Aware of the damaging effects of food crises in a relentlessly growing world population, the FAO has recommended considering insects and jellyfish as part of the human diet. More than twenty-five years ago, Spain -and notably Galicia, a seafaring region par excellence- decided to end the over-exploitation of the sea and invest in research on fish and mollusc breeding in captivity. Jacobo Fernández Casal, a biologist who has been at the forefront of turbot breeding since 1983, reviews the past and the future of an industry with significant growth prospects but which entails numerous risks that must be properly addressed.

Breast cancer is the primary cause of death among women. While some women who have a proven genetic history of the disease voluntarily undergo a mastectomy, screening is still the most widely used preventive procedure, enabling early diagnosis and hence, appropriate treatment. In this issue, Dr. Ana Villanueva, Chief Medical Officer at MAPFRE RE, describes the biological aspects of this daunting disease and explains the latest diagnosis and treatment techniques. Lastly, she goes on to review their implications for risk assessment.

Enrique Dans discovered technology in 1986, when his father gave him a computer as a present. He has been an adept at maximising its potential ever since. Currently the most influential technology blogger according to Guidance, he is generally regarded as a web guru on IT in the corporate world. Therefore, the notoriously traditional insurance industry will have to pay good heed to his contention that it is burdened by “paralysis by analysis”; in other words, those things are analysed to such an extent that ultimately nothing gets done.

As CEO of Aon Benfield Iberia, Alfonso Valera is in a privileged position to comment authoritatively on the insurance and reinsurance industries. In addition to his professional experience, at Aon Benfield he uses sophisticated tools for business and portfolio analysis, which represent a competitive advantage and offer added value to his clients. All in all, he analyses the particularities of the Spanish market, the challenges posed by the financial and economic crisis -which is being particularly acute in Spain- and the industry’s strengths in responding to catastrophic losses, as proven by recent payouts around the world.