in the country, it has also become, almost by surprise, a tourist destination on its own merits. The reason: a majestic ceiling full of LED lights that change color and an architecture almost designed more to be contemplated than to be functional. A key point. As we mentioned, the tunnel extends under Lake Taihu, in Jiangsu province, about 50 kilometers east of Shanghai. It aims to connect the expressways of Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou to relieve traffic pressure in the lakeside cities, while also serving to boost economic development from the Yangtze River Delta region. It is also a segment of the highway that connects Shanghai and Nanjing, the former national capital. For this reason, it is a key piece in China’s infrastructure network, but its design and light show have also led to it being transformed into a whole tourist experience. Figures. With 10.79 kilometers in length, the tunnel had a cost of about 9.9 billion yuanabout 1,230 million euros. Work began in 2018 and lasted almost four years. To build the two-way tunnel, with six lanes and 17.45 meters wide, more than two million cubic meters of concrete were used. For ventilation, there are three complexes distributed along the surface of the lake that guarantee air circulation inside. The challenge of building under the mud. It was not a simple work. The bed of Taihu Lake is formed by large accumulations of clayey silt, which made it impossible to use conventional excavation methods with tunnel boring machines. The engineering team opted for a cofferdam system: the route was divided into nine sections and, in each one, a temporary dike was built to “create solid ground” and work dry. Once that section was finished, it was filled with water and moved on to the next. According to collect Tunnels & Tunnelling, one of the biggest challenges was waterproofing the structure, since at some points the tunnel is 20 meters below the lake bed. Thes LED lights yesThey always improve everythingeither. Their figures and the work that had to be done for something of such magnitude to materialize is impressive. But the tunnel has attracted more and more attention for a clear reason: its roof. Those responsible They installed LED lights on the roof of the tunnel to combat driver fatigue during what would otherwise be a very monotonous journey underground. The panels do not simply project a uniform color, but rather show images that change. Ventilation and architecture. But the LEDs on the ceiling are not the only eye-catching element. The three ventilation points that emerge on the surface of the lake have been conceived as sculptural pieces. According to China Dailythe one located in the center of the tunnel was transformed into an artificial island 150 meters in diameter; that on the western side, near Mashan, is shaped like a conch; and the one on the eastern side, next to Nanquan, evokes the silhouette of an ancient boat. The most striking is the one known as “Jade Snail”: 45 meters in diameter and 39 meters high, it is equipped with 174,000 LED light points. A tunnel that generates tourism. The CCCC construction company points out that the Taihu tunnel is now the second highway between Shanghai and Nanjing, and has increased the number of visitors to the tourist enclaves of Lingshan and Nianhua Bay by 50%. The Mashan area, directly connected by the tunnel, is home to the Lingshan Great Buddha, one of the largest in the world and a pilgrimage destination for millions of people. Liu Xiaoyu, head of Wuxi National Taihu Lake Tourism Resort, pointed out told China Daily that “the tunnel will bring more tourists to the Lingshan Scenic Area and hotels in the area.” recordd. At almost 11 kilometers, the Taihu is the longest underwater tunnel in China, but it is not the first in the world. The title of longest underwater road tunnel remains with the Norwegian Ryfastwith 14.3 kilometers, connecting the city of Stavanger with the municipality of Strand. On the other hand, if we talk about underwater tunnels in general, the Eurotunnel (which links England and France by rail) retains the absolute record with 37.9 kilometers of submerged section. Images | CGTN In Xataka | Xiaomi or Xpeng car factories are so advanced that they have become the favorite destination of Chinese schools

The entire ocean floor of the Earth, in a spectacular 3D interactive map that reveals 50,000 unknown underwater mountains

