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.
By elucidating the mechanism that enables the microscopic fungus "Candida albicans" to cause an infection, a CNRS research team has opened the way towards several new therapeutic...
How to ensure an efficient energy supply for increasingly complex medical implants? A new study provides a theoretical framework for optimising wireless and battery-free devices powered by...
When the outside temperature drops, our body may start to shiver. But that’s not all: it also triggers a series of coordinated reactions to maintain its temperature at 37°C. What are the mechanisms...
Albeit little-known, plant microbiota or holobionts are essential for plant health and sustainable agriculture. The work of Philippe Vandenkoornhuyse in discovering their role has earned this CNRS...
In August 2025, the Geneva Summit on plastic pollution once again failed to reach agreement on an international treaty, due in particular to a lack of consensus over recycling and its limits. This...
The huge fires that burn down millions of hectares of forest in North America every year have an impact on the other side of the Atlantic. Plumes of smoke and various other pollutants have been...
The myth of Africa as a wild, enchanting continent conceals a reality of nature under glass orchestrated by Western experts, to the detriment of local populations. The historian Guillaume Blanc...
A previously unpublished sonnet by Cervantes, recently discovered in an account of Neapolitan festivals, reveals the exceptional socio-professional status of the author of "Don Quixote" in...
Why is the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, so much hotter than its surface? Ten years after formulating a hypothesis based on a numerical model, CNRS researchers have now...
The concept of an “energy transition” is misleading, states the CNRS science historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz. He explains why coal and oil never replaced wood, and that the fight against climate...