wrong

Spacex has finally made public why the last Starship exploded. All rumors were wrong

by

White and in bottle? Milk. Two Consecutive starships that exploit In the same flight phase, practically in the same minute, in similar ways? Anyone would say that there was a common cause, but it was not so. Context. Spacex has shed light on the explosive loss of Starship During his eighth test flight on March 6. After successfully capturing the Super Heavy propeller, all expectations were set on the ship, which in the previous launch had failed during the ascent phase. After a successful separation and before reaching the necessary altitude to turn off, Spacex detected a flash near one of the central engines of the ship, followed by an “energy event” that made the engine disappear. Shortly after, two other central engines and one of the outer vacuum engines went out, which caused the ship to lose control nine and a half minutes after takeoff. The Starship 34 He disintegrated About the Caribbean. They were not the vibrations. After two consecutive explosions, everyone assumed that the problem had been the same. On flight 7, Starship 33 was lost eight minutes and 20 seconds after takeoff Because of stronger vibrations than expected, that had caused leaks of liquid oxygen and a fire In a non -pressurized area of ​​the lower part of the ship, which Spacex calls the “stern attic”. But it has not been so. “Although the ruling manifested himself at a point similar to that of the seventh flight, it is worth noting that they are clearly different,” Spacex wrote in a recent statement. “The mitigations implemented after flight 7 to solve the problems of harmonic response and flammability of the ship operated by design as planned,” added the company. What arose was a new problem. What happened on flight 8. According to the Spacex statement, the most likely cause of the loss of the ship during the eighth flight was “a hardware failure in one of the central raptor engines of the upper stage of the rocket, which resulted in a mixture and ignition not deliberate of propellents.” In essence, a engine component failed, causing a fuel leak and mixture (liquid methane) with oxidant (liquid oxygen). The consequent explosion destroyed the engine and committed the survival of the ship. Both problems originated in the lower part or stern of Starship, but the failure of flight 7 occurred in the “attic”, and that of flight 8 in the “basement”, the motor bay. All ready for flight 9. To address this new ruling for the ninth flight, Spacex has implemented reinforcements in key starship 35 joints, a new nitrogen purge system and improvements in the propellant drainage system. Later, he plans to introduce the new generation of Raptor 3 engines, with a complete redesign that addresses this type of problem. If there are no more delays, The ninth flight will take off this Tuesday, May 27 At 18:30, local time in Starbase (1:30 on Wednesday in Spain). It will be The first to reuse a super heavy propeller; Specifically, Booster 14, which flew in the seventh mission. The ship, on the other hand, will try again the objectives not achieved on flights 7 and 8, such as the deployment of eight Starlink satellit simulators and multiple reentry experiments. Image | Spacex In Xataka | “ELON, please, come back”: a week after the ninth launch of Starship, something is not going well at SpaceX headquarters

We thought we had solved the mystery of the giant “trees” of the Paleozoic. We couldn’t be more wrong

