world

Drones revolutionized warfare in Ukraine, now they are going to do it all over the world with one final trick: changing shape

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If something has become clear after these years of war in Ukraine, it is that drones are no longer a mere complement from the battlefield: they have become a such transformative technology like gunpowder or the Kalashnikov, and are entering a second, even more disruptive phase, driven by artificial intelligencethe miniaturization and the accelerated production. Their next landing is planetary. The second revolution. As we said, drones have gone from being tactical support to becoming a structural factor of modern warfare. Ukraine has shown that an inferior actor in means can degrade a great power with cheap swarms air, naval and land. At the same time, insurgencies, militias and states with few resources use the same logic to compensate for conventional disadvantages. The result, as we will see below, is a global diffusion of precision capabilities at low cost that reduces own risks, complicates defense and makes conflicts more accessible and resistant to resolution. War spine. The trajectory of drones goes from radio-controlled experiments in world wars to smart cruise missiles and platforms like the predator and the reaper in the “war on terror.” The recent turning point is Nagorno-Karabakhwhere an average country combined decoys and UCAVs with artillery to neutralize anti-aircraft defenses and dominate the air without powerful traditional aviation. Since then, the central lesson is that no need be a superpower: simply integrate drones, sensors and indirect fire intelligently to alter the tactical balance. Ukraine as a laboratory. In Ukraine, the drone design, testing and tuning cycle has been compressed to weeks. kyiv has scaled from imported platforms to its own industry that produces millions of unitscombining FPV, reconnaissance, long range and fiber optic guided systems to circumvent Russian electronic warfare. The proximity between workshops and front allows for rapid iterations on sensors, frequencies and flight profiles. Russia responds with mass production and specialized units like Rubikon. The front thus becomes an environment where each innovation is copied or counteracted in a very short time. Swarm globalization. The intensive use of drones has extended to conflicts with a lower media profile. In Africa, dozens of states and non-state actors have built-in armed UAV to internal wars, with markets dominated by exporters such as Türkiye and China. In Myanmar, rebels have converted commercial drones into a substitute for artilleryforcing army withdrawals. In Gaza, Hamas used them to blind Israeli sensors before raids. This shows that technology not only balances power relations, but also increases lethality and makes subsequent stabilization difficult. AI, ammunition and fire economy. The AI integration Drones transform the economy of combat: the cost per useful impact decreases and precision increases. Now there are kits software and hardware that allow existing platforms to locate, track and attack targets with limited human supervision. The practical effect is to reduce the need for classical artillery and increase the efficiency of fire, both on land as in sea. However, this does not eliminate the value of artillery or manned platforms, but rather shifts part of the fire load to systems more fungible and scalablewith clear implications for budgets and logistics. The new unmanned spectrum. And here comes one of the big changes, possibly the least expected. The drone family is expanding and transforming, changing shape and size: from nanodevices for close reconnaissance to enormous ships and underwater vehicles autonomous. The former allow discreet exploration in urban or closed environments, and the latter expand the presence on the surface and under the sea without embarking crews or assuming their risks. Between both extremes, ukrainian naval systems, Chinese XLUUV or AUV as the Ghost Shark redefine surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and area denial operations. The common pattern is to eliminate the need to protect lives on board, making it easier to accept high-risk missions and speed up production. A new generation of contractors. Companies like AndurilAuterion or Shield AI operate with startup logic: short development cycles, strong software integration and commitment to assuming own risk before winning large contracts. Some choose to control the entire chain (hardware and software), others to offer “operating systems” applicable to multiple platforms. This puts pressure on traditional, less agile contractors, and reconfigures the industrial ecosystemwith more mid-sized players competing in specific niches (loyal squires, swarms, mission software). The result is greater speed of innovation, but also more fragmentation of solutions. China, the US and the race. China part with advantage in commercial drones and transfers that leadership to the military fieldwhile investing very heavily in countermeasures after observing the performance of cheap drones in Ukraine. The proliferation of manufacturers of anti-drone systems and directed energy weapons indicates a strategic commitment to control both attack and defense. The United States, despite the accumulated experience, appears out of date in volume and in anti-swarm systems, with dispersed programs and irregular financing, which forces to emergency measures to accelerate purchases and use dual suppliers. This anticipates a long race in which quantity, cost and active defense weigh as much as the individual sophistication of each platform. Strategic limits. This point is often not taken into account. The destructive capacity of drones can lead to overestimating their strategic impact. From there what spectacular operations against high-value infrastructure do not always translate into lasting changes in the control of territory or in the political will of the adversary. Controllers like Radakin they underline that drones and algorithms do not replace the need for a coherent strategy or forces capable of occupying and holding ground. The temptation to build campaigns based on high-visibility specific hits can generate a dangerous gap between tactical success and strategic results. The era of eternal wars. All this breeding ground leads to a final scenario: by reducing costs and risks for those who prolong the combat, drones favor conflicts. no clear outcome. Statistics show fewer decisive victories and fewer peace agreements since the 1970s, while stagnant wars increase. In this context, drones provide continuous capacity for harm to actors who would otherwise be forced to negotiate or give in. The probable result is more long wars, distributed … Read more

