If there's one girl's name that has consistently topped the popularity charts in recent years, it's Martina. The last time it reached the number one spot was in 2023, but between 2010 and 2016 it held the top position five times. In fact, the last decade saw a Martina boom: 7,585 girls were given that name, and although it's still popular, it has lost some ground between 2020 and 2023, with 1,663 girls bearing that name. It now occupies third place, behind Sofía and Julia.

We read in the ARA an article, quite surprising, by The Economist which is titled "Why are more and more families preferring girls over boys?" Gosh, you. And it explains cases of couples who cry when they're told it's "a boy" and that the networks are full of a pathology (it's not new, but it's been given a name) called "gender disappointment" and they show "the sadness of not having a little girl." I was going to say that we deserve extinction, but it's not necessary. We're close at hand.

When she was just eight years old, Lua began to complain that her breasts were hurting, and her mother, Marcela Sáenz, a nurse, noticed that she had already developed a breast bud—breast growth—which is generally the first sign of the onset of puberty in girls. "I saw that it wasn't normal, that it was too early, and we went to the Primary Care Center for an evaluation, and from there we were referred to the endocrinologist at San Juan de Dios Hospital," explains Lua's mother. There, they performed tests, including blood tests and a bone X-ray of her hand, to assess whether her growth was in line with her age. They also assessed her birth weight and development.

Elite athletes and mass sports, as well as the athletes who earn the most and have the greatest media coverage, have traditionally always been men. As this is a cause of a primarily cultural nature, perpetuated for a long time, it is necessary to empower girls and young women when it comes to starting and consolidating themselves in the sports they like. But how can this be done? Alejandra Domínguez, director of the Women's Sports Institute (WSI), suggests starting by "providing truthful information." And she maintains that "we tend to assume that the salary differences between male and female athletes are due to some type of discrimination, when what happens with sport, like with any business or industry, is also subject to the laws of the market and, therefore, to gain access we must submit to its rules." This does not mean, she clarifies immediately, "that nothing can be done to improve or that there is nothing to do." In fact, in his opinion, everything that falls outside the concept of the sports industry as a business should enjoy special protection. "We must ensure that access to sports becomes a reality for everyone," he stresses.

When she was little, Maria Recasens, now 26, had many hobbies: in addition to school, she participated in the Lego robotics league, went to the hideout, went climbing and really liked reading and painting. She wanted to be an astronaut then and that's why she got into astronomy until a physics book fell into her hands. She found it so interesting that she set her mind to studying something that would allow her to understand it. Years later she graduated in physics at the University of Barcelona, ​​​​she has completed an interuniversity master's degree in quantum science and technology and has started a doctorate at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO). This career and everything she remembers thinking about science when she was little is what she shares this Tuesday in a talk at the Menéndez Pelayo Institute in Barcelona, ​​​​in front of 1st year ESO students. For the first time she has joined the #científicas program, which for seven years has brought science and research to schoolchildren.