by

More than a century ago, when the first known fossils of Prototaxitesintuition said that it should be the remains of a tree. Decades of study revealed to paleontologists that this fossil did not belong to a plant, so everything seemed to indicate that it was an immense fungus. Now a new study has reopened this unknown. Neither plant nor fungus. The study in question has revived the discussion About the nature and taxonomy of Prototaxitesprehistoric beings that so far the catalog scientific consensus as fungi. The involvement of “taking out” these beings from the evolutionary branch of fungi is that perhaps these beings belonged to an extinct and unknown branch of the tree of evolution. 400 million years ago. What we do know about Prototaxites For the fossil registry, it is that being trafficking with organisms that were alive towards the middle of the Paleozoic era, does Between 420 million and 375 million years. These beings had a more or less cylindrical structure, similar to a trunk and stood up to eight meters above the sky with a diameter that the subway could reach. These measures and their age make them one of the first large beings of those of which we have record in the fossil registry. The debate on the nature of these prehistoric living beings seemed to mid -2000s. It was then that an analysis revealed that the Prototaxites They did not obtain their carbon from photosynthesis, as is the case of plants, but obtained from other living organisms, as fungi do. Rhynie Chert. The new study that reopens the case It now contributes tests that this being did not belong to the kingdom of fungi and focuses on one of the known species of this genus, Taiti prototaxites. The team resorted to the fossils found at the Rhynie Chert site in Scotland. This site contains not only fossil remains of this species, but also of fungal species and others belonging to other kingdoms of nature. Similarities and differences. The new analysis of the fossils of this species ran into some similarities with fungal structures such as those that could be expected. However, despite having tubular internal structures similar to those of fungi, these tubes in P. Taiti They branched and linked in a different way from what they could expect. That was not, however the strangest detail. The analysis did not detect in fossils evidence of the products that are associated with the presence of chitina, a compound present in the cell walls of all contemporary fungi and that we know was also present in prehistoric fungi. They found that the chemical “firm” was more similar to that left behind by lignin, a polymer that we associate with vascular plants. The study has been published for now draft In the repository Biorxivso the standardized scrutiny of peer review has not yet passed. So what? This detail implies that we must extreme caution when drawing conclusions from the study we have in front. Even so, the signing team of the study outlines in this its conclusions, in principle preliminary. In his study, the team concludes that “the morphology and the molecular footprint of P. Taiti It is clearly different from that of fungi and other organisms preserved with it in Rhynie Chert, and we suggest that it is better considered a member of a group not described and totally extinct of eukaryotes. ” In Xataka | An amateur fossil search engine is behind a curious finding: vomiting of the dinosaurs era Image | Іщн

Physicists believed that this quantum phenomenon was impossible. They were very wrong

by

This appointment of Richard FeynmanNobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to quantum electrodynamics and one of the most admired scientists of the twentieth century, condenses very well The complexity of quantum physics: “If you think you understand it, you don’t really understand quantum physics.” Quantum mechanics study the laws that govern The world of the very smallof the particles, as well as the interactions to which the atomic and subatomic structures are exposed. Most of these rules are radically different from the laws we have become familiar with in the world in which we live. In the macroscopic world. Many physicists have spent the last century trying to understand how known quantum phenomena work, and also striving to identify unknown quantum rules. The problem is that working with the extremely small, with the particles, is very difficult. However, this does not mean that they are not successful. To hunt and capture the elusive transition of super -artedia Physicists Klaus Hepp and Elliott H. LIEB predicted in 1973 a quantum phenomenon known as super -transiant phase transition. For more than half a century the scientific community has worked out without success to find evidence to protect the existence of this mechanism beyond mere theory. But everything changed on April 4. That day a group of researchers from Rice University, in Texas (USA); the University of Shanghai (China); NASA’s National Laboratory (USA) or the National University of Singapore, among other scientific institutions, published an article in Scienceadvances in which he explains the procedure he has used to experimentally observe this quantum phenomenon so elusive. Understanding what is the transition of super -transiant phase and all its implications is not simple, but we can get a rather precise idea about what this mechanism consists of if we observe it as a sudden change in a particle system that causes many of them begin to behave in a coordinated way. When this phenomenon does not occur, atoms interact in a weak way and behave in a disorganized way, but when the super -artary phase transition arises, they synchronize and exhibit the same behavior, giving rise to a new state of matter. When the super -transiant phase transition arises the atoms are synchronized and exhibit the same behavior The most surprising thing is that this new state gives the material unusual properties from a macroscopic point of view. The researchers who have mentioned some lines above have managed to carry out the first direct observation of this mechanism. And they have succeeded by triggering the transition in a glass composed of erbium, iron and oxygen subjected to a temperature of −271.7 degrees Celsius. In addition, they exposed it to a magnetic field of no less than 7 teslas, so it was more than 100,000 times more intense than the magnetic field of the Earth. What they pursued was to induce the transition of super -transiant phase by coupling the spin of the particles. And they succeeded. The spin is an intrinsic property of The elementary particleslike the electric charge, derived from its time of angular rotation. The first experimental evidence that endorsed its existence It arrived in 1922 Thanks to the experiments of German physicists Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach, although scientists did not begin to understand the nature of this very important property of elementary particles until a few years later. The reason why it is not easy to understand precisely what the spin is because it is a quantum phenomenon, so it is not quite correct to describe it as a conventional rotation movement in space. Even so, the description that I have proposed in the previous paragraph is usually used for a didactic purpose because it helps us to intuit without too much effort what we are talking about. In any case, the most interesting thing is that the transition of super -transiant phase opens the door to the next generation of quantum technologies. This is the really important thing. According to physicists involved in this experiment, this mechanism can be used to put quantum sensors endowed with a much higher sensitivity than those currently available. And it can also be used to produce more robust cubits for Quantum computers. Sounds good. I hope your predictions are fulfilled. Image | Generated by Xataka with Dall-e More information | Scienceadvances In Xataka | CERN has achieved something unprecedented: transform smartphones sensors into an antimatter chamber