The Virgin appeared inside a volcano in La Garrotxa. So they built one of the most special hermitages in the world

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I confess that one of the buildings that fascinates me the most is that of the hermitage. There are some as spectacular as the one in Virgin of the Castle in Chillónbut others are four almost dilapidated walls in remote places (or locked in a Madrid roundabout). They are scattered throughout our geography, sometimes extremely hidden, to the point that there is one that crowns a spectacular landscape. It is the hermitage of Santa Margarida de Sacot, in the Garrotxa. And it is in the center of the crater of a volcano. Santa Margarida volcano. Of all the volcanic areas of the Iberian Peninsula, Garrotxa is one of the most spectacular. As in other volcanic areas, we can perfectly see the cones of the volcanoes that erupted thousands of years ago. But, unlike places like Campo de Calatrava, the Garrotxa It is dyed green thanks to its vegetation. It is estimated that the volcanic activity in the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park It expanded from 700,000 years ago to 8,300 years ago, with the Santa Margarida volcano being one of the youngest of the 40 cones that make up the area. From a drone view, the volcano is imposing, but it is striking that the interior of the crater is a treeless meadow and has a building right in the center. A hermitage would be good. Places of worship are not usually planted in a random place and, as tradition says, the hermitage that shares its name with the volcano was built when someone discovered something miraculous: an image of the virgin carved in alabaster inside the crater. It was clear: a building had to be built to honor such a miracle. Although the first documented reference to the hermitage is from 1403, when money was allocated to maintain the chapel, it is estimated that this Romanesque building would have been built at some point. moment from the 13th century. The picture is impressive The church is ruined. The miracle of the virgin could not be repeated to save the hermitage from the effects of earthquakes that shook the area in 1428. Known as “Terratrèmol de la Candelera”, a series of tremors with an estimated magnitude of between 6.5 and 7.3 knocked down several buildings, the hermitage of Santa Margarida one of those who ended up badly off. Something was saved: the image of the virgin carved in alabaster, which is currently kept in the Diocesan Museum of Girona. In 1865 decided that something had to be done with the place and they rebuilt the hermitage. They did so by building a single-nave structure that preserves something of the original: the semicircular apse and the porch, and inside it, a replica of the alabaster carving. deep symbolism. Since then, and as it has been doing for 400 years, the hermitage of Santa Margarida governs the center of the homonymous volcano and is part of the Natural Park. If you feel up to it, you can visit it, but you will have to do some hiking. The car is left on the edge of the volcano and it is necessary to continue on foot along a well-marked path until reaching 766 meters of altitude. That is the perimeter of the crater, 2,000 metersand to reach the hermitage, we have to descend a little to 682 meters, where we finally have the place of worship surrounded by a green meadow. For many, it is surely simply another fascinating place in our geography, but for many others it is possible that stopping in that place awakens the feelings that led those who built the hermitage in the Middle Ages: a deep connection with the divine. What is evident is that, whether we have that connection or not, the landscape is impressive and seeing a construction in the center of a volcanic crater is a powerful image. And if there is not much tourism, a moment of retreat and disconnection from everyday life. Images | Jordiferrer, Carquinyol from Badalona In Xataka | The largest underground labyrinth in Spain is in a town in Guadalajara: the fascinating network of “Arab caves”

