Humanity returns to the Moon 50 years later. NASA's Artemis program, which made history this April by breaking the record for the furthest manned space voyage, responds to an openly declared objective by Donald Trump himself: “Get to the Moon before China”.

We've seen it in countless movies: "Hello, my name is so-and-so and I'm an alcoholic." We know the acronym Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and what it represents. But what we might not know is that behind these initials –and this recurring phrase– lies a twelve-step therapeutic method created by two men from Ohio in 1935, which has since helped millions of people worldwide. This method is now applied in 68 countries, including Spain, where there are up to 586 active Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups. A study by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital concluded in 2020 that this AA twelve-step therapy "is more effective than other established treatments for increasing abstinence" and improves outcomes, especially "in the long term," helping people stay sober for longer. The survival and constant global expansion of this system for nearly a century also attest to its effectiveness.

In all space missions, there is an evident risk to the lives of astronauts. And the most delicate moments are always takeoff and landing. But in Artemis II, NASA's mission that concludes this Friday after ten days of travel, the return to Earth is undoubtedly the most risky moment. To begin with, because during takeoff the astronauts had an ejection system in case of emergency (which would have expelled them to save them in case of an explosion), but above all because the re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere this time presents some extra challenges compared to previous missions.

Mission accomplished. The four Artemis II astronauts are back on Earth, after going to the Moon and returning. This historic mission, which lasted 10 days, is the first in over 50 years to take humans to the Moon, and it has made them the people who have traveled farthest from Earth in the history of humanity. At 1:53 AM, Catalan time, the Orion capsule carrying the astronauts re-entered Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 km per hour, faster than any other spacecraft before. A particularly risky maneuver, but one that has been successfully overcome.

NASA's Artemis II mission rocket is already halfway to the Moon, after leaving Earth's orbit, and is advancing at 5,632 kilometers per hour to become the first mission to carry humans to the satellite in more than 50 years. The objective in this case is not to land on the Moon but to orbit it and return to Earth, to test the technology that should finally allow a lunar landing in 2028. The four astronauts of the mission - who are bringing their own mobile phones on board - have already sent the first spectacular images of Earth from their perspective, and they are expected to reach the Moon on Monday night. By Saturday, the spacecraft was already more than 219,000 kilometers away, closer to the Moon than to our planet.

After announcing a few weeks ago that the Artemis III mission would not take humans to the lunar surface as planned, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the agency's new plans on Tuesday to fulfill President Donald Trump's promise to reach our satellite before its Chinese rivals. The new plans involve delaying the lunar landing by a year from the initial forecast: the Artemis IV mission will now launch in 2028. Later, he announced, a permanent U.S. base will be built on the lunar surface. "Our goal this time is not flags or footprints, but to stay on the Moon," Isaacman stated during the public presentation of NASA's plan, which took place on Tuesday under the evocative title of Ignition (ignition). "We will not let go of the Moon again," he asserted.

A butterfly that travels from Canada to Mexico to hibernate and reproduce, a whale that holds its species' record with 22,500 kilometers of travel across the oceans, or the arctic tern, a bird that -attention, spoiler- holds the longest migration in the animal kingdom. Now that spring is beginning and with it many species are on the move, we explain the main migratory routes of planetary fauna. The highways of wildlife.

It made a lot of sense for the guest of honor at the Barcelona Restoration Guild's party to be actor Alberto San Juan, who has just been nominated for a Goya for his performance in La cena. And it was precisely this film – which humorously recreates a fictional dinner of Franco two weeks after winning the Civil War – that led the Madrid-born actor to use the podium of the mythical La Paloma venue in the Catalan capital to launch a forceful "no to war." San Juan received a standing ovation from the five hundred attendees at the meeting, including actors, politicians, and restaurateurs, with his call "against this new world order where those with the greatest capacity to impose violence now lead." He reviewed the bombings in Iran and the "genocide of Gaza," among other things, and delivered a harsh criticism of the European Union and its "renunciation of defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Claudio Barría has spent many years of his life debunking Steven Spielberg's film SharkThis Chilean biologist, based in Catalonia, has focused his research on these animals—currently at the University of Oviedo but previously at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM)—and is now one of the leading experts on Mediterranean sharks, probably the leading expert. It was precisely at a film forum for the 50th anniversary of this film, in which he participated, that the idea for the book arose. Sharks, together with Ana Colmenero (ICM), within the collection What do we know about? published by Catarata and the CSIC. Both the book and the conversation exude a wealth of knowledge and, above all, an enormous love for these animals, which are invaluable to marine ecosystems.

