Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

ESA's ExoMars and Mars Express missions have for the first time detected ice near the equator of Mars, specifically in the Tharsis volcanoes, an area of the planet where it was thought impossible to exist. According to the researchers, who publish the results in the journal Nature Geoscience, such findings are important for habitability and future human exploration. 

The Science group is simultaneously publishing four papers (two in the journal Science, one in Science Immunology and one in Science Translational Medicine) that include advances in a sequential vaccination strategy for an effective HIV vaccine. The methods employed aim to obtain broad-spectrum neutralising antibodies and one of the proposals is already in clinical trials. 

Genetic forms of Alzheimer's are considered to be those in which certain variants of a gene inevitably lead to the disease over time. Until now, only rare alterations in three genes were considered as such. A group of researchers led by the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona has proposed a new, much more frequent form. After analysing data from more than three thousand donated brains and clinical data from more than ten thousand patients, they found that almost all people who carry two copies of the ApoE4 variant in the ApoE gene, which was previously only considered a risk factor, also end up developing the disease.They publish the results in the journal Nature Medicine.  

Two-thirds of biological conservation actions improve biodiversity or slow its decline, a meta-analysis claims. The study highlights the effectiveness of interventions focused on invasive species control, habitat loss reduction and restoration, and protected areas. The article, published in the journal Science, brings together the findings of 186 previous studies.   

Two independent research teams have managed to regenerate brain circuits in mice using neurons cultivated from rat stem cells. Today, both studies were published in the journal Cell. The research, in which chimeras of different species were generated, delve into how brain tissue forms and present new opportunities for restoring lost brain function due to diseases and aging.

A "large fraction" of groundwater samples are contaminated by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and would be considered unacceptable for drinking water, a study claims. The analysis, published by Nature Geoscience, brings together data from 273 studies of surface and groundwater samples from around the world since 2004. The exact proportion of samples exceeding the thresholds varies according to the standards considered. For example, 69% of groundwater samples with no known source of contamination exceed the Canadian threshold, but the figure is only 6% if the EU criterion for the sum of all PFASs is considered.

Eighty-two percent of EU farm subsidies articulated through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) financed high-emission livestock production in 2013, according to a study published in Nature Food. The analysis, which is based on data from 1986 to 2013 - the latest year for which records are available - highlights that 82% went to animal products in the following proportions: 38% directly and 44% for feed production. The authors note that food of animal origin is associated with 84 % of the greenhouse gases emitted by EU food production. 

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. 

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. 

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.