the map that shows the distribution of world birth rates

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In Brilliant Maps we can find a multitude of very interesting maps and infographics that allow us to obtain context about demographics, culture, and curiosities at a global level. In one of your latest maps shows us the chances of a baby being born on each continent during 2026. The data, based on 2023 birth figures from Our World In Datareveal that it is in Asia and Africa where more than 80% of all births on the planet are concentrated. Specifically, if you were born in 2026, you would have many chances to be Indian. The geography of global birth rates. Of the approximately 132 million babies that will be born in 2026, almost half will be born in Asia (49.7%), followed by Africa with 34.9%. These two regions accumulate 111.7 million births, while the rest of the continents share only the remaining 15.4%. Europe, with only 6.3 million births, represents only 4.8% of the world total. A figure that contrasts with the more than 140 million births annually that were recorded just a few years ago. India leads the ranking by country. The Asian country tops the list with 23.2 million expected births, far ahead of China (8.9 million) and Nigeria (7.5 million). These three countries concentrate almost 30% of all global births. The data from China is especially striking, and it is that just a few years ago, the Asian giant recorded 16 million births annually, which shows the impact of its demographic crisis. Five other African or Asian countries appear among the top ten: Pakistan, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Bangladesh, while Brazil completes the top ten with 2.6 million expected births. On the other hand, it is worth noting that the United States occupies eighth place with more than 3.6 million births. Spain, touching the top 50. Europe has the lowest birth rates in relative terms of all continents, only ahead of Oceania and North America in absolute numbers. Continent fertility rates remain below replacement level since the 70sa phenomenon that has now spread to practically the entire planet. Spain will register approximately 336,821 births in 2026, ranking 51st in the world, behind Italy (384,627) and France (638,891), but ahead of Poland (317,916). Germany leads Western Europe with 719,249 births, while the United Kingdom reaches 688,388. Nigeria, the African exception. The African country stands out for its position in third place in the world, far ahead of what its economic size might suggest. Your birth rate almost double the world averagea phenomenon linked to factors such as limited access to education for women and a developing economy. Africa will take over in 2100. The projection for the end of the century marks a radical change in the global demographic distribution. According to the dataAfrica will go from the current 34.9% to 48% of world births, becoming the continent with the highest birth rate. Asia, on the other hand, would decrease to 38.17%. And Europe would fall to 4.49%, consolidating its demographic decline. These estimates suggest that more than half of the world’s babies will be born in Africa within 75 years. World population. According to projections According to The Lancet, the world population will reach its peak in the 2060s with 9.7 billion people, and then decline to 8.8 billion in 2100. There are many reasons that can explain this exaggerated demographic change, such as increasing global wealth, access to education, urbanization or changes in gender roles. Some researchers, such as the economist Claudia Goldin, they point to a mismatch between the desires of men and women regarding parenting as a determining factor, pointing out that as long as social structures do not facilitate cooperation in parenting, rates will continue to fall. In Xataka | If you have enough money you can buy a “golden passport”: this map shows the juiciest

Crucial was the gateway to the world of the PC for millions of users. AI has just put an end to its story

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Many users remember the moment when they decided to build or improve their first computer: the search for a fast SSDa RAM kit and the feeling that the PC world was within anyone’s reach. That vision, extended for almost thirty years, is now going through a turning point. The explosion of artificial intelligence has altered the balance of the memory business and has pushed suppliers like Micron to make decisions that would have seemed unthinkable a short time ago. Micron just announced that it will stop selling consumer products under the Crucial brand. The company announced that it will continue to ship memory modules and storage units until the end of its second fiscal quarter, in February 2026, and that it will maintain warranty service for devices already in the hands of users. In parallel, it will continue to operate its business catalog with Micron products for commercial customers. The announcement came accompanied by a precise explanation: the company wants to prioritize attention to segments where demand is growing more quickly. The message of Sumit Sadana, executive vice president of Micron Technology. “AI-driven growth in data centers has driven a surge in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit Crucial’s consumer business to improve supply and support to our largest strategic customers in higher growth segments.” The brand that grew with the home PC. Since its launch in 1996, Crucial was presented as Micron’s branch dedicated to memory and storage upgrades for the home user. Over the years, the brand entered more categories, such as memory cards and external drives. Its constant presence in physical stores and online distributors helped establish it as a household name in the components market. That 29-year trajectory is what is now behind us with Micron’s decision. The pressure of AI on memory. The rise of AI computing has generated unprecedented demand for memory, especially from HBM, used in accelerators from NVIDIA, AMD and other companies. This type of components requires complex manufacturing processes and absorbs a large part of the manufacturers’ capacity, that concentrate resources on meeting business contracts. Fewer options for mounting and expanding PCs. After years of presence in the consumer channel, Crucial leaves a gap that mainly affects the variety of the available catalog. Although there are still alternatives, the departure of a supplier with such a constant presence means fewer options when choosing memory modules or storage units. The price of RAM memory, increasing. Crucical’s farewell occurs at a time when the price of RAM has skyrocketed 300% since September. And, at least according to data from the consultancy TrendForce, everything seems to indicate that the increase in the cost of computer modules is far from over. Images | Micron | Nathan Anderson In Xataka | The war to dethrone NVIDIA has just begun: Amazon and Google are already armed

