Since November 2023, public health specialist Javier Padilla (Madrid, 1983) has been the Secretary of State for Health. Last week he led the unprecedented operation to disembark the ship MV Hondius in the Canary Islands, affected by a hantavirus outbreak that, to date, has caused ten infections and three deaths. He speaks to ARA via video call.

As happened six years ago due to the covid-19 pandemic, the hantavirus outbreak has shown that zoonoses, diseases transmitted between animals but with the potential to infect humans, are one of the great threats of the present and future for the health of the population. Although there are some parallels between the current escalation of infections and the covid-19 crisis —mainly the animal origin of the virus—, experts insist that the current situation is very different and assure that hantavirus does not have the capacity to cause a upheaval of the magnitude that coronavirus caused. It is much less contagious and, therefore, it is more unlikely to spread. However, they acknowledge that the growth of global mobility, the rise of extreme climate phenomena and rising temperatures will make the appearance of these types of diseases increasingly frequent.

After days of indecision, the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, which is docked in Cape Verde affected by a hantavirus outbreak, will finally disembark at a port in the Canary Islands. This has been agreed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Spanish Ministry of Health, following an inspection of the ship by a group of epidemiologists and in compliance with international law and the humanitarian spirit. There are 147 people on board, and seven have been affected by hantavirus, three of whom have died.

African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread – this Thursday 13 new positives have been confirmed, bringing the total to 297 cases – and there are already 19 municipalities with restrictions on access to the Collserola Natural Park. Faced with this situation, sources from the Generalitat confirm to el ARA that they have asked the organization of the Tour de France to consider a change of route in the second stage of the competition – at the beginning of July –, as it would have to pass through an area currently affected by safety and prevention measures against the infectious disease.

Rodalies users will pay again to use the train starting Saturday, May 9. After arguing that these past three months are "the period in which the most intense work and investment has been made in Rodalies to improve its operation," the Government has noted a "progressive improvement" in the service and, therefore, sees it viable to lift some exceptional measures, decreed "to accompany users during this period," as announced this Thursday by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. Thus, the last day to use the railway network for free will be Friday, May 8.

Donald Trump's crusade against academia and science does not stop. The US president has summarily dismissed the twenty or so experts on the independent council overseeing the National Science Foundation, the key agency for planning resources allocated to scientific—especially basic—and technical research in the US. Two recently dismissed members of this body—which has a budget equivalent to 8.5 billion euros—have made public that last Friday they received an email sent by the Office of Presidential Personnel, "on behalf of the president," thanking them for "their service" and dismissing them. According to them, "no other argument" was provided.

Kypros Nicolaides (1953, Cyprus) is a doctor and professor at King's College London, from where he has led important advances in prenatal diagnosis and the prevention and treatment of complications during pregnancy. Considered a leading figure in fetal medicine, among his achievements is the creation of combined screening to detect chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syndrome, which has become the international standard for pregnancy monitoring. L'ARA interviews Nicolaides in Barcelona, where he received the XX Dexeus Dona Foundation International Award, a recognition of his career.

Just past the 40th minute of the league match between Barça and Celta this Wednesday, and almost simultaneously with the moment Lamine Yamal fell to the ground injured after scoring the only goal of the match, a Barça fan suffered cardiac arrest that chilled the atmosphere at the Camp Nou. A 56-year-old supporter collapsed in the stadium's side area. The match was interrupted to attend to the affected person, as per protocol in such cases.

The harsh images of a Catalonia dry for three and a half years due to lack of rainfall and high temperatures have been replaced by those of full reservoirs, which currently exceed 92% of their reserves. But the water crisis was a wake-up call: it is no longer possible to live solely dependent on whether it rains or not, but rather it is necessary to transform the facilities that manage and produce water, whether they already exist or still need to be built or launched.

When the new Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) Ciutadella opens its doors, presumably in 2028, nearly a thousand researchers from five major Catalan research centers will move there. But this ambitious project aims to become something more: its promoters claim it will be "the great hub in southern Europe". An aspiration shared by the President of the Generalitat himself, Salvador Illa, who this Thursday visited the works of the future building, underway a decade after its conception and after years of being stalled due to disagreements over funding and space allocation. "It symbolizes a determined commitment and an explicit demand for science to move the country forward and to place us in the [international] talent circuit from Catalonia," he argued from the grounds of the Old Fish Market of Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), where the new space will be located.In this facility dedicated to precision medicine, five major research centers will be located – all part of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).

The day after the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission have made history by becoming the humans who have traveled farthest into space —406,771 kilometers from Earth—, ARA interviews Josep Maria Trigo, principal investigator of the Asteroids, Comets, Meteorites and Planetary Sciences group at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Catalan Studies for Space (IEEC).

For every four boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is one girl with the recognized condition. For many years, the scientific community has argued that the difference lies mainly in underdetection. On the one hand, because there is a gender bias in standard assessment instruments – the tools used or the symptoms described as typical are based on a masculinized perspective and are less sensitive to female particularities –, and on the other hand, because they tend to mask more subtle symptoms, causing their case to go unnoticed or to be detected late or incorrectly. But is it possible that there are specific biological mechanisms that have gone unnoticed until now?

