Making sense of science
Top
You are here
Home / Articles

Articles

RSS feed
Nodules (pink) formed by nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria on a leguminous plant's roots (white).
Bacteria have formed nodules (in pink) on the roots (in white) of a legume. The bacteria provide the plant with nitrogen, and the plant provides the bacteria with carbohydrates.
Thierry Berrod, Mona Lisa Production / Science Photo Library
Life
Ecology
0 comments
The super powers of the plant microbiota
01.28.2026, by
Kheira Bettayeb
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 ecologist international recognition.
Read more

Recent Articles

Article
Society
Digital
Article
Science one step ahead
12.02.2025
metamorworks / iStock.com
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...
Read more
Digital
Article
Does AI care about us?
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...
Read more
Digital
Article
Stéphane Mallat, a pioneer bridging mathematics and computer science
09.10.2025
Stephane Mallat at work
By combining theoretical abstraction with practical impact, Stéphane Mallat has left a lasting mark on mathematics and computer science. From the JPEG 2000 image compression standard to the...
Read more

Archives

Life
Society
Article
Sharks fall prey to "Jaws"
07.24.2025
Image du film montrant le requin attaquant le bateau et le héros Martin Brody (Jaws, de S. Spielberg, 1975) © Universal - Zanuck-Brown / Collection ChristopheL
Steven Spielberg’s "Jaws" is back in cinemas worldwide 50 years after its original release. The specialist Éric Clua talks about the negative image of sharks conveyed by the film and a new...
Read more
Society
Digital
Article
Dying with the times
07.22.2025
Les Linceuls de David Cronenberg 2024 © Prospero Pictures / SBS Productions / Saint Laurent / Collection ChristopheL
Digital cemeteries, deadbots… Is the development of digital tools changing the way we cope with death and mourning, as depicted in David Cronenberg’s latest film "The Shrouds"?
Read more
Earth
Article
A pioneer wiped off the map
07.16.2025
Marie Tharp in July 2001 at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
A name frequently associated with plate tectonics is that of the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener. However, another one would deserve recognition: that of the American cartographer Marie Tharp,...
Read more
Space
Article
1905: Einstein initiates the quantum age
07.09.2025
During his “miraculous year” 120 years ago, Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect, laying the foundations of quantum mechanics. The historian of science Christian Bracco provides an...
Read more
Matter
Earth
Article
The secret of sand patches
07.07.2025
Sand ripples, Maspalomas, Grande Canarie, Spain. © Sopotnicki/Shutterstock
Sand patches dot beaches and deserts, but their origin remains an enigma. Using measurements taken in the desert, physicists have created a model that explains how they form, with a few surprises...
Read more
Life
Society
Article
The tribulations of the chihuahua in America
07.05.2025
Un husky fait face à un chihuahua © cynoclub / iStock.com by Getty Images
Researchers have shown that dogs had a place in the first agricultural societies of Central and South America more than 5,000 years ago. But the arrival of European settlers brought about a drastic...
Read more