Year

Because of climate change, by 2100 we will lose the equivalent of what 2 billion people eat each year in crops.

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We all know that climate change affects crops. the drought, global warmingextreme rainfall and many other related weather phenomena can seriously endanger agricultural activities. Given that these are the main livelihood of millions of people around the world, it is a situation that is worth analyzing carefully. It is precisely what has done recently a team of scientists from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. After comparing historical episodes of extreme heat with crop yield data from the FAO, they observed that we have been gradually losing crops for several years and that this, as climate change progresses, will only get worse. So much so that by 2100 losses of 160 billion dollars annually are estimated. Only three crops. The situation is even more worrying if we take into account that the data has been analyzed for only three crops: cornsoybeans and wheat. These were selected because there was sufficient data from FAO to carry out both phases of the statistical analysis. The first, calibration, was carried out with data from 1974 to 2004. On the one hand, historical records on episodes of extreme heat and drought were taken and then they were confronted with the existing information on the yields of these crops in different countries around the world. Thus, it was possible to obtain a formula on the correlation between climate and crops. This formula was then validated with data from 2007 to 2019. The objective was, with the climate information for that period, to calculate how it would affect crop yields. For the validation to be positive, the results should coincide with the true performance that was recorded at that time. And so it was. The data coincided and were not at all encouraging, as the first losses began to be detected. Specifically, there was a 3.5% decrease in crop yields. It may seem like little, but as explained to New Scientist one of the authors of the study, Kai Kornhuber, are relevant figures about a global impact, which could even trigger serious crises at a regional level. In fact, there are already annual losses of 20 billion dollars. A worrying situation in 2100. With the model already validated with known data, these scientists ventured to analyze an unknown future. What they saw when entering data for a scenario high emissionswith current trends, was very worrying. According to their calculations, global yields will fall by around 35% by 2100, with annual losses exceeding $161 billion. Another of the authors of the research, Yi Ling Hwong, explained in May at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union that the losses would be roughly equivalent to what around 2 billion people consume in a year. Crops affected by climate change around the world. The calculations have been made at a global level. There would be losses in all countries, including developed ones. However, these scientists warn that the situation will be especially serious in developing countries, where many people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. It can be solved. The positive part of all this is that, according to the authors of the study, you can try not to reach those figures. Kornhuber recalls that climate scientists make these statistical calculations with the goal of making people react and their predictions ending up being wrong. Therefore, they hope that this data will be disseminated and will help farmers to find ways to adapt, choosing new crops, according to the climatic conditions of each area and customizing irrigation. Limitations. This study on how climate change affects crops has limitations that must be recognized. Firstly, only three crops have been calculated. Others could be related to worse or better data, so it cannot be extrapolated to everything that grows on earth. On the other hand, only climate data related to extreme heat and drought are taken into account, but not with the floods or hail, for example. These are also phenomena associated with climate change that affect crops to a large extent. In addition, some scientists outside the study consider that the statistical calculations used may be good for making short-term forecasts, but not for the end of the century. Some even believe that the data may be overestimated. Even so, the authors of the study insist that it is better to be somewhat alarmist so that measures are taken than to underestimate the data and, with the truth in the face, it is too late to take action on the matter. Because that is the great reality of all this. Something has to be done. Data can be the push needed to get started once and for all. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | Google has shown with its AI that the prediction of storms and hurricanes is outdated. This is how your new model works

Scientists sent “Erasmus” lunar cement to the International Space Station. Half a year later, he came back stronger than vinegar