that of World War II

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The political tension that China and Japan live has added a new chapter: the recent confrontation between boats of both nations near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands shows the extent to which the balance in East Asia has entered a phase of constant friction. China has issued a hitherto unpublished “diplomatic letter”: that of the Second World War. Sea climbing. The incident, presented in an opposite way by the coast guards of both countries, it is not an isolated episodebut the visible expression of a historical dispute that has been intensified by broader strategic factors: the Chinese military rise, growing Japanese unrest over the Taiwan security and the systemic pressure that China exerts in the region. In a space of just a handful of uninhabited islets, a decade of increased Chinese patrolling, an increase in the Japanese presence and a climate of suspicion fueled now by the more explicit tone of the new leadership in Tokyo is condensed. The chinese reactionwhich insists that its presence in the area is a way of “asserting its rights,” is combined with an internal message of firmness in the face of a Japan that, from Beijing’s point of view, is crossing red lines. The Chinese diplomatic offensive. As we said at the beginning, Beijing has accompanied its maritime deployment with a diplomatic campaign that revives episodes of World War II as a tool of political pressure. China’s appeals to the United Kingdom, France and the United States to line up against Japan reveal a tactical change: transforming a territorial and strategic dispute into a narrative battle that positions Tokyo as an actor that “reverses history” and threatens regional stability. They remembered in the NYT that the references point to revive sensitivities that condemned Japanese expansionism eight decades ago, but are now used to try to discredit a Japan that has verbalized, unusual shapethat a Chinese attack on Taiwan could force it to act militarily. The chinese answer (tourist boycotts, cancellation of imports, public singling out of Japanese politicians) combines economic pressure with nationalist rhetorica pattern Beijing has used before, although rarely with this intensity. Not only that, the campaign also aims to stop any European rapprochement with Taiwan, especially following recent political gestures in Brussels and Berlin that Beijing perceives as a normalization of European support for the island. Senkaku Japan breaks silence. We explained it last week. The words by Sanae Takaichi on the possibility that a Chinese attack or blockade of Taiwan would pose a direct threat to Japanese survival have had an immediate effect: they have publicly revealed a doctrinal line that had been quietly consolidating for years. Japan always understood that its destiny was intertwined with the stability of the Taiwan Strait, yet the clarity with which the prime minister articulated this position marked a turning point. The chinese reaction (accusations of militarism, veiled threats, economic pressures and an increase in the activities of its coast guard) reflects Beijing’s fear that the relationship between Tokyo and Washington will crystallize into a political and military bloc willing to respond in a coordinated manner to a Chinese escalation. If you will also, anxiety worsens as the Taiwanese political cycle of 2028 approaches: if the Democratic Progressive Party chains another term, the possibility of a stronger Taiwanese identity and a sustained rejection of unification would ignite all the alarms in Beijing. Therefore, any sign that Japan will no longer remain in strategic ambiguity alters the Chinese calculus. Tension and risk. The sum of these events builds a scenario in which each movement seems to have multiple layers of meaning. The Chinese pressure on Taiwan It is no longer just military or economic, it is accompanied by disinformation campaigns, naval maneuvers and calculated use of internal nationalism. Plus: the Japanese response, by making explicit that Taiwan’s security is also own securityreturns Beijing to a deeper dilemma. Admit that its pressure can provoke exactly what it wants to avoid, that is, the consolidation of an international coalition willing to consider itself an interested party in the future of the island. Uncertainty. This phenomenon creates especially volatile terrain, because any action by China around Taiwan (a partial blockade, new trade restrictions, an increase in military exercises) could be interpreted by Tokyo and Washington as a prelude to aggravated coercion. The Chinese narrative, invoke historical wounds, increases the risk that domestic public opinion will limit the Chinese leadership’s ability to back down without appearing weak. Critical point. Ultimately, the combination of hostility at seadiplomatic pressure in Europe, demonstrations of strength around Taiwan and Japan’s decision to speak clearly constitutes a decisive moment for strategic balance of the Indo-Pacific. If Japan and the United States maintain their firm stance, China will have to weigh the cost of an escalation which could lead to a confrontation that is beyond their control. If, on the other hand, either of the two actors backs down, Beijing will interpret that the pressure is working and will possibly increase its pressure against the island, reinforcing the idea that international inaction opens space for a unilateral resolution of the conflict. Image | Al Jazeera English In Xataka | China had a tank more typical of science fiction. Now he has added a hypersonic missile in a video that attacks Japan In Xataka | China is sending drones to an island 100 km from Taiwan. The problem is that Japan and the US are filling it with missiles

