Making sense of science
Researchers have revealed the existence of an infraslow physiological rhythm during sleep in reptiles. The discovery sheds light on the evolution of sleep… and its mysteries.
Article
06.04.2026
Sophie Germain’s name will soon be engraved on the Eiffel Tower. A brilliant self-taught mathematician, she had to fight throughout her life to gain equal recognition to her male contemporaries, and bore the full brunt of the sexism of her time.
Article
05.28.2026
The extraordinary odyssey of toxoplasmosis, a parasite that manipulates its hosts to turn them into cat food.
Article
05.22.2026
Article
07.21.2023
Blind since her teenage years, Wanda Diaz-Merced has developed a technique called “sonification” to convert astrophysical signals into sounds. Building on the success of this impressive tool for...
06.08.2023

Located at an altitude of 2,500 metres on the Bure plateau in the Alps, the Noema international observatory is the most powerful radio telescope in the northern hemisphere. Thanks to the data...

Article
04.24.2023
Two separate measurements of the Hubble constant, a parameter that describes the expansion rate of the Universe, have yielded conflicting results. The discrepancy could lead to the overthrow of the...
Article
02.27.2023
JUICE, the first European-led space mission to Jupiter, is scheduled to launch in April. The aim of this major undertaking is to explore the gas giant and its icy moons.
Article
02.21.2023
Using a novel experimental protocol, scientists are shedding fresh light on nuclear fusion reactions in stars. This will affect theories of stellar evolution and of the abundance of elements in the...
Article
01.26.2023
A CNRS research team is developing a computer program to calculate the risk of collision between a satellite and orbiting debris in real time.
Article
12.05.2022
Earth's smaller sister planet, Mars, may have seen the emergence of life in its early history. To be certain, NASA's rovers Curiosity, launched ten years ago, and Perseverance, which landed...
Article
11.24.2022
Launched in 2016, the MICROSCOPE satellite has confirmed with unprecedented precision the equivalence principle, which lies at the heart of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Two...
Article
11.21.2022
For the first time, a physical model consistent with observations successfully describes how the tidal force caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon is slowing down the rotation of our planet...
Article
10.30.2022
The astrophysicist Jean-Luc Atteia explains why the exceptional gamma-ray burst detected in early October could dramatically change what we know about supernovae and black holes.
10.02.2022

Polar auroras are fascinating events that are regularly visible on Earth. Yet do they occur on other planets, such as Mars for example? And if so, how can they be observed? In this report,...

Article
08.26.2022
It's off to the Moon. 29 August was to mark the beginning of the Artemis space programme. These lunar exploration missions should lead to the return of a human crew to the Moon by 2027. The goal...