world

GPT-5.6 is probably the best AI model in the world. And precisely for that reason, the majority does not need it.

by

Yesterday OpenAI publicly released GPT-5.6its new family of AI models with three variants: Sol, the most powerful, Terra, more balanced, and Luna, the most cost-efficient. One idea stood out in that release: that GPT-5.6 is probably the best model in the world. And precisely for that reason, the vast majority will never need it. As part of the launch, he published a nice video in which he showed how a farmer in Japan, an entrepreneurial couple in New York and a mathematician in Poland had used it for their work. Then we go back to the video and those three scenarios. But a preview: two of those three stories demonstrate just the opposite of what OpenAI wanted to demonstrate. In the official announcement OpenAI also told us about how this was the most capable family of AI models they had ever released and they included the traditional huge string of internal benchmark results to prove it. According to internal tests, GPT-5.6 Sol is the best existing AI model both in programming and in the use of agentic tools in the terminal (among many other scenarios). Source: OpenAI. Their data revealed that we are facing what theoretically it is the best AI model in the world currently. And the interesting thing is that independent studies like those of Artificial Analysis They corroborate it: in several of its tests GPT-5.6 even surpassed Fable 5, Anthropic’s frontier model that until now was the great reference in this industry. Source: Artificial Analysis. The model certainly appears to be spectacular. Those responsible for ARC Prize, that benchmark in which most AI models repeatedly crash, commented how GPT-5.6 Sol was still the first frontier model to solve one of the puzzles of their new benchmark, ARC-AGI 3. No other had come close to that milestone, and according to this organization “it is the best model when it comes to orienting yourself in a situation that you have never encountered.” All that these tests validate is the idea that we are facing a prodigious model. And the problem is precisely that: that most users will probably never need it. Too powerful for most of us Let’s go back to the video at the beginning. Of the three use cases mentioned, two are quite trivial. GPT-5.6 helped the Japanese farmer create a remote control system for his greenhouse with a Raspberry Pi. He helped the New York couple build a curious cereal box business. Nothing in those two tasks seems to require the best model in the world. In fact, they are precisely the type of projects that have been being resolved for months with much cheaper models. With the third scenario, that of the Polish mathematician, things change: this academic was trying to solve a conjecture that he had been working on for three years. No previous model had been able to help him, but with GPT-5.6 he managed to reveal a totally new idea, he says. One of his final comments precisely makes it clear who GPT-5.6 Sol is for: “If you have that kind of audacity to try to do something really big, you won’t be scared of the incredible computing power because you can organize it with the model.” That is the key to the issue: most users are not trying to solve mathematical conjectures that are almost impossible to solve. Most we use tools in a much more everyday wayand that is completely logical and reasonable. That’s why there are many more more modest and affordable models, and why the GPT-5.6 Sol, even if it makes sense, will be a very unprofitable model for most people. It is not a model for counting R’sof course. In fact, every time a new model comes into our hands, It is very difficult to appreciate if it is really better than the previous ones because the tasks we propose are usually solved very well with the existing ones. There are cases in which differences are seen—in especially complex programming, for example—but here we are faced with a situation that we have lived before on several occasions. This happens, for example, with modern hardware: very few people need the most advanced processors or an RTX 5090 to play, because more modest CPUs and GPUs give access to a truly fluid experience. We don’t usually need a camera either. Hasselblad of 15,000 euros for our vacations, and a good cell phone of 500-1,000 euros at this point solves the problem wonderfully. The good thing about all this is what also happens with those examples that we mentioned before: what is extraordinarily expensive and powerful today will end up no longer being so because other even better (and probably more expensive) AI models will appear on the horizon. The question is no longer “which model is more “intelligent”?”, but “Which model is smart enough to solve this task at the lowest cost?“. That explains why there are variants like Sol, Terra and Luna. Maybe in two years GPT-5.6 Sol will be the cheap model we use to correct an email or plan a vacation. The recent history of AI invites us to think precisely that: today’s frontier models end up becoming tomorrow’s everyday models. Perhaps that is the true meaning of GPT-5.6. Not that today almost no one needs so much intelligence, but that in a few years we will probably we all take it for granted. In Xataka | OpenAI just launched GPT-Live: ChatGPT voice mode has learned to listen, shut up and respond better

