A few corners of the Costa Brava have escaped real estate pressure. This is the case of the magnificent Marimurtra Botanical Garden, in Blanes. Carl Faust, a German businessman passionate about botany, decided in the twenties of the last century to invest his fortune in the creation of a paradise of vegetation in Blanes. "Faust wanted a space that would be a living demo for the great botanists of central and northern Europe, with the aim that they would not have to travel to see succulent plants and other exotic species in Mexico, South Africa, northern Morocco...", Josep Borrell, director of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden for many years, explains to me.I am in the oldest part of the garden, dedicated to cacti and succulent plants. "They were planted in this sloping area and gravel was put down so that water would not accumulate and damage the roots," Josep explains to me. There is a great variety of cacti, some of giant size, bigger than me. With Josep, I take a peaceful walk through the garden. It is a journey through the five continents, especially through places with a Mediterranean and subtropical climate. In addition to vegetation, fauna is also a protagonist: migratory birds, small reptiles... find refuge here. And insects! Without insects, there are no plants. Marimurtra introduced beehives for pollination, and now they have very good honey, which they have for sale. It is a honey from more than a thousand flowers and with an ever-changing and surprising taste: the bees have many combinations of flowers at their disposal.Suddenly Josep stops. "Look, the Wollemia nobilis!", he tells me. We are in front of a tree I had never seen before. If you go to see it, it will surprise you. It must be a little over 4 meters tall. This species coexisted with dinosaurs, and survived practically unchanged for millions of years. It was thought to be extinct. It is considered a "living fossil"."The Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994, near Sydney, in the Blue Mountains. It was found by a young park ranger, David Noble, exploring hard-to-reach ravines and rappelling", explains Enric Barril, head of biological collections at Marimurtra. "Its generic name, Wollemia, comes from the name of the national park where the discovery took place (Wollemi), and the specific epithet (nobilis) is a tribute to its discoverer and its majesty (in Latin nobilis means noble)", specifies Enric. "It is critically endangered. The exact place where it lives is an intact and pristine area. It is not known where. Well, only a few know", he tells me. "To preserve it" I say. "Yes, of course. But an international distribution of clones of specimens and seeds was made to some botanical gardens and scientific institutions to ensure its conservation ex situ. Thanks to this, we have this one here, at Marimurtra. Notice that it is slightly raised from the ground level. We have done this to prevent water from stagnating at the collar of its roots", Enric explains to me.Seed exchanges between botanical gardens are very common. They are mainly done to protect endangered species and for conservation projects. "We have our own seed bank and a catalog that we keep updated," Josep, who knows a lot of botanical gardens around the world, tells me. "Traveling is the cheapest way to learn," he says. "But I still have to go to the Hanbury Botanical Garden, located at Capo Mortola, in Italy, also by the sea, and integrated into the landscape – an inheritance from the English garden–. Faust was inspired by this Italian garden to create Marimurtra".I didn't have to wait long to witness a scene that repeats itself a few times a day. Two girls with Asian features, dressed in shades of red, come skipping down the stairs flanked by cypresses – Epicurus's staircase – to Linné's temple. It is a small temple that imitates the style of classical Greece dedicated to Carl von Linné – the father of modern taxonomy – located on the edge of the cliff of Cala sa Forcanera.Social networks have made this circular gazebo an object of desire for many people from all over the world, some of whom travel 9,000 kilometers to take a photo there, like the Chinese. "We have translated many texts from QR codes into Chinese," says Josep. "We have hired a native Chinese community manager to attend to the community from their country. For us, it is key that she can interact with them not only in their language, but also with their codes," he adds. "We have the challenge that they don't just come to take a photo," Josep tells me. "We are thinking about what else we can offer them so they can get to know the garden, its collection, and Faust's work." I make a zoom out with my gaze and I get an essentially bicolor picture: the green of the vegetation and the blue of the sea, and some white brushstrokes, which make the sea very rough. Then I close my eyes and feel even more the great variety of smells, and the sound of the waves that embrace the beach. And I put myself in the shoes of someone who does not have the sense of sight, who, in their own way, can also enjoy this magnificent garden by the sea.Historical images of weddings and other eventsA few years ago, to mark the centenary, the Cal Faust Foundation, which manages the Marimurtra Botanical Garden in Blanes, put out a call to receive old photographs from those who have taken photos of family celebrations there. It has been, and continues to be, a common practice for the people of Blanes, the inhabitants of the region, and beyond. This is the case of Josep's parents, who had their wedding photos taken there. The call – which remains open – allows us to learn about details of the garden from years past. Participants receive a gift: an annual pass.

Bad luck pursued the greenhouse of the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona in its early days. The City Council announced a competition to urbanize the grounds of the military citadel, built in the 18th century by order of Philip V, in a large part of the Ribera neighborhood. The jury declared it void. They did not find any good ones. In a second call, with modified rules, the winner was Josep Fontserè.