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Although we are already looking other planets in the universe (especially interesting are the potentially habitable ones), the reality is that the old Earth still has a few hidden secrets left. Without going any further, the seabed continues to delight us with new species at this point in the film. NASA knows this and that is why in December 2022 it launched a satellite into space with a mission: to achieve topography of surface waters and oceans. Hence its name, SWOT. Already the first year managed to map the ocean floor in more detail than in the last 30 years and is now available in full. It is, in short, the most detailed marine gravity map in history. What he has “seen” is not just the ground, but subtle variations in the height of the sea surface. These variations reveal the existence of thousands of underwater mountains, trenches and faults, invisible to conventional satellites. To prepare this map, NASA has used state-of-the-art phase coherence interferometry, which has made it possible to measure the two-dimensional height of sea level with high precision. Historically, sonar has been used to measure the seabed, but we have only managed to map less than 30% (with the Seabed 2030 project) with this technique. On the other hand, standard satellites offered a resolution well below the achieved spatial resolution, close to 8 kilometers. This exhaustive map of the ocean floor goes beyond satisfying geographical curiosity, the impact of this cartography It is evident in: Biodiversity. Underwater mountains are oases of life and knowing where they are is essential. Safety in navigation, allowing the identification of underwater peaks that may constitute a risk for vessels. Climate change. These types of structures are directly related to ocean currents, responsible for transporting heat. If we do not know the relief, we cannot predict how the sea will warm. The map of the seabed with a level of detail never seen before With this vertical gravitational gradient map, NASA has developed a 3D model through which you can move and zoom through all the depths of the seas and oceans of the Earth. Individual abyssal hills measuring 200 – 300 kilometers in length can be seen along with other small seamounts and tectonic structures, previously hidden. In fact, abyssal hills are the most common landform underwater (in the southern Indian Ocean they can be seen, for example). NASA explains that they are formed by normal faults along the axes of the oceanic ridges. From them, plate reconstruction studies are being carried out. Also in the visualization you can see seamounts located west of Central America, which are actually underwater volcanoes formed by magmatic intrusions through the oceanic crust. Their importance is crucial as they modify ocean circulation, influence the distribution of nutrients and constitute key points of biodiversity. The high-resolution mapping reveals some 50,000 previously unknown seamounts approximately one kilometer high. Tap to go to NASA’s 3D model of the seafloor. Via: NASA/JPL The topography of surface waters and oceans from SWOT also shows great clarity in the continental margins, highlighting the high latitude areas, with tectonic structures buried under sediments and ice. Thus, it allows observing submarine canyons that transport sediment from the mainland to the deep sea along the South American continental shelf, as well as ancient mid-ocean ridges hidden under the ice in the Weddell Sea. In Xataka | Astronomers have stitched together 10,000 images from the Webb telescope to make the largest map of the universe. Something doesn’t fit In Xataka | This is the impressive interactive map to see the Earth in 4K live from space and monitor satellites Cover | POT

Between Tenerife and Gran Canaria hides an underwater volcano called ‘Enmedio’. The CSIC has just detected activity for the first time

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Under the waters of the Atlantic, about 80 kilometers southwest of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, hides a colossus that we often forget about. Is called ‘Enmedio’, a name that has quite a joke behind it, but which is nothing more than an underwater volcano with a base of 3.5 kilometers and whose summit is 1,625 meters deep. And although it has been there for a long time, now a scientific team has detected for the first time signs of hydrothermal activity in its depths. A decade. It has not happened overnight, since the team of geologists has spent almost ten years collecting multidisciplinary data driven mainly through the VULCANA project. And the results of the measurements made between 2015 and 2024 now have ended up published in the magazine Bulletin of Volcanology. Here, through oceanographic campaigns that combine high-resolution bathymetry, seismic and geochemistry, scientists they have managed to confirm what until now was only a suspicion: the volcano has an active circulatory system. What have they found? What the team has confirmed with all this information is that there is low-temperature hydrothermal activity at this location. In simple terms, we can now see that the volcano is releasing fluids through a series of fractures and a depression that is in your franc. Although this does not mean that it will erupt in the next few hours. In order to make estimates, it was decided to analyze the water in the vicinity of the volcano, and here the instruments recorded thermal anomalies of up to 0.5 ºC above normal. That is, the water around the volcano was hotter and was also loaded with nutrients such as ammonium or iron oxide, which causes biological alterations in the rocks in the area. There is no rash. Logically, when we read ‘volcanic activity’ and ‘Canary Islands’ in the same sentence, it is inevitable to think about volcanic eruptions such as that of Cumbre Vieja in La Palma, and even more so taking into account the recent earthquakes in the area. However, the CSIC has been quite categorical in this regard, pointing out that this detection does not indicate an imminent eruption and has no relationship with the recent seismic swarms recorded in the area around Teide. A paradise. In this way it is an endemic and latent process. In fact, these hydrothermal vents are excellent news for deep ocean biodiversity. To understand it, we can look back to see how the Tagoro volcano ended up fertilizing the post-eruptive marine ecosystem. Now, Enmedio’s fluids act as a chemical engine that influences the composition of the local ocean and feeds communities of microorganisms that thrive in the most extreme conditions of the seafloor. And although the Enmedio volcano is not a new discovery, this first evidence that it “breathes” marks a before and after in volcanic monitoring in Spain. It demonstrates that under water, more than a kilometer and a half deep, the Canary Islands continue to be an incomparable natural laboratory that, thanks to science, we are beginning to understand better than ever. Images | CSIC In Xataka | The last time Mount Fuji erupted was 318 years ago. The Japanese government has turned to AI in case it happens again

