Science News
EPR powering up slowly but surely
After a 12-year delay and a budget of EUR 13.2bn (four times the initial estimate), the Flamanville European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) is gradually being commissioned through September. It is due to be connected to the electricity grid over the next few months. This next-generation nuclear reactor is the fourth in the world.
EDF, 9 September 2024
Diamonds in the rough
Mercury is rich in carbon, that’s what the US space probe, Messenger, has found while orbiting the smallest planet in the solar system. Part of this carbon is believed to be in the form of a layer of diamonds ten or so kilometres thick, formed by the crystallisation of Mercury’s core as it cools. This assumption is based on high-pressure and high-temperature lab experiments as well as IT modelling.
Nature Communications, 14 June 2024
Five ways to grow old
An analysis of 50,000 brain scans has revealed five patterns of brain atrophy linked to ageing and neurodegenerative disease. An AI-led analysis shows that these patterns are associated with various factors, including smoking, alcohol, genetic factors and diseases. This opens up avenues for personalised patient management.
Nature Medicine, 15 August 2024
Coral reefs are feeling the heat
Over the last decade, the ocean around the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has reached record temperatures, the highest in 400 years. A consequence of climate change, such warming is taking its toll on the reef: in 2024, 81% of its surface area was damaged, so much so that Unesco is urging Australia to set more ambitious climate goals. On the photo, a professional assesses the health of Lady Musgrave Island Reef.
Nature, 7 August 2024
CO2-loving microbes
A bacterium that captures carbon dioxide and transforms it into mevalonate, a molecule commonly used in pharmaceutical manufacture: that’s what researchers have successfully obtained by genetically modifying it. This process has promising implications for carbon capture and recycling.
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 26 August 2024
Did you know?
Microwaves eliminate most bacteria (E. coli,Listeria, salmonella, staphylococci), but some species resist, especially skin bacteria and extremophiles (organisms that can survive under extreme pressures or temperatures).
Frontiers in Microbiology, 8 August 2024
Earthquakes: a golden opportunity?
Large nuggets of gold are formed in quartz veins during earthquakes. When squeezed, the quartz generates electric fields which in turn attract and clump together the gold particles. To confirm this hypothesis, researchers conducted a lab experiment: they simulated a seismic wave on quartz submerged in liquid containing gold.
Nature Geoscience, 2 September 2024
China’s sights set on fusion energy
China is ramping up pace in the nuclear fusion race. The goal? To control these reactions which are comparable to the processes that power the stars, to generate clean and almost unlimited energy. The image shows the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei (East China), which the international consortium ITER often calls on to confirm certain results within a short space of time. Beijing is investing USD 1.5bn a year in its nuclear fusion programme.
Nature, 28 August 2024
4.4 billion
This is the number of people without access to safe drinking water, mainly in low-and-middle-income countries. That’s nearly half the world’s population! Faecal contamination is the primary barrier to this access.
Science, 15 August 2024
Storm warning
We haven't seen the end of solar storms - explosions of particles blasted by our Sun. In recent months, they have caused auroras - colourful lights dancing in the European sky - a phenomenon usually only seen at polar latitudes (viewed here from the International Space Station). Solar maximum refers to the highest rate of solar activity, and is expected to peak in late 2024/early 2025, with potential repercussions on the trajectory of space debris or GPS operations.
CNRS, 4 September 2024
Sahara: flooding in the desert
This summer, the Sahara Desert, one of the driest places on the planet, received unusually heavy rainfall. Since June, the so-called Intertropical Convergence Zone, a hot, humid atmospheric belt which usually circles the Earth near the Equator, has shifted much further North than usual. The cause of this anomaly is not yet known.
Severe Weather Europe, 2 September 2024
Ancient population mixing in Europe
An analysis of genomes from seven individuals buried in a 4,500-year-old tomb in Bréviandes (near Troyes, East France) reveals the last great wave of interbreeding, traces of which the European population still carries to this day. Indeed, these individuals have DNA from descendants of nomads from the steppes north of the Black Sea, mixed with Neolithic populations from central Europe; and groups of individuals living in the Paris Basin.
Science Advances, 19 June 2024
70%
This is the estimated percentage of the global population who will have to cope with heavy rainfall and extreme temperatures over the next twenty years. At least according to the IPCC’s worst-case scenario, if we do not take drastic steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Nature Geoscience, 9 September 2024
Did you know?
Some plants are capable of raising their temperature above the atmospheric temperature to disperse their fragrance and attract pollinators more effectively.
Nature Plants, 6 September 2024
120 million
An analysis of lunar samples brought back by the Chinese mission Chang’e-5 reveals that the last traces of volcanic eruptions on the moon date back to only 120 million years ago. The moon is therefore believed to have been volcanically active far longer than initially thought.
Science, 5 September 2024
Manipulative spiders
In China, Araneus ventricosus manipulates captured male fireflies so that they mimic the bioluminescent signals of females. In this way, the spider lures up to seven more males into her web! Males normally use two lanterns to make signal pulses. But when snared, they only use one, just as females do. The explanation? The spider’s venom is thought to alter the fireflies’ bioluminescence by blocking their production of light or modifying their neurotransmitters.
Current Biology, 19 August 2024
Bacteria and fungi at altitude
3,000 metres above Japan, atmospheric samples have revealed the presence of a wide range of viable bacteria and fungi which are potentially pathogenic to humans. Their analysis demonstrates that some of them have travelled over thousands of kilometres. Proof that the sky is not solely the domain of birds and aircraft...
