<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - science]]> 10 <![CDATA[Cell phone first aid kit]]> In just a few years, CAR-T therapies have gone from spectacular promise to a real clinical tool—though not always easy to apply. We use the term CAR-T to refer to a type of immunotherapy in which the patient's own T lymphocytes—a type of blood cell—are genetically modified to express a chimeric receptor (CAR) that recognizes a specific protein on tumor cells. These cells are then expanded in the laboratory and reintroduced into the patient so they can recognize the tumor target and fight the cancerous tumor. A kind of 'living cell pharmacy'.

]]> <![CDATA[Crosses and cracks]]> We live in times of crux and fissures in life and geopolitics. The Greenland episode—and Venezuela—reminds us just how uncertain everything is and how easily it can change at any moment. In parallel, these days in our own country we have also seen how infrastructure only truly 'exists' when it fails—especially due to the (far) right. The Adamuz train accident has left more than forty dead, with high-speed rail traffic disrupted and an entire country in a state of shock.

]]> <![CDATA[Biological Autumn]]> Autumn, more than decline, is transition. Falling leaves don't die suddenly, but rather respond to a precise biological program, written by the same nature that made them grow. Human aging is not very different: a gradual, programmed, but also modulable process. Science is beginning to understand its rhythms with a precision that compels us to revise the calendar of life.

]]> <![CDATA[Running a marathon]]> This Sunday, she participated for the first time in the New York City Marathon. An experience that serves as a starting point to discuss the science behind the 42.195 km. A physical milestone—and an emotional one, at least in New York, where it has been dubbed "the best day of the year" in the city—that also offers a scientific window to better understand the physiology and limits of the human body.

]]> <![CDATA[Predict health]]> Reading patients' medical records is the basis of the new model'Delphi‑2M', a generative language model recently published in 'Nature'. Likewise how the ' workchatboxes' Like ChatGPT and Gemini—trained to complete texts probabilistically—Delphi transforms clinical data on diagnoses, age, sex, and lifestyle habits into tokens and learns temporal patterns to predict what diseases you might get—and when.

]]> <![CDATA[A pioneering study in the Balearic Islands reveals that connected marine reserves better protect fish.]]>

A study by the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) (CSIC-UIB), which monitored fish using acoustic telemetry for two years, has shown that marine reserves function better when they are connected to each other. The results highlight the importance of the Balearic Islands' marine reserves in protecting and connecting fish populations, the institution reported in a statement about the project. Coremar, which has studied the movements and behavior of key species for biodiversity and fisheries, such as grouper, dentu, amberjack, spectacle, and shortfin grouper.

]]> <![CDATA[Stars and atoms]]> With everything happening in the world—nonstop conflicts, tense discourses, collapsing ecosystems—sometimes one wonders if watching the news serves any purpose other than adding to the anguish of the day. And perhaps that's why, increasingly, the refuge of a book, the starry sky, or the inside of a cell don't seem like bad places to lose yourself for a while. Not to escape reality, but to remind ourselves that there are still spaces that can amaze us. That science, however, continues to discover and open windows.

]]> <![CDATA[Vaccines are not ideology]]> Few public health strategies have as clear an impact as vaccines. They have been key to dramatically reducing diseases like measles, polio, and smallpox, and remain essential today against infections like COVID-19 and human papillomavirus. However, their potential extends beyond infection prevention.

]]> <![CDATA[Four sensors have been developed at the bottom of the Balearic Sea to monitor temperature, salinity, and currents.]]>

The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) has deployed a total of four landersOceanographic centers in the Balearic Islands will allow scientists to verify aspects such as temperature, salinity, and the direction and speed of currents. This work was carried out in June by staff from the IEO's Balearic Oceanographic Center in collaboration with personnel from the oceanographic centers of Cádiz, Gijón, and Murcia, according to Europa Press. This is one of the activities planned within the framework of the Ebamar-PortoC project, which will involve the installation of the islands' new climate station.

]]> <![CDATA[The nautical chart of the genome]]> This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of the UCSC Genome Browser, a digital tool that has played a key role in the genomics revolution. Created in 2000 by a team of bioinformaticians at the University of California-Santa Cruz, the browser was conceived as an urgent response to the need to visualize the human genome, which had just been sequenced. Today, it remains an essential platform for biomedical research.

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