China aims to break records with the largest ice park in the world. And he has already begun to lift it block by block

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At the end of November, in Harbin, the image is repeated every winter, with a scale that has not stopped growing in recent editions: cranes, machinery and workers begin to raise structures on a surface that weeks later will become walls, towers and slides made of ice. According to official dataconstruction is advanced this year thanks to the ice stored during the previous season and preserved for more than ten months. This material allows work to begin even before the river freezes completely again, with the aim of preparing an area that this winter will have 1.2 million square meters. Harbin Ice-Snow World It has grown from a local celebration to a seasonal theme park that rises again each winter. It functions as an enclosure with defined entrances, circulation areas, walkable structures and spaces to stay for hours, especially when it gets dark and the lighting changes the perception of the place. It is not just a setting for photographs, but a park designed to be walked, used and visited for a few weeks, while weather conditions allow it. When ice stops being landscape and becomes infrastructure Upon entering the venue, the experience is more similar to that of a theme park than a temporary exhibition. You can walk between buildings, climb platforms, slide down ramps or access areas prepared for snow activities. The architectural elements are not presented as immobile pieces, but as part of the route. For this edition, those responsible have announced spaces intended for ice fishing, cross-country skiing and collective snow gamesas well as an additional stage that will complement the cultural activities of the already usual Dream Stage. The proposal does not focus solely on showing structures, but on facilitating their use within a planned and temporary environment. Before erecting ice structures, Harbin already celebrated winter through local practices. Hand-carved ice lanterns began to be used in the city in the middle of the last century and gave rise to the first Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, held on January 5, 1985. indicate official pages. The jump to the current format came in 1999, when Harbin Ice-Snow World was created as an independent venue, with specific access and design. Since then, the evolution has been constant: more surface area, greater volume of materials, presence of machinery and planned construction processes. The park, under construction in November 2025 Harbin has turned winter into a source of economic activity. According to data released by Xinhuathe city received 90.36 million visitors during the last season, with estimated income of 137.22 billion yuan (almost 17 million euros), an increase of 16.6% compared to the previous year. Ice-Snow World does not explain these figures on its own, but it acts as one of the main focuses of attraction and as an element that concentrates tourist services, accommodation, restaurants and transportation during the weeks in which it remains open. The construction mobilizes technical profiles, operators and specialists in structure and lighting, while the opening requires personnel for visitor service, security, maintenance and tourist support. Many of these roles are temporary, but require prior coordination and planning. When comparing Harbin to other major winter events, such as the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan or Quebec Winter Carnival in Canadathe difference is not only in size, but in structure. Sapporo distributes its sculptures in various urban spaces and Quebec combines culture, parades and outdoor activities, but neither of them functions as a theme park concentrated in a single venue, as occurs in Harbin. Harbin uses hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of ice and snow, according to official data, and builds walkable structures that are part of the route and not just the landscape. It is not so much a festival as a temporary recreational facility. Harbin Ice-Snow World has been integrated into the city’s tourism calendar as a seasonal facility. It is built every year, it opens for a few weeks and It is dismantled when temperatures no longer guarantee stability. This temporary nature does not prevent its planning: the prior storage of ice, the mobilization of workers and the associated services indicate that it is an organized activity and not simply a one-off event. The park functions as a generator of temporary employment, concentrates the winter tourism offer and channels activities that are subsequently complemented by the interior ice and snow enclosure, designed to operate all year round as an extension of the exterior park. There is no pretension of permanence, but of repetition adjusted to the climatic conditions. This repetition has allowed the consolidation of technical, logistical and tourist processes linked to winter as a seasonal economic resource. Images | The Harbin International Ice and Snow festival | Harbin Government In Xataka | Someone wants to build a 144 meter high skyscraper in the middle of the port of Malaga. The reason: luxury tourism

