Making sense of science
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has adopted a new international standard, opening the way to a common format for cartographic description. The geographer Erwan Bocher and his colleague Olivier Ertz, who are behind this evolution, walk us through the ins and outs.
Posté le 23-10-2020 | 15:10
The most severe cases of Covid-19 could be associated with major oxidative stress. Scientists are now proposing solutions to rapidly identify patients who are likely to develop these acute forms, as well as treatment to manage them.
Posté le 22-10-2020 | 19:10
At an altitude of 5,300 metres, the city of la Rinconada, Peru, is the highest permanent human settlement in the world. While many residents suffer from hypoxia, oxygen deprivation, others are unaffected. A team of scientists led an expedition to study such extreme living conditions and find out what allows some people to adapt.
Posté le 22-10-2020 | 08:10
The European project OligoArchive is working on proof of concept for data storage on synthetic DNA. While this medium is in theory unrivalled in terms of information density and longevity, it still faces technical limits that need to be overcome.
Posté le 21-10-2020 | 19:10
A magic device of sorts, the universal automatic translators of science fiction enable human and extra-terrestrial civilisations to communicate effortlessly and with no previous learning. Some devices are clearly outlandish, but have others inspired researchers?
Posté le 19-10-2020 | 20:10
Discover the 20 winning photographs of the second edition of La Preuve par l’Image, a competition organised by the CNRS in partnership with the ACFAS (Association francophone pour le savoir). The event rewards images derived from research in all scientific fields.
Posté le 12-10-2020 | 20:10
Like us, embryonic cells communicate to take decisions and thus transform from a fertilised egg to an embryo with a well-defined shape. Scientists have recently demonstrated the diversity of their exchanges, ranging from long-distance cries for some to short-distance whispering for others.
Posté le 08-10-2020 | 18:10
How has the pandemic caused by SARS-Cov-2 affected the world’s indigenous populations? Seeking to answer that question, the anthropologist and CNRS senior researcher Irène Bellier has analysed a vast body of data on the subject.
Posté le 08-10-2020 | 18:10
Do ecosystems really have a threshold of disturbance beyond which the environment abruptly deteriorates? This notion, which currently informs environmental policies, is being questioned by a group of ecologists. After reviewing and analysing more than 4,000 studies, they say that tipping points are practically non-existent: in fact, ecosystems start to break down long before.
Posté le 05-10-2020 | 20:10
Testing sewage for Covid-19 could help predict future outbreaks. The Obépine project, which analyses wastewater, could use the concentration of the virus in human faeces to develop an early alert system in France.
Posté le 22-09-2020 | 08:09