Madrid wants the largest Ferris wheel in the world. For now he is settling for a French merry-go-round

by

Fifty-nine years old. That is the amount of time that has passed since the noble Madrid Amusement Park has not had a new tender that allows a new company to manage the more than 30 machines that attract approximately one million visitors each year. A single operator. The concession worked in favor of a single company: for an initial period of 35 years, until 1992, the concessionaire could thus fully amortize the investment in civil works and attractions. And so much: it is estimated that more than a million people visit these attractions every year. The term was extended: first, an extension of 24 more years, until 2016; then another extension to the September 27, 2027coinciding with successive major internal reforms—more thematic areas, roller coasters, Nickelodeon expansion—that justified maintaining the same operator. almost six decades of continued exploitation since the concession to Parques Reunidos that began in 1967. And now, Madrid wants to “resurrect” it under two clear rules: a non-renewable eight-year concession and a complete overhaul. And, on the horizon, that gargantuan attraction that we have talked about on occasion. London Eye twice. Literally, Madrid dreams of the largest Ferris wheel in the world. Behind the capital’s Business Forum, which has been defending a structure of about 260 meters for years, doubling the 135 meters of the London Eye. Carlos Rubio’s design proposes an elliptical apparatus higher than the Ain Dubai (250 meters), with panoramic cabins and a multi-story observation deck in the center. The problem is that a good part of Madrid does not want to talk about the Ferris wheel. In 2025, the City Council commissioned a geotechnical study to assess whether it was viable to plant something of such a scale in the Enrique Tierno Galván park, within Arganzuela. The report concluded that technically it could be done. And the neighbors opposed it, suspecting that this move would be the prelude to the privatization of a green lung, an idyllic area to walk the dog or read for a while. The Delicias para Todos neighborhood association warned of the impact: 300 fewer trees, almost a thousand meters of lost soil and a stolen public landscape. They gathered more than 14,000 signatures against it in a few weeks. Finally, a municipal plot next to the EMT garages, next to the hospital Peace in Madrid Nuevo Norte, even without a formal project registered with the City Council, will presumably be the new home of this star wheel. A French merry-go-round. At the same time, the City Council has decided to put out to tender the management of the legendary Casa de Campo Amusement Park. José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of the city, announced during the State of the City Debate that those almost twenty hectares will go to competition. Aim: modernize it. Among the conditions there is a very specific jewel to preserve, maintain and restore: the wooden merry-go-round, the oldest of all the machines, built in France in 1927 and acquired for the inauguration of the park in 1968. A fair trader from Madrid bought it and took it to the San Isidro meadow, to finally pass into the hands of the City Council and install it in Casa de Campo. It is considered “one of the pieces with the greatest heritage value in the complex” and protected under a wooden pergola to prevent it from deteriorating. Taxidermy and memory. This merry-go-round is an artisanal attraction in the art deco/modernist style, handcrafted by French cabinetmakers, with horses, tigers, elephants and even pigs carved in wood, some with glass taxidermy eyes, and period melodies that recreate the atmosphere of the early 20th century. A little murky for current childhoods, although the memory of the carousel outweighs any scare. During its last major restoration, completed in 2012 by artist Félix Rego, figures were disassembled and recomposed, damage after decades spent outdoors was corrected, and everything from the hood to the chrome was repainted. The idea was for the carousel to continue spinning as something active, not to leave it relegated to a museum piece. Madrid already had its ferris wheel. Compared to the 260 meter tall monster, Ferris Wheel Vision was modest, to say the least. Installed in the 70s next to the central lake and dismantled in 2011, this attraction offered views of the Casa de Campo. It was part of a period of expansions along with Jet Star, La Casa Magnética and Las Alfombras Mágicas. His disappearance was experienced as a small trauma. After 40 years of service, he received a tribute video official when he retired to make way for more intense speeds, like the Abyss or Tarantula. And she wasn’t the only one to die either. Seven Peaks, the Cafeteria Tree, the Ghost Ship… most of them have been falling in favor of roller coasters. New times, new rhythms. With the cable car under renovation —47 panoramic cabins Swiss-made, with glass floors in some of them, sensors, AI and almost double the speed—it seems time to check the nostalgic button. That today the City Council protects an almost hundred-year-old French merry-go-round at the same time that it opens the door to a gigantic structure says a lot about the moment: the capital wants to play in the league of global icons – “a Ferris wheel is worth a ride,” it is often said – but it knows that its true emotional heritage continues to float on the artifacts that have been spinning at 10 km/h in the Casa de Campo for decades. Continuous circular motion, the cycle of life. Images | Madrid Amusement Park; own assembly In Xataka | Madrid has been obsessed with having the largest Ferris wheel in the world for years. And it’s closer than ever to getting it. In Xataka | The best amusement parks in Spain: a selection of getaways full of fun and strong emotions