It is a very simple pitchfork. It has a thick wooden handle and two iron prongs. It was used to load and unload bales, straw or hay. TIt is currently used very little. But where I am now, in the Vall Fosca, it also had another function. That is why it is exhibited at the Capdella Hydroelectric Museum, which I am visiting today.The funicular driver was touching the two electric cables of the line that ran parallel to the funicular track with both ends of the fork, and with this action he made a bell ring at the stations to to speak with the workers who operated it. This was the code: with one bell it indicated that the operator should stop it, with two bells, that he should go up, and with three, that he should go down.

Snow is a good thermal and acoustic insulator thanks to the air it contains, which is why igloos are a good invention for spending cold nights. In fresh snow, the proportion of air reaches 90%. The Museum of Snow (Musèu dera Nhèu) dedicates a good amount of space to the scientific aspects of snow, whose germ is curiously hexagonal. This center is located in the small municipality of Unha, near Baqueira, the homeland of downhill skiing in the Aran Valley. The museum's manager, Montse Ademà, who guides me through this space located just a few steps from her home, is precisely from Unha.

The anatomical amphitheater is the jewel of the building of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia, located in the heart of Ciutat Vella, in Barcelona, in front of the Institute of Catalan Studies. In the very center of this amphitheater there is an original rotating marble table where students performed dissections of corpses. The corpses arrived, still warm, from the Hospital de la Santa Creu, located side by side. They were of people who died completely alone and whose bodies no one claimed.

One of the most common routes to get from the metropolitan area to La Seu d’Urgell and Andorra (which avoids the hefty toll of the Cadí tunnel) goes through Coll de Nargó. Almost everyone passes by without stopping. I have stopped there on occasion, to visit the Raiers Museum, the Romanesque church of Sant Climent... Today I stopped to discover another element of heritage, which invites a journey far back in time: Dinosfera. The name already attracts me. Soon, other things will attract me more.

"Coca-Cola was formulated as a medicinal syrup in 1886. Since it wasn't very successful, they decided to present it as a soft drink and it worked," Francesca Niubó, a microbiologist and head of the Cusí Pharmacy Museum, explains to me. And it certainly worked! I have a small glass bottle right in front of me, with the slanted Coca-Cola letters, the "timeless" image of this dark drink, which they say quenches thirst so well, but I'm not sure. Coca-Cola slanted, the "timeless" image of this dark drink, which they say quenches thirst so well, but I'm not sure. This is one of the many curiosities explained in the museum, a magnificent space full of objects from very diverse eras related to the world of pharmacy and medicine: ceramic pieces, glass, mortars –of bronze and iron–, ex-libris, engravings, and medical and pharmaceutical instruments. The main attraction, however, is an 18th-century Baroque pharmacy. It belonged to the Benedictine abbey of Santa Maria la Real, in Nájera. It is shown in its entirety (although, as there is no documentation, its original layout is unknown). It contains ceramic pots and jars, a cordial bottle with glass flasks, wooden drawers with the names of medicinal plants, and cabinets decorated with paintings of exotic animals, among other motifs. I am surprised to see these animals painted here, animals that were not found in La Rioja centuries ago – nor are they found currently –: a panther, a crocodile... It is likely that pilgrims or merchants who had been to other countries passed through and told them about them. And the painter, with his craft, would also have wanted to "explain" them. It is one of the many peculiarities of this beautiful pharmacy that transports us to a time when apothecaries prepared formulas by hand, mixing herbs, minerals, and other ingredients. It is said that the monks of the monastery had a garden solely for growing medicinal plants, a place to dry them, and once dried, they stored them in drawers, where they rested until they needed to be used. The pharmacy had a short life: Mendizábal's disentailment expelled the monks. But the pharmacist monk had the good idea – and the holy patience – to dismantle it, and he kept it at his brother's house. In 1920, Joaquim Cusí, with the idea of setting up a museum in the laboratories he wanted to build in Masnou, was looking for an old pharmacy. He heard about this one from Nájera, went there and acquired it. Without seeing it. It was in boxes piled up in a stable. "All the timber for the pharmacy was brought by three train wagons," Francesca explains to me, as I observe old books on general medicine, ophthalmology, anatomy, and pharmacy. We are now inside one of the museum's great treasures: the library. The oldest book is about ophthalmology – the house's specialty. It's from 1520. The history of Cusí laboratories begins at the beginning of the 20th century, when Joaquim Cusí opened a pharmacy on Carrer Ample in the capital of Alt Empordà, with the help of his brother Carles. It was much more than a pharmacy. "Quimet" Cusí – they called him that to distinguish him from his cousin Quimarro (they were the sons of two brothers married to two sisters) – was a great defender of the Catalan language. For this reason, in addition to medicines, he also had other things for "good health", such as the magazine El Patufet. In the back room, long conversations were woven, in which characters such as notary Salvador Dalí (the painter's father), the Pichot (or Pitxot) brothers, Rafael, Joaquim, and Lluís Cusí, numerous musicians, Marià Pujulà – who later became mayor of Figueres – participated. Joaquim Cusí was also mayor of El Masnou. Yes, some had political concerns and were encouraged to found a party of Catalanist and republican character, Aplec Nacionalista Republicà. They wanted Figueres to be a town that shone like those in France: "When we cross the border, we see such beautiful towns!", they said. Today, a century later, Figueres continues to be different from those in France. "Cusí was quite enterprising. He made many master formulas. He made a little formula that gave him very good results", Cesca tells me. "Why do you say it in diminutive?", I ask. "Ah!... It's because it's a very easy formula": an antiseptic ointment that cured minor eye infections. Cusí made money –and made a good name for himself– with this pre-antibiotic recipe. It began to be commercialized under the name of Cusi Ophthalmic Ointment with Yellow Oxide of Mercury. In France, a similar ointment was commercialized, but Cusí's was finer in texture and did not hurt when applied to the eyes. Its success was resounding. Cusí had "good vision": he asked the ophthalmologist Barraquer for a list of ophthalmologists from all over the world, to whom he sent samples, and he immediately received orders from everywhere. "He also excelled in dermatology," Francesca explains to me as I notice what a pharmacy jar says: Laboratorios del Norte de España. This is how these laboratories were called for years. The American group Alcon, one of Nestlé's pharmaceutical divisions, bought the Cusí laboratories, which were renamed Alcon Cusí. Subsequently, they became part of the Novartis group and are currently part of the Siegfried company. The building we are in was almost bombed during the civil war. During the conflict, Carles and Rafel Cusí remained in the country. Joaquim, on the other hand, clearly republican, went into exile in Paris. Then to Belgium, to the United States (in passing) and to Costa Rica, where he founded some laboratories, he was finally in Mexico and returned in 1945.As I said goodbye to Francesca, she gifted me one last anecdote from the war. This factory in Masnou was a target for Franco's aviation. But the commander who was supposed to order the bombing was a worker and a friend of the Cusí family, and he gave different coordinates. Otherwise, I would not have known this treasure of the world of pharmacy and medicine, nor Francesca, nor the first use that Coca-Cola had.

