At Maldita.es we are lucky to have an incredible community: thousands of people who send us hoaxes through WhatsApp and help us spread the truth, nearly 50,000 malditas and malditos who are part of our community, almost 1,000 ambassadors who help financially support our work, and more than 2,600 malditas and malditos who have shared their superpowers — their expert knowledge — to fight disinformation. Thanks to them, we are more effective against disinformation. To celebrate 1,000 collaborations with our community of malditos and malditas with superpowers, we asked our newsroom about their favorite ones. Although it is impossible to dedicate a few words to each of these 1,000 collaborations, every single one has been essential to our work.
You can also be part of this community: your superpowers are the topics you know a lot about, what you study, or what you are curious about and have knowledge of. You can share them with us by becoming a maldito/a here.
Andrés Jiménez, coordinator of Maldito Bulo
I really liked the collaboration of our maldito Enrique García in the article What we know about the demolition of the 13th-century Pont des Trous bridge in Tournai (Belgium), because it was a very specific case that required knowledge of both history and French, and we happened to find Enrique, who is great at both.
Yuly Jara, Maldito Dato reporter
Thanks to the malditos who lend us their superpowers, we can reach sources and knowledge that would otherwise be very difficult to access, as in the case of Lara Trujillo, who helped us put into context the risks posed by asbestos present in public health centers in Madrid.
Joselu Zafra, Maldita Ciencia reporter
I loved collaborating with Jorge Barros, an airline pilot, on this topic about why some flight routes take much longer (or much less). He shared original flight plans and high-altitude wind maps for the Madrid–Bogotá route, carefully hiding sensitive information and explaining the meaning of every element. We later collaborated with him again on aviation articles, and he has always been willing to answer questions and even ask colleagues who knew more than him.
Paula Quintana, coordinator of Maldito Feminismo
I remember Ana Bazo Burguera very fondly, an Arabic philologist who helped me a lot with a piece about the hijab in Egypt. I had the topic stuck and had no sources answering me, and she shed a lot of light on it and helped me see new lines of research. I think it was the first time we contacted her and she was really happy. She even asked colleagues about the parts she did not know. I remember her very warmly.
Luisa Bernal, Maldito Bulo reporter
In May 2021 many videos went viral supposedly showing magnets sticking to people’s arms where they had received the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming the vaccine contained magnetic materials. To debunk it, Gabriel Alfranca Ramón not only explained why that was impossible, but also ran a small lab experiment with his colleague Yilian to prove it. Our malditos are amazing.
Bea Lara, Community coordinator
When we started on Twitch and Discord, I had no idea how those platforms worked. Two malditos who followed us faithfully in our Twitch streams, Wololo and g2PedroSanchez, who are also superpower malditos, helped me set up the Discord server and explained everything so I would not get lost. And Wololo brightens our days with his memes on the server.
I also remember fondly the malditas and malditos who took part in our Christmas superpowers campaign, sharing their experiences with us. Paula, Miguel, Inés and Roger are some of the people who have collaborated the most with us in recent years and helped us understand the value of superpowers for those who share them. I also have to mention the first maldito who collaborated with his superpowers, Rubén Pulido, who is always there when we need help with ophthalmology questions.
Coral García, Maldito Bulo reporter
Scams and cyber fraud are unfortunately everywhere, and many articles are written about new fraud schemes, but affected people often do not get answers to simple questions like “What can I do now?” or whether they can recover their money. That is why the help we always receive from Susana Alwasity and Miguel Vieito Villar is so important.
Fermín Grodira, Maldito Clima reporter…
Some malditos not only share what they know, they even run experiments just to help us. That was the case of Óscar Lázaro, engineer and materials expert, who tested whether aluminum foil can extend the life of batteries by placing foil between the poles and measuring voltage and current.
… and from Maldito Bulo
In the fight against disinformation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the malditos have been key. The Equipo O helped a lot. One especially interesting case was Hugo Rodríguez, photography expert, who analyzed a video of Zelensky recorded in Kyiv that some claimed was fake because he had supposedly fled. By examining many elements of the video, we confirmed it was not manipulated.
Laura G. Merino, Maldita Ciencia reporter
I remember very fondly a couple of funny moments with one of our malditas, Mar Fernández, president of the Egg Studies Institute. Once we contacted her both through her personal email, which she used in our community, and through the institute’s official email — without realizing it was the same person. When she told us, we all had a good laugh.
At the end of 2021, Mar also came to an event where Maldita Alimentación was participating, and after it ended she came over to say hello in person. It was great.
And if there is someone who is always there when it comes to food technology, it is Lorenzo Mingallón, food technologist. His speed, clarity and willingness to help are incredible.
Jose Molina, Maldito Dato reporter
I really liked the collaboration of a maldito who gave his expert opinion in data protection to clarify whether publishing ID numbers of candidates could be an infringement, and he evaluated the responses of the Ministry of the Interior and other experts.
Isabel Rubio, Maldita Ciencia reporter
Among our star malditos are Amaia Ochoa de Amezaga, neuroscience expert, and José Ángel Morales, neurobiology PhD at the Complutense University of Madrid. Ochoa explained why we kiss and what benefits it has, and why some people cannot visualize mental images, while Morales explained why we feel ticklish, why babies feel it differently, and why our hands or feet fall asleep and how to make it go away faster.
Vivian Rangel, Maldita Educa
In Maldita Educa we use superpowers especially during our Twitch sessions. José Antonio Rodríguez recently gave us a masterclass on the importance of properly labeling advertising on social media.
Another special collaboration was with Sergio Lasheras, a computer scientist specialized in video games, who joined a Twitch session about games and education. He tested educational games, explained what makes them engaging for children, and showed us an app to create games. His perspective as both professional and gamer was fantastic.
Rubén Díaz, Maldito Dato reporter
The Mar Menor crisis had many angles: environmental problems and unclear responsibilities. Luckily, lawyer Miguel Vieito helped us untangle the legal responsibilities, and Carmen Martínez helped us understand the biodiversity of southeastern Spain.
Maribel Ángel-Moreno, Maldito Clima reporter
Ignacio Gómez, expert in stock markets and capital markets, explained how the currency market works in just a couple of emails. Very few people can make something so complex feel simple and close.
Naiara Bellio, Maldita Tecnología coordinator
If I have to mention someone who has helped us a lot in Maldita Tecnología, the first name that comes to mind is Paula González. Piece after piece, she helps us with her cybersecurity superpowers and explains everything clearly. Being able to rely on her again and again is a gift.
I also loved working on this article about how filters work on platforms like Instagram or TikTok with David Castillo, a PhD researcher in intelligent systems, who explained neural networks as if it were a private class, even preparing sample images for the article. That level of dedication is priceless.
These are just a few examples of the collaborations that malditos and malditas have made with their superpowers over the last three years. Every contribution the community makes to Maldita.es is essential: from the tips you send on WhatsApp to sharing our fact-checks, and of course the financial support of Maldita.es ambassadors. If you also want to be part of the Maldita.es superpowers community, you can share yours with us by becoming a maldito/a here.