Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that develops within an ecosystem combining criminality, cyber espionage, and disinformation. CNRS News investigates.

Marthe Gautier was the scientist behind the discovery of the supernumerary chromosome of trisomy 21, a genetic anomaly that affects some 50,000 people in France. Yet her work was overshadowed and she was not the one who took the credit. The biologist Julie Batut joins us for a look back at the career of this marginalised pioneer.

Since 2018, the Trump administration has been waging a trade war through successive hikes in customs duties. Has this policy protected the American economy? Researchers argue that, by fuelling uncertainty, it has actually had the opposite effect.

In April, the researchers involved in the French-Chinese SVOM space mission presented an update on its initial findings. These provided a number of interesting insights into events that took place in the very earliest days of the Universe. CNRS News takes a closer look.

Why do some people keep smoking, even when a close one has fallen seriously ill because of tobacco? A recent study questions the effectiveness of prevention policies.

Ticks that return with the spring can infect humans with both Lyme disease – which is very severe – and other disorders. To improve their understanding of these conditions and the treatments available, scientists now have access to a “tick library” of 80,000 specimens.

Perusing through a million matrimonial ads from the past hundred years or so reveals changes in the criteria for love over the 20th century, and hint at deeper transformations in societies themselves.

In 2015, archaeologists unearthed a unique artefact in Iraq: a kiln comprising two interconnected chambers dating from the Chalcolithic (7000 to 5000 BC). To find out how it worked, they decided to build a replica – with surprising results.

Researchers have revealed the existence of an infraslow physiological rhythm during sleep in reptiles. The discovery sheds light on the evolution of sleep… and its mysteries.

Sophie Germain’s name will soon be engraved on the Eiffel Tower. A brilliant self-taught mathematician, she had to fight throughout her life to gain equal recognition to her male contemporaries, and bore the full brunt of the sexism of her time.