Scientists

Toddlers' screen time has a negative correlation with their language skills, according to a study published in PLoS ONE. However, the use of educational content and screen time in the company of adults show a positive association with language skills. The study included nearly 1,900 children between one and four years old from 19 Latin American countries.

Thousands of people congregate at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona. By analysing camera images from the Plaza Consistorial during the chupinazo in four editions, a team has modelled what the movement of this human tide looks like. The physical theory of dense crowds can be applied in other circumstances, say the authors, who include scientists from the University of Navarra. In their paper published in Nature, they offer a strategy to anticipate these movements in real time and help prevent events such as avalanches.

The report Participation of women scientists as expert sources in the media: motivations and obstacles, carried out by FECYT's SMC España with the Gureiker research group (UPV/EHU) analyses the data from a survey, a pioneer in Spain, on the factors that influence the media participation of scientists as expert voices. All the people contacted as information sources by the SMC Spain team were surveyed over a three-month period, starting in March 2024. Of the sources consulted, 43.91% were women and 56.09% were men. However, of the total number of people who accepted SMC's proposals and appeared as sources, 37.66% were women and 62.34% were men. The greater media exposure of male scientists benefits them for future interventions. In terms of barriers that prevent researchers from speaking in the media, lack of time due to family responsibilities affects female scientists (22.95 % of respondents) more than male scientists (10 %).  

A paper published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine has analyzed new cases of lung cancer worldwide during the year 2022. While the incidence in women continues to approach that of men, the decrease in tobacco consumption in many countries causes the proportion of cases in non-smokers to increase. This increase is associated with air pollution, especially in countries such as China. 

Results from a cohort study of more than 100,000 people reveal the strong and persistent association of headache diagnoses with attempted and completed suicide. The authors suggest that behavioural health assessment and treatment may be important for these patients. The paper is published today in the journal JAMA Neurology. 

A multidisciplinary team of US researchers has analyzed the presence of micro- and nanoplastics in 52 human cadavers between 2016 and 2024. The concentrations of these particles were higher in the brain than in the liver or kidneys. They were also higher in the brains of people with dementia, although the researchers acknowledge that causality cannot be established. The results are published in the journal Nature Medicine. 

The Saharan dust intrusion that reached Spain and other European countries in March 2022 posed no risk to human health in terms of exposure to radioactivity, according to an analysis of samples collected by citizens in Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. The dust came from southern Algeria, says the analysis published in Science Advances, and contained plutonium isotopes characteristic of nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. and the Soviet Union - not from French tests in the Reggane area in the 1960s.

Populist movements often pit people against political elites, but they can also target academic elites. Science-related populism pits ‘ordinary people’ and common sense against academic elites and scientific knowledge. A report published by FECYT analyses this phenomenon in Spain for the first time. Science Media Centre España organised an informative meeting with its authors to explain the main results.

World Cancer Day is celebrated on 4 February. Behind the cases of this disease there are people who, although they have overcome it, bear the burden of the diagnosis years after the end of their treatment. Survivors demand the right to be forgotten so as not to suffer financial, employment and social discrimination.

The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) has produced a report that compiles the results of a pioneering survey in the country on populist attitudes related to science. The research explores, among other issues, the consumption of scientific information, public perceptions of the role of science in politics and society, the benefits of science, attitudes towards technologies such as vaccines and issues such as climate change.