A sign that says "Welcome to the Gross Happiness CountryIt welcomes you to Paro International Airport in Bhutan. Next to it is a large portrait of the king and queen and a sign reminding you that smoking is prohibited throughout the country and that the speed limit is 50 kilometers per hour.

In recent days, the image of Chinese actress Zhang Jingyi on the red carpet at the Beijing International Film Festival has spread like wildfire across social media and various trending outlets. The actress puts on the photocall Dressed in an elegant black dress. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. The reason for the viral video is something else: in her hand she's carrying a simple yellow plastic bag, the kind used for grocery shopping or taking out the trash at home.

In the early afternoon, the Hikawa Bridge transforms into a small, impromptu film set. A group of young women, dressed in soft-hued kimonos, take photographs while laughing and trying to capture with their eyes the gentle rain of petals falling on the river. Below them, small boats glide calmly along the Shingashi River, amidst white and pink freckles floating on the surface. On the banks, cherry blossoms create an ephemeral tunnel, making Kawagoe a living postcard of Japan's most evocative side.

In one of the approximately one hundred thousand WhatsApp groups of friends I belong to (and which have so many women, especially those in their later years), we spent quite a while discussing an Instagram post announcing that youth is no longer an age, but an energy. The headline is brilliant, and at first glance, I bought it wholeheartedly. I myself am fifty-six years old and I feel energetically young. And I think about it every Monday, because I like to start the week with a little madness: going to the gym for the seven o'clock weightlifting class. I've always been told I have a lot of energy, and as you can see, it hasn't diminished with age. My hands hurt more (osteoarthritis), I complain from time to time about my hip (that's the trochanteric bursitis trying to come back), I need a mouthguard to avoid straining my jaw at night, I take five hundred supplements to prevent it... However, I feel full of life. And I told myself that perhaps the post was right, and I do belong to what they now call the new young, he midlife expanding.

Behind the stone walls of the Pedralbes Monastery, countless generations of women have lived for seven centuries. Each corridor holds many stories, not only of prayer and introspective silence, but also of struggles, conspiracies, survival, and creativity. It is a rare and ancient place because neither the confiscations of church property, nor revolutions, nor dictatorships, nor even the voracious appetite for real estate, have been able to swallow it up. Those who entered were required to take vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, but for a long time it was a space where patriarchal power could be transcended. This year it celebrates its 700th anniversary with exhibitions, panel discussions, and the revelation of many of the secrets hidden within the tombs of a queen and the ladies who accompanied her. We invite you to explore all the spaces of the monastery through the lives of seven women, some powerful, others very humble.

His father and grandfather were pilots, and from a young age, he experienced a passion for aviation at home. Over the years, his fascination with airplanes became a vocation; he became a pilot, and now, with more than twenty years of experience soaring through the skies, he tries to help people overcome their fear of flying. He does this from his Instagram account where she has thousands of followers and has just published a book –Fly without fear (Planet) – where he compiles practical advice and the best tricks he's learned to overcome the anxiety many people feel when boarding a plane.

I recently experienced a shocking situation with a fellow panelist on a television talk show. A woman had come into the studio and explained that she belongs to an association of mothers with children with disabilities. I was surprised that it was an association only for mothers, and during a break, I approached her to find out why. When this colleague realized my intentions, he uttered an ironic, "Go ahead and harass her," which left me speechless.

Last week, actor Ryan Gosling, famous for his role as Ken in Barbie, was a guest at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote his new film. The interview paused when Gosling mentioned that it was his wife's birthday that day and that she was there at the television studios. The host and the actor wanted to surprise actress Eva Mendes, who was discreetly waiting for her husband in the guest room. An assistant escorted her to the set, and a band was brought out to play for her. Happy birthday With all the fanfare. Eva Mendes, who hasn't participated in film projects since marrying Gosling, was very grateful and affectionate with her partner. The next day, the American media rushed to retrieve the image and announced in headlines something they found unusual: it had been more than ten years since the couple had appeared together in public, not even at red carpet events. Of course, preserving the privacy of the family and their two daughters must be a major reason for this decision. It's a way of trying to protect the marriage and the children as much as possible from the pitfalls of fame. But Hollywood, no matter how many feminist Barbies it creates, hasn't changed that much. The film industry really likes to manage the public's desires. After all, it's an industry that thrives on illusions and the ability to fascinate. Great seducers have always had to appear available to the public, even if only symbolically. It's not that their real lives have to be hidden, but they prefer not to project their own personalities onto the greats. sex symbols The emotional and affective responsibilities of a father committed to domestic routines.

Those of us who are a bit older will remember one of the iconic couples of the nineties: Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr. A relationship that is being revisited these days, with a marked hyperglycemia, by the Disney+ series Love StoryShe worked at Calvin Klein, the brand that best embodied the minimalist spirit of the late 20th century, in tune with the moderation and introspection imposed by the economic crisis of the time. He was the heir to one of the most powerful surnames in American politics, with an almost mythical allure that opened doors for him, but also forced him to constantly prove his worth.

