news 2022

Several months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, some patients continue to have symptoms. This phenomenon, known as "post-COVID condition” or, more commonly, "long COVID”, remains poorly documented. In order to address this and improve patient care, research teams are trying to improve their understanding of the underlying biological and immunological mechanisms.

For the first time, a digital model has shown that both fishing and climate-induced environmental change are responsible for the collapse of cod stocks in the North Sea. Taking into consideration these two factors together is crucial for the sustainable management of fish stocks. Using a new digital model, an international team led by researchers from the oceanology and geosciences laboratory (LOG) (CNRS/Université de Lille/Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale) has shown how fishing and climate affect cod stocks in the North Sea.

Controlling and studying the chemistry of batteries is crucial to improving their design. Scientists have developed an optical fibre based method for monitoring the evolving chemistry of a commercial battery in real time during charging and discharging. These results pave the way for easier and improved battery design.

By coupling a tensile machine and an in situ dielectric measurement, physicists from Lyon (ENS de Lyon Physicis Laboratory and MATEIS) have made a breakthrough in understanding the molecular reorganizations that allow a polymer film to stretch. The results of this study are published in the journal Macromolecules .

The large morphological classes of galaxies have fascinated astronomers since their discovery. A new analysis led by Louis Quilley, PhD student (Sorbonne University), and Valérie de Lapparent, researcher at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), establishes a physical link between the order of the different types of the famous Hubble sequence, and the systematic evolution of galaxies.

The ANRS DOXYVAC trial, conducted by a research team from the Paris public hospitals group (AP-HP), Université Paris Cité, Inserm and Sorbonne Université in collaboration with AIDES and Coalition PLUS, demonstrates the efficacy of both a meningococcal B vaccine in reducing the risk of gonorrhea infection and the use of doxycycline as preventive intervention for sexually transmitted infections when taken within 72h after sexual intercourse.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one of the solutions being put forward to help adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. To demonstrate their effectiveness, scientists from CRIOBE (CNRS/École Pratique des Hautes Etudes/UPVD), as part of an international team 1 , analysed 22,403 research articles on MPAs.

Hipparchus' star catalog is the earliest known attempt to accurately determine the positions of fixed stars. Researchers have just found fragments of this missing text in an old manuscript. They show that Hipparchus' data were significantly more accurate than those of another catalog composed centuries later.

A team of European researchers has established a new principle that explains how flying insects determine the direction of gravity, without using accelerometers. These results are an important step towards the creation of tiny autonomous drones. For proper operation, drones usually use accelerometers to determine the direction of gravity.

They prove that Hipparchus' data were significantly more accurate than those of another catalogue composed centuries later. Researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne Université and Tyndale House (affiliated with the University of Cambridge) have recently found fragments of the Star Catalogue composed by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus during the 2nd century BC.

Data can be encoded as DNA but are difficult to process thereafter. A new method enables operations to be performed on DNA-encoded data directly, without having to first translate them into their electronic equivalent. DNA can be used to reliably store a vast amount of digital data. However, retrieval or manipulation of specific data encoded in these molecules has hitherto been difficult.

More than half of adults over age 65 have two or more chronic conditions. Multimorbidity, or the presence of multiple chronic conditions in the same person, is a major public health challenge. While the scientific literature has provided consistent evidence of an association between sleep duration and the risk of developing various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, no study had previously focused on the link between sleep and multimorbidity.

For the first time, zinc isotope ratios in tooth enamel have been analysed with the aim of identifying the diet of a Neanderthal. Other chemical tracers indicate that this individual did not consume the blood of their prey, but ate the bone marrow without consuming the bones. A new study published on october 17th in the journal PNAS , led by a CNRS researcher, has for the first time used zinc isotope analysis to determine the position of Neanderthals in the food chain.

Why are cancers of the adrenal glands 1  more common among women? Why are prognoses worse for them? A team of scientists led by a CNRS researcher answers these questions in an article published on 14 October 2022 in Science Advances . They demonstrate that, in male mice, there is greater recruitment of immune cells known as macrophages, which can eliminate tumour cells.

A team of researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Sorbonne University and AP-HP at the Brain Institute in Paris has just deciphered how our brain behaves when we procrastinate. The study, conducted in humans, combines functional imaging and behavioral tests and allowed scientists to identify a region of the brain where the decision to procrastinate is played out: the anterior cingulate cortex.

Meditation as a tool to prevent dementia and improve the mental health and well-being of elderly people is one of the avenues explored by the European Medit-Ageing research program, coordinated by Inserm. As part of this program, researchers from Inserm and Université de Caen Normandie, in collaboration with French and European teams, observed the impact of 18 months of meditation training on certain brain structures involved in regulating attention and emotions in healthy people over 65.

Children born prematurely have a higher risk of suffering from cognitive and sensory disorders but also infertility in adulthood. In a new study, a team of researchers from Inserm, the University Hospital of Lille and the University of Lille, within the Lille Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory, raises interesting avenues to improve their prognosis.

The treatment of cancer is often based on intravenous chemotherapy, which is highly demanding and requires hospitalisation. One of the possibilities considered to alleviate this protocol is subcutaneous chemotherapy. Though much simpler to implement and more comfortable for the patient, it is impossible to practice as most of the active ingredients administered are irritant and vesicant - they stagnate in the subcutaneous tissue where they cause skin necrosis due to their high toxicity.

Publication of the CIRI and the LBMC in the journal iScience on September 16, 2022. CNRS-INSB communication on September 22, 2022. The stage at which memory CD8 T cells diverge after a viral infection remains debated. These cells are essential for effective protection of individuals during subsequent infection.

Trees play an essential role in the well-being of city dwellers - but for how long? An international research team, including a CNRS researcher from the Ecology and Dynamic of Anthropogenic Systems laboratory at the University of Picardy Jules Verne (Laboratoire Ecologie et dynamique des systèmes anthropisés, CNRS/Université of Picardy Jules Verne) 1 , has published the first global risk assessment for tree species planted in cities in the curre