The El Niño numbers are so strong that they are beginning to make half the world nervous. We have to be able to differentiate risk from hysteria

by

“More than 1.80 degrees, 3.46 standard deviations“These two figures simply summarize the enormous El Niño problem that is upon us. And yet, they say much more than they seem. Because, while social networks are filled with phrases like «2026 will be the year when we look back and say: “there, that was when the relatively stable climate system that we have had for 10,000 years really broke down”», are just the data that two of the largest agencies in the world have just retired. Let’s start with what we are clear about. The El Niño of 2026 is real and is coming (very) strong. After an almost testimonial Niña and as we have been counting these months, the Pacific has stepped on the accelerator and on June 11 it made an appearance. The CPC The NOAA estimates that the event is “very strong” between November and January at 63%, the highest since 1950. So, anyway, the figures cannot surprise anyone either. The problem is that they are inflated. That +1.80 with which the text began is the traditional Niño 3.4 index, the absolute. In short: it is the index that measures how far the Central Pacific is from its historical average. And it’s the index we’ve been using all these years. The problem is that there was one small detail that clouded the data and that, sooner or later, we had to address: climate change. In an ocean that warms with each passing day, both La Niña and El Niño start from different places than in previous decades. We were inflating Los Niño and deflating Las Niñas without meaning to. For this reason, in 2026, NOAA adopted the RONI, a relative index that discounted the effect of climate change. And, in this sense, the data circulating on the internet is true and worrying, yes; but incomplete. And does the photo change much from the ONI to the RONI? Since we don’t have updated data, let’s go to April: according to NOAAthe ONI marked +0.23 °C, while the RONI was at −0.24 °C. That is to say, the difference is considerable, but the situation is much less critical. So… the system isn’t broken? The reaction to the runaway ONI hits the mark, but misses the mark. Evidently, El Niño has not gone crazy: it is a mechanism with thousands of years behind it that works on a relatively new world. We could see an obvious example this June: the warmest observed in the global ocean, one in which marine heat waves covered 82% of its surface. And now…. what? In the short term, an increasingly stronger El Niño. It is true that in Spain we are relatively safe from what happens in the Pacific; but, sooner or later, we are going to notice it. As half the world is already noticing. Image | BenBaso In Xataka | We are already seeing the first most destructive effect of El Niño in living memory: rising sea levels

We believed that VAR was going to put an end to the classic favoritism of the World Cup host. Then the White House made a call

