The arrival of thousands of migrants in Ceuta at the end of July has led to the emergence of messages portraying these people as a health threat. However, the scientific evidence points to exactly the opposite: those arriving in our country are, generally speaking, in good health, and it is they – not the local population – who are at greatest risk of falling ill, due to the conditions in which they are forced to live. In the face of fear and misinformation, the best defence is transparent, data-driven information.

This week, Mark Zuckerberg’s company has agreed to introduce measures to protect teenagers on Instagram and Facebook and to pay up to 18,000 million dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by dozens of US states. The response is far from unanimous among child welfare organisations, who believe that the measures are unlikely to protect young people, given that they can be overridden by parents, will only be monitored for five years and are, to a large extent, conditional on behaviour. With these measures, responsibility is shifted onto families: if children and teenagers remain hooked, it will be their fault.

Various studies show that extreme heat is already influencing the decisions of international tourists, who are cutting short their summer holidays in the Mediterranean and opting for coolcations in search of destinations with milder climates. Climate adaptation is becoming a priority and, in the face of increasingly intense heatwaves, may boost the appeal of spring and early autumn.

As discussions around a possible “Blue COP31” gain momentum, a recent analysis published in Nature Portfolio warns that record ocean heat, intensifying marine heatwaves and accelerating sea-level rise are beginning to challenge international systems designed for a far more stable climate reality. The analysis proposes several priority actions to integrate the ocean more directly into international climate governance.

Why do eclipses occur? Is the Earth’s shadow responsible for the phases of the Moon? Is the Moon full during a solar eclipse? These are by no means obvious questions, yet they are extremely useful in teaching astronomy for identifying the obstacles we encounter when thinking about celestial mechanics, regardless of age or educational background. Here are several suggestions for untangling the most common misconceptions and understanding the cosmic dance of the stars as seen from Earth.

Research into the reactions of people who have witnessed total eclipses reveals that they are transformative experiences. All accounts speak of the amazement of seeing something that should not happen, but does. When the stars play hide-and-seek for a few minutes, what happens to the spectators is much more than the sum of orbits and analytical mechanics; it is emotion.

The power of communication to represent violence against women has been on the table for scientific and social debate for more than two decades. However, after 25 years of manuals on how to address gender-based violence in journalism, inadequate coverage persists, still romanticising it or simplifying its approach as emotional violence.

On 22 August, the UN officially declared famine in Gaza, defined as an extreme situation of food insecurity in which there is insufficient access to food to survive, leading to high rates of malnutrition, disease and mortality. The Spanish Society of Epidemiology explains how this situation is technically assessed, as well as the implications of the declaration.

Extreme wildfires are becoming more frequent and causing greater environmental and social impact. Current policies that prioritise fire suppression have not only failed to prevent this situation from arising, but  actually made it worse. The report Changing Wildfires - Policy Options for a Fire-literate and Fire-adapted Europe,  released by the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC), addresses this issue by outlining eight policy options. The report's key recommendations focus on  putting landscape management first —by regulating biomass structure and land use — and empowering local communities.

Trump's measures are directly affecting trans and non-binary people in science. This uncomfortable mirror is not unique to the United States. International studies have documented how the LGTBIQA+ community in science experiences less safe working environments, greater discrimination and more frequent abandonment of academic careers. Better science will only be possible if it protects and celebrates all the people who make it possible.