She’s the boss—but why? A large-scale study of one-on-one conflicts between members of Tanzanian spotted-hyena communities, commonly dominated by female individuals, now presents empirical evidence that she-hyena authority comes down to family and social ties.
Article
11.19.2018
Contrary to belief, it only takes a few seconds for a memory to form. Once recorded, it can be modified or made inaccessible, but it does not vanish. Pascale Gisquet-Verrier and David Riccio talk about their recent work, which revisits the dogma of memory...
Opinion
11.20.2018
Ever since the concept of prehistory was invented, scientists have made a clear distinction between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, between modern and non-modern humans. Yet according to the prehistoric archaeologist Nicolas Teyssandier, it is this notion of “...
Opinion
11.15.2018
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Article
10.18.2018
Vincent Lafforgue, a senior researcher at the Institut Fourier, has won the Breakthrough Prize 2019 in Mathematics. This distinction rewards his career as a mathematician and especially his research...
10.15.2018
On November 13-16, 2018 in Versailles, the base units of the International System were set to be redefined in reference to seven physical constants. A look back at the reasons and issues involved in...
10.10.2018
The Medal of Innovation was awarded on October 10 to Valérie Castellani, Thierry Chartier and Daniel Le Berre. Awarded by the CNRS since 2011, this prize rewards researchers for their outstanding...
10.09.2018
Whether it’s developing smart materials for safer roads or connected medical instruments to help doctors make the best-informed decisions, CNRS research is at the heart of a number of start-ups. We...
10.01.2018
If we are to one day communicate naturally with robots, they will need to master not only speech, but also the subtle yet essential rules of non-verbal communication such as posture and eye...
09.18.2018
From South America to Asia, from Akhenaten to Marcel Proust, here is an overview of the different research for conserving, protecting, and reconstructing our shared heritage.
09.06.2018
One day, our superhuman bodies, augmented with memory implants and infrared eyesight, will stop ageing. And we will never die, our conscience uploaded to heavenly clouds of bits and bytes, floating...
09.03.2018
Machines will one day be able to carry out all tasks currently performed by humans. We asked the economist Gilles Saint-Paul to describe six possible futures for the 22nd century.
Article
08.01.2018
The Italian mathematician Alessio Figalli, 34 years old, with over a hundred scientific publications to his name, has just won the most prestigious prize in mathematics, the Fields Medal. We asked...
Article
07.31.2018
France took its place at the renowned plenary lectures of the International Congress of Mathematicians held in August in Brazil, during which the Fields Medal winners were announced.
Opinion
07.10.2018
A founding principle of the Internet, net neutrality, has recently been challenged in the United States. The specialist Serge Abiteboul explains why equal access to online data is a precious and...
06.19.2018
Observing the world at the nanometer scale has always been a challenge. Chemists, biologists, physicists and computer scientists worked together to develop a technique so that we can today...