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Taking concrete mixers loaded with cement into space It is not something viable. Therefore, science has long been looking for ways to obtain construction materials from lunar regolith. When they are manufactured the first buildings on the Moonthe cement would not have to be brought from Earth, because it would be prepared on site. However, just because something is manufactured in space, with materials from space, does not mean that it will resist space conditions well, no matter how paradoxical it may be. For this reason, a team of scientists from the University of Delaware recently sent some samples of their lunar cement to the International Space Station (ISS). Six months later, they have returned them to Earth for analysis. What they have seen is very interesting. Stronger than on Earth. The lunar cement samples were placed on the outside of the ISS for six months. After, they were returned to our planet to see how cosmic radiation, vacuum or microgravity had affected them, among other factors. At the same time, other samples similar to those were kept on Earth, in order to verify the differences. When the space samples returned to our planet, it was observed that none had lost resistance. In fact, some had become more resistant after their space stay. The ingredients of moon cement. Broadly speaking, conventional cement is obtained subjecting a mixture of limestone and some clay to very high temperatures. This represents an energy consumption that we cannot even consider when traveling to space. Therefore, the first thing these scientists from the University of Delaware did was look for ways to obtain a cement-like material that did not require that extreme heating. They tried the development of geopolymers, which are materials obtained from clays through chemical reactions. In this case, simulated lunar and Martian regolith was used, which was mixed with a minimal amount of additives. These polymerized to give rise to a material that, when solidified, resembles the concrete we use here on Earth. Not all regoliths are the same. moon dustknown as regolith, is made up of different rock materials. They are not all the same. For this reason, these scientists started with an AI algorithm that predicts the resistance of the final result, depending on the type of regolith that was used as a starting point. This is very useful, as it allows you to select the best options to obtain a strong lunar cement. The results of this other step are published in a different study to the one used to show the results of the spatial exposure. A critical point not so critical. On the other hand, these scientists have identified a key point in the reaction to obtain lunar cement, known as the critical point of the gel, in which the material goes from a functional suspension to a solidifying structure. However, they found that mixing before that point did not affect how long the material took to harden or its final strength. Therefore, there is quite a bit of flexibility in the development of these materials. Taking into account that they want to do it in a place that is not too inhospitable, the less restricted the reaction is, the better. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | A study has tried to find out why space food is so bad: it’s not the food, it’s the astronauts

In record time since its release in theaters, one of the most resounding box office failures of the year arrives tomorrow on Prime Video

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‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’ comes to Prime Video this Wednesday, July 22, just forty-seven days after its release in theaters. The reason for arriving at streaming With such a short margin of time it is its failure at the box office: it opened with 29.4 million dollars in North America, remained at 64.6 million domestically and closed the world tour at 113.3 million, very far from recovering a budget of between 170 and 200 million dollars. The rapid arrival of films that better captured the public’s attention, such as ‘Toy Story 4’ or the surprise hits of ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’, ended up burying it. However, the film is very enjoyable and moves away from the greatest temptation that a project to adapt a toy franchise from the eighties like this one can have: making it adult and reflective. Travis Knight, director of the excellent ‘Bumblebee’, does not darken Eternia: he opts for bright colors and Jared Leto’s Skeletor who enjoys every line of the cartoon villain without taking himself too seriously. Nicholas Galitzine builds a clumsy rather than heroic He-Man, closer to a clueless kid from a family movie from the decade in which dolls were rampant than to Dolph Lundgren, and that character is what guides the entire film. Seeing her now, at home and without paying an entrance fee, is a good way to meet her again. It works better for someone who recognizes the names Roboto or Tri-Klops than for someone looking for the founding film of a new fantasy franchise, mind you. But Luckily, the film also holds up without the need for those winks.with action shot with skill and a cast that delivers performances (Idris Elba as Duncan, Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn) that are in the perfect (and not at all complacent) space between self-parody and more or less sincere emotion. It is not clear if the film will find an audience as the even better ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from 2023 ended up finding, but what is guaranteed is that the Mattel franchise has just definitively entered a period of hibernation that, hand in hand with another summer puncture, ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’, leaves a very clear lesson: nostalgia millennial It is no longer enough, on its own, to sustain a blockbuster. In Xataka | If you think Nicolas Cage can’t go any further, try this strange gem that just arrived on Prime Video

NASA is looking for four people who want to live a year on Mars without leaving Earth

