The climate emergency and the slow pace of reducing emissions have brought solar radiation modification (SRM) back into the international debate. SRM involves a range of interventions designed to reflect a portion of incoming solar radiation and temporarily cool the planet. These interventions encompass a range of technologies, including stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening, cirrus cloud modification and orbital reflection systems. 

Fungi play a structural role in the functioning of ecosystems and their associated microbiomes, shaping biogeochemical, agricultural and health-related processes through networks of interaction. However, their role in these ecological interactions is not well understood, which limits our ability to anticipate risks and harness their potential¹.

Growing human activity in space is expanding its environmental footprint, driven by the increasing number of satellites that re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their operational life. This practice is especially common in low Earth orbit, the region of space closest to the planet. It is the main way to prevent the build-up of space debris, but it involves satellites breaking apart during re-entry and releasing gases and aerosols as a result of extreme temperatures and friction with the atmosphere.

Smoking and alcohol consumption are declining, while obesity continues to rise: this contrast defines the recent evolution of the main health risk factors in Spain. In 2020, 20% of the Spanish population smoked daily and only 9% drank alcohol every day, compared with 32% and 20%, respectively, in the 1990s [Fig. 1]. At the same time, leisure-time physical activity has increased significantly, doubling over recent decades from 13% in 2001 to 26% in 2020. Among younger people, these trends are even more pronounced.

Bacteria are increasingly developing resistance to antibiotics, a phenomenom that began decades ago and is already having a major impact. In 2023, antibiotic resistance was linked to 24.000 deaths in Spain and more than 4.5 million worldwide. Recent international and national data point to an even more worrying future. If current trends continue, by 2050 Spain could see around 45.000 deaths per year related to antibiotic resistance, close to 10% of all deaths and roughly one third of those attributed to cancer.

Imagine a biology that is increasingly programmable, with crops able to withstand extreme droughts, bacteria capable of capturing pollutants, and cells engineered to correct hereditary diseases. CRISPR technology, developed just over a decade ago, is one of the tools making this shift possible. While not the first method of genetic engineering, it has enabled DNA to be edited with unprecedented speed, precision and versatility.  

Europe is heading towards a sustained decline in population. In the coming years, most EU countries will experience demographic decline as a direct consequence of low fertility rates and an ageing population.

This is not a new phenomenon. Without immigration, Europe would already have started to lose population a decade ago. Spain's population has grown by 24% since 1990 thanks to an influx of foreign population and a favourable population pyramid [Fig. 1].

Despite the advances in organic farming over recent decades, European agriculture still depends on a difficult-to-replace input: ammonia. Without it, it would be impossible to produce the fertilisers that sustain around 90% of Europe’s agricultural output. The problem lies in how ammonia is produced: a highly energy-intensive process based on fossil fuels that, on a global scale, consumes around 2% of primary energy and generates 1.5% of CO₂ emissions.

The economic and social progress of countries in the long term is determined, among other things, by the distribution of their population across the territory. The evidence tells us that the concentration of the population in large urban areas facilitates efficiency in the provision of services, promotes innovation and the exchange of ideas, and encourages the attraction of talent, generating more growth and more employment.

Almost everything we do on the internet is protected by digital security systems: from sending a WhatsApp message to making a bank transfer or saving our photos in the cloud. This protection is based on mathematical formulas that are very difficult to break, at least for today's computers. However, the advance of quantum computing is opening a new era in technology.