news 2017

To solve mysteries about ancient works or authenticate heritage objects, specialists often need support from science. Since 1988, AGLAÉ has been installed at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF, Palais du Louvre). It is the only particle accelerator in the world that is exclusively dedicated to studying heritage objects.

For the first time ever, using mass spectrometry, researchers have successfully read several bytes 1 of data recorded on a molecular scale using synthetic polymers. Their work, conducted under the aegis of the Institut Charles Sadron (CNRS) in Strasbourg and the Institute of Radical Chemistry (CNRS / Aix-Marseille University), sets a new benchmark for the amount of data—stored as a sequence of molecular units (monomers)—that may be read using this routine method.

Known for their exceptional porosity that enables the trapping or transport of molecules, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) take the form of a powder, which makes them difficult to format.

The Rosetta space probe discovered a large amount of organic material in the nucleus of comet “Chury. In an article published by MNRAS on August 31, 2017, two French researchers advance the theory that this matter has its origin in interstellar space and predates the birth of the Solar System. The ESA's Rosetta mission, which ended in September 2016, found that organic matter made up 40% (by mass) of the nucleus of comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a.k.a.

Making a biocell that is as effective as a platinum fuel cell: that's the feat that researchers in the Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université) have a

Weaving history with chemistry, Navelbine and Taxotere : Histories of Sciences (ISTE Editions, June 2017) tells the story of two anticancer drugs—both of natural origin—discovered by teams of researchers at the CNRS Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN).

The fields of gas filtration and purification require materials whose porosity can be perfectly controlled.

Rewarded with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016, nanomachines provide mechanical work on the smallest of scales.

A common strategy to create high-yielding plants is hybrid breeding - crossing two different inbred lines to obtain characteristics superior to each parent. However, getting the inbred lines in the first place can be a hassle. Inbred lines consist of genetically uniform individuals and are created through numerous generations of self-crossing.

Diffraction-based analytical methods are widely used in laboratories, but they struggle to study samples that are smaller than a micrometer in size. Researchers from the Laboratoire de cristallographie et sciences des matériaux (CNRS/Ensicaen/Unicaen), the Laboratoire catalyse et spectrochimie (CNRS/Ensicaen/Unicaen) 1 , and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic have nevertheless been successful in using electron diffraction to reveal the structure of nanocrystals 2 .

To paint quickly while creating exceptional texture and volume effects, J. M. W. Turner and other English artists of his generation relied on the development of innovative gels. All the rage in the 19th century—and still in use today—these compounds alter the properties of the oil paints they are combined with.