The ocean, guest star of the "Fête de la science"

Les cônes sont des gastéropodes marins présents dans tous les océans et à toutes les profondeurs. Ils représentent l'un des groupes de mollusques les plus abondants dans les fonds abyssaux. Il pourrait y avoir 30000 espèces au total. Ces coquillages produisent, pour attaquer leurs proies, des toxines qui sont de mieux en mieux étudiées au niveau moléculaire pour la diversité des peptides qu'elles contiennent. Ces composés moléculaires ont des propriétés similaires aux neurotoxines, aux…

Mieux comprendre la physique, la chimie et la biologie des océans, et ainsi mieux prévoir leurs effets sur l'évolution du climat, c'est l'objet du réseau scientifique mondial de flotteurs profileurs Argo. Des plateformes autonomes qui parcourent les profondeurs aquatiques à la rencontre des courants et du petit peuple océanique. Dernier-né de cette flotte, un petit bijou de technologie, le flotteur profileur BGC-Argo (nKe), spécialement équipé pour étudier le plancton. Découverte avec l'équipe…

How do waves form and propagate? What means do we have to understand this phenomenon and anticipate nature's furies? We now have the ability to study their power and trajectory using mathematical models. The aim of this research carried out by researcher Volker Roeber at the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, is to reduce the risks of flooding and to develop systems that harness the power of waves as a form of renewable energy.

A new scientific project launched by the Tara Oceans Foundation has embarked on the schooner TARA to sail the nine largest European rivers, in order to follow the route plastic takes before it transforms into microplastic. The scientists are using a manta net, which allows them to take samples from the surface of the water due to the small mesh size, and capture microplastics in the open sea, on the coast or in rivers. The aim is to determine the types of plastic contained in European rivers…

Over billions of years, algae have developed very effective biological defence systems. Researchers describe how all-natural, biodegradable methods have been developed to fight common diseases that damage agricultural crops.

Une équipe de chercheurs embarque chaque année à bord du Marion Dufresne pour étudier des animaux peu connus : le macrozooplancton et le micronecton. Ces organismes de milieu de chaine alimentaire se composent de gélatineux, de crustacés et de poissons. Mais pour les étudier, il faut d'abord les repérer en pleine mer grâce à un instrument acoustique, un écho sondeur. Puis ils sont pêchés, triés par espèces et comptés. En les suivant d'année en année, les scientifiques peuvent mieux comprendre l…

Une zone sous-marine de 150 x 250 km avec les marées, le vent, la rotation de la Terre reproduites en miniature, c'est le défi que s'est lancé l'équipe du LEGI de Grenoble, en recréant pour la 1ère fois au monde dans une maquette le détroit de Gibraltar. Un exploit rendu possible au sein de la plateforme tournante Coriolis. Ce reportage nous présente le détroit comme un laboratoire en modèle réduit, ce qui va permettre aux chercheurs de comprendre comment des phénomènes très localisés…

This is a technology that may revolutionise the study of submarine faults. Off the shore of the Sicilian town of Catania, a team of scientists has installed an underwater fiber optic cable that crosses the North ALFEO fault in four places. The deformation of the cable enables the researchers to monitor the activity of the fault via a computer. To verity these results, an oceanographic mission has collected a wealth of information on the fault, which was discovered only 10 years ago

Plus d'un an après sa mise à l'eau, BathyBot vient de s'éveiller au fond de la mer Méditerranée. Plongez aux côtés de ce robot téléopéré depuis la surface, le premier à être installé de façon permanente à 2400 mètres de profondeur pour au moins cinq ans. Accompagné d'un récif artificiel et d'une batterie d'instruments, BathyBot permettra d'étudier la biodiversité, la bioluminescence et les processus biogéochimiques des fonds marins. Imaginé scientifiquement par les équipes de…

