Flying an airplane into a thunderstorm may not sound like a good idea. Unless you are a physicist. Scientists from the Exaedre project have led an exceptional mission to study the physics of lightning from up close.
Video
03.22.2019
In Iraqi Kurdistan, excavations carried out by a French archaeological mission have revealed an ancient city on the site of Kunara. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, this city stood in the heart of an unknown kingdom: that of the mountain people, who...
Article
03.19.2019
In his new book, the physicist Sébastien Balibar tells the story of the encounter in Paris of the Hungarian László Tisza and the German Fritz London, two scientists who fled Nazism, and their subsequent exile to the United States. He shows how scientific...
Article
03.18.2019
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Article
03.26.2019
Each of our cells contains our entire genetic code. However, some become skin or muscle cells, or even neurons! This is what epigenetics can achieve. We met with Edith Heard, a global specialist in the discipline, who in January took over as director general...
Article
03.26.2019
A cutting-edge web platform, fed by brain-scan data from thousands of persons of all ages and states of health, now pinpoints the changes in brain structure that mark the onset of Alzheimer’s in humans under 40, long before any signs of its characteristic...
Article
03.15.2019
Niger’s second-largest city is hosting a photographic exhibition on everyday life in the region at the turn of the twentieth century, in the initial stages of French colonisation. Camille Lefebvre, a historian at the Institute of African Worlds (IMAF),...
03.14.2019
Due to climate change, the Argentière glacier in the French Alps has been losing a meter of thickness every year for the past 30 years. A team of scientists has equipped the icy giant with over 100 sensors to listen to its inner workings during a month....
Article
03.12.2019
A complex of churches hewn directly into the rock, located in the centre of Ethiopia, is slowly yielding its secrets, thereby enabling a better grasp of the country’s history.
Article
03.08.2019
Conflicts of interest, merchants of doubt, the influence of private foundations... many factors can cloud scientific discourse. The philosopher Mathias Girel, a specialist in epistemology at the...
Article
02.25.2019
Will Europe take part in the next space mission to Uranus and Neptune? To discuss the issues and technical questions that such a mission entails, Olivier Mousis, a specialist in planetary formation,...
02.21.2019
This February, the world’s leading experts in ancient materials research convened in Paris for the World Meeting on Heritage, Sciences and Technologies. For Loïc Bertrand, director of the IPANEMA...
Article
02.20.2019
Combining miniaturisation and wireless connection, mobile devices require quick and durable sources of electricity: micro-supercapacitors and microbatteries could provide the solution.
02.15.2019
Most professional pianists believe that their unique way of playing—posture, fine hand movements—defines a specific piano sound. A team of researchers and professional piano players are testing...
Article
02.14.2019
Giant experiments all over the world are trying to break the secret of neutrinos, the elusive and unusual elementary particles discovered in 1956. Their success could change our understanding of...
Article
02.13.2019
Demographer François Héran, holder of the Migrations and Societies Chair at the Collège de France, challenges our preconceived ideas on migration and tells CNRS News why, together with more than 800...
Article
02.11.2019
Nothing seems easier than putting one foot in front of the other. Yet scientists working in the neurosciences and biomechanics are making ever more surprising discoveries, such as the fact that it is...
02.11.2019
The appearance of mobility in multicellular beings could be much older than we thought. This at least, is what the small fossilised tunnels found in 2.1 billion-year-old rocks in Gabon suggest.
Opinion
02.05.2019
It is now (almost) possible to be embodied in realistic fashion within a virtual body. Although this reality could pave the way for new therapies, it also raises certain questions. The computer...
01.28.2019
For amputees, controlling a robotic prosthesis is far from a perfect solution. It can take months of training before they can perform basic day-to-day operations. In France, a team of researchers...