University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU)

Two decades of work with numerous setbacks, a budget of more than 10 billion dollars and a journey of 1.5 million kilometres to provide us with images of the universe in unprecedented detail have led Science magazine to choose the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as the science breakthrough of 2022.

Bacterial infections were the second leading cause of death in 2019. This is according to research published in The Lancet, which estimates that one in eight deaths that year was associated with bacterial pathogens. Five of these - S. aureus, E. coli, S. pneumoniae, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa - accounted for more than half of all bacteria-related deaths.

Early this morning, the Spanish air navigation manager restricted a strip of airspace due to the possible passage of the Chinese space object CZ-5B, which had detached from the Long-March 5B rocket. The fragment finally fell over the Pacific Ocean and Spanish airspace is no longer restricted.

The Spanish Confederation of Scientific Societies (COSCE) has just published a report, submitted to the EU, which proposes and compares different possibilities for reform of the regulatory framework for genome editing techniques.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 has been awarded to Barry Sharpless and Morten Meldal for laying the foundations of click chemistry, which quickly and efficiently joins molecular building blocks; and to Carolyn Bertozzi, who pioneered bioorthogonal reactions, which use this technique inside living organisms without altering the chemistry of the cell.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) safety committee (PRAC) has recommended a change to the information on codeine-ibuprofen combination medicines to include "a warning about serious harm, including death, especially when taken for prolonged periods at higher than recommended doses". The PRAC reviewed several cases of renal, gastrointestinal and metabolic toxicity that had been reported in association with cases of abuse and dependence on these drugs.

Research published in Science proposes that an ancient moon of Saturn, which they have named Chrysalis (Chrysalis), may be responsible for Saturn's distinctive rings. According to the authors, the moon orbited around the gas giant for billions of years, but about 160 million years ago, it became unstable and moved too close to the planet, breaking apart under Saturn's tidal forces and forming the planet's rings. According to the research, Saturn's current tilt may also be related to the destruction of this moon.

Although gold is chemically inert, i.e. it resists discolouration and corrosion, its alloys are less resistant. This type of metal in the form of gold leaf is present in the Alhambra in Granada. Two researchers from the University of Granada analyse in the journal Science Advances what causes this corrosion and why purple-coloured nanospheres have appeared.  

A study published in the journal Nature has found that ancient human populations consumed milk during adulthood long before we were able to digest lactose beyond infancy. The genetic variant that allows us to do so was not increased in frequency by milk consumption, but by famine and infection, according to their hypothesis.

An analysis published in Nature Astronomy quantifies the risk to human life posed by impacts of space rocket fragments on Earth, which are more likely to occur in the southern part of the planet.