underwater drone swarms are ready

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During the Cold War, hundreds of nuclear submarines simultaneously patrolled the oceans, turning the seabed into the quietest and most strategic setting on the planet. Today, unlike air or land space, the underwater domain remains one of the least mapped and harder to monitor: Communications travel slower, signals are distorted and visibility is practically zero. In that opaque territory is getting rid a new career strategic. The Russian submarine challenge. They remembered this week on Insider that, while the war in Ukraine hits Russian soldiers and material at a pace that is difficult to sustain, Moscow seeks to compensate for its conventional inferiority compared to the 32 members of NATO by strengthening asymmetric capabilities. With a fleet of more than 60 submarinesseveral capable of carrying ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, and the development of experimental systems such as the Poseidon autonomous torpedo or the missile Burevestnik nuclear cruiserRussia is committed to mastering the underwater domain as a space where it can hide and strike without needing to match the allied surface power. For controls as Norwegian Vice Admiral Rune Andersenthe bottom of the sea is the last place where a great power can still hide, and that is why NATO has redoubled its attention to that invisible area. The European essay. In this context, the European Defense Agency has completed the Sabuvis II project after four years of joint work between Poland, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. The objective was not to develop a simple underwater drone, but everything a coordinated swarm of autonomous vehicles capable of operating as a coherent system, sharing data, adjusting formations and adapting missions in real time in an environment where there is no GPS, limited bandwidth and high latency. Tests in real settings showed that these groups can keep self-configurable acoustic communications, integrate platforms from different manufacturers using common standards and continue the mission even if a unit fails, transforming individual vulnerability into collective resilience. A special command against asymmetry. If you will, Europe has also successfully tested a kind of special command against the greatest challenge that Russia presents. Faced with Moscow’s fleet that relies on the opacity of the ocean and second response weapons of almost unlimited range, the swarm logic introduces a new layer of surveillance and control in the marine subsoil. Furthermore, it is not a single hunter submarine, but rather multiple distributed nodes capable of monitoring critical infrastructures, ports and strategic routes, carrying out intelligence and reconnaissance, and reacting in a coordinated manner to threats. Interoperability between countries and manufacturers also demonstrates that the European response is not fragmented, but integrateda key requirement in a theater where early detection can make all the difference. From the invisible submarine to the monitored ocean. One thing is clear: Russia may not match Allied conventional strength, but its commitment to submarine and nuclear asymmetry forces NATO to strengthen control of the underwater domain. With 14 allied countries operating their own submarines and growing investment in anti-submarine warfare, the objective is to prevent May the sea once again be an impenetrable sanctuary. Those autonomous swarms They add a technological dimension that, a priori, multiplies the presence without increasing crew costs or exposing manned platforms. In a scenario where Moscow trusts hide underwater to compensate for its wear and tear on land, Europe responds by filling that space cooperative sensors capable of bridging the gap between invisibility and detection. Image | Royal Navy In Xataka | Europe faces a question it can no longer avoid: how to respond to a war that is rarely declared In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Spain has just surprised Europe: 5,000 million for 34 warships and four submarines

Lockheed has created an underwater drone that clings to ships like a lamprey. And when released, it launches torpedoes