the longest railway tunnel in the world

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Megastructures have a what-do-I-know-what-do-I-know-what makes us love them. It makes perfect sense: They are colossal works that humanity has been doing for millennia and in which we increasingly use more and more sophisticated machinery. There is also a certain sense of competition, and if a few months ago Europe boasted of longest railway tunnel in the worldtoday we have to talk about an even more difficult one: one twice as long and underwater. It is the Bohai Strait Railway Tunnel. AND will be in Chinaclear. Dalian-Yantai. To the sides of Beijing are the provinces of Liaoning and Shandong. The first has 44 million inhabitants. The second, 101 million. They are two important nerve centers in China, but there is a problem: they are separated by the Sea of Bohai and the only way to get from one to the other is by ferry, which takes about eight hours, or by going around the bay on a 1,500-kilometer trip. Given the importance that the area was gaining, in 1992 the idea of ​​a connection across the strait arose that would link the cities of Dalian and Yantai. Although China has accustomed us to mega constructions in record timein this case the logistics were complicated and it was in 2012 when a research group was established under the supervision of the Chinese Academy of Engineering to see if it was viable and, in 2019, they began to talk seriously about the project. Specs. A structure that combined bridges, islands and tunnels – like the Hong Kong Zhuhai-Macao– those in charge of the project agreed that the best solution would be a single railway tunnel whose characteristics are… colossal: 125 kilometers in total, 90 of them underwater. Designed for trains traveling at a speed of 220 km/h. Built 80 meters below the seabed. Two main tunnels of 10 meters in diameter. The most important thing: of the eight hours by ferry or more than ten by car, the journey would take about 40 minutes. It is a considerable reduction in time that will help not only transport people, but also what is most interesting in the region: goods and commerce. Train>car. The price of the tunnel has varied over long of these years. The estimate a decade ago was 200 billion yuan, about 30 billion euros. Currently, it is closer to 300 billion yuan, about 40 billion euros. Everything to unite two of the most powerful regions of China in terms of trade and more than the colossal Three Gorges Dam. HE esteem that it would take about ten years to recover the public-private investment in the infrastructure, and the reason why the tunnel has been planned as a railway tunnel instead of a mixed one (cars plus trains) is for safety reasons. Bohai’s will be more than twice as long as the Eurotunnelso creating such a long underwater tunnel suitable for cars would be extremely expensive and complex as it would require adequate ventilation. Furthermore, in the event of an accident, emergency response would be more difficult. What there will be are shuttle trains that will allow both cars and trucks to be loaded. This is something that is already being explored in other parts of the world and, recently, we have seen it raised in the American transcontinental. Challenges. Now, it’s not going to be easy. The topography of the bay bottom varies between areas of just 10 meters to others that reach almost 90 meters deep. In addition, there are active faults in the area and it is a region with high seismic activity. In fact, it is close to the Tan-Lu fault, one of the most active in China, which implies a thorough study to adapt the structure to possible earthquakes. Ecology. On the other hand, the ecosystem. Apart from being a sensitive area in terms of earthquakes, the tunnel would pass through ecologically sensitive areas. It is the habitat of the spotted seal, protected in China, and also includes migration routes for both fish and birds. You have to wait seated. And if we speak in the future it is because the works have not started. For now, it is about a projectbut in recent months important steps have been taken. In early 2024, the Bohai Tunnel was included in several national strategic documents, and in May this year incorporated to the Development Plan of the Modern Comprehensive Transportation System of the 14th Five Year Plan. In these 30 years, steps have been taken studying the feasibility of the project and exploratory drilling, and more recently more and more voices have emerged that mention the need to promote this Bohai corridor. When will the works begin? It is not known, but 2026-2030 is consider as the window of opportunity for it. Either way, if it ends up happening, Bohai will not only be – by far – the longest underwater railway tunnel in the world: it will also be one of the largest tunnels, overall. Images | Tambo, Ekem In Xataka | China has built the highest bridge in the world and has done what it must: turn it into a show

Airbus has launched an urgent alert for the A320, the most delivered aircraft in the world: “operational interruptions” are looming