The hygrometer and the hygrograph serve to measure the same thing – humidity – but they are not synonyms. The first records humidity at a specific moment and the second over time. This same distinction is found in many other devices, such as the barometer and the barograph, the thermometer and the thermograph. The incorporation of time as a measurement variable represented a revolution, because it allowed the evolution of several phenomena to be studied. It was especially important in the field of meteorology: continuous records made it possible to identify cycles, compare observations, and better understand and predict the weather. These two instruments are located in a showcase dedicated to Eduard Fontserè at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona (UB). They are part of this faculty's collection of instruments, which consists of about 600 pieces. There are items related to optics, mechanics, electricity, magnetism, thermodynamics, fluids, astronomy, meteorology... Many of the instruments come from the laboratories and classrooms of the Faculty. Both the displayed hygrometer and hygrograph date from the late 19th century. They have clockwork mechanisms, pens, and cylinders covered with paper. They are the direct ancestors of current data acquisition systems; only the technology has changed. Joan Manel Hernàndez, professor in the department of condensed matter physics and curator of this splendid collection, acts as my host and guide. Pili Mateo, a cultural and heritage technician at the UB, also accompanies us, reminding me of the existence of the UB Virtual Museum, where these pieces and many others are housed. In addition to scientific instruments, the online platform (museuvirtual.ub.edu) contains information and images of works of art, documentary and bibliographic collections, natural science collections, and architectural heritage.The origin of the collection of physics apparatus can be traced to the development of physics cabinets in the 19th century. The designation "physics" in a sense similar to the current one was not established until that century. The first treatises date from the late 1900s, when physics began to be associated with the experimental method. Before that, it was referred to as "natural philosophy". Fontserè is not only honored with this display case, but also with his name on the Faculty's Sala de Graus. He was fundamental in the history of Catalan science, the main driving force behind modern meteorology here, founder of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia in 1921. He also worked in astronomy, seismology, and earth physics, and promoted meteorology based on systematic observation and rigorous data collection. Among his contributions, the Elemental Atlas of Clouds, translated into several languages, stands out. Furthermore, he was one of the main promoters of an astronomical observatory on Tibidabo: the Fabra Observatory. He did so many things! He had time to do them: he lived for 100 years.I have the privilege of going down to a warehouse where there is a string of instruments stored. I notice some rudimentary computers. The screens are cathode ray tubes. They resemble old black and white televisions. Despite their size, they had much lower power and memory than a current mobile phone. "I enjoy playing instruments," reveals Joan Manel. He dedicates himself to cataloging, researching... Practically alone. "Now I have managed to get an intern for two hours a day," he says. The history of instruments is also the history of progress in the ability to measure. Over time they have gained sensitivity, precision, and automation. Today a student can record hundreds of measurements with digital sensors, whereas before they had to read them one by one on a graduated scale and write them down by hand in a notebook.The materials have also changed: before, brass, wood, and glass were used, and often the cables were covered in colored silk. There was a clear intention to make precise and beautiful objects. Today they are much more powerful and precise, but beauty has ceased to be of interest. Plastics, aluminum, and electronics predominate.We leave the warehouse and go to see the star piece: a Grubb telescope, an Irish company, one of themost prestigious in the world for large astronomical telescopes during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is inside and, therefore, does not work. After all, seeing the sky from Barcelona's Diagonal – an area with significant light pollution – is of little interest.

