wanted

In the 60s Spain wanted to experiment with gamma radiation. The result was an “atomic forest” in Alcalá

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Before rowing us and getting into work I propose a game. One fast, simple and above all curious. Open Google Maps, activates the satellite vision (with that of the street the effect will not be the same), write “Alcalá Atomic Garden” And then let the web transfer you to a point located near Meco and the Northeast HighwayA-2. There, Google’s red claw. Approximate. What do you see? Exact. A Huge circumference green Symmetric. Perfect As if they had drawn it with an XXL size compass. If you dedicate a couple of seconds you will appreciate that it is formed by concentric circles, a succession Tree rings Almost and leafy enough to stand out in bird view and that someone planted in their day around a clear center. It is not a mistake. It is history. More specifically the footprint of “El Encín Gamma Radiation Field”an installation that in its day, back in the last decades of Franco, stood out on the country’s scientific map. His chronicle is fascinating. Almost as much as the large 15 -hectare wooded square left in Alcalá and that, In words From the anthropologist Ambrosio Sánchez de Ribera, it is “a singularity” at European level. New times, new science The 50s and 60s were times of change. For the world, which gradually entered into The cold war. And of course for Spain, where Franco seemed to enter a new phase marked by developmentalism and a certain cracking of its international isolation, with milestones such as The signing of the concordat with the Holy See In 1953, the Pacts of Madrid or the entrance to the UN, In 1955. The 50 were also time for something else: nuclear energy. With still the recent memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki And in full arms race with Moscow, the US wanted international opinion not to focus only on the threat of atomic war and also value its civil and scientific uses. Probably the best proof of that effort is speech “Peace atoms”pronounced in 1953 by Eisenhower before the UN. “Instead of focusing exclusively on the dangers of atomic war, Eisenhower praised the Civil nuclear applications In agriculture, medicine and energy generation. He proposed to create an ‘international atomic energy organism’ that promoted the peaceful use of nuclear energy ‘for the benefit of humanity’ “, Remember Elisabeth Röhrlichhistorian of the University of Vienna. The result soon materialized: just Four years laterIn 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) was created. Spain, who had started his own (and shy) history with nuclear energy to late 40did not remain impermeable to those changes. In the 50 Patria Press (Node included) already talked about the US plants either United Kingdom and experiments with radioactive sources applied to medicine and agriculture. In 57 Madrid even hosted a European FAO summit on the subject. Thus, with that backdrop, around 1959, Spain decided to take another step and, with the key mediation of César Gómez Campoan engineer with experience in the USA, planned to create his own “Gamma Radiation Field”a focused specifically designed to perform “crop and seed irradiation experiments”. The chosen place: El Encín, a plot away from Alcalá where Gómez Campo himself had been conducting studies for Agronomic Research Institute. The project advanced relatively fast, as Ambrosio Sánchez de Ribera recalls in a broad (and very complete) essay About the Encín published in 2018 in Complutenses Annals. In 1961, what time was lifted would be an active scientific installation whose footprint still shows today from Google bird: a field of study of 440 square meters of diameter, an area of ​​15 hectares and 18,000 trees, although in 2018 there were only 5,000 left. A huge outdoor laboratory The Encín was a huge outdoor laboratory. One with a design as peculiar as its purpose. The field was circular and was formed by a series of concentric rings arranged around an axis. In the center there was a circle of 25 m radius with a removable hexagonal greenhouse. Inside it contained a lead sarcophagus that housed the source of radiation with which scientists operated, Cesio137 from used bars of American nuclear reactors. Around that central almond of 50 m in diameter, protected with a concrete wall and a stepped soil slope of several meters high to avoid the radiation output, the nearly 18,000 trees that completed the circumference of 15 hectares were distributed. Its purpose was to serve as extra screen against radiation. By way of auction, the center had a garden of large trees and several constructions where the staff had its offices and laboratories. Clarified what the Encín was the other great question: What did they do in it in the 60s? Basically experiment with radiation to find mutations that in last terms allow to achieve varieties of interesting vegetables, fruits or seeds for their characteristics. What is called induced mutagenesis. Gómez Campo himself explained In 1964, which centers such as El Encín were dedicated: “Essentially it consists of a gamma ray emitting source that is installed in an open field, so that the irradiation of growth or relatively bulky animals is possible.” Certain hours a day and for several months a year, at the Alcalá base the technicians opened the lead sarcophagus so that the gamma ray emitting source could act in the center of the field, the 50 m area of ​​diameter protected with a wall and slope in which plants, seeds, insects or some animals were exposed. “The dose received depended on the distance from Cesio137”, Sánchez de Ribera clarifies. When the years of irradiation ended the lead sarcophagus fell again, the caesium was locked and the researchers could access to work. The El Encín field worked 12 years, Between 1961 and 1973when his activity was complicated by the construction of a cement factory in the surroundings. The dust hindered research, so that in 73 it was decided to remove the radioactive source and transfer it to the Polytechnic University of Madrid. There he was only three years before embarking on … Read more