Faced with global warming, coral reefs are on the front line. As global temperatures rise, the coral bleaches and dies. This decline has an impact on its entire ecosystem. Coral reef researchers Serge Planes and Laetitia Hédouin explain why research at CRIOBE is crucial to saving the coral. This video was produced as part of the OneOceanScience campaign organised by Ifremer, CNRS and IRD. Scientists from 33 countries take part in this digital world tour and explain in a series of short…

The biological station at Roscoff in Brittany (northwestern France), which was founded 150 years ago, on 20th August 1872, still serves as a reference for the study of marine life. This is evidenced by a major discovery that made the headlines of the journal Science in late July 2022: scientists have shown that a small crustacean can help algae to reproduce, in the same way as bees pollinate flowers. Let's head to Brittany to take a look behind the scenes of this fascinating research work.

L'Arctique est une région qui se réchauffe quatre fois plus vite que le reste du globe. Des phénomènes météorologiques locaux pourraient en partie expliquer cette accélération : les dépressions arctiques. Des scientifiques français sont partis au Svalbard pour étudier plus précisément leur impact sur les températures locales.

It is a unique tool for studying corals and marine ecosystems. In this report, navigate the lagoons of French Polynesia aboard a scientific vessel, a ship-laboratory developed by scientists from the CRIOBE research centre, in Moorea.

The decline of coral reefs around the world seems irreversible. However, scientists have not yet spoken their last word! In this report from French Polynesia, a team of researchers attempt to reverse this trend by helping coral adapt to climate change.

Antarctica is a hostile territory due to its isolation and extreme climatic conditions, but it is also a place of unique opportunities for research and has been a protected area reserved for scientific exploration since the Madrid Protocol was signed in 1991. This film presents the work of four researchers from various fields who went to Antarctica to conduct their research project: studying animal behaviour, observing the Earth's magnetic fields, collecting and analysing micrometeorites and…

How much longer will marine life be able to withstand rising temperatures? Find out more about how scientists are trying to determine the impact of global warming on the physiology and behaviour of the gilthead sea bream.

What is the biodiversity of a small rocky seabed? What are the best conditions for it to flourish and develop? And how can it be restored if deteriorated? By installing biomimetic artificial reefs in the Cortiou cove near Marseille, the Seaboost company has within a couple of years allowed essential habitats and ecosystems to be recreated for underwater life to persist in the Mediterranean.

Nanoplastics with a size of less than a thousandth of a millimetre are the finest form of plastic pollution. The Pepsea research project focusses on a type of nanowaste that is still poorly understood. Researchers chose Guadeloupe to study its impact on the environment. The island is exposed to the ocean and the North Atlantic Gyre making it an area of plastic accumulation. It is the perfect field of study for researchers who are going to explore its beaches and mangroves. They investigate the…

In order to study neutrinos, among the most elusive particles know to physics, an international team of researchers and engineers are building an incredible detector at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

Forty-five million years ago, cetaceans lived on land. Adapting to the marine element over the centuries, they have nevertheless kept from their distant past certain behavioural, physiological and sensory abilities that differentiate them from other aquatic species. Off the coast of Spain, a team of researchers is studying a group of pilot whales to demonstrate that these animals have a sense of taste and smell and use them every day to communicate and feed. The outcome of this work would…

Plastic waste that accumulates in the ocean slowly deteriorates into smaller pieces. Scientists now estimate the amount of microplastics under the sea at 5000 billion tons, but the amount of nanoplastics remains unknown. That is why a French team decided to collect samples from the Mediterranean Sea to detect traces of nanoplastics. First, they concentrated the water by ultrafiltration and then used a dynamic light scattering technique to identify the nanoparticles. The final step was to resort…

Due to global warming and ocean acidification, coral reefs are now an endangered ecosystem. Aboard research shooner Tara, scientists embarked the Tara Pacific expedition in 2016, whose goal is to diagnose the health condition of corals. They aim at creating the most complete database about corals to date. To that end, they use visual analysis, samples, and a new cartography tool for ocean floors, the Hyperdriver. Divers soon noticed the high mortality rate of the reefs, with most corals losing…