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The lamprey is a fish that has survived 360 million years thanks to a simple strategy: sticking to its prey to suck its blood. Lockheed Martin has taken that idea literally to name its new weapon, and the analogy is quite literal. The new thing from Lockheed is called Lamprey Multi-Mission Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (MMAUV). It is an underwater drone just over 7 meters long, capable of traveling attached to an allied ship or submarine with a lamprey-like system. While attached to the host ship, it can recharge its batteries using its built-in hydrogen generator. Stealth or attack The Lamprey MMAUV does practically everything, although it is primarily designed for covert missions. It can remain on the seabed, monitoring the enemy without being detected thanks to its acoustic signature profile. practically invisible when sonar. When the time comes to act, the Lamprey can do almost anything: it deploys decoys to confuse the opponent, it is equipped with anti-submarine torpedoes and, if it rises to the surface, it can also launch aerial drones. What makes the Lamprey especially striking is that it concentrates in a single system capabilities that until now were distributed across different platforms: surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, deception, attack and aerial reconnaissance. It can operate in a swarm coordinating with other unmanned systems. And it can do so autonomously, making decisions without direct human intervention. Autonomous submarines The Lamprey will not be the United States’ first unmanned underwater vehicle. There are antecedents like Boeing Orca submarinewith the difference that it cost eight years and 885 million dollars to develop it, all so that today it is not clear if it will end up becoming a program in the US Navy. The Lamprey has been funded internally, which Lockheed vice president Paul Lemmo said has allowed them to “iterate at lightning speed and deliver to the Navy a truly multi-purpose weapon that detects, disrupts, deceives and attacks on its own.” Furthermore, he presumes that Its cost is significantly lower than that of other manned platforms. But the United States is not the only power exploring unmanned vehicles. China has been developing its own fleet of underwater drones for some time and at the military parade in September 2025 presented the AJX002an unmanned underwater vehicle between 18 and 20 meters capable of operating autonomously, laying mines and networking with other attack systems. In Xataka | The US wants to give up bringing the most valuable samples collected on Mars. Lockheed promises to do it for less than half Image | Lockheed

An underwater drone from Ukraine has changed the future of wars

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A little more than 24 hours ago an event occurred that was unprecedented in the history of war conflicts. It happens that there was only evidence from a video and statements of some involvedbut something else was missing that could certify that, indeed, an underwater drone had been able to disrupt a fortified port. Now there are no longer any doubts: the satellites have revealed what happened. Silent attack. The pfirst satellite images of the Ukrainian attack against a Russian submarine in Novorossiysk have confirmed that kyiv managed to introduce an unmanned underwater drone into one of the best protected ports in the Black Sea and detonate it a few meters from an Improved Kilo class diesel-electric submarine. According to the Ukrainian Security Serviceit would be the first known attack against a Russian ship using an unmanned underwater vehicle and, potentially, the first successful use of this type of system as an anti-ship weapon in a real conflict. Although the exact extent of the damage remains impossible to determine with certainty, the simple fact of having reached the objective is already a major operational and psychological milestone. What we know. Images obtained by commercial satellites confirm that the drone, named by Ukraine as Sub Sea Baby and until now unknown, detonated next to the stern of the submarine while it was moored to the dock. Part of the port infrastructure was clearly destroyed, consistent with the videos recorded from land and released by the SBU, where the explosion and damage to the dock can be seen. The submarine, a Project 636.3 Varshavyankaremains in the same position as before the attack, while two other units that were nearby have been displaced, suggesting an immediate security reaction. However, there are no unequivocal signs of sinking, no visible emergency operations, or fuel spills, which suggests that, if there was damage, it could be below the waterline or be of a limited nature, something impossible to confirm with aerial images alone. Satellite image after the attack, with a general view of the target submarine, inside the port, and another submarine moored outside. There are also other boats moored nearby Official denials. As expected, the Russian Ministry of Defense has denied any damage to the submarine or personnel, and has released a video which supposedly shows the ship intact, although without offering a clear view of the stern and with large areas censored. Still, even that material suggests concrete rubble on the dock, coinciding with the recorded explosion. The Black Sea Fleet has also rejected any operational impact, and Russian naval channels they have replicated that speechalthough without providing conclusive evidence. At this point, uncertainty is part of the information battlefield itself: Russia avoids recognizing vulnerabilities, while Ukraine emphasizes the audacity of the attack more than its physical effects. The same area seen before the attack, in an image from December 11, 2025. The gap in the defenses. Beyond the specific damage, the truly disruptive element of the attack is that the underwater drone managed to get through the defensive barriers of the port of Novorossiysk, designed to stop incursions Ukrainians. Those defenses had been deployed primarily in response to the surface drones that kyiv has used with notable success in the Black Sea, forcing Russia to adapt its port protection. The use of a UUV introduces a new dimension to the Russian defensive problem and confirms a key dynamic of the conflict: each countermeasure generates a different technological response, in a constant race of adaptation. Ukrainian ecosystem. He Sub Sea Baby It doesn’t come out of nowhere. Before this attack, Ukraine had already presented other underwater drones such as the Marichka, designed for kamikaze attacks against ships and maritime infrastructure, or the Toloka, of which fewer details are known. It is not clear whether there is a direct relationship between these systems, but the pattern is evident: kyiv is cbuilding a portfolio of unmanned submarine capabilities, aware that Russian underwater dominance was one of the few areas where Moscow still maintained clear superiority. The submarine as a target. The attack further confirms that the Black Sea Fleet remains a priority objective for Ukraine, especially its submarines Project 636 classcapable of throwing Kalibr cruise missiles regularly used against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. Sustained pressure from kyiv had already forced Russia to withdraw a large part of its fleet from Crimea to Novorossiysk, and it is not the first time that these submarines have been attacked: in September 2023the Rostov-on-Don turned out seriously damaged in Sevastopol during a combined attack with missiles and surface drones. At the beginning of the large-scale invasion, Russia had six submarines of this type: each lost or neutralized one has considerable strategic weight. A message for Russia. Even if the submarine was not critically damaged, the attack has sent an unequivocal message: No Russian port is completely safe and naval warfare has entered a new phase, where underwater unmanned systems move from experiment to actual operational use. Other military powers, from United States to Chinacarefully observe a precedent that validates years of doctrinal development on UUVs as attack, reconnaissance and mining platforms. In that sense, the Novorossiysk episode reinforces a already recurring idea in the conflict: the war in Ukraine is not only fought over territories, but functions as a brutal laboratory for the military technologies of the future, where each innovation is tested in real conditions and its lessons are studied in all the military capitals of the planet. Image | VANTOR In Xataka | Drums of peace sound in Ukraine. And that should be a good thing for Europe… unless Finland is right In Xataka | If the video published by Ukraine is real, it has just blown up the naval war: an underwater drone has made history