The US is about to get all the minerals he wanted from Ukraine. The problem is that half control them

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In the terms in which it seems that the United States wants to end the war, Ukraine does not seem to have much to win in A peace agreement with Russia. Except if he brought out his rare earth reserves, those minerals that presume that he counts in large quantity. So much so, that, in 24 hours it is expected that Ukraine firm an agreement of cooperation with the Trump administration with minerals as protagonists. There is more than one problem. The agreement. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, will meet this Friday with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in Washington to sign an agreement that gives the United States access to mineral resources Strategic Ukraine. Although Zelensky hopes that this pact will serve as a basis for future negotiations, he has recognized that does not include security guarantees concrete by the United States despite the fact that kyiv had insisted on this point during negotiations. Trump, meanwhile, has justified the agreement as a way that US taxpayers recover part of Help funds sent To Ukraine (the Biden administration raised the investment to More than 100,000 million dollars in assistance), arguing that the responsibility of Ukrainian security should fall in Europe. The terms. While the final details are still unknown, the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, confirmed that both parties have agreed a preliminary version of the pact. According to this, it will be established An investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, which will be jointly managed by kyiv and Washington on equal terms. Ukraine will contribute 50% of future income generated by their state natural resources, including minerals, oil and gas, and these funds will be reinvested in projects within the country. In this regard, a draft Obtained by the New York Times It suggests that the United States will have the greatest amount of participation allowed in the fund according to its legislation, although You will not have absolute control. Previously, Trump had demanded that Ukraine yield resources for Value of 500,000 million dollars As compensation for military and economic assistance received, but this point has been discarded in the final version. There are no guarantees. One of the most controversial aspects of the agreement is the lack of a formal security commitment by the United States. Zelensky insisted on the inclusion of a reference to security guarantees, although the final version only mentions that the United States “Support Ukraine efforts to obtain necessary guarantees for lasting peace.” No doubt, this does not imply a direct military support or specific commitments in case of Russian aggression. What Trump says. The President has declared that the United States will not provide security guarantees “beyond what is necessary” and that the protection of Ukraine It must fall on Europe. However, he pointed out that the presence of US workers in Ukrainian territory would provide “automatic security”, suggesting that investment in natural resources would deter Russia of attacking these strategic sites. He also said that the United States will continue to provide armament and ammunition to Ukraine “until an agreement with Russia is reached.” Why do minerals matter. We have told it before. Ukraine houses approximately 5% of world reserves of critical minerals, including graphite, titanium, lithium and rare earths, essential for the production of batteries, weapons, wind turbines and advanced technology. Thus, the United States, which seeks reduce its dependence on China In key materials for green technology and defense, see in Ukraine a strategic opportunity. According to The Ukraine Geological Service itselfthe country is one of the richest in the world in essential resources for energy transition and military industry. The problem: half are Russian. The main stumbling block that Ukraine has in the negotiation is that, paradoxically, almost half of its mineral reserves They are on land occupied by Russia Since the invasion in 2022, which has complicated access to these resources. We talk about something else 40% of these resources. To get an idea, the Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svydenko, said that mineral resources in territories under Russian control They amount to 350,000 million dollars. In addition, the extraction of these minerals faces a greater obstacle: it is estimated that 25% of the Ukrainian territory is contaminated with land minesespecially in the east of the country, which hinders the development of mining projects without an adequate demin strategy. According to the Halo Trust organization, the nation has 150,000 contaminated square kilometers With these explosives. The Russian counteroffet. Not just that. In a twist of events, and knowing the negotiations, Vladimir Putin has declared in A televised interview that Russia is willing to offer to the United States access to your own mineral resourcesincluding, of course, those located in the occupied Ukrainian territories. In fact, he emphasized that Russia has “significantly more resources of this type than Ukraine” and that he is ready to attract foreign partners to exploit them in the so -called “new regions”in reference to the areas of Ukraine attached by Moscow. Moreover, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, fell importance to Zelensky’s visit to Washington and suggested that the final content of the agreement is not yet at all clear. Putin, meanwhile, mentioned the possibility of collaborate with the United States In the production of aluminum in Siberia, which would indicate an attempt of Moscow for interfering with the negotiations between kyiv and Washington and offering a more viable alternative for the United States. The challenge of access to resources. It is the last of the obstacles with respect to minerals. Despite its enormous potential, the exploitation of these resources Face significant difficulties. As we said, the Russian invasion has left Ukraine without access to much of its mineral reserves, particularly in occupied regions such as Donetsk and Zaporiyia. But, in addition, the country’s infrastructure has remained severely damaged After three years of conflict, which complicates the extraction and transport of materials. An uncertain future. Thus, the agreement that will be carried out in 24 hours is full of edges for Ukraine. … Read more