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Space travel can leave no room for improvisation. Especially if the destination is a place as inhospitable and unexplored as Mars. Or even the Moon. Therefore, before the first astronauts set foot on the red planet and a new batch of humans walk on our satellite, NASA has decided to carry out a dress rehearsal here on Earth. Of course, it will not be done with astronauts, but with a group of volunteers willing to spend a year in a simulated environment of both the confinement conditions of the trip and the subsistence with limited resources that will mean staying at a base in either of these two places. The mission is expected to begin in 2027, no earlier than August, so the search for volunteers is still underway. Two missions in one. The mission, named by NASA as Moon and Mars Exploration Analogis a mix of two other previous missions: HERA and CHAPEA. Both consist of the use of facilities that simulate the extreme conditions of a trip to Mars or the Moon. CHAPEA’s facilities are larger (158 m2), as they simulate what the installed base would be in either of these two locations. HERA, on the other hand, consists of a smaller environment (60 m2), which simulates the confinement conditions of space travel. Therefore, what will be done is to dock the vehicle, based on HERA, to a larger, but isolated environment, in which there is everything from private accommodation for the crew to a common work space, including a recreation room, cultivation area, medical room, food preparation area, airlock and two bathrooms. They are not astronauts, but almost. NASA has announced that it is looking for volunteers, possibly because its astronauts are busy with other tasks. However, not just anyone can apply. To start, they must be US citizens or green card holders, between 30 and 55 years old, with a good command of English and a height that does not exceed 1.88 meters. On the other hand, they must have a degree in engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences or mathematics. Basically, just like astronauts. In fact, it is preferable that they have these qualifications at an advanced level. Finally, they should not have special dietary needsnor require help to sleep. Furthermore, in relation to sleep, they should not be sleepwalkers either. Of course, added to all this is that they will have to pass a series of tests, both physical and psychological. Come on, they’re not astronauts, but almost. Training for a fake trip to Mars. The four selected volunteers will have a pre- and post-mission phase dedicated to data collection. Additionally, before embarking on this year-long simulation, they will have to train and prepare for what will come next. In total, all this will last two months. All simulations. For one year, these temporary astronauts will live and work in isolation and confinement while simulating both interplanetary travel and operations on the planetary surface, including spacewalk simulations. It is expected that the results will be useful for missions as imminent as those of the Artemis programbut also for future even more exotic trips, including the long-awaited Martian colonization. Image | Magnificent | POT In Xataka | We knew there was water on the Moon, but not why some craters were empty. Finally we have the answer

Earning more than 600,000 euros a year seemed like a rarity in Spain. The Treasury has already counted almost 19,000 cases

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Twenty years ago, coming across someone who earned more than 600,000 euros a year was like the girls in Galicia: there are there there arebut it is difficult to find them. That exclusive club existed, but its members could fit on a city bus. Today a few are needed. According to data provided by the Tax Agency on the salary ranges of taxpayers in Spain, the highest incomes grow much faster than the rest of salaries. The jump that breaks the historical series. According to consolidated data for 2024, 18,829 taxpayers declared income from work above 601,000 euros annually. This figure represents a jump of 27.8% in a single year, and is the highest figure since the history of this series exists. Although almost 19,000 people receiving that annual salary may seem like a good figure, it is enough to put it in context to determine that they barely represent 0.08% of the almost 25 million declarations submitted that year. Since 2007, when the financial crisis broke out, this group has grown from 10,580 people to almost 19,000 today. It is an increase of close to 78% in less than two decades. Madrid, the magnet of large incomes. If this Treasury statistic confirms anything, it is that wealth is not distributed the same between territories. 8,278 of those 18,829 taxpayers live in the Community of Madrid. Catalonia follows, and specifically Barcelona, ​​with 4,040 taxpayers with a salary of more than 601,000 euros per year. These figures far exceed those offered by Andalusia, the Valencian Community or Galicia, which are the next in number of employees in the highest percentile. This concentration has an explanation beyond the location of the headquarters of large companies. As and how they stood out In the tax consultancy TaxDown, Madrid maintains, by far, the lower rates of autonomous personal income tax of Spain. Its maximum aggregate rate reaches 43.5%, compared to the 54% that can be paid in Catalonia or Valencia. Added to this is a Wealth Tax that has been practically canceled for years. This combination of tax cuts has been pointed out as a clear case of tax competition between communities (dumping), which helps attract large assets from other regions. The rest of the tax pyramid. It is advisable not to lose sight of what salary ranges the majority of workers in Spain really fall into. He largest section continues to be that of those who earn between 30,000 and 60,000 euros per year, concentrating 5.8 million people, 23.5% of the total filers. Just behind are the immediately lower ranks, those who charge between 21,000 and 30,000 euros (4.6 million) and between 12,000 and 21,000 euros (4 million). They are the salary brackets that, in practice, support the bulk of the country’s salary income collection. Although it does not represent an increase as spectacular as that of employees in the range above 601,000 euros per year, the growth in the number of taxpayers in the range between 150,000 euros per year and 600,000 euros also stands out. This group is made up of 194,681 taxpayers, which represents 0.79% of the total, but has experienced an increase of 20.9% in just one year. Action, reaction. This rebound in high incomes explains some data that until now seemed unconnected. According to data of the “World Wealth Report 2026” prepared by Capgemini, the number of large assets in the country has also increased by 5.3% in the last year. That is, according to the data in that report, the 13,100 new millionaires that Spain added, could be the same ones that in recent years have been added to the highest salary range recorded by the Treasury. In Xataka | “I am a millionaire and I don’t know what to do with my life”: a millionaire is looking for ideas because money has not given him happiness Image | Unsplash (Ru Dur, Mads Eneqvist)