an underwater drone has made history

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Ukraine, that lwar laboratory of the present and future, was a pioneer in the use of drones and in the creation of an unprecedented industry around the use of these quadcopters as elements front key. This is how we saw mother drones sending drones to annihilate other drones. In Ukraine too, another unprecedented milestone has just taken place. With drones, but this time under the sea. A before and after. Ukraine claims to have carried out the first combat attack successful in history with an underwater drone against a warship, specifically a Russian submarine of the Improved Kilo class docked in the port of Novorossiysk, one of the current main refuges of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. According to the Ukrainian Security Servicethe attack was carried out with a known unmanned underwater vehicle as Sub Sea Babycapable of sailing underwater to a densely protected port and hitting a specific target without being detected, something that, if confirmed, would represent a qualitative leap in modern naval warfare. The images. He broadcast video by kyiv shows an explosion next to the submarine while it remains moored, which would indicate that the drone managed to penetrate the port’s defenses and reach one of the most valuable platforms of the Russian arsenal, valued at about 400 million dollars and equipped with launchers of Kalibr cruise missiles used recurrently against Ukrainian cities. Blow to the heart of Russian flora. The attacked submarine belongs to one of the most silent and difficult to detect of the Russian Navy when operating submerged and in battery mode, and is part of a small group of six units assigned to the Black Sea Fleet before the war. Sources close to the Russian military they point because the impact would have occurred near the stern, damaging rudders and propeller, critical components that, even without piercing the hull, could leave the submarine out of service for long periods. If the damage is as serious as kyiv claims, Russia would stay with only four Kilo submarines operational in the area, significantly reducing their ability to launch missile attacks from the sea and reinforcing the Ukrainian strategy of hitting launch platforms rather than intercepting individual projectiles. The forced withdrawal. This attack cannot be understood without the context of the Ukrainian naval campaign started in 2023based almost entirely on unmanned systems. The massive use of surface drones loaded with explosives allowed Ukraine to damage or neutralize approximately a third of the Russian Fleet of the Black Sea and forced Moscow to withdraw many of its ships from occupied Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, in Russian territory, until now considered a relatively safe haven. Submarines like Rostov-on-Don they had already been attacked in port on previous occasions, but the use of an underwater drone dramatically expands the range of threats, by making it possible to avoid networks, floating barriers and defenses specifically designed to stop surface attacks. The logic of asymmetric war. For kyiv, the commitment to naval drones, both surface and underwater, responds to a logic of cost and survival. While a Russian submarine costs hundreds of millions of dollars and years to build, a Ukrainian naval drone can be manufactured for between 250,000 and 300,000 dollars. This asymmetry allows Ukraine to compensate for its numerical and technological inferiority compared to Russia, forcing the Kremlin to invest huge resources defensive and live in a constant cycle of adaptation. Each new Ukrainian tactic generates Russian countermeasures, which in turn are neutralized by new developments in periods ranging from weeks to a few months, permanently altering the rules of naval combat in the Black Sea. A sign of what is to come. The operational use of underwater drones as offensive weapons opens a completely new scenario, not only for this conflict, but for global naval warfare. The United States, China and other powers have years developing UUV for reconnaissance missions, mine laying or long range attacksbut Ukraine could have been the first country in demonstrating its real effectiveness in combat. If Novorossiysk is no longer a safe sanctuary and submarines can be attacked even in port, the Russian defensive posture will have to change again, extending even more resources and protection. At the same time, the attack reinforces the idea that the war in Ukraine has become in a laboratory where theoretical concepts are tested on a large scale, anticipating a future in which ports, naval bases and large ships will no longer be able to rely on the depth of the sea as their last line of defense. Image | SBU SCREENCAP In Xataka | Now we know the price North Korea pays Russia for its nuclear submarine: the most dangerous job of the war in Ukraine In Xataka | The drone war in Ukraine is complete nonsense: the manuals that were useful two weeks ago are a death trap today

