Polytechnic University of Valencia

The power outage that occurred after midday on Monday has left millions of people in the Iberian peninsula and some parts of southern France without electricity. According to Red Eléctrica, at 11:15 (peninsular time) on Tuesday, the peninsular electricity system was back to normal. ‘After surpassing the morning peak demand at 8:35 am with 28,677 MW, the night peak is expected at 21:10 pm with 31,200 MW’, they indicate.

Two independent teams have developed photonic computing chips - which use photons instead of electrons - that could help cope with the increased energy demanded by AI-based technologies. The work is published in two papers in the journal Nature. ‘Photonic computing has been decades in the making, but these demonstrations could mean that we can finally harness the power of light to build more powerful and energy-efficient systems,’ notes a piece accompanying the research in the same journal.

According to a modelling study published in Nature Cities, the frequency of some types of fires in cities is expected to increase in the coming decades as a result of climate change. This increase would be seen in vehicle fires and in those that occur outdoors. The conclusions are based on data from more than 2,800 cities in 20 countries and could be useful for future urban planning and emergency response strategies.

Meeting in the city of Windoek (Namibia), the plenary of the IPBES - Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - has ratified two new reports: the Nexus Assessment and the Transformative Change Assessment. Three of their authors explained the main findings and the changes they propose at a briefing organised by SMC Spain.

In Valencian municipalities such as Chiva, buildings have collapsed, and in Paiporta there have been evacuations due to the risk of collapse following the passage of the DANA on Tuesday 29 October. What risks do the buildings that withstood the flood present? What measures should be taken in the short, medium and long term? 

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 to researchers John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for discovering the foundations that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks. Hinton for discovering the foundational basis that enables machine learning with artificial neural networks. This technology, inspired by the structure of the brain, is behind what we now call ‘artificial intelligence’. 

More frequent and severe wildfires increase the temperature of the exposed land surface one year after the fire, according to an analysis of forest satellite data collected from 2003 to 2016. In recent decades, large wildfires have doubled or tripled their average size in eastern Spain, Canada, and western United States, as noted in the research published in Nature. The authors call for consideration of these effects on surface temperature when managing forests.

The frequency and magnitude of extreme wildfires appear to have doubled in the last 20 years. Moreover, the six most extreme years for these events have occurred since 2017, according to a paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution in which the authors used satellite data from 2003 to 2023. 

The European Commission will renew the authorisation of the pesticide glyphosate in the European Union for 10 years, subject to "new restrictions and conditions". Following EU procedure, the announcement was made after member states failed to reach the majority required to renew or refuse approval.

The fire that originated on August 15 between the Tenerife municipalities of Arafo and Candelaria, in the northeast of the island, is advancing on several fronts and has affected more than 13,000 hectares, although the firefighting services have stabilized it in some points. The people evacuated in the last days have been thousands. As confirmed by the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, the fire has been caused.