by

“When the certainty of the rules is no longer guaranteed, the integrity of the game is called into question” These are the words with which UEFA, in charge of overseeing the competitions of the European confederation, has responded to FIFA’s decision to withdraw a red card from Folarin Balogun, star forward of the United States team that faces Belgium in the round of 16. The statement is just the latest response that FIFA has received regarding this controversial decision that comes, according to The New York Timesthat Donald Trump, president of the United States, called Gianni Infantino by phone to pressure him and demand that he remove the automatic match penalty that is applied when a player receives a red card. FIFA’s decision is the latest maneuver to favor the host team in a World Cup and adds to the long list of favors for the locals that have traditionally marked the World Cup. Everything indicated that with VAR, the video refereeing tool, this was going to end or, at least, it was going to be very complicated to give small pushes to the local teams. But FIFA is always ready to surprise you. The regulation mess Forlain Balogun, a United States forward who has three goals in the 2026 World Cup, plays an aerial ball. It is the 64th minute of the round of 32 match of the 2026 World Cup and the person who disputes the ball is Tarik Muharemovic. The game is about to experience a turning point. The score reads 1-0, the United States has gone ahead with a goal from Balogun himself who is having a great championship but is about to lose its star for the remainder of the match and the round of 16 against Belgium. Or so we believed. In the dispute, the American player hits the Bosnian defender from behind. An obvious foul that results in a red card. As he falls, Balogun accidentally lands with his studs on Muharemovic’s calf, drags his foot and bends the defender’s ankle. The VAR calls the referee to observe the play carefully. Although fortuitous, the force applied by the American player is considered excessive and he ends up expelled. The match ends 2-0 and, of course, the worst thing for the United States is the impossibility of having their star striker in the tie against Belgium, the European team (hence the statement from UEFA, which is also in an open war against FIFA) against which they will play for a place in the quarterfinals. The winner will play against the winner of tonight’s Spain-Portugal. A more common setback in short knockout tournaments, the same setback as if, for example, a player accumulates two yellow cards in different phases during the championship. However, FIFA surprised yesterday with a statement: Forlain Balogun’s sanction was suspended. The alleged reason is that the suspension of a match was at the mercy of the player’s behavior in the next year. If he reoffends in a violent situation again, the rule will be applied to him. To do this, FIFA has based itself on article 27 of its disciplinary regulations, which states that punishments can be suspended for a certain period of time subject to the player’s attitude. A decision that as they remember from the Belgian team (clearly affected by the player’s non-suspension), collides directly with article 66.4 of the same regulations in which it is specified that a player who receives a red card will not be able to play the next match. In Sports CarouselIturralde González, former referee and referee commentator on the program, explains that the article that FIFA clings to is designed for disturbances on soccer fields and attitudes that go beyond the merely sporting. He explains that, in fact, FIFA does not withdraw the red card and only suspends the impossibility of playing the next match, a fact that has not been seen since 1962 when Garrincha was sent off in a tough semi-final against Chile but was cleared to play in the final against Czechoslovakia. Click on the image to go to the original tweet The call that went over the VAR We could think that FIFA’s decision was serious and fell within one of the many tricks that they have been using for years to favor local teams. However, a post by Donald Trump in X and the explicit support of the White House in which he thanked FIFA directly, he made the hare jump. The New York Times has been the first medium to publish what could be suspected once the thanks of the president of the United States was made public: The White House called Gianni Infantino directlypresident of FIFA, to ask that Forlain Balogun play against Belgium. In The Wall Street Journal They narrate that Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the working group that the White House has active for the organization of the 2026 World Cup, went to work on the same night of the United States – Bosnia and Herzegovina. From that moment on, they count on WSJa machinery made up of specialist lawyers related to Donald Trump began to move to try to stop the sanction. On the table was the possibility of challenging the red card and trying to prevent slow motion from being used in this type of actions in which video refereeing is involved (which many understand to magnify the damage caused by a kick or a stomp). The team, they explain in the media, was informed from the first moment but the United States National Team denied any possibility of revoking the sanction. While all this was happening, always according to internal sources of The Wall Street JournalDonald Trump directly picked up the phone to speak with Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA who has always been very close to the American president. At that time, Infantino responded to the US president that he could not assure him anything but confirmed that the suspension had been … Read more

“My urine spills everywhere.” How a viral phrase has changed the life of the man with the smallest penis in the world

by

In 2014, a team of South African surgeons achieved the first penis transplant with history success. That intervention marked a before and after in the reconstructive medicine and recalled the extent to which problems related to this organ can affect much more than a patient’s sexual life. The viral that changed the conversation. “My urine spills everywhere.” That was the descriptive phrase with which Michael Phillips has ended up getting thousands of people to stop seeing his case as a simple Internet curiosity and begin to understand the medical problem behind a micropenis. In fact, what seemed like another statement destined to go viral hid a much deeper reality. less striking: that of the difficulties in doing something as everyday as urinating, a practically impossible sex life and a profound psychological impact. The challenge that went around the world. I counted the weekend Guardian that Phillips rose to fame after publicly challenge anyone to prove that he didn’t have “the smallest penis in the world.” That provocation quickly attracted the attention of media outlets around the world and generated an enormous debate on social networks. However, Phillips always insisted that his goal was not to gain notoriety, far from it, but to make visible an extremely rare medical condition and the consequences it has for those who suffer from it. Behind the size there was a medical problem. Because Phillips’ diagnosis does not respond to a subjective perception, but to a micropenis clinically diagnosed as such. As explainedeven when erect his member barely reaches 0.97 centimeters in length, very much below the medical threshold used to define this condition. That situation, accountaffects such basic aspects as going to the bathroom to urinate or having penetrative sexual relations, two problems that marked a good part of his adult life. The surprise. Be that as it may, the public exhibition has ended up causing an effect that not even he himself expected. After launching a financing campaign collectively to finance an intervention aimed at partially improving their quality of life, donations began to multiply. “I never thought anyone would care to help,” Phillips acknowledged.which ended up raising nearly $13,000 thanks to more than 250 people and confessed to feeling “really grateful and surprised” by the support received. Virality changing destiny. The impact was so great that even a well-known Beverly Hills plastic surgeon publicly offered to operate on him. for free. Finally, Phillips decided to undergo the intervention at a center closer to his home, where he hopes to increase the thickness of his penis to alleviate, at least in part, the functional problems derived from his condition. The procedure will not resolve all your limitations, but it does aim to improve everyday aspects that affect your quality of life. From stigma to vindication. The case has also brought to light the stigma surrounding to the micropenis. Phillips has acknowledged that his diagnosis practically ended his love life and that he even had to prove to a British television program that he really suffered from this condition before being interviewed. He has also endured ridicule and doubts about the veracity of his story, although he has turned that exhibition in a tool to demand that the micropenis stop being treated as a simple reason for jokes or ridicule. It started with morbidity, it ended with health. If you also want, the story of the American Michael Phillips went viral because it revolved around a striking figure and a diagnosis that was almost impossible to verify. However, the story itself ended up moving towards another terrain much more relevant. Curiously, the phrases that they generated more impact They were not those related to size, but those that described how a medical condition could turn such normal actions as going to the bathroom or having an intimate relationship into a daily problem. And it was precisely those confessions that ended up changing his life. Image | YouTube, Wikimedia In Xataka | Science has been measuring whether size matters for years. A study with 3D simulation has the most complete answer In Xataka | Millions of men wake up every morning with an erection. This is excellent news for them.

