Events

Mois : March - February - January -

March

Top

February

27/02/2013 - Renewable energy: Nanotubes to channel osmotic power

The salinity difference between fresh water and salt water could be a source of renewable energy. However, power yields from existing techniques are not high enough to make them viable. A solution to this problem may now have been found. A team led by physicists at the Institut Lumière Matière in Lyon (CNRS / Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1), in collaboration with the Institut Néel (CNRS), has discovered a new means of harnessing this energy: osmotic flow through boron nitride nanotubes generates huge electric currents, with 1,000 times the efficiency of any previous system. To achieve this result, the researchers developed a highly novel experimental device that enabled them, for the first time, to study osmotic fluid transport through a single nanotube. Their findings are published in the 28 February issue of Nature. more...

19/02/2013 - Sexually transmitted HIV: key mechanisms elucidated in men

Having suggested in 2011 that the urethra is a novel entry site for HIV, a team from the Institut Cochin (CNRS/Inserm/Université Paris Descartes, with the support of Anrs), has now confirmed this hypothesis and identified the cells and mechanisms brought into play : the immune system cells macrophages, present in the epithelium of the urethra, allow the entry of HIV. This work, published online on the website of the journal Mucosal Immunology, could make it possible to test novel HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. more...

17/02/2013 - Exploring supercapacitors to improve their structure

No matter how intimidating their name, supercapacitors are part of our daily lives. Take buses for example: supercapacitors are charged during braking and supply electricity to open the doors when the vehicle stops! Yet the molecular organization and functioning of these electricity storage devices had never previously been observed. For the first time, researchers from CNRS and the Université d'Orléans have explored the molecular rearrangements at play in commercially available supercapacitors while in operation. The technique devised by the scientists provides a new tool for optimizing and improving tomorrow's supercapacitors. The results are published on-line on Nature Materials's website on 17 February 2013. more...

15/02/2013 - Bilingual babies know their grammar by seven months

Babies as young as seven months can distinguish between, and begin to learn, two languages with vastly different grammatical structures, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and the French Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Perception (Université Paris Descartes/CNRS/ENS). more...

08/02/2013 - Cervical cancer: first 3D image of an HPV oncoprotein

For the first time, researchers from the Laboratoire biotechnologie et signalisation cellulaire at the Strasbourg-based Ecole supérieure de biotechnologie (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) and Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg/Inserm) have solved the three-dimensional structure of an important oncoprotein involved in cell proliferation and in the development of the human papilloma virus (HPV). Type 16 (HPV 16), which causes cervical cancer, is the most dangerous of human papilloma viruses. This work, published in Science on 8 February 2013, should make it possible to identify and improve medication to block the protein and prevent it from causing tumors. more...

01/02/2013 - Cyrcé, a new cyclotron for medical research

Cyrcé (Cyclotron pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement—Cyclotron for Research and Teaching), the new particle accelerator completed a few months ago at the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) on the Strasbourg-Cronenbourg campus, is now up and running. It has just performed its first production of fluorine-18, a radioisotope commonly used as a tracer in nuclear medicine. This marks the start of operations at the facility—the only one of its kind in Europe—made available for academic research. Cyrcé is part of a French initiative to determine novel radioelements that will facilitate progress in diagnosis, monitoring of medicines and the discovery of new therapeutic protocols, especially in oncology and neurology. more...

Top

January

30/01/2013 - Androgenic hormones could help treat multiple sclerosis

Testosterone and its derivatives could constitute an efficient treatment against myelin diseases such as multiple sclerosis, reveals a study by researchers from the Laboratoire d'Imagerie et de Neurosciences Cognitives (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg), in collaboration in particular with the “Neuroprotection et Neurorégénération: Molécules Neuroactives de Petite Taille” unit (Inserm/Université Paris-Sud). Myelin composes the sheaths that protect the nerve fibers and allow the speed of nerve impulses to be increased. A deficit in the production of myelin or its destruction cause serious illnesses for which there is no curative treatment. The researchers have shown that in mice brains whose nerve fibers have been demyelinated, testosterone and a synthetic analog induce the regeneration of oligodendrocytes, the cells responsible for myelination, and that they stimulate remyelination. This work is published on January in the journal Brain. more...

23/01/2013 - Greenland ice cores tell story of warm spell

The analysis of ice cores extracted at the NEEM ice-drilling site has enabled an international team of scientists to reconstruct Greenland's climate history over the past 130,000 years, with the participation in France of CNRS, CEA, UVSQ, Université Joseph Fourier and IPEV. For the first time in the Arctic, the researchers have succeeded in retrieving ice formed during the last interglacial period, 130,000 to 125,000 years ago, which was marked by significant warming in that region. Their findings show that the Greenland ice sheet only contributed 2 meters to the 4—8 meters of sea level rise observed during that period. Published on 24 January in Nature, this study provides valuable information about the relationship between climate and sea level rise. more...

