In March 2020, France was one of the countries that adopted the strictest lockdown measures in an attempt to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. The historian and sociologist Nicolas Mariot looks back at this experiment in mass obedience.
On our planet, everything is interconnected, from terrestrial and marine ecosystems and biodiversity to ice sheets, rivers and oceans. But a recent report reveals that the dynamics of these different systems is being destabilised by human activities to such...
Could the power of the dollar be in decline? As BRICS countries openly toy with the idea of creating a common currency, is the global system ready to adopt a new international money? Physicists, who analysed the mathematical structure of trade, investigated.
Building the petroleum society that is now the basis of our prosperity has come at a cost. Gwenola Le Naour and Renaud Bécot, co-editors of a book on the topic, bring to light the destruction caused by the “petrolisation” of our planet, in France and around...
The exceptional discovery of a settlement dating from 3,000 BC, in the Marais de Saint-Gond region in northeastern France, sheds light on the still largely unknown way of life of Neolithic societies.
In the context of the 2024 edition of Brain Awareness Week currently being held in France, CNRS News highlights the advances made in the field of autism. Once considered the result of a rare,...
In 1729, the Natchez tribe of Native Americans suddenly massacred French settlers living near them in the area around New Orleans. The retaliation was fierce, nearly wiping out the entire clan. In a...
A series of remarkable linear urban settlements have been uncovered in Ecuador's Upano Valley. The size, organisation, age, longevity and location of these sites has caused considerable surprise...
Nepalese shepherds breed yaks for their milk, meat and wool. In this report published in collaboration with LeMonde, anthropologists and ethologists study their strategies to protect their...
As a result of climate change, a third of the world's population is likely to be affected by dwindling water reserves. This will inevitably lead to growing tensions, both internationally and...
The CNRS Gold Medal will be handed to Sandra Lavorel in Paris this Wednesday. It rewards her pioneering work in functional ecology and her research on the functions of ecosystems and their benefits...
Patricia Rousselle, Marc Antonini, Jacques Gierak, and Claire Hellio are this year’s recipients of the CNRS Innovation Medal. On 14 November, they will be presented with this distinction, which...
“We’re a gang, but not like you think: we’re revolutionaries.” The kind of statement that sparked the curiosity of the anthropologist Martin Lamotte, who has spent four years investigating the...