How to watch Spain – Portugal: date and time of the World Cup round of 16 match, and where you can watch it on any device

by

Let’s explain to you How and where you can watch Spain’s match against Portugal. This is the round of 16 of the knockout round of the 2026 World Cup, an excellent Iberian duel from which only one will be able to advance to the quarterfinals. Let’s make the article simple. First we are going to tell you the date and time to which this match is played. And then, we will tell you what your options are to be able to watch it from any device. Date and time of Spain – Portugal Spain’s match against Portugal will take place this Monday, July 6 at the Dallas Stadium in Texas. It is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. in Spanish peninsular time8pm in the Canary Islands. Where to watch Spain – Portugal As we have explained to you when we told you where you can watch the 2026 World Cupsince it is a match for the Spanish National Team, you will be able watch it for free live through La1. This will allow you to see it both on DTT and on mobile phones or browsers through RTVE Play. Obviously, the party It will also be issued in the payment options that you could have to watch all the World Cup matches. It will be broadcast on DAZN and you will be able to watch it on any device if you have it contracted. You can also see it on the DAZN Mundial channel, available on both Movistar Plus and Orange TV. In Xataka Basics | Apps for football results: the best 14 applications to receive notifications and see match statistics

The most powerful solar installation in the world is in the Pyrenees, it reaches 3,500 °C and is not a power plant

by

In the middle of summer and with the heat wave upon us, frying an egg on the hood of a car parked in the sun is a reality that gives us an idea of ​​the thermal potential of the sun. But that sensation falls far short of what happens in the heart of the French Pyrenees: there, a building embedded in the side of a mountain concentrates sunlight until it becomes a source of artificial heat so intense that it would be capable of melting steel. The great solar oven. It is the Odeillo solar oven, in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, and it is one of the two largest and most powerful installations of this type in the world along with that of Parkent, in Uzbekistan. The most striking thing about the installation is the colossal curved mirror measuring 54 meters and 48 meters wide that is integrated, composed of 9,000 facets. This design has a reason for being: it concentrates sunlight up to 10,000 times its natural intensitywhich allows you reach temperatures of between 3,300 and 3500°Caccording to data from the facility’s operating laboratoryPROMES-CNRS. The system combines two optical elements: a field of 63 motorized flat mirrors that follow the path of the sun and constantly return its light to a large fixed parabolic reflector with a surface area of ​​1,830 square meters. All that light converges on a focal tower, that point barely 40 centimeters in diameter where it develops a thermal power of one megawatt. The Odeillo installation. Philipendula via Wikimedia Context. The origin of the Odeillo solar oven dates back to the 1940s, when the chemist Félix Trombe, who at that time He was director of the Meudon rare earth laboratorymanages to concentrate sunlight with a reused anti-aircraft defense mirror. In 1949 the first prototype is built in the citadel of Mont-Louis, just over 10 kilometers from Odeillo. After several increasingly powerful attempts, between 1962 and 1968 is built the current oven. Its location was chosen with complete intention: the French Cerdanya offers a high number of sunny days per year and an atmosphere of great optical purity at altitude, ideal conditions to minimize radiation losses. In figures. Throughout the article we have broken down some of the most impressive numerical data of this solar oven, which we condense here: Main reflector height: 54 meters Parabolic mirror area: 1,925 square meters Rated thermal power: 1 megawatt Maximum temperature: 3,500 °C Solar concentration factor: 10,000 times normal solar radiation Why is it important. Because this oven has been in operation since 1969 and constitutes the first serious attempt towards the large-scale exploitation of solar energy for industrial purposes, long before the today so common solar plants existed. Although pioneering, its function is more research than energy. Thus, it paved the way for one of the first solar tower plants on the planet, that of Thémis in the early 1980s. Today it has essentially two applications: the study and manufacture of materials resistant to extreme conditions with applications such as the aeronautical industry and the development of solar fuels. A recent example: Sunfuela research project that uses heat from the solar furnace to produce alternative fuels by heating metal oxides to generate gases that are then converted into clean fuels. Yes, but. Taking into account its figures and the fact that it is 50 years old, the Odeillo solar oven is a true engineering prodigy and the precursor of the solar energy boom that we are experiencing. Of course, it is worth remembering that it is not an electricity generation plant: it does not produce electricity significantly nor is it part of the current renewable mix. As for its comparison with Parkent, both are the only two theoretical 1,000 kW solar ovens in the world, with similar focus temperatures. Of course, Odeillo wins in real power: although the Uzbek park has a slightly larger mirror (1,840 square meters compared to 1,830), its lower altitude (1,050 m compared to 1,600 m) reduces the available solar intensity, limiting its useful power to 700 kW compared to Odeillo’s 1,000 kW, according to SolarPACES. In Xataka | Macron believes that Spain has “a problem” with renewables. What it really means is that they are “competition” In Xataka | The wind industry has been dreaming for years of a turbine that can be assembled without concrete or machinery. France has said ‘hold my cubata’ Cover | Rabatakeu

