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Marthe Gautier was the scientist behind the discovery of the supernumerary chromosome of trisomy 21, a genetic anomaly that affects some 50,000 people in France. Yet her work was overshadowed and she was not the one who took the credit. The biologist Julie Batut joins us for a look back at the career of this marginalised pioneer.
Recent Articles
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06.11.2026
Perusing through a million matrimonial ads from the past hundred years or so reveals changes in the criteria for love over the 20th century, and hint at deeper transformations in societies themselves.
Article
06.04.2026
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.
05.28.2026
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...
Article
05.22.2026
The extraordinary odyssey of toxoplasmosis, a parasite that manipulates its hosts to turn them into cat food.
Article
05.06.2026
Mixing cake batter, following a recipe, cutting a Yule log. These everyday gestures in cooking actually conceal complex concepts from mathematics and computer science, as shown in an exhibition...
Article
04.30.2026
The physicist Valentina Emiliani has been awarded the 2026 Irène Joliot-Curie Female Scientist of the Year prize, in recognition of her work in neurophotonics, at the intersection of optics and...
12.02.2025
Imagining and preparing for the future in order to guide research and public policy is the very purpose of foresight. A perilous exercise, scientists point out. And one that requires dialogue between...
Article
11.26.2025
Bats are not just a mascot of Halloween, they are also a unique model of viral tolerance and resistance.
Article
11.24.2025
Given that animals are sentient, as established by recent research, what is their attitude towards death? In a recently-published book, the biologist Emmanuelle Pouydebat sheds light on the complex...
11.09.2025
In 2015, the historic Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries, sought to limit global warming to 2 °C. Ten years later, the results have yet to materialise, raising questions regarding the...
Article
11.03.2025
On 14 September, 2015, the international LIGO/Virgo collaboration detected the very first gravitational wave signal, a tiny distortion of spacetime predicted by Einstein, in this case produced by the...
Article
10.28.2025
In the French-Belgian film "The Residence", recently released in a number of European countries and Brazil, a novelist interacts with an artificial intelligence system. The robotics...