an underwater YangWang, a 29-meter dune and a car that turns on its own

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The circuit seems taken from the dream of a megalomaniacal engineer: A gigantic dune indoors. A 70 meter pool for cars, not for humans. An impeccable and very wide asphalt route. A gymkhana off road with unevenness, slopes, gravel… BYD has called it Racing Trackwe have gone to Zhengzhou to see it (and test it), and it is much more than a circuit: it is a declaration of intent on the part of its manufacturer, and a not-so-subtle signal of the role it wants to occupy. Not in China, but in the world. Is permanently tighten muscleis throwing the gauntlet to Europe and the United States to see if they keep up. And for us, it is the key to understanding how this manufacturer has gone from a local phenomenon to a world leader in five years. The U8 dune The interior dune is the pride of the complex: 29 meters high, 28 degrees inclined, more than six thousand tons of sand from the Alxa desert. Guinness has certified it as the largest indoor building in the world. He Yangwang U8a luxury SUV with four electric motors, was in charge of climbing it. Of course, a local driver was behind the wheel. On the sides of the dune, dozens of journalists waiting for the climb like a child waiting to open gifts the night before Three Kings Day. Image: Xataka. Image provided. Image: Xataka. Image provided. At one point, the pilot honked his horn and accelerated hard to scale the sand wall. A five-meter tank that went with an unnatural calm. Not a skid, not a hesitation. Just an electrical hum. Another honk, and the descent. Applause and that feeling of celebration of raw power. We missed hitting each other in the chest making simian gestures. But there was something else: that iconic Pirelli advertisement said that “power without control is useless”, and that aphorism fits perfectly here. The U8 is pure power, but full of control. Symbolism. Where cars breathe The next stop was the wading pool, a 70 meter long pond created for the U8. This time we didn’t drive either, but we were inside while the pilot submerged the car in the water. Upon detecting a certain depth, the car automatically raised the windows and opened the sunroof, two safety measures to prevent water from entering the cabin and to facilitate escape if necessary, respectively. Image provided. Image provided. Image provided. Image provided. From there, the motors work like turbines in each wheel. They keep the car afloat and also allow you to steer it. It was impressive to see the water almost at the height of our window. From there, a gentle 180º turn and return to the shore. Science fiction for a amphibious SUV. That said, this function is intended as a response to an emergency such as flooding. It is not something the manufacturer recommends doing for fun. The dune was fun, but The one in the pool was the most hypnotic moment of the dayalthough with a bitter aftertaste due to memories of DANA. But for extreme situations like that this function is supposed to be there. From water to dust with the Denza B5 After the show, it was our turn at the Off-Road Parkan area with 27 difficulty scenarios. We did it, not completely, at the wheel of the Denza B5, the SUV that will arrive in Spain under that brand – although in China it is sold as Fang Cheng Bao 5 -. A competitor to the Land Cruiser that, depending on its price (it will arrive in Spain) will manage to put Toyota in more or less trouble, but in any case it will be noticed. If you don’t know Denza yet, keep his name: technological luxury that has no reason to have any complexes. Image provided. Image provided. Image provided. The assigned circuit was easy: ramps designed to put the car on two wheels, notable inclinations, bridge crossings and areas of complicated relief. Even so, the B5 moved with solvency. Instant electric all-wheel drive and obstacle-filtering suspension with the aplomb of a veteran off-roader. Patrol, is that you? It was not a risky experience, but it served as a symbolic demonstration: Chinese electric cars are no longer only looking for efficiency. They also want to be the most versatile. This one is. And it was extremely easy to drive in those environments even for someone like me, with no experience off-road. The scary crab: Denza Z9 GT The turn of the Denza Z9 GTthe saloon shooting brake that BYD has launched against the Taycan and the Panamera. But we didn’t test it on curves, but on something more disturbing: the crab walk and the U-shaped turn, 180 degrees in static. He crab walk —advancing diagonally like a crab—is a fair trick until you see it in action. You accelerate forward and the car slides sideways, defying all visual logic. It takes a few seconds for the brain to accept that the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction to the front wheels. It is useful for parallel parking without maneuvering. It’s unsettling to drive. And it attracts looks of bewilderment. Image provided. Image provided. But the static 180 degree turn was straight up surreal. Standing still, without moving an inch, The Z9 GT pivots on its own axis until it turns completely around. The four wheels rotate independently, locking one of the front wheels, the car rotates like in a video game and you, inside, only hear the hum of the engines while the world spins outside the window. There’s no need. It is not practical on a day-to-day basis, if perhaps at some specific moment where we do not have an angle to deface a mess But it’s the kind of technological excess that separates a good car from a statement of intent. Of course, it does not seem advisable to play with it too much for the sake of our support tire. “Mickey Mouse” with … Read more