We thought they were the red color in a galaxy he indicated that he was dead. There are those who believe we are wrong

by

A simple and useful way of knowing if a galaxy is old or if on the contrary it is full of new star formations is in its color. The rule is simple: the most reddish galaxies are usually older; The most bluish, young. Young and red. Now a researcher at the University of Missouri has raised a third waythe possible existence of reddish but still alive colored galaxies, that is, in the process of forming new stars. Among other implications, this could mean that our universe forms even more stars than we thought. Red or blue. Galaxies are usually categorized according to the color of their stars. Blue stars usually shine with more force for less time, so when the blue tones predominate we know that new stars are still forming. The stars with warmer tones resist more so when a galaxy dies, that is, when it stops creating new stars, these more reddish stars are what remains. However, there is something that escapes us in this hypothesis. According to Charles Steinhardt, author of the new study, this model raises certain inconsistencies, for example in the ratios between stellar masses and masses of black holes, and enters the initial mass functions of red and blue galaxies. What if they are not dead? In An article Posted in the magazine The Astrophysical JournalSteinhardt raises the existence of a different category, red and young galaxies. The key would be in the fact that in these galaxies, the stars formed would be of less dough and that therefore, also the youngest would shine with reddish tones. “The red -star formants mainly produce little dough stars, which would make them look red despite the permanent births of stars,” Explain in a press release Steinhardt. Birth and fusion. One of the keys to this hypothesis is in the post-stallid galaxies (Post-Starburst). The galaxies can go from being young stars producing to lifeless galaxies in two ways. The first, through a slow and natural evolution; the second, after a burst of stars (Starburst). When two galaxies collide, the subject of both meets, accelerating the accumulation process that gives rise to new stars. This makes the galaxy go through a stage of rapid stars formation, a stage that leaves the galaxy without fuel. In his hypothesis, Steinhardt raises the possibility, that some of these galaxies have been forming red and small stars from the beginning, and not being the result of a burst. This possibility would imply, Explainhave to reclassify some of the galaxies we know. More stars. The new hypothesis postulates that red galaxies continue to create new stars which in turn implies that our universe produces even more stars than those we believed. “The existence of these galaxies can mean that the universe has formed a significantly greater number of stars than before,” Steinhardt defends. The galaxies are complex formations and we may still notice important details about them. Details such as the details of their life cycles, adds the researcher. In Xataka | The James Webb has found a galaxy when the universe was 330 million years old. Hide an entire enigma Image | Este/Hubble & Nasa, J. Kalirai, A. Milone

The aid seemed the only way to sell electric cars. Germany is demonstrating that we were wrong

