Scientists

Babies who are exposed to dogs and cats during foetal development and early childhood have a lower risk of food allergies up to the age of three, according to a Japanese study published in PLoS ONE. Previous work has focused on the beneficial effect of dogs in this period, while this analysis, based on retrospective data from more than 66,000 children, also includes other pets such as cats and hamsters. According to the study, exposure to dogs is associated with a lower incidence of egg, milk and nut allergies, while contact with cats is linked to a lower incidence of egg, wheat and soy allergies. However, exposure to hamsters is associated with a higher incidence of nut allergy.

A health impact study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) concludes that implementing green axes throughout the city of Barcelona would lead to a "considerable reduction" in the mental health problems suffered by the adult population and in the direct and indirect costs associated with them. The study is published in the journal Environment International.

A sperm donor in the Netherlands has allegedly fathered more than 550 children in at least 13 clinics in the Netherlands and other countries. One of the mothers of these children and the Donorkind Foundation (Netherlands) have sued him. In Spain, there is a national registry of gamete and pre-embryo donors, and the law on assisted human reproduction techniques does not allow more than six babies to be born from the same donor. 

More than two thirds of Spanish citizens think that artificial intelligence presents a very high or high risk that we will be manipulated with our data by companies or governments. However, just over a third believe that artificial intelligence will have an impact on improving the quality of public services and companies. These are some of the results gathered in the 2022 edition of the Survey of Social Perception of Science and Technology published today by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), carried out among more than 6,000 people with face-to-face interviews in the 17 autonomous communities.

Scientists at the University of Granada question whether regular exercise has cognitive benefits as previously thought. Their work, published in Nature Human Behaviour, has analysed 24 meta-analyses and 109 primary studies on the subject.

The current government delegate in Galicia, José Manuel Miñones Conde, will be the new Minister of Health, as announced on Monday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, from La Moncloa. Miñones replaces Carolina Darias, head of the PSOE list in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the elections on 28 May. Sánchez has also announced that Héctor Gómez, former PSOE parliamentary spokesman, will be the new Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, replacing Reyes Maroto, the PSOE's candidate for mayor of Madrid.

The International Athletics Federation has decided to ban transgender athletes who have transitioned after puberty from participating in international women's competitions. Although there are currently no trans athletes competing on the international circuit, the Federation "decided to prioritise the fairness and integrity of women's competition before inclusion", according to the statement issued. At a press conference, its president, Sebastian Coe, said: "We will be guided by the science that will inevitably develop in the coming years around physical performance and male advantage. As more evidence becomes available, we will review our position.

A meta-analysis analysing 98 published clinical trials highlights the lack of scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of commonly used analgesic drugs for acute low back pain (such as anti-inflammatory drugs, paracetamol and opioids, among others). The study, published in The BMJ, includes data from more than 15,000 people. It concludes that there is "considerable uncertainty" about the efficacy of these drugs in reducing the severity of non-specific acute low back pain and calls on doctors and patients to use them with caution.

Researchers in the United States have tested a new technique to select sperm and thereby increase the chances that the embryo will be of either sex. The proven efficacy is around 80 %. Although some countries such as the United States allow this type of procedure, in Spain it is prohibited except in cases of prevention of diseases linked to sex chromosomes. The authors of the article state that sperm selection is more ethically acceptable than embryo selection. The results are published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the Abel Prize to Luis A. Caffarelli, a native of Argentina with US-Argentine nationality, for his "fundamental contributions to the theory of the regularity of nonlinear partial differential equations". Considered the Nobel Prize of mathematics, the award recognises work over an entire career - unlike the Fields Medal, which is awarded for a result under the age of 40. Caffarelli has become the first Latin American to receive this award.