The devastating floods in Valencia have reminded us of the crucial role of language in journalism: in the maelstrom of information following the catastrophe, numerous articles have resorted to the expression “natural disaster”, as if the tragedy were a sort of inescapable sentence dictated by nature. The idea that nature acts with intent or malice in causing suffering is a concept that distorts our understanding of these events.

In Valencian municipalities such as Chiva, buildings have collapsed, and in Paiporta there have been evacuations due to the risk of collapse following the passage of the DANA on Tuesday 29 October. What risks do the buildings that withstood the flood present? What measures should be taken in the short, medium and long term? 

Next Monday sees the start of COP29 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a summit marked by Donald Trump's victory as president of the United States on Tuesday. His denial of climate change and his commitment to fossil fuels during his previous term in office will weigh down a meeting from which no major agreements are expected and from which experts are calling for greater ambition. 

Until now, memories have been explained by the activity of neurons that respond to learning events and control recall. A study published in Nature changes this theory by showing that non-neuronal cells in the brain called astrocytes - star-shaped cells - also store memories and work in concert with clusters of connected neurons called engrams to regulate the storage and retrieval of memories.

For the second time, Donald Trump has won yesterday's US presidential election. The Republican leader returns to the White House four years later, after a first term in office with climate policies that ran counter to scientific evidence. Among other controversial measures, he abandoned the Paris Agreement and repeatedly denied the existence of climate change. 

Unmarried people - whether single, divorced/separated or widowed - have a higher risk of having depressive symptoms than married people, says an international study. The paper, published in Nature Human Behaviour, includes data from more than 100,000 adults in China, Indonesia, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, the UK, the USA and the UK.

A study by a team from the ClimaMeter project claims that the intensification of rainfall from the DANA that devastated Valencia and other regions on 29 October is mainly attributed to human-induced climate change. Natural climate variability, on the other hand, probably played a modest role. According to the analysis, this DANA was driven by very exceptional weather conditions. The work also shows that the DANA-like depressions that cause flooding in the southeastern peninsular are up to 15 % wetter than they were in the past. In addition, temperatures are up to 3°C warmer, which favours storm formation in these events over the Mediterranean basin. 

A team of researchers led by the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona has mapped the human spliceosome for the first time. This complex and partially unknown cellular machinery is responsible for cutting and splicing the RNA fragments encoded by genes in different ways, making it possible to obtain a wide variety of proteins from the same sequence. Its alteration is related to processes such as cancer, neurodegenerative processes or various rare diseases. According to the researchers, who publish the results in the journal Science, “by knowing exactly what each part does, we can find completely new angles to address a broad spectrum of diseases”.

A research team describes in the journal Science how to create organic molecules whose geometry breaks the so-called Bredt's rule. According to this 1924 rule, double bonds between two carbon atoms cannot exist at certain positions in a molecule. Until now, this rule has limited the types of molecules that scientists can imagine and make.

The restriction of sugar during the first 1,000 days of life, starting from gestation, may protect against diabetes and hypertension in adulthood, according to a study published in Science. The research uses data from sugar rationing implemented in the United Kingdom after World War II. The findings highlight the long-term benefits of reduced sugar intake during early development.