The data does not allow us to state that Catalonia has fully entered an epidemic of respiratory viruses, but it does show that cases are on the rise at a fairly high rate. The Information System for the Surveillance of Infections in Catalonia (Sivic) confirms that in the last week with updated information (from September 21 to 27) there were 44,000 affected people across the country, predominantly by rhinovirus. This represents a 26% increase compared to the previous week. "At the clinic, we are seeing an increase in cases, but the truth is that we are still at minimum levels of transmission. In adults, cold viruses are basically circulating," explains Jordi Mestres, a family doctor at the CAP Sanllehy in Barcelona and a member of the Catalan Society of Family and Community Medicine (Camfic).

Health problems derived from intensive screen exposure are no longer a future threat for the youngest: they are a reality. The consequences vary according to the life stage, but the combination of risks over the years can favor the appearance of pathologies, some irreversible, among children and adolescents. From 0 to 6 years old, the inadequate use of technologies can cause them to start speaking later, develop myopia, or have motor difficulties. Between 7 and 11 years old, it can worsen sleep, favor overweight and the appearance of cavities, and affect academic performance. And from 12 to 18 years old, it can increase emotional distress, distort self-image, and increase vulnerability to patterns of violence and harassment, inside and outside of social networks.

Making a person control a prosthesis with their brain, developing implants capable of interacting with nerve tissue, or identifying patterns in brain activity using artificial intelligence. All of this is no longer science fiction: in many places around the world, the scientific community is striving to achieve a better brain-machine connection that, on one hand, deepens the knowledge of the most complex organ in the human body and, on the other, improves people's lives. Catalonia wants to be part of this neurotechnological race on a European scale, and the Government has chosen Cerdanyola del Vallès as a reference hub.

If there were a switch to halt the growth of tumor cells in the pancreas, it would be found in the RAS protein. Like the head of a factory, this gene sends cells the order to grow and multiply. In 90% of pancreatic cancer cases, this mechanism is altered practically from the earliest stages of development and the instruction remains permanently activated, which becomes one of the main drivers of uncontrolled growth. For decades, RAS was considered an "impossible to block" therapeutic target (in English, undruggable) due to its chemical structure. Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Rasonque (daraxonrasib), a drug that manages to act on multiple forms of RAS to interrupt growth signals.

The Spanish government and the autonomous communities have agreed to give the green light to an extraordinary 25 million euros to strengthen Ceuta's resources for the reception of unaccompanied migrant minors. This was unanimously voted by the Ministers of Childhood and Youth at the sectoral conference held this Thursday. However, the communities in which Vox holds these responsibilities after agreements with the PP were not present; that is, Aragon, Castile and León, and Extremadura. In fact, the Minister of Childhood and Youth, Sira Rego, explained that they not only failed to attend the meeting but also communicated in writing that they were against the extra budgetary allocation.

The announcement by Moderna and Merck (MSD) of a therapeutic vaccine to prevent metastasis of melanoma, the most aggressive skin cancer, came as a surprise on Wednesday and sent shares of these pharmaceutical giants soaring. In a joint statement, the companies claimed to have obtained "positive results" in the phase 3 trial – the stage at which efficacy and safety are reviewed in patients before applying for marketing authorization. In the statement, they claimed to have achieved relapse-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival – to other organs or lymph nodes – in patients who had already undergone complete tumor removal. However, they did not provide any specific data on the vaccine. Nor is there, at the moment, an associated scientific publication.

Earthquakes continue to shake Granada. On Tuesday morning, in just under an hour, a series of seven seismic events —one of which reached a magnitude of 4.8— shook the Andalusian province. And at night there were six more, the largest at 3.4. But this Wednesday, about fifty have been experienced: the National Geographic Institute (IGN) has registered 55 seismic movements, most of low intensity. Only three were perceived by residents. It seems that Granada is experiencing a seismic swarm – several earthquakes have been concentrated in the same area and in a short period of time – since early Saturday morning there was a first tremor.

A series of seven earthquakes shook the province of Granada again this Tuesday. In just one hour –between 10:37 a.m. and 11:34 a.m.– numerous tremors occurred, one of which exceeded a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scale. Four days after the first one surprised the Andalusian population, each of today's earthquakes had a different epicenter –Gójar, Churriana de la Vega, Alhendín, etc.– and all of them could be clearly felt in the capital. The tremors have left three lightly injured people –including a minor– and an atmosphere of anxiety among the population, tired of the constant low-intensity tremors that have occurred since Saturday, although the vast majority are imperceptible.

The images of saturation on the platforms and crowds on trains to travel by train to the south of the country on the day of the eclipse continue to have repercussions. This Friday, two days after the chaos, the Government admitted that there was a "collapse" on Rodalies (commuter rail) during the afternoon of the astronomical phenomenon. But the Secretary of Mobility and Infrastructure, Manel Nadal, defended that it only occurred on the way south and that, on the other hand, the return "was orderly". However, in the evening, scenes of queues to enter the stations, especially those in Tarragona, and platforms packed to the brim were repeated, and Civil Protection had to activate the Ferrocat plan for crowds in pre-alert.