allows you to see how your city will disappear underwater

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Climate change has a consequence that is undoubtedly greatly feared by everyone: the sea ​​level rise. Far from being a distant threat, its effects are already are feeling all over the world and future projections force us to prepare for a scenario where our coasts are going to be altered, even having to prepare simulations to find out which buildings will be submerged under the seabed. A simulator. To understand the magnitude of this challenge and precisely visualize which areas will be submerged, there are tools such as ‘Sea Level Rise Viewer‘, a 3D map that allows us to peer into an uncertain future. A map created by developer Akihiko Kusanagi and consisting of an interactive simulation away from traditional 2D maps to offer us a photorealistic, and above all alarming, experience. A great result that has been achieved using the powerful photorealistic 3D mosaics of Google Maps and rendering technologies such as deck.gl and three.js. Something that has allowed any user to become a direct witness of the consequences of climate change. Furthermore, the code is completely open as it is published on GitHub. How it works. The genius of ‘Sea Level Rise 3D Map’ lies in its simplicity. When accessing the website, we find a 3D map of the world accompanied by a very minimalist interface that focuses on two key elements: Sea level: in this case it is possible to visualize how the coastal geography will change when the sea level increases meter by meter. With each increase, a layer of blue water will rise to cover the entire terrain, first flooding the port areas and beaches and then entering the urban centers. And we must take into account that For every cm that sea level rises, the coastline retreats 100 cm. Time of day: a second control located at the bottom that allows us to change the time, adjusting the lighting and shadows to have an even more realistic effect. Simulation on the coasts of Motril (Granada) that shows the impact that an increase in sea level of 58 meters would have. But the best of all is the search engine that is at the top of the map and that allows us to go to any city in the world with Google 3D coverage and see streets, monuments or emblematic neighborhoods that can end up underwater. And from the Statue of Liberty in New York to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona or Big Ben in London, the tool offers a unique and personalized perspective of a global crisis. The science behind. Although the tool is a visual demonstration and not a predictive model with the precision of scientific studies, it puts face and volume to the data that the scientific community has been warning about for years through papers or conferences. It must be taken into account that the rise of the sea is caused by two key factors. The first of them is thermal expansion, since the oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the extra heat generated by human emissionscausing the water to expand much more, which causes the coastline to end up receding. This also adds to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, as well as mountain glaciers, dumping billions of tons of water into the oceans each year. Few solutions. Even if we started doing things right now, according to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), even if the global warming at 1.5°C, sea ​​level would continue to rise inevitably. Projections for 2100 vary from about 43 cm in the most optimistic scenario to exceeding 84 cm in the most pessimistic. But clearly with this tool, what represents just two or three meters of climbing gives us an idea of ​​the magnitude of the long-term challenge to finish raising awareness of where we can venture and what we are going to leave to our descendants. The conscience. Projects like the “Sea Level Rise 3D Map” are more necessary than ever. By transforming abstract data into a visual and personal experience, they achieve something that scientific reports often fail to do: generate an emotional impact and a sense of urgency on society. Images | Chris Gallagher In Xataka | What is a dana: how it forms, how it differs from a normal storm and how to act in one of them

