Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Current carbon capture technologies to mitigate climate change only work well when applied to concentrated sources, such as power plant exhaust gases. An international team of researchers has developed a new method using a special porous material capable of capturing CO₂ directly from the air, despite its low concentration. According to the authors, who publish their results in the journal Nature, this technology ‘represents a significant step towards clean air’.

US researchers have published a model showing that ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars could allow photosynthetic life to develop. Its thickness and composition would attenuate harmful ultraviolet radiation, but allow sufficient visible light to pass through. The work is published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

A review published in the journal Science Advances examines how the expansion of marine aquaculture - the farming of aquatic organisms in the ocean - can lead to risks, such as degradation of the marine environment. The study is part of a special issue of the journal dedicated to this growing industry.

An international team of researchers has reconstructed the first European seed dispersal network based on a literature review. The data indicate that extinction threats and demographic changes in the animals that disperse them have resulted in 30% of plant species having their dispersers listed as 'high concern.' The lack of seed dispersal could hinder the recovery of declining plant populations. The authors publish their results in the journal Science. 

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’. 

The increase in human life expectancy may be slowing down, according to an analysis of data from nine regions around the world, including Spain, over the past three decades published today in Nature Aging. The accelerated rates of increase in life expectancy observed in the 20th century have slowed, especially after 2010: children born in recent years have a relatively low probability of reaching 100 years of age. The authors suggest that there is no evidence that a radical extension of life expectancy has occurred or will occur in the 21st century.

The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAs, small RNA fragments that do not contain instructions for making proteins but instead participate in the regulation of gene expression. Their role is fundamental in processes such as cell differentiation, and their alteration can influence diseases like cancer.

International research in which CREAF is participating estimates that more than 1,300 bird species will disappear over the next two centuries, which is more than double the number of extinctions recorded to date - 610 species have disappeared in the last 130,000 years. The study, published in the journal Science, shows that, for island endemics, the proportional losses have been and will be even greater. The authors warn that when a species becomes extinct, its role in the ecosystem may disappear with it.

A study has analyzed changes in the Earth's average global surface temperature over the past 485 million years and has discovered oscillations ranging from 11°C to 36°C, representing a variation of up to 25°C. The research concludes that temperatures during the Phanerozoic underwent more fluctuations than previously thought and shows a correlation between CO₂ and changes in Earth's temperature. The article, published in the journal Science, combines thousands of data points with a modeling method used for weather forecasting.

A study carried out in China has analyzed tissues from 461 fur animals, mostly farm-raised. They found 125 virus species, 39 of which presented a high risk of interspecies transmission. According to the authors, who publish the results in the journal Nature, “there is a need for more extensive and regular surveillance to assess the public health risks that could result from fur animal farming”.