actualités 2024

The changing climate is leaving forests greatly exposed to droughts and intense heat waves, adversely affecting the strength of the trees. One current route being explored to improve forest resilience is that of increasing species diversity.

Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that causes listeriosis, a serious disease, can go into dormancy when confronted with environmental stress, for example in the presence of detergents or in water devoid of nutrients. It then becomes undetectable by the tests commonly used in the food industry and hospitals, thus representing a major health risk.

French cattle breeding faces a major challenge: the management of inbreeding and its corollary, the appearance of recessive genetic anomalies affecting the health and sustainability of herds. A proof-of-concept study conducted by INRAE geneticists, in partnership with the Institut de l'élevage (IDELE), ELIANCE, the 4 French veterinary schools (ENVF) and the main French breeding organizations and companies, proposes a new approach to identifying and countering these anomalies.

A European study, led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences with the participation of INRAE, reviewed 20 years of research into the effects of climate change on deer populations in Europe, Asia and North America. The review, published in Global Change Biology, covered 218 scientific articles and showed that while many deer populations benefit from warmer winters, they may not be able to adapt to hotter and drier summers, which could push the animals towards more northerly areas.

The Water Law protects freshwater ecosystems by regulating activities and infrastructure with a potential impact on watercourses, whose legal definition was established in 2015. A research team at INRAE has developed the first national watercourse map. This map reveals disparities in how this definition is applied from one French département (administrative region) to another, to the detriment of small headwater streams - which are often rich in biodiversity - and intermittent streams.

Climate change is exposing forests to severe drought and heatwaves, leading to a weakening of the trees. One way of improving forest resistance is to diversify the species composition of forests. In a study published on September 24 in Global Change Biology and based on data from 5 experimental forests, an international consortium of scientists, involving INRAE and CIRAD and co-financed by ADEME, shows that 2 factors improve trees' chances of survival in mixed forests: the identity of the species concerned and the species composition of the forest .

Protected areas have historically been created to preserve biodiversity, but they are not immune to political decisions. Using the United States as an example, and relying on data from 2001 to 2018, researchers from INRAE, the Institut Agro Montpellier, Duke University and WWF have demonstrated that a shift to a Republican majority in state government increases the risk of reducing or downgrading protected areas.

To protect freshwater ecosystems, the Water Act regulates activities and facilities that can impact watercourses, which have been legally defined since 2015. Researchers at INRAE have drawn up the first national map of watercourses, which reveals inequalities between départements in the application of this definition, to the detriment of small streams at the head of basins, often rich in biodiversity, and intermittent streams.

In a study published in the journal Cell on 19 September, an international research team led by scientists from CNRS 1 , the University of Arizona and Scripps Research in California has identified animal species likely to have served as intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

L'alimentation serait responsable d'environ 30% des décès dus aux maladies cardiovasculaires. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality in Western Europe, accounting for 1/3 of deaths in 2019. Diet is thought to be responsible for around 30% of such deaths. Nutrition-related prevention policies therefore constitute a major public health challenge for these diseases.

Windstorms are extreme climatic events: rare occurrences with high environmental and economic costs. INRAE and AgroParisTech researchers used foresight modelling to simulate the effects of windstorms on French forests-important carbon sinks-and the French forestry industry through 2050. In one quarter of simulations, windstorms caused a 24% drop in carbon sequestration.

Publication of the LGL-TPE in the journal Nature Astronomy on May 22, 2024. Communication by CNRS Earth & Space on June 19, 2024. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the most abundant ices in the Solar System. It has been detected in giant planet atmospheres and on their moons, on and around comets, and even in regions of Mercury, the Moon and Mars.

Publication of the RDP in PNAS on May 30, 2024. Communication by CNRS Physics on July 8, 2024. What principles govern the layout of living organisms? By combining physical models and experimental analysis, an international collaboration involving RDP scientists has identified a generic law linking the spatial organization of cells to their ability to faithfully transmit their specific characteristics during cell division.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Physical Review Letters on July 31, 2024. Communication by CNRS Physics on September 2, 2024. Experiments on a classical microscopic system show that, while the second principle of thermodynamics is still valid on average, it can be circumvented experimentally in 95% of cases! A study conducted at the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon, published in Physical Review Letters .

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Physical Review Materials on July 9, 2024. Communication by CNRS Physics on September 5, 2024. Using an innovative measurement technique, researchers at the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon (LPENSL, CNRS / ENS de Lyon) have succeeded in precisely tracking the steps characterizing the transformation of milk into cheese, which could deepen our understanding and help optimize the mechanisms at work in the manufacture of the many cheeses that happily garnish our plates.

Publication of the Chemistry Laboratory in Nature Photonics on September 2, 2024. CNRS press release on September 4, 2024. A scintillating aerogel enabling real-time measurements with excellent sensitivity to certain radioactive gases, essential to monitoring the proper functioning of nuclear power plants, has just been developed by a group of physicists, chemists, and metrologists from the CNRS, the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, the CEA, and the ENS de Lyon.

Epidemics of Ebola virus disease occur periodically in several sub-Saharan African countries. Two vaccines have already received WHO prequalification against the Ebolavirus Zaire species. However, information on the long-term immune response to these vaccines is still insufficient. We need to consolidate our knowledge on this subject to continue developing the safest and most effective vaccination strategies possible, for both adults and children.

A scintillating aerogel enabling real-time measurements with excellent sensitivity to certain radioactive gases, essential to monitoring the proper functioning of nuclear power plants, has just been developed by a group of physicists, chemists, and metrologists from the CNRS, the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, the CEA, and the ENS de Lyon.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual disability in people over 50 years of age. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual disability in people over 50 years of age. Improving the treatment offering for patients is a major challenge for research.

For nearly ten years, astronomers have been trying to demonstrate the existence of a massive object thought to be orbiting in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Although the hypothesis is widely debated, a recent study claims that the absence of such a body is statistically impossible. Now that Pluto is no longer considered a true planet, the Solar System counts just eight such bodies.