The year 2023 is drawing to a close and, like every December, it is time to look back on the most important events of the last twelve months. At Metode SSJ we continue to build a space to think about and disseminate science, introducing our readers to the complexity of the scientific world. From the origin of life to reflections on beauty, sex, and dinosaurs, we have compiled a collection of the five most read articles of the year on our website, all written by top researchers in different fields. We hope you enjoy reading them and, once again, thank you very much for living science with Metode SSJ!
Is beauty a criterion of truth?, by Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias
Do bees or hummingbirds perceive the beauty of the flowers they approach to take nectar? That is, can non-human animals appreciate beauty? Is there a universal truth regarding beauty? Or is it just a useful attribute, an indicator of a valuable trait?
The legacy of the dinosaurs, by Luis Alcalá
Luis Alcalá, PhD in Palaeontology, gives us the answer to many questions about the enigmas surrounding dinosaurs, such as why there are so many fossil deposits in certain areas, what the largest species were, or how we know what colour they were.
Sex is wasted, by Pere Estupinyà
We tend to shape our sexuality based on very poor and biased information (personal experiences, gossip, pornography, etc.), and therefore we have a very close-minded and fearful view of sexual exploration. How can we, from a scientific perspective, analyse the keys to understanding human nature through sex?
Virtual sauropods, by Daniel Vidal
Tthe study of fossils using 3D visualisation techniques, better known as virtual palaeontology, has revolutionised the study of organisms from the past. The contributions of these technologies are opening up new frontiers in the study of dinosaurs.
Interview with Tomàs Marquès Bonet, by Lucía Sapiña
Tomàs Marquès Bonet recently led a study in which his team analysed the genomes of 809 individuals from 233 species of primates, almost half of the species currently recognised as such. Among other questions, the study investigates which mutations may be important in pathologies in other primates: humans.
