Journalists

New estimates published in Science claim that under the most optimistic scenarios, glaciers will globally lose much more mass and contribute more to sea level rise than current estimates, including those published in the latest IPCC report.

A study has analysed the citation patterns of 45 million scientific articles and nearly 4 million patents over the last 60 years. Its conclusion is that scientific and technological innovation is proportionally less and less disruptive, although this characteristic remains constant in absolute terms. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Procrastination in a sample of more than 3,500 students was associated with the development of both mental and physical health problems nine months later, according to a study conducted at several universities in Sweden. The results are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Constant checking of social media activity in early adolescence is associated with changes in the brain's sensitivity to rewards and punishments. This is the conclusion of a study involving 169 12- and 13-year-old students in the United States with Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat profiles, according to JAMA Pediatrics.

Physical activity is associated with significant reductions in depressive symptoms in children and adolescents, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Pediatrics that included 21 studies with 2,400 participants. The largest decreases in these symptoms were found in those aged 13 years and older.

An international study led by Spanish researchers has succeeded in reconstructing the ancestors of the CRISPR-Cas system present in extinct bacteria from up to 2.6 billion years ago. The reconstructed systems work and are more flexible than the current ones. According to the authors, this could open up new avenues for gene editing. The results are published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced today at a press conference that in view of the increase in cases of covid-19 in China following the end of the covid zero policy, Spanish airports are going to require passengers arriving from that country to take a negative test for covid-19 or a complete vaccination schedule. The first flight affected by health control measures will arrive at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport at 18:00 on 31 December.

Since records have been kept, the year we are about to end has been the warmest in Spain. Added to this is a severe meteorological drought and the numerous and powerful wildfires that we record in summer. Adapting our society to these extreme events as a consequence of climate change should be a top priority.

The end of the zero covid policy in China is leading to an increase in the number of cases and has revived the question of whether the epidemiological situation in China could favour the emergence of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.