A millionaire went to bed one day being the richest man in the world the next day he was bankrupt… twice

by

History is full of names that they lose their fortunes for an achievement of bad decisionsbut also of others who lost their assets due to a stroke of bad luck. The story of Nelson Bunker Hunt is one of the latter, who not only lost his fortune once due to a stroke of bad luck: he lost it twiceand neither time was the fault entirely his. The name of this millionaire is barely known today, but between the late 70s and early 80s, he was synonymous with enormous wealth: the richest man on the planet, owner of oil wells in the Libyan desert and such a large portion of the world silver market that he managed to twist the arm of Wall Street. A coup colonel and a bad Thursday in 1980 reminded him that no fortune, no matter how enormous, is safe from history. From Arkansas to the Libyan desert after the black gold Nelson was born in 1926 in El Dorado, Arkansas. His father, H. L. Huntwas already an oil magnate with fifteen children from three different women. Nelson wanted to match him, at least in terms of wealth, so he went looking for oil outside of Texas. His first attempts in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan They were a total failure. But the third time’s the charm and in 1961 he tried his luck in Libya. A stroke of luck led the young entrepreneur to obtain Concession 65, a huge area of ​​32,400 square kilometers of desert land to exploit the Sarir sitewhich still today continues to be the largest oil field of the country. That made him a multimillionaire almost overnight. As and how did he count the BBCfor more than a decade, Sarir generated billions of dollars for Hunt’s company. Muammar al-Gaddafi It all ended in 1973, when a colonel named Muammar al-Gaddafi took power and nationalized all its oil wells without prior notice. Over time, that same site served to amass the dictator’s personal fortune, which some researchers even valued at more than 200,000 million of dollars. However, Hunt lost the goose that laid the golden (black) eggs of his oil empire due to a coup d’état, and bad luck, that he did not see coming. Silver as an unexpected refuge Far from giving up, Hunt He reinvested what was left of his fortune on ranches, in breeding thoroughbred horses and in new oil businesses. Together with his brothers Herbert and Lamar, he began buying silver in the mid-seventies, as strategy to protect your fortune against inflation. What started as an investment in a safe haven soon became an obsession. By 1979 the Hunts controlled about a third of all the money deprived of the planet. The price of silver went from trading at six dollars an ounce to exceeding $49.45 thanks to the position of power over the silver market exercised by the Hunt brothers. Which implied that his fortune was also growing in the same proportion. The Hunt brothers’ control of the silver market reached levels that even Tiffany’s published an advertisement in it New York Times accusing them of artificially make any silver object more expensivefrom baby spoons to photo reels. “We find it unacceptable for anyone to hoard billions, yes, billions, of dollars in silver and therefore drive up the price so high that others have to pay artificially high prices for items made of silver,” the article read. According what was published for the BBCthe silver magnate reportedly told Time magazine in January 1980 that “silver seemed safer than oil concessions abroad. And precious metals were a good hedge against paper money.” Anyone has a bad Thursday Thursday, March 27, 1980 would be a day that would be burned into Hunt’s head. His arrived second major financial disaster. That day, known as Silver Thursdaythe price of silver plummeted below $11 in a matter of hours. The Hunts’ silver position, valued shortly before at more than $4.5 billion, was transformed into a debt of $1.7 billion, as detailed Britannica. A group of New York banks had to set up an emergency line of credit to prevent the Hunt bankruptcy from dragging down half of Wall Street with them. Years of trials later, the Futures Trading Commission fined them each $10 million and a lifetime ban to operate with raw materials. In 1988, Nelson Bunker Hunt officially declared bankruptcy. His assets, then valued at just 150 million, were completely liquidated to pay debts and back taxes. He had to sell up to his 580 purebred horses. When asked by Congress about his fortune, he replied with dark humor: “a billion dollars is not what it used to be.” He spent his last years in a modest house in Dallas, and died in 2014 in a residence, at 88 years old. His brother Herbert had better luck: sold his assets in Montana for $1.5 billion in 2012 and died in 2024 with a assets of 4.7 billion dollars, according to Forbes. Nelson, on the other hand, went down in history as the man who He was the richest on the planet and ended up with nothing… twice. In Xataka | In the 19th century, a US millionaire set out to invade countries on his own: he founded two republics of which he was president Image | Hall of FameUnsplash (Mohamed Fsili, Scottsdale Mint, Colton Sturgeon), Flikr (Esther Vargas)