What's the point of kissing? What biological function can a make-out session have? Or is it an evolutionary function? These are questions that are unlikely to cross your mind while watching Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the beach in that iconic scene from From there to eternity. But this is the question that some Oxford scientists asked themselves, leading them to investigate the kissing history of some animal species, especially primates. Because humans aren't the only ones who kiss: ants, birds, and polar bears do it too, to name a few. We're talking about kissing on the mouth, an action to which we attribute a romantic component that science seems to have trouble understanding, since—according to the new study—this action "doesn't appear to aid survival or reproduction in any obvious way, while the potential costs of transferring a disease are high." The very definition these Oxford scientists use strips away all the romanticism: kissing is "non-aggressive interactions involving directed, intraspecific oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no transfer of food."

According to the OECD and Cornell University, for every 100-word text or each conversation with between 10 and 40 prompts (instructions), up to 0.5 liters of fresh water are consumed, or the equivalent of 14 LED bulbs lit for an hour.

The richest 10% of the planet emits almost 50% of CO2 emissions₂ from all over the world. But within that group, the wealthiest 0.001% (some 80,000 super-rich people) are the ones who have seen the greatest increase in their wealth in recent years and those who are doing the most damage to the planetThis is what French environmental journalist Hervé Kempf, author of How the rich are plundering the planet (Garbuix Books), a comic book that analyzes, in an engaging and accessible way, the causes of and solutions to the vast global inequalities that are directly linked to the ecological crisis we are experiencing.

Adriana Jarrín was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she was only 26. Luckily, it was detected early and chemotherapy saved her life, but both the shock of the diagnosis and the entire process had a profound emotional impact, in addition to significant physical weakness, she recounts. "A cousin recommended I start doing yoga, and it was truly an incredible encouragement and helped me tremendously." "Above all, the feeling of doing something for myself helped me cope better with the illness," she explains. That was in 2005, and today Jarrín dedicates her life to helping other cancer patients. She not only offers oncology yoga in several hospitals, but also trains teachers of this type of yoga at the Radika Foundation and has written a book. Yoga in times of cancer (Editorial Platform).

Humans are living longer, but life expectancy isn't increasing equally everywhere. Statistics show that longevity depends heavily on diet, access to a good healthcare system, and the quality of life offered by a country with a strong economy. One factor not reflected in the statistics but also highlighted by scientists is strong social and community ties. The country with the longest life expectancy, averaging 86.5 years, is Monaco, which has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, a good healthcare system, and a Mediterranean diet, designated by scientists as one of the healthiest in the world. But the fact that it has only a few tens of thousands of inhabitants also contributes to the higher average age in such a wealthy and affluent country. If we exclude small states (or semi-states), the ranking would begin with Japan, with an average life expectancy of 84.4 years. The Japanese also enjoy a healthy diet, heavily focused on fish and vegetables, and a good quality of life. At the opposite end of the ranking are countries with high poverty rates. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with 40% of its population living in poverty (in addition to high infant mortality and other factors, such as high levels of violence), has the lowest life expectancy, averaging only 54.6 years. There is a 30-year difference in life expectancy between Monaco and Nigeria.

Catalonia is once again without trains, for the third time this week. The Catalan government announced Saturday afternoon that it will keep the entire Catalan commuter, regional, and medium-distance rail network suspended at least until Monday. This was explained by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, in a press conference in which she stated that train service—which was halted at midday—will not resume on Sunday either. "We cannot guarantee safety," she insisted. Paneque explained that "the effects of the storm have intensified in recent hours" and believes that the decision to suspend service "is the right one" to carry out intensive review and maintenance work on the network at the twenty or so points identified as being at risk of collapse or accidents. The minister admitted that the commuter rail network is "overwhelmed" due to years of underinvestment in this infrastructure and the effects of a storm "that has not helped." "Being able to stop and act at these points, with the entire system shut down, allows us to work more efficiently and quickly," he said. Paneque emphasized that the government wants to restore the conditions necessary to operate with maximum reliability: "Every hour [without service] gives us more time for inspections and safety." About five hours earlier, at midday, the government had formally requested that Renfe again suspend all commuter, regional, and medium-distance services "until guarantees can be given" of a reliable and sustained resumption of train service. At 1 p.m., the Catalan government justified the decision with two reasons: the adverse weather conditions forecast due to the storm. Ingrid and the latest incidents on the network. "As service providers, we have requested that Renfe and Adif completely suspend commuter rail services until the rail operators can guarantee the full operability of the tracks," explained the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, at midday, justifying the decision to once again completely halt train traffic. Between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m., virtually no lines were fully operational, forcing people to resort to alternative means of transport to get around Catalonia. Furthermore, this Saturday morning saw the third landslide on a railway line this week, this time on the R4 line between Cerdanyola and Sabadell Sud. Fortunately, there were no injuries. On Friday afternoon, another landslide forced the closure of the R1 line between Maçanet and Tordera, also without injuries, but on Tuesday another landslide occurred. a retaining wall over a train The R4 collapse in Gelida resulted in one death and around thirty injuries. The following day, another wall collapsed in Pineda, but caused no injuries because traffic was also at a standstill.