PNAS, 16 September 2024
8
Nasa astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams are due to stay aboard the International Space Station for 8 months... instead of the 8 days originally planned! Their return to Earth has been postponed due to technical failures on the Starliner spacecraft which transported them in June 2024.
Did you know?
Carbon emissions from Canada’s forest fires in 2023 exceeded the annual fossil fuel emissions of 7 of the ten biggest-emitting nations. Only China, India and the United States released more carbon.
Nature, 28 August 2024
Holding down the Fort!
Analyse the condition of elements that have protected Fort Boyard from sea damage, the better to reconstruct them: that’s the mission of the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) on this iconic site of the famous TV game show. A combination of documentary research and field observations, it is yielding greater insight into this military structure which, popular as it may be, has been little documented to date.
Inrap, September 2024
Psoriasis: the hepcidin lead
Psoriasis is an incurable chronic inflammatory disease, characterised by the rapid and excessive multiplication of skin cells. A French team has shown that a hormone which regulates iron in the body, hepcidin, plays a key role in triggering the disease. A discovery which paves the way to new treatment prospects.
Nature Communications, 3 September 2024
94%
This is the rate of detection, by the algorithm xFakeSci, of fake, AI-generated biomedical articles. By analysing typical scientific language expressions and their connections, it identifies differences between human publications and machine-generated articles.
Scientific Reports, 14 July 2024
Did you know?
Far from being a steady process, ageing speeds up at two pivotal ages: at 44 years old, cardiovascular disease, alcohol and fat metabolism changes, while at 60 years old, there is a shift in immune regulation and carbohydrate metabolism.
Nature Aging, 14 August 2024
Cheeky monkeys?
Marmosets call out to each other using their “names”: “vocal labels” specific to each individual. Until now, this phenomenon had only been observed in humans, African elephants and some species of dolphin. This way of addressing each other is crucial for these small monkeys who live in family groups in the dense rainforests of South America, an environment with often reduced visibility.
Science, 29 August 2024
So far from his “small village"
The skeleton exhumed from one of the two lead sarcophagi discovered in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in 2022 is believed to be that of Renaissance poet Joachim du Bellay. This hypothesis is based on the age of the deceased, between 30 and 40; his pathologies (tubercular bone disease and chronic meningitis); and several biographical elements, including the identity of his uncle, a former bishop of Paris.
Inrap, 17 september 2024
Protected butterflies
Due to the combined effects of habitat loss, pesticides and climate change, threatened or critically endangered butterflies are declining by 8% a year in the United States. But they fare a lot better when humans take care of their habitat! These are the findings of a study on 114 populations of 31 species across 10 US States. An encouraging sign that human intervention can help to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Journal of Applied Ecology, 4 September 2024
Comatose, but conscious
A quarter of people in comas may have some awareness of their surroundings. To reach this finding, scientists asked patients in an “altered state of consciousness” to imagine opening and closing their hand, walking around their home or playing tennis. At the same time, they monitored the corresponding brain activity by MRI or electroencephalogram.
The New England Journal of Medicine, August 2024
A winged boat for space
Designed to transport components of the Ariane 6 launcher from European ports to Kourou in French Guiana, the cargo vessel Canopée has delivered to Florida the European Service Module for NASA’s Artemis III mission. 121 meters long, this hybrid-powered vessel is equipped with 2 diesel engines and 4 vertical wings 37 m high, acting like a 1450 m2 sail. Able to rotate 360° with the wind, they reduce the ship's carbon footprint by 15% to 40%.
Esa, 2 September
Did you know?
Far from being a steady process, ageing speeds up at two pivotal ages: at 44 years old, cardiovascular disease, alcohol and fat metabolism changes, while at 60 years old, there is a shift in immune regulation and carbohydrate metabolism.
Nature Aging, 14 August 2024
USD 94.7 billion
This is the global economic burden attributed to Aedes aegypti and albopictus mosquitoes between 1975 and 2020. And yet, efforts to combat these invasive insects, which transmit viruses such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika, have not been stepped up for years.
Science of The Total Environment, 10 July 2024
Did you know?
Worldwide, six people are considered to have been cured of HIV infection after receiving a bone marrow transplant with the CCR5-delta 32 mutation. A seventh individual received a transplant without the mutation. A potential therapeutic approach?
Nature Medicine, 2 September 2024
Back to space
Thanks to the launch of Ariane 6, Europe once again has independent access to space. This challenge had become crucial since the invasion of Ukraine and the end of Russia’s cooperation. Despite a four-year delay in the rocket’s development, and a slight deviation from its planned trajectory in the final phase, this maiden flight has been hailed a success. Nine launches a year are planned (versus more than 110 for SpaceX in 2024).
Nasa, 9 July 2024
Lucky escape
How do some Japanese eels manage to escape from predatory fish after being swallowed? Equipped with X-ray video cameras, researchers have unlocked the mystery: once in the stomach, these slippery eels insert their tail in the fish’s oesophagus, go back up towards its gills and pull themselves free to escape that way.
Current Biology, 9 September 2024
Locally sourced food
The toothless whale shark feeds on plankton. But plankton is in short supply on the Azores coast during hot summers. The huge fish then feeds on woodcock, which gather in tight schools in the presence of bluefin or tropical tuna. Industrial tuna fishing thus impacts the food chain of these marine superpredators.
BMC Ecology and Evolution, 16 August 2024