the continent has just realized that its infrastructure lives in a world that no longer exists

by

a tugboat approaching a dutch drawbridge and watering it with their hoses; stopped trams in Leipzig, British supermarkets without chilled products, melted roads… They seem like a bunch of curious anecdotes about how Europeans survive one of their first real ‘heat waves’. But they are not. Each of these failures is the symptom of a problem that, despite bombastic speeches and sickeningly detailed plans, we have persisted in forgetting: that climate change is serious. And here we are. A Europe that does not exist. For practical purposes, the event these days is the second heat wave that the continent has faced so far this year. We have seen incredible things: 37.3 in the United Kingdom, 37 in Denmark, 41.7 in Germany, 39.5 in Slovakia, 39.4 in the Netherlands… it is not only that the June highs have fallen in almost all the countries of Western and Central Europe, it is that absolute records have been broken (i.e. also July and August) in four countries. According to World Weather Attributionis the most severe episode ever measured in the region studied: in 1976, such heat would have been “virtually impossible” in June. And that is perhaps the most important lesson of these days: that the Europe of 1976 no longer exists. And we have begun to notice it in the worst possible way. Although we can make distinctions between what has happened these days (In Leipzig, the problem is that the sealant between the lane and the road surface softened to dangerous levels; while in Holland the bridges began to be refreshed by protocol without any problem being detected), the truth is that these are all signs that the European infrastructure is outdated. Many of Europe’s roads, bridges and highways were designed for maximums between 32-35. Before, exceeding that limit was something anecdotal (in the 119 years between 1881 and 2000 There was only one day in Germany that measured 40° or more), today is the ‘new normal’ (last week there were 4 days like this). It is important to note that so far I have not said anything about mortality. It will take some more time to have the complete data, but suffice it to say that France has already registered around 1000 deaths attributable to the heat wave. The obvious question is… what have we been doing all along? While all this is happening, no one can claim ignorance or surprise: in March 2024, the European Union itself recognized in its first European Climate Risk Assessment that “Europe was not prepared” for what was coming, that policies “were not keeping pace with the increase in risks” and that incremental adaptation “was not going to be enough.” I don’t want to say that nothing has been done. There are analyzes that say that without the adaptation of this century (things like heat plans, surveillance or the alert system) mortality would have been a 80% older. However, the data is there: no matter how much we have done, the deficit grows with each passing day. And that means we’re not doing enough. What can we expect? It seems like little or nothing. In recent years, public support for climate policies appears to have tempered. And there is a lot to do: we must not forget that estimates tell us that Europe’s air conditioning fleet will go from less than seven million devices in 1990 to more than one hundred million in 2030. That requires radical changes: an enormous reconversion that, given what we have seen, we do not know if we are going to want to undertake. Europe knows what is coming and knows what it has to do. You have it planned, signed and approved. The question is whether he will do it before this stops being an anecdote and begins to become an unmanageable crisis. Image | Bill Iliot In Xataka | ENT doctors agree: “Sleeping with air conditioning forces the nose to work excessively”