The days are getting longer, and on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, at the foot of the Canigou massif, a valley welcomes spring with the white and pink of cherry blossoms. Watered by the pure waters of the Tec River, which rises near the border, Vallespir is a northern Catalan region of contrasts and cultural riches that remains relatively unknown. A thermal valley, in bloom and, above all, not overcrowded, just two hours by car from Barcelona, ​​with ancient traditions and monuments: from the Bear Festival in Prats de Molló to the Museum of Modern Art in Ceret, a mecca of Cubism, and the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria de Arles – founded in 1977. The valley offers seven stays to improve health, prescribed by the French Social Security system, for some 20,000 pensioners. Vallespir is divided into two sub-regions, Alt and Baix, primarily due to its topography. Descending from the Ares pass, where thousands of Catalans crossed the border during the Retirada (the Catalan retreat) fleeing Franco's regime, Prats de Molló marks the entrance to the more mountainous region. Céret and its cherry orchards are the capital of the Baix Vallespir, at the gateway to the Roussillon plain. Much of the route can easily be cycled along a greenway with spectacular, ancient metal bridges, such as the 14th-century Devil's Bridge of Céret, one of the largest single-arch medieval bridges in the world. This is the old railway line that connected the Baths of Arles (Arles-sur-Tech in French) with Elna, which opened in 1898 and operated until the 1930s.

The American professional women's hockey league, the PWHL, founded in January 2024, has quickly become one of the most significant phenomena in women's sports. The first game, broadcast simultaneously on all three Canadian national networks, drew nearly three million viewers. Since then, audiences and arena attendance have steadily increased. In the second season, average attendance doubled compared to the inaugural season, and the league has consistently broken attendance records. Merchandise sales have also been remarkable. Furthermore, the gold and silver medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics were won by the United States and Canada, respectively. Most of their players compete in the PWHL, further enhancing the league's prestige.

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.

“Everyone looked at me as if it were my fault, as if I had provoked it. They looked at me with horror, with disgust, with guilt, as if I were the worst person in the world. I felt panicked because I thought I had done something wrong, but I didn't understand what wrong I had done.” This is how Keilyn Andrea González, a young Honduran woman, explains how she felt after suffering sexual abuse at age 11. She forgot it, she blocked it out. It wasn't until many years later that the sexual violence resurfaced, and with it, the need for redress. A need she transformed into a public cry: “I wasn't to blame for what happened to me.”

A paranormal phenomenon occurs at the gym: in most of the group classes, the men disappear. Like that old legend from the eighties, the Bermuda Triangle, that space that swallowed airplanes, the classes swallow the male beings. And I'm not talking about Zumba classes, although that happens too. I'm talking about classes where women lift weights and make them go up and down (body pump) or we do boxing and martial arts punches (body combat), or we do arm and chest strength training while hanging from straps (TXR), activities that in the collective imagination wouldn't be considered "women's activities," but have become so. Then there are classes where women are present, but they are a minority, like yoga, Pilates, and classes to activate the body in general. And there is equality only in CrossFit classes. And where are the men at the gym? Massively, in the weight room, doing individual exercises and lifting waaaaaay heavier weights than in the classes.

"They're my personal history. If I lose them, I'll lose half my story," Rafael laments. "Getting them back would be healing," Aurelia sighs. "It is. I've already been able to, and I'm so grateful," Amparo confirms, relieved. The conversation takes place in a house in the historic center of Paiporta, the epicenter of the devastating storm that claimed the lives of 230 people in the Valencian Community alone. The table around which the three friends sit is covered with papers and photographs. Some are images recovered from the clutches of the catastrophe; others bear witness to the indelible mark of the floods. Calmly, they review each snapshot one by one. Contemplating them awakens memories and anecdotes. Some bring a smile to their faces, others bring tears to their eyes.

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."

Gisèle Pelicot, the woman whom her husband drugged for many years in order to rape her and offer her to other rapists while recording the acts, has just published the book A hymn in life (Now available in books translated by Imma Falcó). The title perhaps forces a vital optimism that's hard to embrace while reading, although the author is determined to make her resilience a plea for a better society and a personal desire to be happy despite everything.

A claw, a chair, a laundry paddle, a plume, a printing press, a dress, an urn, or a corset. These are some of the 25 objects that journalist Sílvia Marimon Molas, Culture Editor at ARA, has featured in the book Inventory of silenced stories (Eumo Editorial), an essential and highly educational journey through everyday objects that have been crucial in shaping our society today. Objects that Marimon links to both renowned and anonymous women who have too often been forgotten in history books.

Pol Casellas (Barcelona, ​​1995) is an architect, but he is best known for his work on social media, where he shares unknown, curious, and surprising stories about Barcelona. His passion for urban planning, architecture, and the city of his birth led him to launch this project with no other aim than to share knowledge, but it has ended up being so successful that it still surprises him and has led him to publish his first book. The impossible Barcelona (Compass Rose).

I confess that I only joined the ranks of active feminists less than ten years ago. And that until then I'd never even set foot in an 8M demonstration. What's more, as a young woman, I disliked the most active feminist activists. I've always considered myself a feminist. I almost spontaneously combusted with indignation when my parents argued that household chores could be different depending on whether you were a man or a woman. But to be lumped together with the feminists who called for the manios of March 8th, so little mainstream (and now I know how necessary) of my youth, well, no. Time had to pass for me to understand that a defense mechanism had been activated in me, one that is triggered in many women, consciously or unconsciously: not wanting to be identified with the problems. With the badasAnd I fell for it too.