"Tremp is the largest municipality in Catalonia," Xavier Boixadós, a guide for this town, assures me, so as soon as we see each other, he says almost before telling me: "Did you manage to park easily?" I am taken aback. I thought I had ventured into the most depopulated, emptiest Catalonia. He immediately explains it to me: "Larger in surface area, not in number of people. It has 300 square kilometers, more than Barcelona." Tremp has been adding abandoned or semi-abandoned villages, and that's why it has been growing. Many of these villages are built on high ground – defense was the number one element for settling there.

Today I'm talking about the Geological Museum of the Barcelona Seminary, a treasure located in the center of Barcelona. It is little known. I myself was unaware of it. And this is despite having visited a lot of museum centers in the country. In some texts you will read that it was born in 1874. No, that is not correct. Its seed was sown much earlier: in 1818. It was an initiative of Bishop Fèlix Torres Amat, who wanted the natural sciences taught in seminaries and religious schools to be explained with plants, animals, fossils... That first center had an original title: Museum of ancient and precious things from the same province. It was located in the Seminary building which was on the Rambla dels Estudis. It was a natural history cabinet, made up of donations from collectors and more modest contributions from students, seminarians, and missionaries. Yes, it was common here, and in other parts of Europe, for missionaries to become infatuated with some piece from the land where they preached, be it masks, fabrics, necklaces, musical instruments. And they would take it without hesitation, as if it were a free souvenir.The biologist Joan Barrull, curator of vertebrates at this museum, is in charge of managing the collection and the exhibition hall. He also offers guided tours there. Barrull has set up an interesting replica of a small natural history cabinet, made from a mishmash of pieces that have no relation to each other, as was the case in the early days of the museum. The pieces were stored in different corners of the center and were completely undocumented. Variety is one of the essential elements of any collector's cabinet, and this one is no exception. Thus, we find a plastic gorilla, a stuffed squirrel, a coconut crab, a giant clam that was used as a baptismal font... There are also glass jars with animals insidea liquid that must be formaldehyde or alcohol: a salamander, a newt, a loach, a snake... "I've tried to open the lid of these jars, but I can't; the years have hardened the screw," Joan Barrull explains to me. "Our museum started out very eclectic. Like the Darder Museum in Banyoles and many other natural history museums", he says. He uses the our because he feels it is his own: he dedicates a lot of hours and passion to it. Later, under the leadership of Father Jaume Almera – you see this is about religious figures – the museum turned towards paleontology. Almera was a great defender of experimental science. Explaining the lesson was not enough for him: it was necessary to go out into the field and collect samples. Furthermore, he created the geological map of the province of Barcelona and collected numerous fossils.Enric Aragonès, a scientific collaborator of the museum, also accompanies me, who explains to me that during the civil war some "unknown people" threw practically all the pieces out the window. During the war conflict, a marble bust of the prestigious doctor and geologist Carles de Gimbernat was also lost. Mostly the library, everything was destroyed. The religious character of the institution had something to do with it. And, of course, the museum had to start all over again.In the museum there are pieces to entertain for hours and hours. We find fossils from the Alcover and Mont-ral site, an almost complete sirenian from Montserrat, an enormous mastodon from Polinyà... and many fossils and ichnofossils (footprints left by organisms that have fossilized). The jewel of the room is a cabinet full of holotypes (unique and original specimens, which serve as a reference to name a new species).which serve as a reference to name a new species).We enter the reserve areas, where books and various curious pieces are kept. I am surprised to see a fisherman's handle in a room crowded with publications. And a whole human skeleton. Well preserved, and standing upright, inside a closet all to himself.The museum is very strict when accepting donations. Francesc Carrasco, deputy director, a specialist in sea urchins from the Eocene epoch, tells me: "If someone brings me a fossil and says 'I've never seen this!; it's not enough to accept it.' They must be paleontologists specialized in each field." And the date and place where each item was collected must be known. "Four directors have passed through," Francesc Carrasco tells me. "In so many years? That's few, right?" I say. "It's because they are lifetime positions," he replies. And he recites them like someone saying a team's lineup: "Almera, Batallé, Via, and Calzada." Now Calzada is very old and hardly comes. Will the new director be Francesc Carrasco? That is decided by the archbishop of Barcelona (after consultation)."As I leave the museum, I notice a sign that says: "Reverse box". Yes, this is a very original museum, in that regard too. At the end of the visit, depending on your degree of satisfaction, you pay what you want. The system is already quite common in plays. But I had never seen it in a museum. The sign is also in English. I didn't know it's called Honor box. It is a great honor that we have this museum in Catalonia.A building by Elies RogentTo access the Geological Museum, you must pass through some of the corridors of the building that houses the Seminary of Barcelona, the Conciliar, because it is the fruit of the Council of Trent (1545-1564), where the creation of seminaries for the training of priests was established. Today there are fewer aspiring priests than in previous years. But they are well cared for. Walking around, I see a ping-pong table. It is a good resource for spending leisure hours. The Seminary building, where the Museum of Geology has been located since the end of the 19th century, was designed by the prestigious architect Elies Rogent, author of the main building of the neighboring University of Barcelona.