by

Electric car sales do not take off without state aid. And it has logic if we take into account that we are talking about a technology that forces the driver to Make some adaptation And, according to what cars we buy, force him to plan your trips. The electric car has many advantages. In Spain, with current prices and rates, an electric car can be much cheaper That one of combustion shortly time. In fact, The more trips and kilometers dothe car comes out. To this we must add the advantages Undoubted for day to day such as the absence of vibrations, of noise, the comfort of having the entire torque to a throttle pedal … but they are advantages that the client has to discover and that it is normal that it does not encourage it when the disbursement will be of tens of thousands of euros. To foster change, states have focused on giving purchase aid. It is a good way to lower the price and leave it at a cost closer to combustion models, especially when electric were sensibly more expensive than gasoline or diesel. They are decisions for which the reference countries have opted in the electric car market. He did it Norway, he did (and he does) China And Germany did it. And the German case showed us that without purchase aid, Electric car sales are deflated… or deflated. Because they have grows again. What if we have been looking at the wrong place? Direct aid to purchase At the end of 2023 justice forced Germany to withdraw aids to the purchase of electric cars. The reason is that funds had been diverted to combat the crisis derived from the coronavirus to the promotion of the electric car. Without destiny for that money, the government had preferred to reinvest it in the game of electric mobility. For justice, this was illegal and therefore I ordered the aid to immediately withdraw. Overnight, aid fell to the purchase that extended to all cars up to 65,000 euros. Last year, in 2024, a reduction in subsidies was already expected but buyers could expect a mattress of 4,500 euros in cars of up to 40,000 euros and 3,000 euros in which a price of between 40,000 and 65,000 euros appears. The help was complemented by manufacturers with 2,250 euros and 1,500 euros, respectively. That is, savings in the first case could be up to 6,750 euros and in the second of up to 4,500 euros. Figures similar to those we see in Spain with the MOVES III PLANrecently reimputed until the end of the year or exhaust the funds available. Last year, the fall in electric car sales was considerable. In its first year of direct aid to the purchase, Germany enrolled 27.4% less electric cars. A blow to European accounts with the main electric car market by volume falling from 524,219 tuition from 2023 to 380,609 units enrolled in 2024. By market share, the German electric car fell from 18.4% to 13.5%. However, everything has changed in these first months of 2025. They collect in Motorpasion than the 17% of cars Enrolled in Germany are electric. Compared to the month of March of last year, 35.5% have been grown and the trend indicates that it will continue to grow. It is very good news because they lack direct aid to the purchase of cars of this type. What the State is doing is to encourage the purchase of this type of fleet cars. Companies can deduce up to 40% of the value of the car in the purchase of new cars. A decision that has triggered sales since company vehicles reflect 67% of new car registration in Germany. The strategy is not new in Europe and focuses on the importance of aid beyond lowering the price of cars. In Norway, they stood out that if they have made the electric car Your best selling technology It has been because for years they have given themselves constant subsidies related to the property of the electric car. Not paying some taxes or road toll have been definitive attractive for implementation. Yes indeed, 1.8 billion euros have been raised. Belgium has been the other great country where the electric car has exploded in sales in recent months. In Belgium they already exceed 30% quota electric car market. Last year, to February 2024, they exceeded 20% market share and in 2022 they barely exceeded 8%. The secret is in the aids that, again, are given to companies. Depending on income, a company can be deduced up to 100% of the electric car fee. The percentage will fall over the years but prevent maintaining this economic incentive until 2031. In Bloomberg They explain that in a country where the company car is usually used as an incentive when changing work, promoting the purchase of this type of cars is key to popularize them and reach sectors that did not expect to make the leap for a few years (or did not expect it at all, as one of those interviewed in the article recognizes). The strategy contrasts with the one we have been carrying so far in Spain. Our country has also joined the delivery of purchase aids but, in addition to not being direct at the time of signing the contract, Each extension It has been a birth. The suspension for two months In the last extension of the Moves III Plan it has been the best example. Photo | Volkswagen In Xataka | The electric car is sweeping so much in China that the natural step is already raised: stop calling it “electric”