I wanted to set up my own Google photos. I have achieved it thanks to a wonderful alternative Open Source

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I have a particular obsession to have my photos well organized. As I have been fighting with this for a few years, I have tried a good handful of solutions, and for example I enjoyed Picasa –Google killed him, like Reader– And I also tried solutions like Synology photos Following the steps From my partner Alejandro Nieto. The goal has always been the same: Google photos of Googlea service that is wonderful but that like other services in the cloud, it worries me because I don’t know what my photos can be used. They assure They are not used for advertising purposes, but can be used to improve their automatic learning algorithms in image recognition. A custom nas The cloud is fantastic in many things and for many users, but as I say, I preferred to mount it at my home. Recently I counted this whole search process and tests in more detail in my blogand now I wanted to take advantage of it also in Xataka. About a year ago looking for new alternatives, and to achieve a decision I rode a nas With 30 hard drive, 4 TB of SSD and a modest plate and processor because it sought more efficiency than power. My NAS, in a Jonsbo N2 box with hard drives bays. There was also detailed research process to choose the operating system with which to control everything. There are many and varied options for NAS, although I would say that among the most prominent are unraid, thunder (formerly Freenes), proxmox, OpenMediavault or Casaos. After documenting, reading and watching videos I ended up deciding on Unraida very veteran and respected project. The “Starter” license costs 49 dollars and is valid for machines with up to six disk units, and I thought it was very good option. Putting everything in motion took some time: this is not like installing Windows on a PC, and I also wanted to have a very specific configuration to use the ZFS file system for the three hard disk units configured in Raidz (Raidz1 ), Something that when I settled I had just started to be available in Unraid. Solved that, I migrated all the data of my old NAS, an old Synology DS-212J who gave me many joys but that began to fall short in many things. That also took time, because I wanted to take the opportunity to reorganize the small chaos in which some folders that had used almost as “digital storages” had become. Testing alternatives to Google photos Once that was resolved, I could start trying different alternatives to manage my photos. Here Unraid is especially wonderful, because it allows (like other systems for NAS, certainly) to assemble services separately and easily isolated, especially thanks to Docker. UNRAID’s “App Store” with the different types of autosted services that you can install on your server at click. That makes you become 5, 10 or 100 servers. Those you want and those that your hardware allows, of course. And the same with virtual machines, that I do not use just but that are an equally interesting option to get your server more. I have ended up installing about 15 servers in my nas, although the vast majority are usually deactivated. Be that as it may, Unraid has its own “App Store”and in it there are dozens and dozens of possible services that you can ride on your server to run them from there and have your own cloud essence with your local services. There are alternatives for almost everything that exists on the Internet: you can mount your email, music, your web server, download, databases, or, of course … photos. And this is where it was time to try alternatives that seemed interesting and on which I had already investigated. Others met them along the way, but thanks to Unraid and Docker’s magic starting these alternatives is a matter of minutes. Then, of course, there is an import process of the photos – if you have many, that can take to days – but I reduced the import to a small subset of photos for the tests. First of all, I must say that what is clear is that in this field there is everything, and for all. The options are very varied both in their reach and in their way of “attacking” the problem, but I had certain priorities. In essence I wanted a good alternative to Google photos that inherited its virtues (interface, chronological organization, favorite management, perhaps facial and object recognition). Photosyructure is an original, different and very powerful alternative. That made some projects quickly discard that they did not fit me but that can be great for many users. Among them were Piwigo, Photonix, Chevereto, Damselfly, Lycheeeither PhotoViewbut there are certainly more. The thing however interesting with Some really serious and very striking alternatives. I had already tried Photosyructure And I loved his interface with that first page of random photo team, but they did not fit their favorite management (subscription to enable that option) or its interface, which is not focused on the chronological order. LIBHOTOS I looked great, but it was not easily installed (I was not in the “App Store” of Unraid) and gave me many problems, probably because I did something wrong when riding it. I also tried NextCloud Photos, curious option if you are already users of NextCloud Photos and its improved version, Memoriesbut the interface and some options were not entirely fine. The one who really put things difficult was Photoprismone of the most popular options among those looking for alternatives to Google photos. His options are extraordinary, and the only thing that really backed down is that it seems to me an option that focuses more on organizing your photos (the power here is amazing) than to enjoy them. The interface did not fall in love either, but it always remained as a great candidate if other options did not convince me anymore. I finally discovered a candidate … Read more

