Catalonia has become the center of excellence in southern Europe in terms of research and development in nanoscience. The recent addition of the Alba synchrotron to Spain’s list of major scientific and technological facilities places Barcelona in a leading position in the international nanotechnology scene. All these reasons have contributed to the Catalan capital hosting the GENNESYS 2010 Congress, an international meeting on nanotechnology, on May 27 and 28.

Parallel to the profound changes contemporary societies are undergoing, humans are developing new tools that can help them to adapt. Healthcare is not exempt from this trend. In Spain, the aging population and increased life expectancy, among many other factors, are raising a number of challenges that will have to be confronted in order to avoid a collapse of the health system. Identifying the main problems of the current healthcare model and some key reforms to strengthen it were the focus of a round table debate that took place in the medieval chapel of Santa Àgueda, in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, on May 25.

One hundred and fifty doctors, a hundred communications and a 'leitmotif': controversies in bioethics converted Tortosa, on the penultimate weekend of February, in the Catalan capital of clinical debate. They were the XXVI Sessions on Medical and Health of the Land of the Ebro and the organizing team (headed by Ismael Roldán and Manel Chanove) have set the scientific listing at the highest notch.

On Thursday the 18th of March the results of the @neurIST European project for optimization and the treatment of brain aneurysms was presented as part of the celebration of 'The World of IT Health', held in Barcelona from the 15th to the 18th of March. @neurIST has developed and united different technologies with the aim of optimizing workflow in medical treatment of patients with brain aneurysms, focusing on improving the treatment of affected and resource optimization. In the future it is intended to implement the system developed by @neurIST on other diseases.