Rovira i Virgili University

At least two hominin species - Homoerectus and Paranthropus boisei- coexisted in Kenya's Turkana Basin around 1.5 million years ago, a study published in Science confirms. The authors describe the first physical evidence of this coexistence in the form of footprints, found at several sites in the area.

The restriction of sugar during the first 1,000 days of life, starting from gestation, may protect against diabetes and hypertension in adulthood, according to a study published in Science. The research uses data from sugar rationing implemented in the United Kingdom after World War II. The findings highlight the long-term benefits of reduced sugar intake during early development.

A study conducted in Spain and five other European countries shows that exposure to mixtures of endocrine disruptors during pregnancy is associated with metabolic health problems in children. The research, published in JAMA Network Open, followed more than 1,100 mother-child pairs between 2003 and 2016 and found a correlation between measures of metabolic dysfunction in children aged 6-11 years, and their prenatal exposure to chemicals such as metals or organochlorine pesticides, among others. According to the authors, these results could be related to the current increase in metabolic syndrome across the lifespan, which results in an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. 

Following the agreement reached a few months ago between the European Parliament and Council, in today’s plenary session the European Parliament has approved a provisional political agreement with EU countries that includes new requirements to improve air quality by 2030. The agreement sets stricter targets and limits for several pollutants that have a serious impact on health, including particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) and SO2 (sulfur dioxide). Before being published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the law now must be adopted by the Council. EU countries will have two years to implement the new standards

Researchers have developed a new method to produce a heat-resistant plastic from renewable plant materials. They also claim that it is easily recyclable, decomposing into methanol, which would allow it to enter the circular economy. The research is published in the journal Science. 

Switching some of the world's red meat consumption to forage fish - such as sardines, herring or anchovies - would reduce the number of deaths by between 500,000 and 750,000 by 2050, according to a study published in BMJ Global Health. The authors used data projections for that year for both red meat consumption and forage fish catches in 137 countries, substituting one for the other without exceeding the supply limit for the latter. The research estimates that sardines, herring and anchovies could replace 8% of the world's red meat, which would also serve to reduce the prevalence of diet-related diseases.

A study based on data from the Environmental Justice Atlas says that 81 women were murdered worldwide for their environmental activism: one of them in Spain, 7 in Colombia, 5 in Honduras and 4 in Peru, among other countries. The study, published in Nature Sustainability, says that violence against women defenders is concentrated in conflicts around mining, agribusiness and industrial projects in the Global South. The first author of the study is Dalena Tran, a researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. 

A few weeks ago, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that exposure to bisphenol A through food is a risk to human health. The agency recommended a much lower tolerable daily intake dose than it had its own previous recommendations. In this explainer, we review key facts and documents to cover this issue--which will continue to make the headlines in months and years to come.  

A study published in PLOS ONE reveals that more than 2,600 bacteria live on average on each floating microfibre in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to 195 bacterial species. This waste from plastic pollution, textiles and fishing activities, once colonised, smells like food and is consumed by marine animals. Among them, pathogenic Vibrio species have been found, a bacterium that can be a threat to bathing and seafood consumption.

A study in Spanish children, with follow-up from pregnancy to adolescence, has found an association between children's exposure to pesticides and fungicides and earlier breast development in girls and genital development in boys. The work has been carried out by the University of Granada (UGR), the Institute for Biosanitary Research (ibs.GRANADA) and CIBERESP (ISCIII).