"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.

For years, research on the human microbiome has focused almost exclusively on the gut. But there are also millions of microorganisms – especially bacteria, but also fungi and viruses, and yeasts – lining the vagina. Although they have not been studied until recently and, therefore, little is known about them, recent studies are beginning to shed light on how this ecosystem is key to women's health and can affect conditions such as endometriosis.

Barcelona hosted the ConnectAI Industry Congress this week, on Wednesday the 28th and Thursday the 29th, at CosmoCaixa, with a clear ambition: to transform artificial intelligence into a truly useful tool for Catalan industry, or, as the organizer put it, "a lever for competitiveness." Far from futuristic speeches or pyrotechnic demonstrations, the congress, sponsored by Ayesa, LC Pack, Orange Empresas, and Amphos21, was conceived as a forum to discuss practical applications, efficiency, and impact, with the explicit aim of moving "from fascination to action." ConnectAI, held in the Catalan capital—which the organizers champion as the country's industrial and technological epicenter—brought together companies, research centers, government agencies, and technology providers under three major cross-cutting themes: industry, technology, and knowledge. It also brought together more than 700 companies from the Catalan technology industry, represented by clusters such as water, the packaging, energy and the digital industry. The common thread throughout all the sessions has been the idea that AI is not an end in itself, but a lever for transformation to address very specific challenges in day-to-day business.

For fourteen years, Conchi Merino has risen early to care for 5,435 animals of 170 species—and countless ants!—the inhabitants of the CosmoCaixa Flooded Forest, a space that recreates the habitat of the Amazon rainforest, threatened by agricultural, livestock, and mining operations. The guest of honor is Nut the capybara, a giant rodent that inspires passion among the 45 school groups that visit this jungle every day. It is likely that the capybara rivals Snowflake the Great Kiskadee and Ulysses the orca as one of Catalonia's most iconic animals.

Fossils are witnesses to the past and essential pieces for scientific dissemination. They allow us to understand evolution, the history of the Earth, and the existence of already extinct species, such as the mammoth. An animal that coexisted and interacted with humans for thousands of years, it is essential to know more about it now that our planet is facing great challenges that inevitably recall the conditions suspected to have contributed to its disappearance, such as the climate crisis or human action.