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A study led by the University of the Balearic Islands proposes a mathematical model to understand quantitatively the impact of ideologies on the coexistence of various languages. The more groups of people with different linguistic preferences mix, the more challenging it becomes for different languages to coexist within the same society, say the authors, whose study is published in the scientific journal Chaos. The team says this model could be useful to design policies aimed at preserving minority languages.

A review of more than 100 meta-analyses and nearly 2500 studies has analysed the use of screens by children and young people and the consequences for their learning and health. Their conclusions are that, in general, the effects are small and vary according to the type of use and context. The results are published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

The absence of visits from friends and family is associated with a higher mortality rate, according to an analysis of data from more than 450,000 people followed for more than a decade in the UK. The study, published in BMC Medicine, focussed on five indicators of loneliness, and concluded that having no visits from family or friends was associated with higher all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality. According to the authors, this kind of study helps to identify at-risk populations and measures of social connectedness that could provide the most benefit.

An international study involving ISGlobal in Barcelona has studied almost one million people and concludes that having a CT scan before the age of 22 increases the risk of developing blood tumours in later years by 16%. According to the authors, who publish the results in the journal Nature Medicine, "in terms of absolute risk this means that, for every 10,000 young people who undergo a CT scan, we can expect to see around 1-2 cases of cancer in the 2-12 years following the examination.

A Chinese research team has reported the birth of a crab-eating macaque that is a chimera: an animal generated from the mixing of embryonic cells from two different individuals; in this case, from the same species, according to the journal Cell. Until now, this type of chimera had only been developed with rodents. This is the first time it has been achieved in non-human primates.

An attribution study by Climate Central concludes that from November 2022 to October 2023, global temperatures will set a new record, exceeding pre-industrial levels by more than 1.3°C above pre-industrial levels. This would be the warmest 12-month period on record to date. The analysis shows that during this period, 5.7 billion people were exposed to at least 30 days of above-average temperatures, including most of the Spanish population.

A team of researchers has managed to combine more than seven synthetic chromosomes made in the laboratory in a single yeast cell. This involves developing for the first time a eukaryotic cell with more than 50% synthetic DNA, which survives and replicates in a similar way to wild yeast strains. The results, which are part of the Synthetic Yeast Genome Project (Sc2.0), are published in the journal Cell.

A study has analysed the association between ambient temperature and hospital mortality from respiratory diseases in the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona between 2006 and 2019. Their results indicate that high summer temperatures were responsible for 16% and 22.1% of all fatal hospitalisations for respiratory diseases in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. According to the team, led by ISGlobal, "unless effective adaptation measures are taken in hospitals, global warming could exacerbate mortality in patients admitted for respiratory diseases during the summer period". The research is published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health - Europe.

A neuroprosthesis that electrically stimulates an area of the spinal cord of a man with Parkinson's disease improved his mobility and balance, according to results presented in Nature Medicine. The 62-year-old patient had severe difficulties walking and frequent falls, despite trying other treatments. After trials in non-human primates, this is the first time this technology has been tested in a human being, who has now been using the neuroprosthesis about eight hours a day for two years. 

A research group has developed an innovative system that combines virtual reality and a brain-machine interface to probe the inner thoughts of rats. The results of their research, published in Science, suggest that, much like humans, animals can think about places and objects that are not right in front of them, using their thoughts to imagine walking to a location or moving a remote object to a specific point.