It took China a decade to stop coal through renewable megaprojects. It took him a year to reactivate it

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For years, China has been the absolute reference in renewable energies: they have managed drive down the prices of solar panelsride offshore wind farms or colossal photovoltaic parks flourish in such incredible places like the tibetan plateauwhere also is building mega hydroelectric plants. And its strong commitment to renewables is being noticed: after a decade, coal-fired electricity generation fell for the first time. However, in 2026 China has taken a step back from coal. what’s happening. Between January and May of this year, electricity generation from coal and gas has risen 3.4% compared to the previous year, according to official data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, from which Reuters echoesstanding at 2.53 billion kWh. The North American media collects estimates from S&P Global Energy and by Wood Mackenziewhich estimate the growth of coal-fired thermoelectric generation in China between 1.5% and 2%. The consulting firm Kpler estimates a 3% increase in coal consumption in the electricity sector, reaching 2.7 billion tons. Why it is important. The first reading of this reality is that the Chinese machinery does not stop, no matter what happens. And several things are happening that explain why the Asian giant resorts to an old acquaintance: El Niño is reducing rainfall in the hydroelectric dams of southwest China, so coal and gas have come to the rescue to compensate in those regions. On the other hand, the war in Iran and the consequent blockade of Hormuz have made access to liquefied gas more expensive and difficult, so China pulls coal and old pacts with Russia to optimize its use. On the other hand, renewable have grown at a slower rate than in 2025so something has to fill that gap in demand. And that something is coal. And this shift is important because China is the country that consumes the most electricity and more carbon dioxide emitted of the planet. In fact, India and China are responsible for more than 90% of the increase in emissions between 2015 and 2024, according to Carbon Brief. If China turns to coal, the global goal of reducing emissions becomes black. And also his promise to reach the emissions ceiling before 2030. Context. In 2020, China stepped on the accelerator in its energy transition towards renewables: fulfilled six years ahead of schedule its goal of 1,200 GW of wind and solar by 2030 and renewables by mid-2023 they surpassed to coal in installed capacity. In 2025 the share of coal in the generation mix fell to 51.4%, according to the think tank Agora Energyalthough this was also helped by the fact that the growth in electricity demand went from 7% in 2024 to 5% in 2025. In detail. This slowdown in the growth of renewables in 2026 also has several reasons: there has been less wind ( according to CREA has been the weakest in a decade), solar panels in the western provinces are being used less and fewer new panels have been installed than the previous year, partly due to the high installation base of the 2025 “boom” and partly due to the growing network congestion and forced discharge that affects wind, solar and even nuclear. On the other hand, in an interview for Inside Climate NewsCREA analyst Qi Qin gives an additional explanation: recently created coal plants: in her opinion, the rebound in coal is more due to the fact that China has commissioned too many new plants since 2024 than to geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Qin also points out that many of these plants operate under medium and long-term supply contracts that guarantee a minimum level of utilization, which places them in direct competition with renewables for limited electricity demand; In his own words, it is “a competition, and coal plants have an institutional advantage.” Yes, but. Although the rebound in coal in 2026 is currently a documented reality, it is important to highlight that it is more of a temporary alternative and that situations such as El Niño, drought, weak wind or the Hormuz blockade will pass, so this return is more of a plan B than a setback in its energy strategy. In fact, his own CREA May 2026 report underlines that, were it not for the exceptionally weak wind in those months, the growing supply of clean energy would probably have reduced, not increased, coal and gas generation. Of course, given the recent permits and construction of coal plants, the reality is that unless political measures are taken, coal will continue to have a say and will continue to be the lifesaver in emergencies. In Xataka | In its efforts to break all energy records, China is taking wind farms 100 kilometers offshore In Xataka | China manufactured more solar panels in one year than the planet can absorb. Now the market is devouring itself Cover | ダモリ and Chris LeBoutillier