At sunset, police and military order various groups of young people to turn back and return home. To Morocco. They are just over eighteen years old. The oldest, thirty at most. They are some of the last migrants remaining in the streets or hiding in the mountainous areas of a Ceuta that has experienced the worst migratory crisis in recent history. In just 48 hours, more than 50,000 people (mostly Moroccan citizens) have entered Spanish territory irregularly. Some, swimming around the breakwater; others, crossing the border post on foot. Waves of people have filled the narrow streets of a city of less than 20 km². This Friday, however, the flow has reversed.

At least eighteen dead and thousands of illegal entries in a single day. Ceuta has been experiencing a day of high migratory pressure since Wednesday night. In the early hours of the morning, hundreds of Moroccan citizens - and some Algerians - had thrown themselves into the sea from the coast of Castillejos to try to reach the Ceuta coast by swimming, about two kilometers away. The attempts did not stop, both by sea and by land, throughout the day. While at noon thousands swam to the border fence and jumped over it, from 3:30 p.m. onwards, other thousands skirted the Moroccan jetty to access the city on foot. In the evening, the pace of entries through the Tarajal border crossing continued, even though Moroccan authorities used tear gas and water cannons to try to disperse the crowd. And at night, the Spanish government closed the Beni Enzar border crossing, the only one operating between Morocco and Melilla, due to the numerous groups heading towards the border at night.

Barcelona will not be the headquarters of the State Agency for Public Health (AESAP). The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Tuesday that Zaragoza will host this newly created body, which aims to become the reference point for coordination in the face of future health crises like the one experienced during the covid-19 pandemic. Sánchez justified the choice by stating that it is part of the "decentralization process" of public bodies that his executive is leading, as has already been seen with the Spanish Space Agency in Seville or the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), in A Coruña.

The parents of a three-month-old baby who died on Friday in Sabadell have been jailed this Sunday for allegedly abusing him. As the ARA has been able to confirm, the Mossos d'Esquadra arrested the parents and one of the hypotheses now being investigated is that the baby suffered violent shaking, the most frequent form of serious abuse in infants under six months old.

Two men have died in a tragic road accident this Sunday morning in Barcelona. According to police sources, a vehicle fleeing the police in the wrong direction collided head-on with another car that was stopped at a traffic light. Both the reckless driver, who was around 30 years old, and the driver of the stopped vehicle, aged 58, lost their lives in the accident. The passenger of the second car was also injured and was taken in serious condition to the Hospital del Mar, where she has been stabilized. Her life is not in danger.

A cultural, historical, and personal journey through emblematic spaces that have been disappearing in the United States and the United Kingdom: gay bars. Capitán Swing has published [in Spanish] Gay Bar. Fragments of those parties, the book with which essayist Jeremy Atherton Lin (1974) reflects on these venues, their utopias and taboos; the feeling of euphoria, disinhibition, and sexual freedom that breathed there, and the need (or not) for them to still exist. We interview him via Zoom on the occasion of International LGTBIQ+ Pride Day.

The judicial process to clarify whether the death of Mango founder, Isak Andic, was an accident or a homicide is advancing. This Monday, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) confirmed that the judge from Martorell investigating the case has accepted the Public Prosecutor's Office's request to reconstruct the fatal fall, which took place on December 14. The businessman fell during a hike in Montserrat, accompanied only by his son, Jonathan Andic, who is currently the only person under investigation for the case. On the other hand, the magistrate has summoned Jonathan's sisters (and the businessman's daughters), as well as the family's therapist, for questioning, as confirmed by Europa Press.

Historic step to eliminate the toxic legacy originating from urban and industrial growth in Catalonia. This Wednesday, Parliament unanimously approved the law that sets the horizon of 2032 to eradicate the nearly four million tons of asbestos that still remain in the country's constructions. The norm establishes the foundations for the progressive removal of a material prohibited since 2002 but which continues to be present in thousands of buildings, infrastructures, and supply networks.

With the arrival of summer, forests and agricultural lands across the country are threatened by high temperatures, low humidity, and dry vegetation, but also by human activity, which is the main cause of fires in Catalonia, whether by accident or negligence or by intentional acts. Experts and authorities warn that the country has fully entered the high fire risk season and, in fact, this weekend, several simultaneous fires in the natural environment in Lleida have strained emergency services. At present, the Government has activated level 3 out of 4 – very high fire danger – in about fifty municipalities in Ponent and Central Catalonia, and on the eve of Sant Joan's Eve, the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, has asked the public for "maximum caution" when setting off fireworks – they must be at least 500 meters away from forests and natural surroundings – and when lighting bonfires.

Some 600 members of various choirs who were due to participate this Wednesday in the mass and the act of blessing the cross of the tower of Jesus of the Sagrada FamiliaWhile they were singing the Virolai, however, they observed "a lot of secret police" climbing up to where they were. "I thought it was just the general protocol for the Pope and that was it," admits one of the affected singers. Before they had even finished singing the hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat, the officers began to make them come down from the choir lofts and led them outside.

Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers will skyrocket water and electricity consumption and condition the lives of billions of people worldwide. The United Nations (UN) released a report this Wednesday on the environmental cost of this revolution by 2030, and the projections are worrying. Researchers for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) anticipate a sharp increase in energy consumption, an intensification of water conflicts, and land overexploitation. At the same time, scientists warn that most consumption occurs when large systems like ChatGPT or Gemini respond to our queries and urge the use of the "concise mode": fewer words, getting straight to the point, to obtain shorter and more direct, energetically more efficient responses.