West believed that mines and conventional artillery were the past. Ukraine has shown that they were wrong

by

They have been Several occasions in which the conflict after the Russian invasion in Ukraine seemed Go back to the pastat an era where technology did not dominate the battlefield, but the human through it. The effect of what has happened to east of Europe begins to have its echoes on several nations of the old continent. Conventional artillery and mines, for decades considered obsolete, have seen A resurgence That nobody seemed to glimpse, and now everyone wants to rearm. A return to the past. As we said, the conflict in Ukraine has radically reconfigured Western understanding about The modern warrevealing the validity of weapons that for a long time were forgotten as vestiges of the past. Antipersonnel minesheavy artillery and non -guided ammunition have reappeared as key elements In a type of war that NATO and European armies had stopped planning: the large -scale land war. For years, Western powers imagined the conflicts of the 21st century as technological, rapid and surgical clashes, starring reduced units and high precision weapons systems. It happens that the Ukrainian realitywith their stagnant fronts and prolonged fighting For territorial control, those assumptions have denied sharply. The Treaty of Ottawa and Las Mines. In fact, one of the most visible effects of this doctrinal turn has been the decision of several European countries to abandon the Ottawa treaty of 1997, the same that prohibited the use, production and sale of antipersonnel mines. Who is it? Finland was the last In reverting his adhesion, adding to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who had already announced their departure. These nations, all neighbors of Russia or in their area of ​​geopolitical influence, are actively preparing for undermine its bordersin an attempt to contain a possible Moscow military offensive. The reasons are clearly clear: the Use of mines in Ukraine It has demonstrated its effectiveness not only to stop advances, but to channel enemy troops to areas where they can be faced with greater guarantees of success. It is a territorial defense tactic that resurfaces in a conventional war context, precisely when it was believed to be overcome. Artillery and unburgated ammunition, the resurgence. While the guided missile systems provided by NATO face problems in the face of the Russian capacities of Electronic interferencetraditional artillery, with simple and cheap projectiles, has charged New prominence. These ammunition, not depending on electronic signals, are immune to blockages or technological sabotages. In addition, combined with modern surveillance tools (such as drones that identify real -time objectives), they have become extraordinarily lethal. Ukraine, in fact, has taken advantage of this synergy, adapting old technologies to the new battlefield. The result has been a war that advances very little in terms of territory, but that consumes huge amounts of projectiles and requires a sustained production that Europe was not prepared to assume. Europe and industrial career. On the other sidewalk, the paradigm shift has exposed the fragility of war production capacities in Europe, although that is not quite news when the old continent has already talked about rearming. A report by the Royal United Services Institute criticized European governments for Trust blindly in which the private sector would solve the manufacturing needs of ammunition without having offered them incentives or favorable regulations. This omission has had serious consequences: according to General Christopher CavoliSupreme Comandante Allied with NATO in Europe, Russia is on the way to accumulate projectile reserves three times higher to those of the United States and Europe together. He imbalance is alarmingespecially considering that the Ukrainian conflict does not show short -term resolution signs and that the current levels of ammunition consumption are unsustainable without an industrial restructuring. Russia’s mirror. In this regard and According to CavoliRussia currently produces 250,000 artillery projectiles per month, which leads it to build that arsenal three times greater than the United States and Europe. Not just that. Cavoli’s testimony underlines a crucial point: while Russia is perceived in the West bogged down In a wear war, its defense machinery He has managed to adaptgrow and, in some aspects, strengthen in full conflict. Moscow has been recovering its arsenals on all fronts (from ammunition to armored vehicles and troops), which strongly contrasts with the logistics and production difficulties faced by their adversaries. The estimate of Cavoli points to an annual manufacture of 1,500 tanks by Russia, in front of the 135 produced by the United States. In the last year, Russian troops would have lost Approximately 3,000 tanks9,000 armored vehicles, 13,000 artillery systems and more than 400 air defense systems, but would be completely replaced, keeping their land projection capacity intact. Planning errors. Experts like Paul van Hooft, from the Think Tank Rand Europe, They explained to Insider that this lag is a direct consequence of three decades of strategic planning focused on asymmetric wars. Since the September 11 attacks, NATO designed its military operations thinking of insurgencies, terrorism and irregular forces, where neither heavy artillery nor mines seemed to have practical utility. That vision led, according to the analyst, to the dismantling of traditional arsenals and the abandonment of terrestrial war doctrines, especially in Western Europe. However, the current conflict demands precisely opposite: territorial defense, sustained occupation of broad areas and classical deterrence capacity. The balance between the future and the past. Mark Cancan, from Center for Strategic and International Studies, stressed that prolonged wars, once stabilized the front lines, make weapons such as artillery and mines not only useful, but dominant. While drones, artificial intelligence and other innovations continue to perform An important roledo not replace the volume of fire or logistics resistance that allow sustaining an offensive or defending a position for months. In this regard, Cancan warns against excess confidence in futuristic war visions, many of them promoted by startups technological ones that compete to attract funds from the new defense budgets. Faced with this, the evidence seems to show that, at least for now, the war remains a matter of volume, physical resources and conventional abilities well managed. Ironically, if … Read more