Earning $180,000 a year is no longer enough to live in San Francisco. The AI ​​boom has eaten up the technological middle class

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In San Francisco you can earn $180,000 a year and not make ends meet easily. The AI ​​boom It is making what would be a huge salary anywhere else become mere pocket change, preventing entry into an impossible real estate market and a standard of living unattainable for the majority. Silicon Valley’s dream is to move. In it New York Times They tell the story of Katrine Razniak, a LinkedIn recruiter, and her partner Adam Woodbury, a software engineer. They have been in the city for five years and earn 180,000 and 185,000 dollars respectively, but despite this they are not able to get something as basic as an apartment for two. They spent months looking for a one-bedroom apartment to move in together on a budget of $5,000 a month, but it was impossible. They say they saw one for $5,200 and the waiting list already had 30 interested parties an hour after the open house. Buying a house is not an option either: The median home price is $1.7 million.. Given this situation, the couple is considering moving to another state where their salaries would allow them to live as an upper class. The new elite. While Katrine Razniak and her partner have to continue living in shared apartments, there is a new technological upper class that can afford to live comfortably in the city. They are the new millionaires of the AI ​​boom, employees of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, with stratospheric valuations and stock options. In October of last year, when OpenAI was worth $500 billionwe already talked about that the city’s real estate market was exploding. Employees began selling stocks and buying homes like there was no tomorrow, causing prices to skyrocket. There is no improvement in sight. Not even a year has passed and Sam Altman’s company worth 852 billion dollars and Anthropic aims for 900 billion. To put it in context, when Uber went public in 2019 it was worth 82 billion, we are talking about ten times that amount. The imminent IPO of the two companies, added to the recent IPO of SpaceX, aims to create new fortunes, until 20 new billionairesaccording to estimates. Working in technology is no longer a guarantee of success in San Francisco, now you have to work in AI (and own stocks). It’s not just the rent. The median salary in San Francisco is also higher than the rest of the country and has been growing over the past six years, going from $153,000 to $196,000 today. However, everything else has also gone up. Aside from housing, life in general isn’t exactly cheap either. According to data from Cost of Living Indexthe cost of living in San Francisco is 65.6% higher than the rest of the United States. Katrine Razniak says her monthly spending has grown by $1,000 without changing her lifestyle, causing her and her friends to replace restaurant outings with home-cooked dinners. The housing problem in San Francisco. Spain is going through a housing crisis unprecedented, but we are not the only country facing this situation; Canada, Germany, Mexico, China o The United States are also suffering from it. In San Francisco specifically, the housing market is absolutely broken. As we said, the average price of a home is 1.7 million dollars, more than triple the national average of $450,000, and the rent is already the most expensive in the entire country, even ahead of New York. The demand is very high and the construction of new buildings is stagnant and the little that there is at a decent price ($5,000 a month is decent) flies in a matter of seconds. Image | photoholgic in Unsplash In Xataka | Sleeping capsules for 800 euros a month: the housing shortage in San Francisco is reaching the extreme

Samsung earns 19 times more than a year ago. Investors have reacted by sinking the stock 7%

