news 2021

Previously detected in rivers, oceans, and snow, 1 microplastic has now been found in the high-altitude air surrounding the Pic du Midi (2,877 m)-by an international research team including scientists from the CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, 2 and the University of Strathclyde (Scotland).

Whether Venus, one of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets, ever had oceans remains an unsolved puzzle. Although an American study hypothesized involving in particular scientists from the CNRS and University of Versailles-Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines 1 (UVSQ). Using a state-of-the-art climate model, the research team has come up with an alternative scenario to the American study.

To cool off in summer, there's nothing better than a walk in the woods. Trees act as a buffer that cools the air beneath their foliage in summer and warms it in winter. This phenomenon is caused not only by the protection that the forest canopy provides, but also by the transpiration of trees in summer: trees absorb cooler water from the soil, and this water is then transported up to the leaves, ending up in the atmosphere and thus cooling the surrounding air.

Every winter, thousands of emaciated seabird carcasses are found on North American and European shores. In an article published on the 13 September in Current Biology , an international team of scientists including the CNRS 1 has shown how cyclones are causing the deaths of these birds. The latter are frequently exposed to high-intensity cyclones, which can last several days, when they migrate from their Arctic nesting sites to the North Atlantic further south in order to winter in more favourable conditions.

Biological invasions are one of the most important factors of biodiversity loss. They threaten the diversity of ecological strategies - the ways in which species feed, live, function and defend themselves - by up to 40% in birds and 11% in mammals. 11% of the evolutionary diversity of birds and mammals, i.e. their accumulated evolutionary history, is also threatened by biological invasions.

Ten million years before the well-known asteroid impact that marked the end of the Mesozoic Era, dinosaurs were already in decline. That is the conclusion of the Franco-Anglo-Canadian team led by CNRS researcher Fabien Condamine from the Institute of Evolutionary Science of Montpellier (CNRS / IRD / University of Montpellier), which studied evolutionary trends during the Cretaceous for six major families of dinosaurs, including those of the tyrannosaurs, triceratops, and hadrosaurs.

High elevation snow is home to previously unknown species of microalgae. Scientists have created the ALPALGA consortium to study this ecosystem, which is threatened by climate change. According to their initial results, these microalgae are tiered to elevation, just like herbaceous plants and trees.

Scientists have established the most reliable estimates to date of past temperature variations in Antarctic They highlight significant differences in behaviour between West and East Antarctica. This study makes it possible to test and consolidate future climate projections. Antarctica has experienced significant temperature changes, especially since the last glacial period.

The European Alps is certainly one of the most scrutinized mountain range in the world, as it forms a true open-air laboratory showing how climate change affects biodiversity. Although many studies have independently demonstrated the impact of climate change in the Alps on either the seasonal activity (i.e.

The Chauvet Cave, which lies by the entrance to the Gorges of the Ardèche, is home to the world's oldest cave paintings, dating back 36,000 years. Their state of preservation and aesthetic qualities earned them a spot on the World Heritage List in 2014, 20 years after their discovery. The location of the cavern-surrounded by a remarkable landscape, next to the Pont d'Arc natural archway-raises the question of whether the people who executed these artworks looked and walked out upon the same landscape as today.

Every year, our planet encounters dust from comets 1 and asteroid 2 . These interplanetary dust particles pass through our atmosphere and give rise to shooting stars. Some of them reach the ground in the form of micrometeorites. An international program 3 conducted for nearly 20 years by scientists from the CNRS, the Université Paris-Saclay and the National museum of natural history 4 with the support of the French polar institute, has determined that 5,200 tons per year of these micrometeorites reach the ground.

Scientists from the CNRS, the IRD, and the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle have just released the most comprehensive estimate to date of the financial toll of invasive species: nearly $1.3 trillion over four decades. Published in Nature (31 March 2021), their findings are based on the InvaCost database, which is financed by the BNP Paribas Foundation and the Paris-Saclay University Foundation's AXA Chair of Invasion Biology.

The ocean is dynamic in nature, playing a crucial role as a planetary thermostat that buffer global warming. However, in response to climate change, the ocean has generally become stabler over the past 50 years. Six times stabler, in fact, than previously estimated-as shown by a new study that researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne University, and IFREMER have conducted within the scope of an international collaboration.

Publishing in peer-reviewed scientific journals is crucial for the development of a researcher's career. The scientists that publish the most often in the most prestigious journals generally acquire greater renown, as well as higher responsibilities. However, a team involving two CNRS researchers 1 has just shown that the vast majority of scientific articles in the fields of ecology and conservation biology are authored by men working in a few Western countries.

What if more inclusive urban planning for poor populations was key to fighting dengue fever? This is what researchers from the CNRS, the Institut Pasteur and the Indian Council of Medical Research 1 have demonstrated using a geographical approach applied to the greater city of Delhi (India). Their study is published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease on 11 February 2021.

Although the reputation of Champagne is well established, the history of Champagne wines and vineyards is poorly documented. However, a research team led by scientists from the CNRS and the Université de Montpellier at the Institut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier 1 has just lifted the veil on this history by analysing the archaeological grape seeds from excavations carried out in Troyes and Reims.