After two catastrophic failures, we believed that Spacex would not risk with the next starship. We were wrong

by

Starship’s next flight will be one of the most tense in the history of the rocket. Not only because the last two releases will end in paths explosions and with deviated airplanes to avoid the rain of rubble. Also because it will be the first time that Spacex reuse a rocket. Zero-Touch reflight. In addition to a 123 meters high mole, Starship is the first rocket designed to be quickly reusable. Spacex’s idea is that Starship takes off, lands and throws himself again after a few hours, as if it were a commercial plane. The company has partially advanced in this Objective of “Zero-Touch Desflight” or relaunch without intervention. The first stage of the rocket, the 33 -engines Super Heavy propeller, has landed in the arms of the launch tower three times: Booster 12 in flight test 5, Booster 14 in flight test 7 and Booster 15 in flight test 8. It was planned that the second stage of the rocket, the six -engines Starship ship, would make its first landing attempt during flight 9. To do this, the earth would orbit and re -enter the atmosphere until they perch on the arms of the second launch tower; Already finished in Starbase, Texas. However, the last two starship exploded at 8 minutes of takeoff For a defect in a redesign recent. A second -hand super heavy. The expected thing was that Spacex was taken calmly to flight 9 to compensate for the last failures, but the company has just announced a surprising decision. The next launch, scheduled for mid -April (if the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States is approved), will be done reusing the booster 14 of flight 7. This propeller first took off on January 16, 2025 and, after separating from the Starship ship, returned to the launch base to become the second Super Heavy that Spacex has captured with the arms of the Mechazilla tower. Of the 33 Raptor engines that you will wear during your second launch, 29 are already used engines. Another rocket that lands and takes off. The only orbital rocket with demonstrated capacity for propulsive landing is the Falcon 9 of Spacex. Specifically, its first stage, which usually lands in an autonomous barge in the ocean after throwing satellites or spacecraft. A few weeks later, you are ready to reuse (Generally, in Starlink missions). The second rocket to get it could be Starship, also from Spacex. Not in the “Zero-Touch reflight” mode, but after a restoration process and changing some engines, but it is a first step. And in fact, it is a step that nobody else has achieved apart from Spacex. The company that is closest is Blue Origin, who tried unsuccessfully on the opening flight of the New Glenn rocket. In China, Landspace is also achieved with his Zhuque 3 rocket. There will be no second capture. The bad news is that Spacex will not try to capture the Booster 14. The rocket, which has just passed some ignition tests on land, will merit in a controlled way in the Gulf of Mexico to test a more pronounced attack angle during the re -entry, which in the future will allow you to perform other flight profiles. Anyway, all eyes will be put in the Starship 35the third ship of the “Block 2” version. Its two predecessors exploded shortly after separating from the Super Heavy propeller, both for a flight of propellents due to excessive vibrations in the engines area. Starship 33 disintegrated after a fire and Starship 34 lost control after the explosion of an engine. The investigation of flight 8 is still open, so FAA has not yet given its authorization for flight 9. Even so, we should not take long to see it, taking into account that the rocket is almost ready and the renewed political power of Elon Musk It has already allowed accelerating the procedures in the previous releases. Image | Spacex In Xataka | Elon Musk has said that Mars will be part of the United States. It is an unusual affront to the outdoor space treaty