American historian Mark Bray, specializing in human rights, terrorism and radicalism, and author ofAntifa. The Antifascist Manual (Captain Swing) decided to leave the United States with his family last October. He had become a target of the far right, sponsored by Donald Trump. He now lives in Madrid and This Friday he participated in Enfoquem, the solutions forum organized by the ARA. During his speech, he explained how neo-fascist movements adopt forms that used to belong to left-wing protests, but without their substance. "They use violence not as a tool, but as a value to return to an imagined past where hierarchies are respected," he stated. The author also denounces the patrimonial regime that prevails in the United States, where the boundaries between the public sphere and private profit are increasingly blurred.

Daniel Knowles was born in the United Kingdom and now lives in Chicago, USA. In both countries, he says he is fed up with hearing radio alerts about a new "Carmageddon"The typical apocalyptic traffic jams on the return from vacation. That's where the idea for the title of his book came from." Carmageddon (Captain Swing), where this journalist, former correspondent of The Economist It analyzes the forces that have made the car the king of transportation in today's society and its implications, starting with air pollution. "We are approaching 2 billion cars worldwide, but the number is growing much faster than the population," it warns. Nearly 25% of the CO₂ emitted globally comes from transportation, and three-quarters of these emissions are from road transport. And this only considers the gases that warm the planet; cars also emit other gases and particles harmful to health, such as NO₂.₂ or PM2.5. "The switch to electric cars [which is now even being called into question with the reversal of European policies] isn't the solution, I think; it's only part of it," says Knowles via videoconference from Chicago. He explains that Europeans drive an average of 10,000 kilometers a year. In the United States, where public transportation is minimal and everything revolves around the car, it's nearly double: 19,000 kilometers on average. Knowles did the math, and converting all of this to electric cars would require "spending twice as much on electricity." There's no alternative; it's necessary to reduce car use.

They say all young people want to be civil servants. Well, Maria Serra is proof to the contrary. An activist since before she was 17, she has mobilized against the climate crisis, for feminism, for Palestine, for housing. She was a spokesperson for Fridays for Future (FFF) in Spain and an ambassador for the European Climate Pact, until she decided she didn't want to represent a militarized EU and resigned. At just 23, she has been in international forums to defend ideas that many might see as radical and typical of youth, but which she defends with conviction, arguments, and a clarity that many politicians would envy.

In the midst of an open battle—currently a war of words—with his European and NATO allies over Greenland, Donald Trump took another step toward international isolation on Thursday, ordering the United States to withdraw from 66 international organizations and treaties, 31 of which are UN agencies. The list of entities in which Washington will cease to participate and contribute financially includes the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and UN Energy. The country is also withdrawing from the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the scientific platform of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and from organizations such as the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the International Energy Forum, the Atlantic Partnership for Cooperation, and the UN Science and Technology Centre. The White House announced this early this morning in a statement regarding the "withdrawal of the United States from organizations, conventions, and treaties that are contrary to the interests of the United States." After having already left UNESCO, the WHO, the UN Human Rights Council, and the Paris AgreementThis new step culminates the process of retreating from and dismantling multilateralism that he has championed since his first term. He breaks off dialogue with the international community at a moment of maximum confrontation, after launching a military operation against Venezuela to seize its oil and when he threatens to do the same to annex Greenland and its minerals.

The Christmas Lottery, the jackpot, the Epiphany... At this time of year, more than ever, we gamble with chance, if it truly exists, and test our luck. And more than ever, we also ask ourselves—or often answer—whether we are lucky people or if we always fall butter-side down. Well, it turns out that being very lucky or being a harbinger of doom is something that psychology has also studied. The conclusion? It depends primarily on ourselves. Not on supernatural forces moving the pieces around us for or against us, but on our attitude towards life.