One of the most advanced yachts in the world keeps its biggest secret below deck: cryogenic tanks at -253 ºC

by

At first glance, Breakthrough It could seem like another superyacht destined to attract attention due to its dimensions. It measures 118.80 meterswas built by Feadship and is part of that category of boats in which each meter is usually accompanied by swimming pools, terraces and private spaces. The difference is that here the real claim is not on the external postcard. The point that makes this project something exceptional is below deck: a cryogenic system designed to bring liquid hydrogen at -253 ºC in a luxury vessel. The project was not born as Breakthrough, but as Project 821, the name with which Feadship unveiled it at its Amsterdam shipyard in 2024. The Dutch shipyard defines it as the first superyacht with a hydrogen fuel cell system, a statement that should always be attributed to the company to maintain rigor. The idea was not only to build another large ship, but to explore how far a non-combustion electricity generation technology could be taken within a platform of more than 100 meters. The “secret” of the yacht is below deck Carrying liquid hydrogen on a yacht is not simply about changing one tank for another. Feadship details that Project 821 incorporates a 92 m³ cryogenic tank for about four tons of hydrogen, integrated into a dedicated and very isolated room. The problem is that liquid hydrogen takes up much more space than a conventional fuel when the available energy is calculated: the shipyard speaks of between eight and ten times more volume compared to a non-fossil diesel equivalent. That hydrogen does not burn like a conventional fuel. It passes through 16 PowerCell systems that function like small power plants: They combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, and the exhaust is water vapor. The resulting energy powers an architecture integrated by ABB, with direct current electrical grid, intelligent energy management and Azipod thrusters. This means that hydrogen does not directly move the yacht, but rather produces the electricity that allows it to move and keep its on-board consumption active. As we can see, its most ambitious part is designed not to be seen, but the boat does not give up showing itself as a large superyacht. Feadship highlights that it incorporates more hull openings than any other Feadship to date, with 14 balconies, seven platforms and nine hull doors. The Edmiston listing completes the picture with a swimming pool, three hot tubs, Nemo lounge, spa, cinema, hospital, touch-and-go helipad and three elevators. At this point, the question is obvious: Does Breakthrough always run on hydrogen? No. Feadship does not present it as a yacht capable of doing everything with its fuel cells, but as a hybrid boat that uses that energy in specific scenarios. The shipyard talks about a week of silent operation at anchor or sailing at 10 knots in protected areas without fossil fuels. It is an interesting figure, but it also marks the limit: hydrogen serves to reduce noise and local emissions in certain uses, not to completely replace the conventional system. The reason is physical, not commercial. Even on a 118.80 meter yacht, there is not enough space to carry the liquid hydrogen necessary for a complete ocean crossing. That’s why Breakthrough combines its fuel cells with MTU generators capable of running on HVO, a second-generation biofuel, within a hybrid architecture. The project was also an exercise in integration. Feadship maintains that there were no specific class, Flag State or IMO regulations for hydrogen storage and fuel cell systems on such a project, so it worked with Lloyd’s Register to develop specific equipment, protocols and safety procedures. ABB completes that part from the electrical side: it integrated the 3 MW system with the Onboard DC Grid network, energy management and Azipod thrusters. The other big challenge is outside the boat. It is one thing to design a yacht capable of using liquid hydrogen and quite another to create the infrastructure to safely supply it. Air Products announced in 2025 which had supplied Breakthrough with liquid hydrogen in what was the first bunkering of this type in the Netherlands. The data is important because it remembers that the technology does not depend only on the tank, fuel cells or propulsion: it also needs ports prepared to handle fuel at extreme temperatures. In Xataka The future of war at sea is hybrid: Navantia is clear about how to win it with its new ship for the United Kingdom Breakthrough demonstrates that a technology that is difficult to store, regulate, integrate and supply can leave the laboratory and enter a real ship. It may remain an exception for years, available to very few. Still, its value lies in having brought one of the most complex conversations in maritime energy to a hull that is already sailing. Images | Feadship In Xataka | Norway gives the green light to the construction of the world’s first tunnel for ships: a colossal engineering feat that has been waiting for 150 years (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news One of the most advanced yachts in the world keeps its biggest secret below deck: cryogenic tanks at -253 ºC was originally published in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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