José Manuel Fernández de Labastida directs the State Research Agency (AEI), a key institution for planning the resources allocated to scientific and technical research in Spain. In addition to having directed departments in high-level advisory bodies such as the European Research Council (ERC), he has also been Secretary General for Scientific and Technological Policy of the Spanish government and Vice President for Scientific and Technical Research at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Taking a trip to a paradise island. Buying a house. Curing an illness. Having time for family and friends. Winning the lottery. Getting promoted at work. Playing a football match on Sundays. Having children. Sitting on a terrace in the sun. These are all real answers to a question as intimate as it is complex, which thinkers and philosophers, political and religious leaders, sociologists and psychologists –and perhaps those reading these lines– have tried to address throughout their lives: What makes us happy?

This week, the Catalan government (Generalitat) requested increased funding from the European Commission (EC) – through the Next Generation EU and ERDF funds – to boost the construction of three new desalination plants in Catalonia. The government conveyed its request to Claudia Olazábal, head of the EC's Sustainable Water Resources Management Unit, during a visit to Barcelona. The government justified the request by citing the need to bolster water availability and reduce dependence on rainfall after a historic drought. While this drought currently seems distant given the levels of water reserves in reservoirs and internal basins (92%), it led Catalonia to a critical situation in 2023. The Commission issued a warning to the Generalitat: more desalination plants are welcome, but only if they are part of a broader and more comprehensive plan for managing water supply and demand. And only if all other necessary steps are taken.

Most Catalans overestimate the presence of immigrants in the region, according to the latest survey by the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO). In fact, the assessment, published this Thursday, confirms that the idea is spreading that the percentage of the population born abroad is practically equal to that of the native population. In response to the question, "Out of every 100 residents, how many would you say were born outside of Spain?", 40% of Catalans believe that half or more of their neighbors are foreign-born, and 14% believe that between 30% and 40% are. However, the average perception of those surveyed—that 36% of the population is immigrant—falls far short of the actual figure: those born outside of Spain make up 25% of the total population, according to data from Idescat published on January 1, 2025.

A Mayo Clinic study has found that women experience brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease up to 20 times faster than men, attributing this to an imbalanced presence of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), a protein also linked to Parkinson's disease. In an article published in JAMA, researchers did not observe this pattern in men when the same factors were considered. According to the study, this interaction could help explain why women account for the majority of Alzheimer's cases—between 60% and 70%—in countries like the United States, a trend also observed in Spain and South Korea, among others, and influenced by variables such as life expectancy, hormonal factors, and social influences.

Finding therapies to control the progression of cancer is a race against time. Stimulating the immune system to distinguish tumor cells from healthy cells and selectively attack them has been a game-changer. In leukemias, the disease disappears and there are no signs of recurrence after a few years. This revolution would not be understood without the CAR-T (from the English Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells), a type of personalized drug. However, in 85% of diseases, cell therapy is not adept at recognizing and attacking tumor cells. So, is it possible to design a similar, but more sensitive, treatment that targets less visible cancers?

The Catalan Health Department confirmed a human case of swine flu A (H1N1) in Lleida, which was identified on February 11. The patient, an elderly man with chronic illnesses, had gone to the hospital on January 30 for a routine check-up. Although he did not present with flu-like respiratory symptoms, a nasal swab was taken as part of epidemiological surveillance testing for influenza viruses, and the positive result was identified accidentally. The patient is doing well and has already recovered, according to the Health Department, and no further cases have been detected so far, not even among close contacts, who were tested. Currently, the situation is considered under control, but the source of the infection will remain under investigation. Swine flu viruses circulate widely among livestock, but transmission to humans occurs sporadically. In fact, this is the first case of swine flu detected outside of a farm in Catalonia in the last seventeen years. In 2023, a in a worker in the sector. The regional health department points out that this is not the case: neither the affected individual nor their immediate circle has any contact with pigs or farms, so health authorities are investigating the source of the infection.

Alba Cuberas, a family doctor at the Manresa-4 Primary Care Center (CAP), sees a patient with intense back pain. She gives him a short sick leave and anti-inflammatory medication, but there is no improvement. With an X-ray, the rheumatologist recommends rehabilitation. "But nobody calls him. I see him once a month, and he's told me two months ago that he hasn't started the sessions," she says. In Sant Pol de Mar, Martín Cebollada suspects a patient may have a herniated disc and, to be sure, orders a CT scan. The wait is six months. "But he has debilitating pain, and I can't know for sure how serious it is; he can't go to work," he states. At the Manso Primary Care Center (CAP) in Barcelona, ​​Eva Segura is monitoring a patient on sick leave for severe depression, with a history of suicide attempts. In the fourth month, she receives the first discharge proposal from the insurance company, but she has just started psychiatric treatment, and the doctor rejects it. In the fifth month, the same request arrives, and she rejects it again. This happens four times. But against her advice (and that of the psychiatrist), the Catalan Institute of Medical Assessments (ICAM) sends the patient back to work, and the company, shortly afterward, declares her unfit. "She loses her job, and her health deteriorates significantly," she explains.