I wanted to be one of the great science fiction sagas, but the box office failure took ahead to the book saga

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‘Twilight’ and ‘The hunger games’, like or not, marked an era. His aesthetics, his arguments and even his industrial logic (successfully female literary saga, and that adapts in a film with aspiration to open a saga) sowed A series of seeds that set in a good amount of sagas As the semi -infallid ‘divergent’, although few achieved the fame of the two most successful franchises. In fact, Stephanie Meyer herself, author of ‘Twilight’, launched to experiment with science fiction. The result was’The host‘, a new editorial success that was quickly adapted to the cinema. And the film, directed by Andrew Niccol (signatory of ‘Gattaca’ and screenwriter of ‘The Truman show’), was not bad at all. However, the failure was considerable, with only 63,3 million dollars collected around the world compared to 40 budget, insufficient for the saga to have continuity. The film tells how the earth has been invaded by beings that are housed in human bodies and control their minds. The creature that inhabits the body of a young land has to live fight against the memories of this, who strives to not losing the control. To do this, rConstantly recue the man who is in lovewhich makes the creature, Wanderer, also ends up in love with that human. Both will end up allying to reunite with him. As you can see, high doses of youth romanticism in a film that, despite its dishes with the teenage fashions of that time, has a good amount of powerful ideas: visually it is attractive, the cast (Saosear Ronan, Diane Kruger, Emily Browning) It is more interesting than usual and has good doses of violence that distance it from the white approach of ‘twilight’. A pity, since Meyers also abandoned the continuation of the literary series, and there is no way of knowing (for the moment) how the story ends. In Xataka | Between ‘Body snatchers’ and ‘are alive’: 11 films about ultra -corps and other silent extraterrestrial invasions

Novo Energy wanted to stand up to Chinese batteries for electric cars. It has ended in the hands of a Chinese company