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Samsung has announced that its operating profit soared to 89.4 trillion won (58.4 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2026. That represents 1,810% more than what it achieved last year, that is, it multiplied by 19 the figure it achieved in the same period of 2025. The curious thing is that this achievement has not been of much use in the short term, because its shares have plummeted 6.9% according to indicate on Nikkei Asia. What has happened? A magical quarter. The operating profit for the second quarter of 2025 was just 4.7 trillion won, a very modest figure that can be explained simply: although it may seem incredible now, at that time the memory industry was going through a major crisis that would soon be completely revolutionized with the rise of AI and AI data centers. What was achieved in this second quarter of 2026 nevertheless remains colossal, and in fact Samsung has exceeded the operating profit of its last three years in a single quarter. Blessed damn memories. While users suffer one of the worst crises in history to purchase or upgrade our devicessemiconductor companies They are living a golden age. According to Citi Research, average selling prices for DRAM and NAND are up 44% and 53% respectively… this quarter alone. The demand for AI is no longer limited only to HBM modules, but also to conventional memory used in mobile phones, computers or business servers. But stocks plummet. Despite these results, the actions they fell around 7% on the South Korean stock market in the last 24 hours. Analysts in Nikkei indicated that this was a classic “sell on the news.” Investors had been anticipating these results for months, and in fact Samsung shares had already multiplied their value by five in the last year. Fall and then rise again? What has happened when this maximum was confirmed is that many of these investors have preferred to take profits before the demand for AI is not sustainable and there is an excess of supply in the memory sector. That does not seem likely in the short term, and the manufacturers themselves have already made it clear that demand It will be much higher than the supply at least until 2028. It therefore does not seem likely that Samsung shares will fall for a prolonged period, and if everything goes as it seems, it is reasonable to think that they will in fact continue to rise. Beware: this is not financial advice, it is simply what the market predicts. Market correction. Other companies in the sector also suffered significant falls. In the same session SK Hynix, its great rival, fell 6.1% after collapsing 11.2%. The KOSPI index – something like South Korea’s IBEX 35 – fell 4.9% and the impact was also felt in Japan. There Koxia fell more than 12% and SoftBank more than 4%. Backdrop. The crash comes just as SpaceX enter on the prestigious Nasdaq 100 and when the IPO of SK Hynix in the US is also imminent (scheduled for July 10). Not only that: just a week ago South Korean President Lee Jae Myung presented a public-private investment plan with Samsung and SK Hynix to expand chip manufacturing capacity in the country. Said project will theoretically have a billion dollars of funds (in Nikkei they talk about 800,000 million, the figures they dance) and can further boost the leading role of its two great bastions in the world of semiconductors. In Xataka | Samsung had been the absolute king of technology in South Korea for decades: SK Hynix has just surpassed it

While AEMET fears the second great heat wave of the year, meteorologists warn that “we have to prepare for harsher summers”

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At this point in July and with another heat wave showing its teeth starting next week, we can already say that high-latitude blockages are altering the forecast for the summer. And they alter it for the worse: meteorologists They take it for granted since the situation is going to be quite persistent. The data is worrying, but as meteorologist Mercedes Martín says that we have to “prepare for harsher summers” does not mean that “we have to resign ourselves.” “There has never been so much information available as now and, however, it is not always able to transform what we think, feel or make decisions,” explained to National Geographic Spain. And he is somewhat right “it is not to diminish the urgency of the climate crisis, but to prevent the message from always being trapped in the same tone of alarm.” But what exactly does that mean? There are reasons for alarm… Of course there are. Spain has warmed around 1.75 °C since 1961approximately double the global average, and summer is moving dangerously towards 2 °C. Since 1975 there have been registered 12 heat waves in Juneand half are from 2015 onwards: if between 1975 and 2000 there were two, between 2001 and 2025 there were ten. The March 2022 superclimate left PM10 peaks of 3,070 µg/m³ in the southeast. That is, about 68 times the WHO daily limit. And, if that were not enough, the Mediterranean is warming at an especially rapid rate (up to three times faster than other bodies of water). The problem is that we get used to this exceptionality very quickly. And yes, “problem” is the word. This has long since ceased to be something from 2100. June 2026 has been the second warmest June since 1961with an anomaly of 3.2 °C and the MoMo system estimated about 900 deaths attributable to heat that month alone. In France those figures have been much worse. That is, we are not talking about projections or statistics: we are talking about people dying every year. Our inability to translate climate data into accepted and acceptable policies costs lives. And what do we do? Because, as Martín points out, the permanent catastrophic tone saturates, tires and sometimes paralyzes more than it mobilizes. But, on the other hand, turning down the volume just when the numbers are getting worse (the worst fire year in three decades, the second warmest June, hundreds of deaths, etc…) can be read as subtracting urgency. The answer is simpler than it seems. Because, whether we like it or not, the big problem with climate communication has never been drama. It has been the enormous gap between knowing and doing. Although there are many things we can intuit, the truth is that climate change is putting us on an unprecedented path. These uncertainties are added to the difficulty of predicting anything related to the weather and generate the feeling of doing politics blindly. But it is not true: that France have 50 degree exits for the next few weeks is exactly the kind of thing we would expect. That figure will not be reached, it is true: but it contains almost everything. We just have to realize Image | Benbaso – Xataka In Xataka | Europe enjoys the cleanest skies in half a century. And that’s one of the reasons why this summer is burning up.