"Antarctica is a good sentinel of climate change", says Rafel Simó, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences (CSIC), who has been to this virgin, fragile, and silent area of the planet several times to conduct research with the Hespérides, a ship managed and crewed by the Spanish Navy. –Wouldn't it be logical for a research institution to do it?–. "And it shows that climate change is accelerating", he assures. "It is also a window into the past climate: deep continental ice contains trapped bubbles from the atmosphere of the last million years", he emphasizes. «In Antarctica there is practically no green, but there is a lot of life. It is marine life. It may seem a paradox that in such a hostile place there is great biodiversity», says Rafel. When we think of the animals of this remote continent, we immediately get the image of penguins, but there are many more: orcas, whales, seals... and an infinity of fish, all of them fed by microscopic plankton. "It is beautiful to see how life adapts to an extreme environment", says Simó, who knows the Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base very well. –And why isn't it named after Josefina Castellví, who directed it? Simó highlights some positive things that are happening in this far south: the Antarctic Treaty, an international agreement signed in 1959 that establishes that Antarctica must be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research. –"It's a geopolitical miracle in the midst of the Cold War", he says– and that some of the data collected are hopeful, such as those that say the ozone layer hole is closing.As soon as I enter CosmoCaixa, I head to the space dedicated to Josefina Castellví (1935-2026) and research in Antarctica. There is the module-laboratory where Castellví worked, and many others, including Antoni Ballester, the driving force behind the base. I see a lot of equipment that is noticeably old –— I don't like the word 'antiquated'. Most are for microbiology, to analyze the chemical composition of water and its organisms.The director of CosmoCaixa, Valentí Farràs from Cardona, former director of CaixaForum Barcelona, accompanies me. He explains to me that after it fell into disuse, this laboratory –a container made in Tarragona– was repatriated: yes, it made a round trip to Catalonia, and CosmoCaixa "welcomed" it.Before showing me how the origin of the universe is explained here, Valentí indicates the origin of this museum that opened its doors in 1980. "First we opened it to schools and universities for them to test it," he explains. In the beginning it was called the Science Museum of the Social Work “la Caixa”. It occupied a building from the early 20th century, by Josep Domènech i Estapà –some called him, with malice, "Domenech the bad", in contrast to Domènech i Montaner–, which had housed a shelter for blind women, characterized by an innovative pedagogy. Later it became the Science Museum and since 2004, after a major expansion, CosmoCaixa. Today it is a giant of scientific dissemination for all ages, a must-visit. It is a museum to go to for a few days because in one "you won't finish it". "Hold on!", says one girl to another. They are playing at trying to hold their palms out for as long as possible on a large block of ice. Next to them, one of water's curiosities is explained: its three states –solid, liquid and gaseous– can coexist simultaneously at 0.01 degrees. Not so in Antarctica, where water freezes below zero degrees (approximately -1.8 °C) because it is salty.Another curiosity about water that catches my attention is shown in an experiment. We approach it and an educator says to a series of students: "See? Water is not continuous." There is a stream of water that forms a bridge and is illuminated with stroboscopic light, which allows it to be seen broken down into drops.We enter the so-called flooded forest. It is hot, 26 °C and 80% humidity and it's raining –it's rather drizzling– every quarter of an hour. Of course: we are "in" the Amazon rainforest, specifically in the Santarém region. I watch an anaconda move slowly. "It eats two rabbits every fifteen days. It's a slow-digesting animal," says Valentí. Suddenly, my host looks at his mobile. It's not that he wants to ignore me. He wants to show me the number of people visiting the museum. It's a "tracker" that is constantly updating. "There are 1,410 people." It's more or less as if the entire population of Puigverd de Lleida –even very old people, who only leave the house occasionally–, were attending CosmoCaixa.I stop in front of a fossilized skeleton of a woolly mammoth, of considerable size. They made good use of many things from the mammoth: the skin for clothing, the body for food or for making tools. "If they explain it to you, you remember it; if you experience it, you learn it. This is the basis of CosmoCaixa," remarks Valentí. "Accompanied by educators, knowledge is consolidated," he adds as I review the names of great female researchers that fill a wall. The first, Hypatia of Alexandria, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician (4th century AD). Of course, Josefina Castellví is not missing.

