The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier for developing "experimental methods generating attosecond light pulses". These advances made it possible to observe the motion of particles in atoms on the shortest time scale captured by humans. An attosecond is a unit of time equivalent to one trillionth of a second, roughly the time it takes light to travel the diameter of an atom.

The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their groundbreaking discoveries, which have radically changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, and made it possible to develop vaccines at unprecedented speed during the covid-19 pandemic.

A meta-analysis analyzing the results of 18 clinical trials concludes that influenza vaccination may produce more adverse reactions in women than in men. According to the authors, whose research is published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, "the data suggest that most reactions are mild, self-limited, and rarely serious." "Transparent communication about the increased risk for women could help maintain long-term confidence in health authorities and vaccines," they add.

A new study in mice, published in Science Immunology, challenges the so-called 'hygiene hypothesis', the idea that a contributing factor to allergies is that there is an under-stimulated immune system that has not seen enough exposure to germs from current hygienic conditions. In the research, laboratory mice still developed allergies when exposed to various microbes.

The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has issued an information note warning of "exceptionally high" temperatures for this time of year in Spain, especially between Friday 29 September and Monday 2 October.

Chronic exposure to various air pollutants has been linked to an increased risk of stroke, but the short-term effects have been less well studied. A review of 110 papers and more than 18 million stroke cases shows that recent exposure - in the five days prior to stroke - also increases the likelihood of stroke. The results are published in the journal Neurology.

An analysis published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine reviews epidemiological research on persistent covid and concludes that many studies overestimate its prevalence due to overly loose definitions, absent or inadequate control groups and other methodological shortcomings.

Training people to get rid of unwanted thoughts can improve their mental health, according to a study from the University of Cambridge (UK). The research team stresses that these results "challenge the century-old wisdom" that trying to get rid of negative thoughts can have harmful effects on mental health. The study, published in Science Advances, involved 120 adults - some with major depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder - from 16 countries, who underwent a three-day online training to suppress certain thoughts. After the training, participants reported feeling less anxiety, negative emotions and symptoms of depression.

Since the first case of epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHD) in Spain was detected in cattle in November 2022, it has spread among farms in several autonomous communities in dozens of outbreaks. The mosquito-borne disease does not affect humans, but has the potential to cause economic losses.

Las lluvias torrenciales caídas en Libia hace dos semanas fueron 50 veces más probables por el calentamiento global provocado por la acción humana. Algo similar ocurría con las lluvias caídas en Grecia, Bulgaria y Turquía, que fueron 10 veces más probables por el cambio climático, según concluye un estudio de atribución rápido de la Word Weather Attribution (WWA). La investigación apunta a que la tragedia en Libia se agravó por otros factores humanos, como construcciones en llanuras inundables y presas en mal estado. Los autores también analizaron las inundaciones registradas en España a principios de septiembre y concluyeron que precipitaciones tan intensas se esperan una vez cada 40 años.