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Earth Sciences



Results 1 - 12 of 12.


Environment - Earth Sciences - 02.12.2024
1,100 km in Antarctica to better understand the evolution of the ice cap
1,100 km in Antarctica to better understand the evolution of the ice cap

Earth Sciences - 18.11.2024
How 70% of the Mediterranean Sea was lost 5.5 million years ago
How 70% of the Mediterranean Sea was lost 5.5 million years ago
A new study, led by a CNRS researcher 1 , has highlighted just how significantly the level of the Mediterranean Sea dropped during the Messinian Salinity Crisis - a major geological event that transformed the Mediterranean into a gigantic salt basin between 5.97 and 5.33 million years ago 2 .

Physics - Earth Sciences - 18.10.2024
Infrasound: invisible sound waves
Infrasound: invisible sound waves
Infrasound are sound waves with frequencies below 20 Hz, outside the range audible to the human ear. Although they escape our auditory perception, these waves have significant effects on health, the environment and even animal biology. A great deal of research has explored the effects of infrasound, both natural and man-made, and has led to a better understanding of its implications.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 26.09.2024
New map reveals discrepancies in protection for watercourses in France
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.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 19.09.2024
New mapping reveals inequalities in river protection in France
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.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 08.08.2024
Drylands: unexpected plant diversity enables adaptation to extreme climates
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.

Earth Sciences - History / Archeology - 05.08.2024
Hydraulic system behind the construction of the Saqqara pyramid
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.

Earth Sciences - 24.07.2024
Discovery of a Middle Paleolithic site in Fameck (Moselle)
Discovery of a Middle Paleolithic site in Fameck (Moselle)
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.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 18.07.2024
Predicting a crop field’s weather
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.

Astronomy / Space - Earth Sciences - 08.07.2024
James Webb Space Telescope provides first hints of evidence of the existence of an ocean exoplanet
James Webb Space Telescope provides first hints of evidence of the existence of an ocean exoplanet
A team of CNRS planetary scientists 1 working in collaboration with astronomers from the University of Montréal has presented first evidence that the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140b could be an ocean world. Over the past few years, the planet, which is located around 48 light-years from the Solar System in the constellation Cetus, has been observed by the Hubble, Spitzer and TESS space telescopes, as well as by the ESPRESSO instrument mounted on the VLT telescope in Chile.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 18.04.2024
The Earth, precariously balanced
Aerial view of slash-and-burn agriculture in the state of Amazonas, western Brazil (September 2022). On our planet, everything is interconnected, from terrestrial and marine ecosystems and biodiversity to ice sheets, rivers and oceans. But a recent report reveals that the dynamics of these different systems is being destabilised by human activities to such an extent that they are reaching points of no return.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 10.04.2024
A rich 125,000-year-old coastal ecosystem discovered under Ariane 6 in French Guiana
A rich 125,000-year-old coastal ecosystem discovered under Ariane 6 in French Guiana
An international consortium of paleontologists, geologists and biologists describes the discovery of fossil assemblages spanning the last 130,000 years beneath the Ariane 6 rocket launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. The consortium, coordinated by scientists from the Montpellier Institute of Evolutionary Sciences (Université de Montpellier/CNRS/IRD) and the Université de Guyane/Géosciences Montpellier, includes Frédéric Quillévéré from the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon : Terre, Planètrs, Environnement (LGL-TPE, CNRS/Université Lyon 1/ENS de Lyon/Université Jean Monnet).