In March 2020, France was one of the countries that adopted the strictest lockdown measures in an attempt to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. The historian and sociologist Nicolas Mariot looks back at this experiment in mass obedience.
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. On the occasion of Earth Day 2024, two of the report’s co-authors ring the alarm bell.
Could the power of the dollar be in decline? As BRICS countries openly toy with the idea of creating a common currency, is the global system ready to adopt a new international money? Physicists, who analysed the mathematical structure of trade, investigated.
Building the petroleum society that is now the basis of our prosperity has come at a cost. Gwenola Le Naour and Renaud Bécot, co-editors of a book on the topic, bring to light the destruction caused by the “petrolisation” of our planet, in France and around the globe.
The exceptional discovery of a settlement dating from 3,000 BC, in the Marais de Saint-Gond region in northeastern France, sheds light on the still largely unknown way of life of Neolithic societies.
In the context of the 2024 edition of Brain Awareness Week currently being held in France, CNRS News highlights the advances made in the field of autism. Once considered the result of a rare, incurable disease, autism spectrum disorders are now the subject of intense research efforts that are improving the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of these conditions.
In 1729, the Natchez tribe of Native Americans suddenly massacred French settlers living near them in the area around New Orleans. The retaliation was fierce, nearly wiping out the entire clan. In a newly-released book, the historian Gilles Havard, initiator of a “reconciliation treaty” proposal, sheds new light on this tragic series of events.
A series of remarkable linear urban settlements have been uncovered in Ecuador's Upano Valley. The size, organisation, age, longevity and location of these sites has caused considerable surprise among archaeologists in South America. Stéphen Rostain, a CNRS research professor who directed the study, tells CNRS News about the discovery.
The capture and storage of water are an integral part of the development of human societies. The geoarchaeologist Louise Purdue studies the history of hydraulic systems, from simple wells to complex networks of canals and galleries. She tells CNRS News about how they have evolved in response to changing demographic and environmental conditions.
From dependence to addiction to the dogma of abstinence, the CNRS neuro-addictologist Serge Ahmed talks about the way our societies view the loss of control over consumption.