A year later, it has been such a success that her neighbors are already asking about her

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Solar electricity can be generated right under the wheels of a train without posing any risk. Switzerland has just confirmed this in a project that, after a year of having startedhas shown that the idea works, and is now beginning to arouse interest in France, Italy and Asia as well. What has happened? In April 2025, the startup Sun-Ways installed photovoltaic panels between the rails of a 100-meter section in the town of Buttes, in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, resting on the sleepers. They claim that it is the first installation of this type in the world, and its particularity is that the modules can be easily removed when maintenance work needs to be done on the track. Twelve months later, more than 11,000 trains have passed over the panels without any incidents being recorded. “We have achieved our objectives, both in terms of railway safety and electricity production,” explained Joseph Scuderi, founder of Sun-Ways, told Swissinfo. Why is it relevant? The main obstacle to renewables is no longer just technological, but also space. And it is necessary to find land to install panels without invading crop fieldsforests or protected landscapes begins to be a complicated task. Spain knows this debate well, with projects such as the Maestrazgo renewable macroparkwhich has generated friction due to its visual impact. This proposal presents an alternative taking advantage of an infrastructure that already exists and is hardly used for anything else. In detail. The energy generated is poured into the local electrical grid and, according to data provided by Sun-Ways, the installation has produced more than 16,000 kWh since May 2025, despite a one-month break due to snow and technical work. That figure is equivalent to the annual consumption of three or four households. Extrapolated to the nearly 5,320 kilometers of tracks that the country has, discounting tunnels and sections with little sun, Sun-Ways calculates that the entire Swiss railway network could generate up to 1,000 million kWh per year, around 2% of national electricity consumption. Between the lines. Two of the biggest fears surrounding this system have been dispelled during testing. The first, the accumulation of dirt on the panels. Scuderi had initially thought of cleaning them with a brush installed at the back of a train, but discovered that the very passage of the convoys, which travel up to 90 km/h on that section, generates a current of air that carries dust. The second, the possible dazzling of the train drivers, which has not materialized either. And TransN, the public operator that manages that line, has assured that it has not received any report from its staff in this regard. The company itself also confirms that there have been no conflicts with infrastructure, maintenance or train circulation. The other plus point: installation is quick. The panels, patented by Sun-Ways, are placed using a machine developed together with the railway company Scheuchzer, capable of laying up to 300 meters of panels per hour, according to collect Electrek. And when it is necessary to remove them to repair a track or change a sleeper, disassembling a module with three panels and six meters in length takes about ten minutes, according to reports. detailed Scuderi. The pending challenge. Julien Pouget, professor at the Valais University School of Applied Sciences (HES-SO), warns that transporting the electricity generated over long distances continues to be complicated, since current technology does not allow it to be done efficiently in sections greater than 500 meters, which is why a specific electrical architecture is needed to raise the voltage, as explained to the Swiss newspaper 24Heures. Together with other HES-SO researchers and Scuderi himself, Pouget intends to present a possible solution to this problem at a conference in Paris next August. And now what. The project has caused interest internationally. And the French railway company SNCF, which manages some 28,000 km of tracks and has set the goal of covering 20% ​​of its energy consumption with solar energy by 2030, signed in February a technical cooperation agreement with Sun-Ways. In Italy, the startup is in contact with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana to organize a pilot before the end of the year, while in South Korea already there is an approved government project near the Osong station, and in Indonesia a solar engineering company is closely following the results obtained in Switzerland. Scuderi, for his part, hopes to shorten the three-year trial period set by the Swiss Federal Transport Office and obtain final approval as soon as possible, allowing, he says, his partners abroad to also advance. Images | Jean-Christophe Bott and Sun-Ways In Xataka | Spain produces so much solar energy that it is the envy of Europe. And even so, 70% of what you consume matters

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