news 2023

Scientists have discovered fossil evidence of a cyclical climate on Mars, with wet and dry seasons like those on Earth. This environment, in which simple organic molecules have already been discovered, may have provided ideal conditions for the formation of complex organic compounds. This work opens up new prospects for research into the processes underlying the origin of life, of which no vestiges remain on Earth.

Antibody fragments of EPCT112 bNAb (blue) discovered at the Institut Pasteur by Hugo Mouquet's team, here forming a complex with the HIV-1 envelope protein (Env) (shown in yellow and orange Some HIV-1 carriers who have received an early antiretroviral treatment during several years are able to control the virus for a long term after treatment interruption.

Numerous studies are now reporting the harmful effects of air pollution on the central nervous system (neurodegenerative diseases in adults, neurodevelopmental disorders in children). Glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, is a neurodegenerative disease of the optic nerve whose principal characteristic is thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal PNAS, on July 18, 2022, and Nano Letters, on May 22, 2023. Communication of CNRS-INP on July 17, 2023. Researchers at the Physics laboratory of ENS de Lyon (CNRS/ENS de Lyon) have recreated artificial pores that mimic the functioning of two types of biological pore, paving the way for the manufacture of selective nano-pumps and nano-filters.

Publication of the IGFL in the journal eLife on June 9, 2023. Communication on Jully 12, 2023. In nature, it's all a matter of perception: it's by knowing their environment that living beings can react to it. Our cells, for example, are able to perceive the presence of bacteria on contact. But how? Using the fruit fly - Drosophila melanogaster - as a model, a research team led by the Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon (IGFL, CNRS/ENS de Lyon) has described a new mechanism by which intestinal cells can "sense" and adapt to the bacteria in the microbiota.

Publication of the CRAL in the journal Nature on December 6, 2023. Press alert of CNRS on December 6, 2023. Galactic winds enable the exchange of matter between galaxies and their surroundings. In this way, they limit the growth of galaxies, that is, their star formation rate.

Contrary to prior assumptions, ancient Egyptian painters did at times push the boundaries of convention. Artistic creations supposed to be copies of canonical images were in fact often adapted and reworked during their execution. This discovery was made using new, portable chemical imaging tools that leave the artworks intact.

To understand the main determinants behind worldwide antibiotic resistance dynamics, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and Université Paris-Saclay developed a statistical model based on a large-scale spatial-temporal analysis. Using the ATLAS antimicrobial resistance surveillance database, the model revealed significant differences in trends and associated factors depending on bacterial species and resistance to certain antibiotics.

An international scientific team, notably from the Institut de Systématique Évolution et Biodiversité ( ISYEB ), has just identified the smallest species of singing cricket ever described, whether fossil or present-day, in opaque amber from the Cretaceous period (around 100 million years ago - Ma) in the Charentes region of France.

Babies and puppies have at least two things in common: aside from being newborns, they promote a positive emotional state in human mothers, leading them to articulate better when they speak. This finding is the result of research by an international team 1 that included Alejandrina Cristia, a CNRS Researcher at the Laboratoire de sciences cognitives et psycholinguistique (LSCP) (CNRS/EHESS/ENS-PSL).

Faced with childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, how to break the therapeutic deadlock - The answer may well lie in the genes of the proteasome, an intracellular machinery responsible for eliminating defective proteins from the cell. A research team from Inserm, CNRS, Nantes University and Nantes University Hospital, working at the Institut du Thorax and in collaboration with international teams, has studied the genomes of 23 children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

In the face of childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, how can we get out of the therapeutic "dead end”' The answer could well be found in the genes of the proteasome - an intracellular mechanism that is responsible for removing defective proteins from the cell. A research team from Inserm, CNRS, Nantes Université and Nantes University Hospital, at the Thorax Institute and in collaboration with international teams, studied the genome of 23 children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Publication of the LGL-TPE in the journal Tectonophysics on April 28, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INSU on June 12, 2023. A research team has recently published a study on the mechanism of crustal flow in the journal Tectonophysics . They have reconstructed the evolution of the Wenchuan fault, located to the east of Tibet, over the last thirty million years.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory and the LIP in the journal PRX Quantum on April 18, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INP on June 13, 2023.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal Nature on June 14, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INP on June 14, 2023. A research team involving members of the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon has demonstrated the existence of a new form of order never before identified in nature: 'non-orientable' order, which can endow simple structures with properties that enable them to store information.

We are all familiar with taking our pulse to check our heart rate. This signal is due to the propagation of a wave caused by the arteries dilating under the surge of blood from the heart. While we thought we knew the pulse well, the latest research by an international team led by Inserm researcher Stefan Catheline at the Laboratory of Therapeutic Applications of Ultrasound (Inserm/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1/Centre Léon Bérard) shows that this was not the case.

An international team of scientists has discovered that Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) 1 , the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, emerged from a long period of dormancy some 200 years ago. The team, led by Frédéric Marin 2 , a CNRS researcher at the Astronomical Strasbourg Observatory (CNRS/University of Strasbourg), has revealed the past awakening of this gigantic object, which is four million times more massive than the Sun.

Correct immune system function depends on the continuous supply of white blood cells derived from stem cells that reside in the bone marrow. These are known as blood stem cells or hematopoietic stem cells. Researchers from Inserm, CNRS and Université d'Aix-Marseille at the Center of Immunology Marseille-Luminy have now discovered a new role played by these cells in immune response.

The proper functioning of the immune system depends on a constant supply of white blood cells from the stem cells that reside in the bone marrow: blood stem cells - or hematopoietic stem cells. Researchers from Inserm, CNRS and the University of Aix-Marseille, at the Marseille-Luminy Immunology Center, have now discovered a new role played by these blood stem cells in the immune response.

Ammonia plays an important role in the mechanisms at work inside the planets Uranus and Neptune. Experiments carried out at the Laboratory for the Use of Intense Lasers (LULI) have reproduced the extreme conditions prevailing on these planets, and demonstrated the fusion of "superionic" ammonia ice. These results are reported in the journal Nature Physics.