The EU wants to corner the privacy of WhatsApp and Signal with rear doors. In France the play has gone wrong

by

The National Assembly of France vote On March 20, a fundamental issue for the privacy of its citizens. One that put into play the confidentiality of their conversations in messaging applications such as WhatsApp or Signal. Rear doors. As they point out In EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), the French proposal was disturbing. The objective was to force messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal to create “rear doors” that allow hidden access to private conversations. The proposal is part of measures with the argument of avoiding child pornography (sexual Child abuse material, CSAM). We are waiting for you in territory s Do you like Samsung? We have a new specialized medium in Samsung and its products with tricks, offers, tutorials and all news about the brand. Go to territory A for mass surveillance. The law proposal raised a spectacular tool for mass surveillance. One who already tried adopt in the United Kingdom in 2019 and that would allow security agencies to join encrypted chats without their participants getting tale. Terrible for privacy, but also for security. The threat not only affected our privacy, but the security of these applications. The experts They criticized Already in 2019 the proposal and They warned that it could serve to introduce systemic vulnerabilities or create tools that many would end up abusing. The French organization La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), which defends the fundamental freedoms of the digital world, He urged a mobilization Against this “drug law” that among its options included this theoretical creation of rear doors. Of that, nothing. Fortunately for privacy defenders, French legislators voted against said proposal, allowing these platforms to continue to continue operating with end -to -end encryption that protects the confidentiality of these communications. A difficult victory. As indicated in the EFF, this victory was not easy, and only came after popular pressure, expert comments “and the support of civil society.” Even so, they warn, the pressures will follow to try to activate measures that mining the privacy of our communications, “perhaps repaired, or put in full speed through quieter legislative moments.” That is also the danger: that these laws end up being approved in a deceptive way and as part of broader and more generic laws. Blissful chat control. Last September the Presidency of Hungary of the European Union Council recovered the proposal of the so -called Chat Control, that is, the end -to -end encryption elimination. There was a first attempt that was rejected, but during the summer the threads began to be moved for review, the called chat control 2.0 that is in development. The new proposal relaxes the terms. Chat Control 2.0 is still worrying. The proposal Published by the Presidency of Poland of the Council would make the scan of these “voluntary” conversations and would be classified as preventive. The experts They believe That this proposal is a step in the right direction to protect the right of European citizens to maintain their private digital correspondence. The Government of Spain wants rear doors. Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spanish Interior Minister, is one of the great defenders of the rear doors. In a 2023 document he presented how it is “imperative that we have access to the data.” There are many other European countries in favor of this type of measures, and as explained in the activist organization ChatControl.EU “Created by Patrick Breyer, of the German Pirate Party,” the risks to privacy are important. Image | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | A rear door 30 years ago has compromised all US safety. Europe wants to make the same mistake

We were wrong about why Mars is red

by

The reddish color of Mars is perceived with the naked eye. Perhaps by association of red with the blood, the Babylonians will link him with Nergal, his god of war, something that the Greeks and Romans also did by calling him Ares and Mars. As for why it is a red planet, we have news. Mars is oxidized. For a long time it has been known that the characteristic reddish tone of Mars is due to the presence of iron oxides in the dust on its surface. A New international study that combines data from the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA with laboratory experiments suggests that these iron oxides were formed in the presence of water long before what was believed. A surprisingly wet story. Until recently, it was thought that the predominant iron oxide in Mars was hematite, a mineral that can be formed with little or no presence of liquid water on the surface, provided there is an oxidizing agent in the atmosphere. However, the New observations and laboratory analysis They show clear indications of water in the spectral firm of the Martian dust. This finding indicates that ferrihydrite, an iron oxide with water molecules integrated in its structure, is responsible for the unmistakable red color of the planet, showing that Mars has a more humid story of the established. What is ferrihydrite and why it matters. Ferrihydrite is a badly crystallized and iron ore that is rapidly formed in the presence of fresh water and with moderate oxidation levels. Its structure retains water molecules or other hydroxyl groups inside, so that it leaves a water footprint even under drier subsequent conditions. This feature contrasts with the hematite, which is anhydra and much more stable when there is no liquid water around. Therefore, Ferrihydrite’s discovery implies that in the past of Mars there were episodes with relatively abundant liquid water. The methodology. To get to this conclusion, the researchers combined measurements of several probes and rovers of the ESA (Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter) and NASA (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity, Opportunity and Pathfinder) with laboratory experiments. These experiments consisted of creating simulated Martian dust mixing ferrihydrite with ground basalt in particles a hundred times finer than a human hair. Then, they measured the optical properties of these samples in the same way that the instruments on Mars do, confirming that the ferriidrite explained better the spectral firms of the red planet. A red planet with secrets to reveal. On Earth, ferrihydrite is usually transformed over time into more crystalline phases (such as Goetita or Hematite) if the temperature and water availability conditions allow it. Mars is extremely cold, dry and exposed to a very little dense atmosphere. These conditions hinder the transformation and favor that the ferrihydrite is kept as is, retaining its “water seal” despite the billions of years after it was formed. The image of Mars as an arid and reddish planet has not changed with this study, but our understanding of its past yes. The confirmation of an oxidation phase in the presence of water indicates that the planet had more humid periods and with the possibility of hosting living organisms. Image | ESA/DLR/FU BERLIN/G. Michael, A. Valantines In Xataka | Bombard the poles with nuclear weapons or build a giant magnet: the most reposted ideas to terraft Mars