Next to the Portal de Porrera, formerly the only carriage access to the now-disappeared medieval walled enclosure, there is a beautiful sundial. It is the largest in the town and one of the largest in Catalonia. One of its curiosities is this text: "You who are looking at me pay good attention to what I tell you, this has great meaning (...), if you don't understand what I say you will go to Salamanca". It refers to the University of Salamanca. Back then (19th century) it was quite far from here!

A good way to grieve is to gather memories. When, a few months ago, my father, an architect, died, rummaging through documents, I learned that the lineage of architects who preceded him was much more extensive – and notable – than was said at home.The lineage has ended (for now). None of the seven siblings have dedicated themselves to architecture. The industrial engineers lineage on my mother's side (Cornet) has also become extinct, one of whom directed the Maquinista Terrestre i Marítima.Among the buildings preserved from the lineage of architects of my father, Vil·la Urània stands out, the work of my great-grandfather Magí Rius (grandfather of my grandfather, Magí Romaní Rius). Magí Rius Mulet built it when he was thirty years old. He had not yet reached his professional peak.Vil·la Urània is one of the oldest and most beautiful houses in the Barcelona neighborhood of Farró. It is single-story and slightly elevated (to access it, you have to climb eight steps), which gives it a temple-like air. It has a few ornamental details in the neoclassical style. It was built in 1868 – the year of the Glorious Revolution–, precisely the date on which Josep Comas i Solà was born: I will tell you about it now. The house was commissioned to Magí Rius, Comas i Solà's father, but he lived there for a short time because he died young. His son, the astronomer, inherited it and named it Vil·la Urània, in honor of the muse of astronomy. He lived there until his death, in 1937.I visit Vil·la Urània accompanied by Ricard Martínez, a great astronomy enthusiast, who presided over Aster, Barcelona Astronomical Association, for a few years. "As a child, Comas i Solà already looked at the sky. His hobby became his profession. He did good work on the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars (he thought he had observed a volcanic eruption on Mars; we now know it was a dust storm). He had an enormous capacity for work. He took many photographs, and where photography couldn't reach, he made drawings," says Ricard. And he adds, with a smile: "There are astronomers who have been terrible drawers"."He was very keen on looking through the telescope from the roof of this house, where he spent hours and hours. He made several discoveries: eleven asteroids – including Hispània – two comets...", details Ricard, while we have a coffee at Vil·la Urània. It is now a café-restaurant. "He had a great capacity for communication. He gave many lectures and often appeared on the radio. Before graduating in physical-mathematical sciences, he was already collaborating with La Vanguardia –l’ARA did not exist yet–. He wrote for the Godó newspaper regularly throughout his life. He also published articles in numerous foreign magazines. And he promoted the so-called Festes del Sol (Sun Festivals), which have been revived at Vil·la Urània."

I suppose the miller's mill, in Balaguer, was called that because the person who operated it was left-handed. And I suppose that when he went to school, as a child – if he went at all – the teachers must have wanted to correct his "anomaly", without success.

Today I visit the science place closest to my home. And despite that, I had never set foot there. It is located on Carrer de la Llum – yes, they have given it a tailor-made name – in Cerdanyola del Vallès, bordering Sant Cugat, where I have lived for many years.