21/01/2013 - Lupus: peptide P140/LupuzorTM effectiveness confirmed

A clinical trial with 149 patients suffering from the very disabling autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus, has shown the effectiveness of a synthetic peptide developed by a team of researchers led by CNRS biologist Slyviane Muller at the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire (IBMC) in Strasbourg, France. The peptide, known as P140/LupuzorTM, is well tolerated by patients and leads to regression of the disease. Under the CNRS patent, ImmuPharma-France, which funded the trial, has an exclusive license to use the peptide. Now the final phase of clinical tests should soon confirm these results and contribute to the development of a drug without the side effects of existing treatments, which use cortico-steroids and immunosuppressants. These results are published online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. more...

18/01/2013 - Repeated aggressions trigger social aversion in mice

One of the mechanisms involved in the onset of stress-induced depression has been highlighted in mice by researchers from CNRS, Inserm and UPMC¹. They have determined the role of the corticosterone (stress hormone) receptor, in the long-term behavioral change triggered by chronic stress. In mice subject to repeated aggressions, this receptor participates in the development of social aversion by controlling the release of dopamine², a key chemical messenger. If this receptor is blocked, the animals become “resilient”: although anxious, they overcome the trauma and no longer avoid contact with their fellow creatures. This work is published in Science on 18 January 2013. more...

15/01/2013 - Reconciling agronomic production, water-saving and soil preservation

Unexpectedly, some crops such as maize or rapeseed have been found to act as carbon sinks, extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. However, others like sunflower and silage maize are carbon sources. These are the main conclusions of a study carried out by a research team from the Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère (CESBIO, CNRS / Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier / CNES / IRD). Over seven years, researchers measured the carbon and water fluxes of two experimental field plots. Their results show that the environmental impact of agriculture can be reduced by the right cropping practices, making it possible for agriculture to reconcile environmental and agronomic objectives. This work was published in Agricultural and Forestry Meteorology on 15 January 2013. more...

15/01/2013 - Nearby Universe's "Cosmic fog" measured

Researchers from the Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (CNRS/École Polytechnique) have carried out the first measurement of the intensity of the diffuse extragalactic background light in the nearby Universe, a fog of photons that has filled the Universe ever since its formation. Using some of the brightest gamma-ray sources in the southern hemisphere, the study was carried out using measurements performed by the HESS¹ telescope array, located in Namibia and involving CNRS and CEA. The study is complementary to that recently carried out by the Fermi-LAT² space observatory. These findings provide new insight into the size of the Universe observable in gamma rays and shed light on the formation of stars and the evolution of galaxies. They feature on the cover of the 16 January 2013 issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics online. more...

15/01/2013 - 3D mapping of lipid orientation in biological tissues such as skin

A non-invasive method that makes it possible to observe in situ how assemblies of lipids are oriented in biological tissues, and which does not require any labeling or preparation, has been developed by physicists from the Laboratoire d'Optique et Biosciences (CNRS / Inserm / École Polytechnique). This work, published on the 14 January 2013 in the online journal Physical Review X, should enable the detection and characterization of certain pathologies associated with molecular disorders in the skin or in the nervous tissue. more...

10/01/2013 - Effect of season on the health of apes: a case study of wild chimpanzees and Western gorillas

Our closest relatives, the great apes, are all endangered and particularly sensitive to infectious diseases. Both chimpanzees and western gorillas experience seasonal variations in fruit availability but little is know about the effect on their health. A research team involving the National Museum of Natural History, the National Veterinary School of Alfort, CNRS, WWF and the Project for the conservation of great apes conducted a study that compares the factors influencing the health of two populations of wild chimpanzees and gorillas. This study has been published in the journal Plos One. more...

07/01/2013 - Smallest motor with controllable direction of rotation

A nanometric motor whose direction of rotation can be reversed at will has been developed by a French-American team of researchers from the Centre d'Elaboration de Matériaux et d'Etudes Structurales (CEMES, CNRS) and the University of Ohio. They have reached the lower size limit for a device capable of transforming energy into rotational movement. With a diameter of only 2 nanometers, the rotor of this motor is set in motion by electrons from the tip of a tunnel-effect microscope. This work, published in the January 2013 issue of Nature Nanotechnology, explores the mechanics and energetics of “molecular motors” and heralds the way for future nanometric robot components. more...

24/01/2012 - The January issue of the CNRS International Magazine is now available.

Forests not only provide extraordinary resources, they are also home to an exceptional biodiversity, and play a key role in regulating the world's climate. The January issue of CNRS International Magazine reviews the state of forests worldwide, and the research work performed to protect them. Also in this issue, a portrait of biologist Jules Hoffmann, whose carrier was crowned with the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine; an overview of the new-generation rover Curiosity, heading for Mars; and the latest progress in medical imaging. more...

Top