The information of the territory provided by the laser technology from an airplane can be combined with data collected in mountain lakes with an inflatable boat and a small echo sounder to obtain three-dimensional maps. The system has been successfully tested by two geologists at the Truchillas glacial lake in Spain.

The modules that the major space agencies plan to erect on the Moon could incorporate an element contributed by the human colonizers themselves: the urea in their pee. European researchers have found that it could be used as a plasticizer in the concrete of the structures.

Water is split into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis, but if CO₂ is also added to the mixture, compounds can be generated to make textiles, diapers and even spirits. American scientists, led by a Spaniard, have developed a catalyst that accelerates this reaction, while also removing a greenhouse gas.

Living beings, especially microorganisms, have a surprising ability to adapt to the most extreme environments on our planet, but there are still places where they cannot live. European researchers have confirmed the absence of microbial life in hot, saline, hyperacid ponds in the Dallol geothermal field in Ethiopia.

Physicists use two types of measurements to calculate the expansion rate of the universe, but their results do not coincide, which may make it necessary to touch up the cosmological model. “It's like trying to thread a cosmic needle,” explains researcher Licia Verde of the University of Barcelona, co-author of an article on the implications of this problem.

Researchers at the Miguel Servet University Hospital in Zaragoza (Spain) have analysed the ratio between the perimeter of the neck of people living in old people's homes and the probability of malnutrition. Values below 37.8 cm in males and 35.2 cm in females indicate risk.

In the European Union, eggs are labelled with a code starting with 0, 1, 2 or 3, depending on whether the hens are organically produced, free-range, floor-raised or caged, respectively. Now researchers at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) have developed a technique to distinguish them with 100% accuracy by analysing the lipids of the yolk. The method is now available to detect fraud.

One of the great attractions of the island of Santorini, in Greece, lies in its spectacular volcanic landscape, which also contains places similar to those of Mars. A team of European and U.S. scientists has discovered it after analysing basaltic rocks collected in one of its coves.

The 1,554 inhabitants of Fresnedillas de la Oliva (Spain) are making preparations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the arrival on the Moon. It was in this small village where the expected Apollo XI landing signal was received through the antenna that NASA installed on their land. That changed the lives of its inhabitants, who now remember how they cooperated in that great step for mankind.

There is one year to go until asteroid 2015 TB₁₄₅ approaches Earth once again, just as it did in 2015 around the night of Halloween, an occasion which astronomers did not pass up to study its characteristics. This dark object measures between 625 and 700 metres, its rotation period is around three hours and, in certain lighting conditions, it resembles a human skull.