The traffic light we are waiting to turn green contains LED lights made with rare earths. When we call dad or waste time watching videos on social networks of boys falling –and getting hurt, but in the background you can hear people laughing, without any empathy– we use a mobile phone that is made, in part, of rare earths. When we have an X-ray, rare earths are involved and save thousands of photographic films. If we need to have prostate surgery, the laser (thanks to rare earths) does the job.What are rare earths, however? They are a series of chemical elements essential for today's technology. "They belong to the group of critical minerals, the market of which is mainly controlled by China. They have high economic interest and are in a situation of supply risk," explains the curator and former director of the Museum of Geology Valentí Masachs, Joaquim Sanz. "The first rare earth element to be discovered was yttrium, in the 18th century, and the last, promethium, in 1945. Before, all minerals were called earths and these chemical elements rare earths because their usefulness was not known and they rarely appear concentrated in deposits, which complicates their exploitation," emphasizes Joaquim. Now we do know what they are for. And they have so many uses! So, they are neither earths nor rare.This is one of the many things learned in this magnificent geology museum located at the Escola Politècnica Superior d’Enginyeria de Manresa. It is the UPC's geology museum. Students and professors of the degree in mineral resources engineering and their recycling are fully involved. They conduct workshops and guide school visits, and exhibit the results of their research.Pedagogy is part of the essence of the museum. Professors who bring students there, from 5 years old to university age, find it easy. Worksheets also help –for different ages– which are available to everyone at www.geomuseu.upc.edu."If the consumption of non-renewable resources continues to grow indefinitely, these resources will run out, and future generations will have nothing profitable left on Earth," states David Parcerisa, a doctor of geology and museum curator. "We need to investigate how to improve the recycling rate of minerals. For example, copper, whose recycling is not 100% efficient, and we still need to extract it. Copper is used to make electric cables that light bulbs, for our car to run... It's one of the most prized metals, also by thieves and the military industry (bullets are made from it)," says Joaquim Sanz when we are in front of radioactive minerals –uranium, thorium, and radium. They are found inside a display case protected to prevent them from being exposed to radiation. On the other hand, you can touch a meteorite the size of a hand. It is the so-called Toluca meteorite; it was found in this locality in Mexico. David invites me to bring a magnet close to it. And it certainly attracts it! This meteorite is 93% iron.The most successful room in the museum is tiny. It has two display cases where a few minerals, rocks, and fossils are exhibited. I press a switch and the samples appear illuminated, thanks to a long-wave ultraviolet lamp that I just turned on. Of course, they are fluorescent minerals. The calcite from Franklin, for example, is dressed in a reddish hue.Next I press another button and... How beautiful! The Mexican calcite takes on an intense pink color thanks to the short-wave ultraviolet light I have turned on. And when I turn it off, the light continues to be seen for a few seconds. It is phosphorescent.At the museum, also find minerals that have fallen into disuse. For example, mercury, which was once the king of thermometers. It is prohibited to use it due to its toxicity. "If it is thrown into the sea, the fish –who don't know it's toxic– they eat it, of course. And we, by eating fish, ingest small doses of mercury," says Nor Sidki Rius, a mining engineer and curator of mineralogy at the museum, who also accompanies me.The museum is not just about minerals. It is also about paleontology, which is actually also a discipline of stones: fossils. The most spectacular element in this area is a large fossilized mammoth tusk. "This tusk was discovered in 1957 during quarrying work on the Manresa hill of Puigberenguer. The extraction work was carried out by Valentí Masachs, a geologist recognized who years later would make this museum a reality and would be its first director", explains Josep Biosca, curator of paleontology. I leave the museum enriched with a few experiences, such as having seen the difference between phosphorescence and fluorescence. Don't miss the opportunity to visit it; it's very different from classic geology museums!Beyond the exhibition halls

The activity of the Valentí Masachs Geology Museum goes beyond the exhibition halls. It organizes visits where geology is the protagonist, not only in the field but also in the city of Manresa itself. The museum has designed an itinerary that allows you to know what rocks some of the building facades in Manresa are made of; it explains what type of stone they are (sedimentary, magmatic...), their origin... Some even have fossils embedded in them (in the limestones of Sant Vicenç de Castellet). Some come from Finland or Brazil. In addition, many school visits combine a visit to this museum with other visits, such as the Manresa Museum of Water and Textiles, the Can Font Water Centre, or the Cardona salt mines.

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It makes perfect sense to dedicate a chapter ofA country of science at the Casa de Convalescència of the Hospital de la Santa Creu, located in the Raval, a stone's throw from the headquarters of ARA. It is the headquarters of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), whose Section of Sciences is very powerful. Catalans associate the IEC, our national academy, especially, with Catalan and its normative dictionary, the DIEC. But under the shelter of this more than centenarian entity (it was founded in 1907 by Enric Prat de la Riba), very diverse scientific research has been carried out on topics as varied as the biogenome, the Romanesque Pyrenees or migrations and diversity.

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In the scientific field, it is often risky to confirm the authorship of an invention. There have been –and still are– as many disputes as you like between a scientist or a team of scientists and others over who has been the inventor of something. Therefore, I prefer to be cautious and say that the magnificent book I have in my hands, which for a long time has been known as the first scientific popularization book in Catalan, is probably the first scientific popularization book in Catalan. This publication, which is located at the Documentation Centre of MNACTEC (National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia), is titled Noves científiques (Novas científiques, says the original). It is written by the politician, economist, textile technician, and great science popularizer Ferran Alsina, in pre-normative Catalan. Reading it, I find a few stumbling blocks: ab (with), aixís (so)... After a while, I get used to it.

