Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

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SMC participants

Virologist (senior scientist) at the Animal Health Research Centre (CISA, INIA-CSIC)

Researcher at the Instituto Cajal, CSIC

Professor of Energy Economics at Durham University (UK) and CSIC research professor

Senior Scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO-CSIC

Head of the Epidemiology and Environmental Health research group at CISA, INIA-CSIC.

Senior scientist at the Institute for Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IIBB-CSIC), principal investigator at CIBERSAM and head of the Systems Neuropharmacology group at IDIBAPS-Fundació Clínic.

Research Professor at the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC)

 

Director of the Institute of Neurosciences, a joint centre of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and the CSIC

CSIC Research professor

Researcher at the Mixed Institute for Biodiversity Research (IMIB), CSIC-University of Oviedo-Principality of Asturias

Contents related to this centre
Births

Work by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that by 2050, more than three quarters (155 out of 204) of countries will not have fertility rates high enough to maintain their population size. The percentage will rise to 97% by the year 2100. The authors warn that national governments must plan for the threats these changes will pose to the economy, food security, health, the environment and geopolitical security. The findings are published in the journal The Lancet. 

basura

In 2022, 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated worldwide, a figure 82% higher than the 34 million tonnes recorded in 2010, according to a United Nations report. The 2022 figure represents an average of 7.8 kilograms per capita per year worldwide, compared to 19.6 kg in Spain. Only 22.3% of this amount of global e-waste was documented as properly collected and recycled, says the Global E-waste Monitor 2024. 

Antropoceno

According to a report published yesterday in The New York Times, most of the members of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy had rejected the proposal to declare the beginning of the Anthropocene, thus showing their opposition to the idea that this is a new geological epoch. Other sources told El País that the result of the vote was not formally confirmed. If this proposal is defeated, the process could be restarted from scratch at a later date.

ultraprocesados

Eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to a higher risk of health problems, according to an umbrella review of 45 previous meta-analyses, involving almost 10 million people in total. The research, published in The BMJ, finds direct associations between exposure to ultra-processed foods and 32 health parameters. The strongest evidence links this exposure to cardiometabolic health problems, mental disorders and overall mortality.

Epigenetic

Epigenetic editing is a technique that aims to alter gene expression without the need to modify the DNA sequence, as gene editing techniques do. In this way, Italian researchers have succeeded in silencing the PCSK9 gene in mice, thereby reducing cholesterol levels by half for at least a year. According to the authors, and assuming further evaluation is needed, their platform "could lay the foundations for the development of this type of therapy". The results are published in the journal Nature.

atún

Mercury concentrations in tuna have remained stable between 1971 and 2022, even though emissions of this metal from human activities have decreased over the same period, a study says. 'Aggressive' emission reduction targets are needed to achieve measurable declines in concentrations of this pollutant, which is toxic for human health, the authors write in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The Minimata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty that entered into force in 2017, bans new mercury mines and includes provision to reduce mercury use, but mercury has already accumulated in the ocean 'for centuries', the article says.

Bacterias

Cresomycin, a new synthetic molecule, exhibits robust efficacy against multiple evolutionarily divergent forms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to a study published today in Science. By structurally analyzing how antibiotics bind to ribosomes of various bacterial species, researchers developed a new antibiotic molecule that adopts the exact conformation necessary for ribosomal binding.

cerdos

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported that on January 29th, Spanish authorities notified a possible case of human infection with swine flu virus A(H1N1)v in a worker from a Catalan pig farm. After being diagnosed with bronchitis, subsequent laboratory analyses confirmed it as swine flu A(H1N1)v. The ECDC informs that the patient has fully recovered, and to date, no new cases have been detected among close contacts or among the worker's colleagues at the farm.

sequía

In 2010, nearly 1,000 sub-basins around the world were facing water shortages. But when considering not only water quantity, but also water quality, this figure rises to more than 2,500, according to a study published in Nature Communications. By 2050, the authors estimate that up to a third of sub-basins will face severe shortages of clean water, which could affect 3 billion people. Southern China, Europe, North America and Africa will be the most affected regions.

Mars

Fifteen years ago, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express probe revealed the presence of large deep deposits on Mars, in an area called the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF), located at its equator. Now, new data from the probe's MARSIS radar indicate that the deposits are deeper than previously thought - up to 3.7 kilometers thick - and include both ice-rich and dusty layers. The results are published in Geophysical Research Letters.