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Point and apart for the soap opera of the Great European hope In the battery segment for electric cars. In the European assault on electric car industryVolvo and the Northvolt battery manufacturer founded Novo Energy. Both were Swedish and it was a Join Venture with the aim of producing batteries in Europe. It seemed that everything was going to be A ROSA pathbut a few years later and after thousands of layoffsNorthvolt sell His participation in Novo Energy A Volvo. And behind Volvo is Geelyan important Chinese holding. Culebrón. Things stopped going well for Northvolt practically from the beginning. During the first years, the European Investment Bank, BMW, Goldman Sachs or Volkswagen invested sums of hundreds of millions of euros in the company. The Swedish company, founded by two Exegutive of Tesla, became the great European promise to create batteries and be the heart of that European flying towards the electric car. In a market increasingly controlled by ChinaIt seemed like a great idea and everything pointed in good sense. In addition, together with Volvo they founded Novo Energy in 2021 to produce the batteries of both Volvo and Polestar. However, things began to twist in 2023, when it was uncovered that the company had been operating with losses of 1,000 million dollars during the first nine months of the year. And, in 2024, the situation exploded. Last nail in the coffin. Everything happened very fast. After the delays in the delivery dates, BMW canceled its agreement of 2,000 million euros, there were a series of employee deaths in work shifts, fired more than 1,600 workers in September and, shortly after, the bankruptcy arrived. In November 2024, Northvolt requested bankruptcy protectionarguing that they had 30 million in cash and, with them, they could only operate for a week. The hole they had was 5.8 billion dollars. A skinny dog, everything is fleas, and a day later one of the founders resigned, arguing that the company would need 1.2 billion dollars to save itself. After a few days of 2025 in which the company was still looking for financing, something that nobody seemed willing to do, sales arrived. It was even rumored that Catl, the main Chinese rival in battery manufacturing, I could give a hand. Volvo. After getting rid of some services, this January 29 we learned that the Swedish company sold its participation in Novo Energy to its partner in this adventure, Volvo. It is something that does not catch by surprise, since, as with BMW, Volvo saw that Northvolt’s delivery plans were not being fulfilled and in October last year he showed his interest in acquiring participation in Novo. Last week, Novo Energy advertisement which had to reduce its workforce by 30% due to “the changing market conditions and a modified business plan”. Northvolt wants to reduce everything possible and focus on its Swedish plant, but they have also signed an agreement with Volvo to explore joint collaboration paths in the future, so everything is not lost. China looks out to Europe. Therefore, Volvo will now be the one Novo Energy, we will see if alone or with partners, but the interesting thing about this operation is that, although Volvo is a Swedish company that is in the bag of his country, the matrix is ​​Geely, A Chinese holding. They are present in multitude of companies and sectors, with an important participation in Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin or Lotus, as well as co-owners of smart, polestar and with a participation of more than 80% in Volvo. It is curious that Northvolt was born to stand up to the Chinese battery industry and that the Join Adventure That I had with Volvo to produce batteries in Europe, now, is controlled by a Chinese company, in the absence of seeing the resolution of the authorities. And all this, shortly after Tariffs imposed by Europe To the Chinese electric car. In Xataka | Catl’s investment in Spain is not accidental: China is punishing those who supported tariffs on their electric cars

OpenAi has taken everything he wanted from the Internet to train his AI. Now accuses Depseek of stealing his data

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The models of AI of Deepseek They are really good. They show it comparative evidence we publish yesterday and that put it at the level of chatgpt, Claude or Gemini. That has unleashed praises, but also suspicion. There are people who do not believe that training deepseek It has cost just 5.6 million dollarsbut also now in Openai they accuse Depseek of something else. Deepseek, you are using our data without permission. Openai spokesmen have indicated Financial Times They have discovered evidence that “distillate” techniques have been used from OpenAi models used by Depseek. What is that of “distilled” in AI? Yesterday we talk about how Depseek developers have used a large number of techniques to achieve such an efficient model. Among them stands out for reinforcement learningbut it is also known that they use models distillate. In this technique a smaller “student model” is taught to behave as a larger and more advanced “teacher model”. Data of the “teacher model” are used so that the small model is faster and more efficient, but equally intelligent in specific tasks. Use not allowed. The distillate or distillation of models is a common practice in the industry, but the terms of OpenAi service prohibit that their models be used for this purpose. Thus, it is specified that users cannot “copy” none of their services or “use the output (of Openai models) to develop models that compete with Openai.” OpenAI and Microsoft have already investigated this. According to Bloombergboth companies analyzed last accounts that were being used to take advantage of their chatbots and that apparently belonged to Deepseek developers. They used Openai’s API, but there were suspicions that they had violated the terms of service by taking advantage of that access to make distillate of their models. Many do. David Sacks, responsible for AI in Donald Trump’s team, alerted him to what was happening and said there was evidence that Depseek had used OpenAi data. Spokesmen of the company led by Sam Altman indicated that “we know that companies of the People’s Republic of China – and others – are constantly trying to distill the models of leading companies in AI in the US.” The thief is believed that everyone is of his condition. The ironic thing here is that Openai has not had scruples when collecting internet data to train their models, also violating the terms of service of those platforms. Last year it was discovered for example how transcribed a million youtube hours To train GPT-4. Timnit Gebru, famous for his controversial dismissal From Google, I commented on LinkedIn that Openai “must be the most insufferable company in the world.” And he continued: “They can steal the entire world and swallow all possible resources. But no one can give them their own medicine not even a bit.” If you are on the Internet, it can be used, right? Other companies They do exactly the sameand are shielded in the argumetno of “fair use.” They collect Any public content On the Internet without asking users or permission or platforms. Not only that: it is suspected that in many cases these models are trained with works Protected by copyrightsomething that has resulted in numerous demands. Image | Xataka with Grok In Xataka | The next phase of AI is not to see who invests more but who invests less

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