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If you are about to take a short or medium-range flight, such as the one that connects Madrid and Barcelona, ​​Paris with Rome or Berlin with Prague, you may want to look carefully at the ticket and check what model of plane you are going to travel on. It’s not about worrying, because air transport remains by far the safest meansbut it is important to understand that a very relevant part of these journeys is made on airplanes Airbus A320. And precisely that model, the most delivered in history, is at the center of a preventive alert that could lead to specific delays, aircraft changes or operational readjustments in the coming days. Airbus has recognized thatafter analyzing a recent event on an A320 family aircraft, detected that intense solar radiation could corrupt data essential for the operation of the flight control system. The company identified that this risk could affect “a significant number of aircraft currently in service.” For this reason, it has asked airlines to apply immediate preventive measures, including software or hardware protections, with the aim of guaranteeing operational security. An unexpected descent in mid-flight. Reuters, citing industry sourcespoints to a JetBlue flight as a possible origin of this technical review. It was a route between Cancún and Newark, on October 30, which recorded a sudden loss of altitude and a flight control problem. Several passengers were injured and the aircraft had to divert and land in Tampa. The case is being investigated by the US authority, although it has not been officially validated as triggering the alert. The response of the authorities. After receiving the results of the analysis from Airbus, the European Aviation Safety Agency has issued an emergency airworthiness directive which establishes that, if an affected flight control system component is identified, the correction must be applied before the next flight, following the manufacturer’s technical instructions. The document also prohibits reinstalling components that have been classified as affected. It does not mean grounding the entire A320 family, but it does force airlines to take immediate action and adjust the scheduling of their operations when necessary. European Aviation Safety Agency Emergency Airworthiness Directive When the Sun affects flight systems. Airbus explained that certain levels of intense solar radiation can alter data essential for the operation of flight control, something rare, but which requires additional protection. In aviation, these situations do not imply a failure of the aircraft, but rather the need to reinforce the systems to prevent external interference from affecting sensitive components. Hence the importance of applying software or hardware updates that ensure that, even in exceptional conditions, the system’s behavior is stable and predictable. European Aviation Safety Agency Emergency Airworthiness Directive The most present plane in airports. The Airbus A320 is not only familiar to passengers, it is also the model with the greatest real presence at airports. According to manufacturer datathere are about 11,300 A320 family aircraft in operation, of which 6,440 correspond to the A320 model. In October, This family surpassed the Boeing 737 as the most delivered aircraft in historywith 12,260 units officially delivered since its entry into service in 1988. In aviation, deliveries do not refer to orders, but to aircraft completed, certified and already in the hands of an operator. Present on the most common routes. The Airbus A320 is not only a very widespread aircraft, it is also the one carried by many passengers without knowing it on common routes. Flightradar24 identifies it as one of the most used models on short and medium range flights within Europe, and also in other parts of the world. Routes such as Madrid–Barcelona, ​​operated by Iberia with Airbus A320, are frequently carried out with this model. This constant presence means that any preventive measure can have visible consequences in daily operations, even on routine journeys. How it can affect you as a passenger. The directive does not imply that Airbus A320 flights will be canceled across the board, but it does mean that airlines must adjust their programming while applying the indicated technical measures. Airbus recognizes that these recommendations “will cause operational interruptions for passengers and customers,” which in practice can translate into aircraft changes, specific rescheduling or delays. Therefore, as we pointed out from the beginning, it is advisable to check the status of the flight until the last moment. Commercial aviation is not the safest means of transportation by chance, but because it operates under a very strict technical and regulatory framework. In this context, instruments such as the emergency airworthiness directive allow us to react quickly when a possible risk is identified, as has happened in this case with the A320. Airbus, the European Aviation Safety Agency and airlines are implementing preventive measures while the fleet continues to operate, in a constant balance between service continuity and enhanced safety. Images | Miguel Angel Sanz | Screenshot In Xataka | The Comac C919 symbolizes China’s aerial dream: the trade war threatens to clip its wings in mid-takeoff

a polar Spain in the middle of a world above average

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The climatological autumn has its days numbered and is going to say goodbye in style. After a little rain and mild temperatures, the cold returns to our latitudes. And he is going to do it with force. However, that is not the worrying thing. The worrying thing is what comes next: that in the rain department, we are going to lose a good part of December. “Three days of pure cold.” That’s the summary of the rest of the week. And so says Roberto Granda, one of our greatest temperature experts. As explainedthe cold has already been noticeable in Tuesday’s lows. We have seen “drops of up to 4 and 6 degrees across the board.” Wednesday will be the coldest day of this episode with widespread frost and much of the interior of the country below 10 degrees. However, the coldest night will be Thursday and the minimum temperatures will be below five degrees in most of the peninsular territory. And after? Then we will have a reminder that we are still in autumn. One of those seasons in which the atmosphere casts lots for what is going to happen just before it happens. In this case, despite there being many scenarios on the table, the most likely is that at the end of the week a ridge will settle over Spain to collapse almost immediately, allowing a trough from the north to approach our positions. That would mean more rain: not a lot, but it’s something. Above all, because they may be the last for a long time. The European model has changed its forecast and everything seems to indicate that A NAO+ will be imposed during the first week of December. NAO positive? In general terms, the North Atlantic Oscillation It is the ‘dance’ between the Azores anticyclone and the Icelandic low, the two major atmospheric phenomena that govern the meteorology of the North Atlantic. When the index we use for “measure who is winning” is negative, the Azores anticyclone is weaker than normal and, for this reason, it cannot block the deep Atlantic storms. The direct consequence is that they circulate further south than usual: right at our latitude. yes how everything seems to indicate the NAO becomes positivenot a drop of moisture will enter from the west. The storms will move towards high latitudes (near Iceland and the Nordic countries) and, although stability will not be absolute, the situation will be very dry. Good news for tourism, I guess. Because as explains Samuel Biener“a predominant flow from the west or southwest, the temperatures could be between 1 and 3 ºC above the average in the center, northern third and on the shores of the Mediterranean” during the December long weekend. We do not have any quantification of what will happen in the south and in the Canary Islands, but we can get an idea. Image | TropicalTridBits In Xataka | The last hope of winter in Spain is desperate, but increasingly possible: the breaking of the polar vortex

