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Along with humans, birds are the only permanent bipeds in the animal kingdom to possess an extraordinary sense of balance. How do these direct descendants of the dinosaurs maintain this stability, particularly during their sleep - scientists have recently succeeded in unravelling the mystery.

Nearly one in three cancers develops following chronic inflammation, whose origin remains unclear. In a new study, researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1 and the Léon Bérard Centre at the Cancer Research Center of Lyon identified lymphocytes involved in the inflammatory processes and that are thought to be implicated in the generation of these cancers.

Scientists have deciphered the activation pathway of bemnifosbuvir 1 , a drug candidate initially in development to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV). The findings of the research team, led by CNRS scientists 2 , unlock new opportunities to boost the efficacy of this type of drug against other RNA viruses, such as the ones that cause Covid-19 and dengue fever.

The ANRS DOXYVAC trial, promoted and funded by ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases, and conducted by research teams from Inserm, AP-HP, Université Paris Cité and Sorbonne Université (France), shows that a rapid rollout of smallpox vaccination with MVA-BN ( Modified vaccine Ankara ) among HIV-positive men who have sex with men significantly reduces the risk of mpox by 99%.

In freshwater environments, warming and nutrient enrichment are reducing the diversity of freshwater food-webs, whose richness and complexity are essential to the well-being of ecosystems. This is what researchers from INRAE, Oxford University, the University of Sheffield and Savoie Mont Blanc University have demonstrated by combining large-scale data from lakes and rivers in France.

In France, 46 regional cheeses possess protected designation of origin (PDO) status. France's rich regional landscapes, terroirs, shape the microbial diversity of PDO cheeses, giving rise to their unique flavours. Researchers from INRAE, CEA, CNAOL, and CNIEL made this remarkable discovery after analysing the bacteria, yeasts, and moulds found in over 2,000 samples of French PDO cheeses and in nearly 400 milk sources.

Farm saved seed is seed that comes from farmers' own harvests, which they then sow in their fields the following crop year. This practice, which is common for certain field crops, sometimes involves royalty payments to finance seed research. A team from INRAE studied existing systems in Europe and Australia and showed that royalties on farm saved seed generally increases profits for all the economic players involved, from farmers to breeders of protected varieties.

Three scientists from INRAE, the CNRS and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia have coordinated a large-scale international study involving 120 scientists from 27 countries to understand how the plants found in drylands have adapted to these extreme habitats. For 8 years, the teams collected samples from several hundred selected dryland plots across six continents, enabling the analysis of over 1300 sets of observations of 300+ plant species, a first on this scale.

A collaborative effort between the newly established research institute, Paleotechnic, and several national laboratories (INRAE, University of Orléans) has led to the discovery of a dam, a water treatment facility, and a hydraulic elevator, which would have enabled the construction of the Step Pyramid of Saqqara.

Prickles, wrongly named "thorns" for roses, have appeared in various plant species over hundreds of millions of years of evolution. An international research consortium, led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the USA and involving INRAE, has discovered the gene responsible for the presence of prickles in various plant species, including Roses.

As part of a housing development project in Fameck, Inrap is excavating for the first time a Middle Paleolithic (and Pleistocene) occupation in Moselle, 40 years after the Chavelot dig in the Vosges. The dig provides new elements for assessing the place of this region in European settlements. An occasional Neanderthal hunting lodge? The plot of land lies within the plateau formations separating the Moselle and its tributary, the Fensch.

Acute myeloid leukaemia is one of the deadliest cancers. Leukaemic stem cells responsible for the disease are highly resistant to treatment. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), University Hospital of Geneva (HUG), and Inserm has made a breakthrough by identifying some of the genetic and energetic characteristics of these stem cells.

As the world tries to adapt to climate change, a major challenge is accurately predicting local-level meteorological conditions, such as those found in agricultural landscapes. INRAE researchers recently made a significant step forward: using a supercomputer, they simulated a forest plot's micrometeorological conditions in the early morning.

Phospho-ERK (red), Green Fluorescent Protein (cyan) and DAPI coimmunofluorescence on spleen sections from mice carrying a KRAS G12C endothelial mutation © Guillaume Canaud The teams of the translational medicine and targeted therapies unit of the Necker-Enfants Malades AP-HP hospital, Inserm, Paris Cité University within the Necker-Enfants Malades Institute, coordinated by professors Guillaume Canaud (Université Paris Cité, AP-HP) and Laurent Gu

Since January 1, 2023, the Egalim law has required public establishments to offer a vegetarian option every day. In line with this, the Crous are aiming for 30% vegetarian meals by 2025. One of the main obstacles to be overcome to reach this objective is the acceptability of such a measure by students.

Researchers at INRAE and the National Autonomous University of Mexico have combined flight activity data for honey bees with AI modelling to create a high performing toxicovigilance tool. The results of their study, published in Ecological Informatics, confirm that the tool can alert users to risks to honey bee populations caused by exposure to neurotoxic pesticides.

Jannis Brandt Unsplash The intestinal immune system is an indispensable intermediary in the complex association between diet and metabolism: without it, the dietary fibers present in fruit and vegetables cannot play a proper part in regulating blood sugar levels in the body. Researchers at Inserm and Sorbonne University have now demonstrated that a certain type of immune cell is essential for the beneficial effect of dietary fibre on carbohydrate metabolism.

When confronted with an antibiotic, toxic substance, or other source of considerable stress, bacteria are able to activate a defence mechanism using cell-to-cell communication to 'warn' unaffected bacteria, which can then anticipate, shield themselves and spread the warning signal. This mechanism 1 has just been described for the first time by a team of scientists 2 from CNRS and Université de Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier.

MRI image showing the reconstructed pulmonary valve (circled in red) that is closing perfectly 7 days after implantation. Fabien Kawecki/Inserm Researchers from Inserm have developed a pulmonary valve using human collagen. A device that could ultimately be a game-changer in the treatment of paediatric heart diseases, such as tetralogy of Fallot.

In collaboration with Smiths Detection, CEA-Leti developed an innovative detection module for small-angle X-ray diffraction.