In cetaceans—unlike in other mammals—breathing is a voluntary action that involves returning regularly to the surface. Sperm whales take naps in vertical position, and when dolphins sleep, half of their brain stays awake. How exactly are they able to do this?
Opinion
09.20.2017
Although it was named a mere twenty years ago, the last common ancestor of all living organisms on Earth is more than three billion years old. And scientists have an ever-better idea of what it may have looked like.
Opinion
09.15.2017
In the 20 years since it left Earth for Saturn, the Cassini-Huygens mission has made remarkable discoveries, to the point of changing our entire understanding of the Solar System. Its spectacular end will come on September 15, 2017: the space probe will dive...
Article
09.12.2017
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Article
09.06.2017
Music cannot be reduced to a combination of notes and rhythms that can trigger emotions. It is also a form of language likely to convey information. A new discipline, music semantics, focuses on this...
Opinion
09.04.2017
Could it be that the difficulties experienced by boys in secondary school originate from the conflicting messages they receive for the construction of their masculine identity?
08.28.2017
Far from immune to the effects of globalization, the oases of the world are changing. Whatever their many forms, water is always the determining element.
Article
08.17.2017
To mark the centenary of the birth of the French ethnologist and film-maker Jean Rouch, a series of events is being organized throughout France this year, with the support of prominent national and...
08.06.2017
Even the most rational among us make their decisions... at random! The neurobiologist Thomas Boraud explains why in this column.
07.18.2017
Fake reviews on the Web are far more widespread than we think. Andreas Munzel, a specialist in online-user review analysis, deciphers this type of fraudulent practice.
07.14.2017
The demonstration of intestinal parasites in World War I soldiers provides additional evidence of the horror of these men’s daily lives. This discovery was possible thanks to an emerging discipline,...
Article
07.11.2017
In the summertime, our bodies are more visible, becoming an important concern in a society that idealizes physical “perfection.” Is this a recent phenomenon? And what are the downsides of this cult...
Article
07.09.2017
Tattoos, an immensely popular fashion accessory at the start of the 21st century, in fact reach all the way back to the Neolithic Age. Anthropologist Sébastien Galliot explains the history and...
Article
06.26.2017
Following the French Network for Asian Studies International Conference, which was held on June 26-28 at Sciences Po Paris, Sébastien Lechevalier and Rémi Madinier explain the value of focusing on a...
Article
06.12.2017
The world now hosts more than thirty megacities—cities with more than 10 million inhabitants—a figure expected to reach fifty by 2050. CNRS researchers look at this important trend and its effects on...
05.29.2017
Faced with the many forms of damage caused by pollution and climate change, a growing number of legal and civil society initiatives around the world are feeding into the development of genuine...