Roman roads changed the world. And this Google Maps from 2,000 years ago allows you to explore them

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What have the Romans given us? It’s not a question I ask myself when I can’t sleep, but the brilliant satire that Monty Python captured in ‘Brian’s life‘. He aqueductsewage, education, irrigation, health, wine, public baths… and roads. At its peak, it is estimated that The empire’s network expanded over 120,000 kilometersbut as excavation has been carried out, more and more remains of Roman roads have been found. On some occasions we have brought some “Google Maps” of the Roman Empirebut what we have in our hands today is the culmination of an anthological work that compiles some of the most important sources of the arteries of the empire and captures those roads is an impressive interactive map with almost 300,000 kilometers of roads. The tool is called itiner-eand it is something that can absorb us for hours and hours. The Google Maps of the Roman Empire If you have already taken a tour of the mapyou should know that it is a living element. As discoveries are made and the location of the tracks is determined, the team will update the map. But what we currently have is the result of more than five years of work carried out by a team with members from both the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Aarhus University of Denmark. In it study published in Naturedetail that it is “the most detailed and complete digital data set of roads in the entire Roman Empire” published so far. In fact, it exceeds the known length of Roman roads by more than 100,000 km thanks to both greater coverage at the focus and better spatial precision. Previously, the Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations (DARMC) mapped 188,554.7 kilometers. To do this, the researchers identified both the most important routes and the paths of archaeological and historical sources, locating them using both historical and current topographic maps. The main sources have been the Antonine Itinerary and the Tabula Peutingeriana, but the “milestones” and settlements close to each other (for example, limits of the empire, such as those near Hadrian’s Wall) are what have allowed researchers to assume the existence of roads that connected them. Other sources include summaries of the Roman road network in specific regions, maps from the Mapping Past Societies, the Barrington Atlas or the Tabula Imperii Romani, among many others. As a result of this work, the new map includes 299,171 kilometers of roads (to connect a territory of more than four million square kilometers), and they are divided as follows: 103,478 kilometers of main roads, 34.6% of the total. 195,693 kilometers of secondary roads, 65.4% of the total. And it is not that more than 100,000 kilometers have been taken out of the bag, but that roads that previously crossed rivers or were simple straight lines, have now been drawn with greater precision, adapting to the topographical peculiarities of the terrain. Now, although the work is amazing and we can see by playing with the different layers of information that many of the main roads coincide with current roads, the researchers confess that “only” the location of 2.737% of the Roman roads is known with certainty. That is why the vast majority of itiner-e roads show the legend “hypothetical” or “conjecture”, just before detailing the record from which they took the data. This certainty depends on: Certainty: segments well documented in the sources, which have been digitized with high spatial precision. Guess: segments with lower spatial precision due to a lower level of documentation. Hypothetical: paths that are speculated to have existed, but for which there is insufficient evidence to classify them within one of the above groups. For example, roads in desert areas where the infrastructure was less fixed and where several parallel roads have been found. But beyond satisfying our curiosity, something we can do with this map is… play. The team has including a function that is still in beta status and allows you to explore the time these routes took. To do this, we have to select between several points and select between four modes of land transportation: On foot at a speed of 4 km/h. By oxcart at 2 km/2. In an animal like a donkey at 4.5 km/h. And on horseback at 6 km/h. We can also select maritime routes with speeds of 2.5 km/h downstream and 0.6 km/h upstream. In the end, that rebel group from ‘Life of Brian’ was quite right when it came to saying that one of the most important things the Romans had done for them had been the deployment of roads. Because they were fundamental to speed up transportation within the empire’s domains, and that work is noticeable even today. They were the foundations on which we build our roads and urban centers. It is something that becomes clear when we observe that the only place in the empire in which there was not such an important or meticulous deployment, such as Africa and the Middle East, where trade on wheels was abandoned in favor of camel caravans in the 4th-6th centuries, has consequences today. Images | itiner-e In Xataka | Forma Urbis Romae: the gigantic map of Ancient Rome conceived in 1901 and still unsurpassed today

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