We have been thinking that the recycling of plastics worth something. Maybe we were wrong

by

That the plastic recycling system is broken is an open secret. But it’s just little by little we are realizing The problem dimension. The American Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) association published last year A report on plastics recycling. It lashed out at the plastic industry, which they accused of having promoted the recycling of these materials even knowing the low technical and economic viability. A difficult task. Recycling plastics is not an easy task. In our day to day we use a wide variety of materials of this type, each with certain characteristics, functional and chemical. All end in the same container, that of the containers, but from there it is necessary to separate each type of plastic for proceed to your recycling When possible. It is not always possible. Disgusty data. According to Ecoembes data, in 2022 they were recycled in Spain 708,596 tons of plastic containers, although NGOs like Greenpeace question. According to Greenpeacethe difference between the plastics recycling rate declared by Ecoembes (89.2%) and the one estimated by the NGO itself (34.8%) is notorious. It should be noted that it is still over the world average of 9% estimated by the OECD. According to the reportfigures like these are just the reflection of an impossibility: effectively recycle plastics is out of reach. Not only from an economic perspective but also from the technological point of view. A single use. However, the report emphasizes an accusation: even knowing this impossibility, the industry He promoted the idea that recycling was possible and viable to facilitate the path to single -use plastics such as those we use in the containers. “They knew that if they focused on the (plastics) of a single use people would buy and buy,” explained to The Guardian Davis Allen, CCI researcher and co -author of the report. Another point of view. The industry reaction soon arrived. The American Chemistry Council, In a statementhe pointed out that “American plastic manufacturers are investing billions of dollars in better innovative products and technologies that separate, capture and recycle greater amounts and more types of plastics.” They claim that the “wrong report” refers to obsolete technologies and that is an equivocal characterization of the industry and the capacities present for the recycling of plastics. “As is typical, instead of working together towards real solutions for plastic waste, groups such as CCI choose attacks at the political level instead of constructive solutions,” protested Matt Seaholm, President and Executive Director of the Plastics Industry Association, in statements also collected by The Guardian. Will we achieve it? We may never achieve An efficient system of recycling that we can apply to the plastics of our day to day. But perhaps we are one day capable of treating this waste so that their waste does not contaminate our environment. One of the Great bets In this sense, it is the discovery of enclosures capable of decomposing plastic polymers, breaking these chains to turn them into harmless molecules. It is undoubtedly a great promise but nothing guarantees for now that it does not result in a chimera, only time will say it. Although time is not what about. Pollution caused by microplastics is already a reality. These waste has appeared in the most remote places on Earth, a sign of the great reach of these pollutants. It is also very little that we know about the potential impacts on health and the environment of these waste. In Xataka | I have always been curious about what they did with yellow containers: so I have followed one In Xataka | “Within 200 years, archaeologists will seek in our garbage and find a terrible image of ourselves”: the dirty reality of what we throw Image | Krizjohn Rosales *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

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.