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They chartered a train for the occasion. That August 30, 1905, the railway left Barcelona's França station at six in the morning and returned to the city very late, at night. The reason for the trip was to be able to see the total solar eclipse from the new Observatory of the Ebro, in Roquetes.

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For a long time, watches have been in decline, on wrists, in public buildings, and in so many other places. Mobile phones tell the time and, of course, they have sentenced them to death. But not entirely. There are survivors. One of the oldest that continues to tell the time is found on Barcelona's Rambla dels Estudis, on the facade of the headquarters of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts. This is an entity that deals with the research and dissemination of sciences and their application to technology and the arts. It is located in a building renovated by Josep Domènech i Estapà, who, in addition to being an architect, had scientific interests: he presided over the Astronomical Society of Barcelona.At the beginning of the industrial era, in full preparation for the Universal Exhibition of 1888, the Academy felt obliged to give the official time to all Barcelonians: there were quite a few public clocks, but they went their own way. When the radio began to "tell" the time signals, the Academy's clock – which obtained the time through astronomical observations – began to lose followers. Now, with updated instrumentation, it gives the time with an accuracy of a tenth of a second.Today we jump to the era when the watch began to become widespread. There were few of them. Trams still ran in Barcelona. Some said that Barcelonians only put their hand in their pocket for two reasons: one, to pay for the tram, and the other, to adjust the time on their watch in front of the Academy of Sciences and Arts.And it wasn't just Barcelonans who came to the Academy to set clocks. Some visitors did too. When a ship arrived, the boatswain would walk the entire Rambla carrying the ship's clock or clocks, to set them to the exact time. It was important not only for knowing the time but also for calculating longitude and following the course. If you go to La Rambla, in front of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, you will see that the clock on the facade says: "Official Time". It is flanked by two sculptures: on the left, one of the scientific genius, with a compass in hand; and on the right, one of the artistic genius, holding a small sculpture. These two winged geniuses were commissioned from the sculptor Rafael Atché, author of the Columbus statue, located at the other end of La Rambla. The Academia building, which also houses the Poliorama theatre, is crowned by two domes. One was dedicated to astronomy and the other to meteorology. But when lighting arrived in the city, a darker place was sought for observation and the Fabra Observatory was built, on Tibidabo. I visit the headquarters of this center accompanied by Jordi Isern, who is its president. Jordi is an astrophysicist and works on the final stages of the life of stars. He is an gentleman from Empordà, with exquisite manners. When he was young, he left his native Llançà to come to Barcelona to study physics. "If you study, you can stay here," his father told him. He was diligent... and he stayed. La Rambla, now gutted by construction work, was the landscape of his youth. He remembers mythical characters who used to stroll, like a woman who had a stuffed rat on her back."The Academy has 75 full members, elected by co-optation: among them. At 80 years old they become emeritus." Jordi will be emeritus in four years. "The Academy was born in 1764, during the Enlightenment. It was first called Conferencia Physycomatemática Experimental". Jordi explains it to me as we climb up to the upper floor, where there is a wooden spiral staircase that leads to the top of the building. George Orwell narrates in his book Homage to Catalonia the difficulty of climbing this staircase loaded with a rifle, during the May Events. The one on the facade is not the only unique clock in the center. The one by the Swiss watchmaker Albert Billeter, from 1869, also stands out, marking the position of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and some planets. It is enormous. He made it for the Senate, but the Senate did not want it because it was too expensive. The clock is located next to the assembly hall, which is double-height. In this assembly hall, I need to talk about another Albert (who is also a foreigner): Albert Einstein gave a lecture here in 1923 on his topic: the theory of relativity. "How is it that you have King Charles III in a prominent place?", I ask. "The current building is the result of the renovation of the building constructed in 1761 to house the public chair of mathematics. Charles III ceded the building to the Academy shortly after, once this chair disappeared", explains Jordi. When, during the Civil War, some uncontrolled people wanted to take it away, the meteorologist Eduard Fontserè, who was a member of the Academy, exclaimed: "Don't take it away! He is one of us. He is the one who expelled the Jesuits!"."The first photograph of CataloniaThere are a lot of treasures at the Academy of Sciences and Arts. Books stand out, of course. One of the most prized objects is the camera with which the first photograph in Catalonia was taken, in 1839. It took them 20 minutes to take it. There was a music band to celebrate it! "The photograph was lost...", explains Jordi Isern. And he makes an enigmatic pause: "Because they auctioned it off to pay for the camera". Anyway, a reproduction of the photograph is preserved.

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