The Canary Islands will tend an underwater cable to Morocco. If Morocco decides to extend it, Spain will have a problem

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An underwater cable of 49 million euros will connect the Canary Islands with Africa, but it will stop just where the legal problem begins: the border of the Western Sahara. What is happening. The Ring of the East islands will first join Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with the latest generation fiber. Then it will jump to the African continent, to Tarfaya, the last Moroccan city before the West Sahara. The Canarian government It has been clear: “The cable goes to Tarfaya, it has nothing to do with Western Sahara.” But Morocco has other plans. His government wants to extend that connection to what he calls his “South Provinces”, the euphemism with which he refers to the Saharawi territory since 1975, when Spain abandoned it. Why is it important. Submarine cables are Internet highways. 99% of data traffic between continents travels through them. This project promises to make the Canary Islands a digital node between Europe and Africa. But there is a huge legal problem. The EU Court of Justice considers any economic activity in the Western Sahara without consent of the Polisario Front, recognized by the UN as representative of the Saharawi people. And the Polisario He has already warned: If the cable reaches Saharawi territory, they will go to court. The context. Since Pedro Sánchez supported the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Sahara in 2022Spain tries to maintain the balance between its economic interests with Morocco and its international legal obligations. This cable puts that test balance. If the infrastructure that Spain finances with European funds ends up facilitating Moroccan expansion in Sahara, could splash Spain with legal problems in European courts. The money trail. The construction has already begun with these numbers: 49 million total budget. 20 million provided by the European Investment Bank. Additional 7.5 million for connection with Tarfaya. In February, Canalink technicians – the Canarian public company that leads the project— Tarfaya visited to study the land and design the submarine layout. The cable will be manufactured in 2025 and will be deployed in 2026. The precedent. It is not the first time that Canary Islands connect with Morocco. Since 2011 There is a cable with Asilahin the north of the country. But that did not generate any controversy because it is far from the territory in dispute. This is different. It reaches the same border of the Sahara. And even if technically stops there, it creates the perfect basis for Morocco to complete what European companies cannot do directly by legal restrictions. The threat. The Polisario Front has a history of victories in European courts. He has lying fishing agreements and agriculture between the EU and Morocco for including resources from the Sahara without its consent. “We will carry out any action to guarantee the rights of the Saharawi people,” He said Abdulah Arabi, representative of the Polisario in Spain. A data cable would be your next goal if you cross the border. And now what. The project will continue because Canary Islands need this connection. The ESSI Spain will be able to maintain the legal fiction that its responsibility ends in Tarfaya. If Morocco extends the cable to the Sahara using the base infrastructure financed with European money, Spain could be found in the midst of another conflict between its economic interests and its obligations with the territory that it abandoned 50 years ago. And this time it will not be for fishing or phosphates, but for the control of the data between two continents. In Xataka | The Google Maps of submarine cables: an imposing interactive map that allows us to know the skeleton of the modern world Outstanding image | TelefónicaGoogle Maps

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