Major environmental challenges

While nearly 40 billion tonnes of CO₂ are released into the atmosphere by the combustion of fossil fuels, it has now been established that this gas is partly responsible for global warming. An important proportion of this carbon dioxide is captured naturally by the oceans, vegetation and the soil.

Bio Inspir' studies the depolluting qualities of certain land and aquatic plants. This start-up is especially interested in water mint, a small plant native to the southern French Occitanie region that has exceptional capacities for purifying water containing metallic and organic elements. Used in the form of a powder or alive, this plant can purify contaminated water directly at industrial sites. #BioInspir' finds industrial applications for the research conducted by the laboratoire de Chimie…

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.

This fourth episode is devoted to the sets of equations that represent the physical mechanisms that affect our planet, such as the circulation of water and carbon. How are these models developed? What are they used for? Meet the scientists who are sounding the alarm with the help of these models.

An Ecotron is a device that enables scientists to simulate several climate parameters and control them to study miniature versions of given ecosystems. A team in France decided to study Arizona savannahs. Locked in hermetic climate chambers, they analyse different plants from the savannah after accurately calibrating the surrounding light, the irrigation system, and the composition of the atmosphere. Thanks to the collected data, the team will be able to forecast the ecosystem's reaction to any…

In this third episode, we find out how to simulate the climate of 2050 and how droughts will be more frequent and last longer. In Lusignan, near Poitiers, agronomy researchers have designed a high-tech mobile greenhouse with drone tracking and 3D images. This may be where the future varieties of European grasslands will germinate...

This sixth episode traces the current development of the Amazon's climate through the involvement of local inhabitants and the analysis of satellite images. The findings are clear, there is more drought in the south, more humidity in the north. With cascading consequences for the global climate...

In this fifth episode, we discover the importance of wetlands. They cover only 3% of the world's surface but capture a third of the carbon trapped in the soil. How do they react to changing temperatures? To find out, researchers have installed a range of instruments at a site near Counozouls in the Pyrenees.

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.

This second episode looks at the work of scientists at the Grenoble Institute of Geosciences who are studying the climate change effect on glacier behaviour. In mountainous and polar regions, glaciologists such as Fanny Brun measure the melting glaciers and collect ice samples, sometimes under extreme conditions, as evidence of climate change over time. Laboratory analyses are used to understand the climate change effect on glacier behaviour. Gerhard Krinner, a…

The scale and speed of the change in climate we are facing today is unprecedented. Heat waves, droughts, floods? We are already experiencing the effects on a daily basis. The effects will increase until at least 2050 and all European regions will be affected. Based on the results of the latest available studies, and in particular on the 6th IPCC report, this animated film produced by scientists in the framework of the European project EUCP presents the changes in Europe's climate expected in…

Discover the studies behind the statistics of 6th IPCC report and the research work of scientists who aim to gain a better understanding of climate change and its impact. This first episode presents the work carried out by members of the LSCE (Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement) at the Traînou site in France. These scientists collect air samples using stratospheric balloons that reach altitudes of over 30 km. The analysis results of these samples are then used…

Waterproofing, fire-proofing and non-stick coating. These technologies bring safety and comfort to our daily lives, but are based on chemicals called per and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. Nicknamed “forever chemicals”, these molecules are volatile - they can be emitted by the materials they are applied on and get released into the air. There, they can linger in the environment for decades and travel vast distances, accumulating in regions far from their initial site of emission. In the…

The Tonga mission takes you on board the Atalante, a French oceanographic vessel searching for shallow submarine volcanoes in order to understand and predict the effects of fluid emissions on marine life and the climate. The expedition, led by two researchers, Sophie Bonnet (oceanographer, IRD) and Cécile Guieu (oceanographer, CNRS), is analysing and studying the effects of the addition of trace elements from shallow hydrothermal springs to determine the potential impact on marine productivity…

To control the massive use of chemical pesticides in France, a team of researchers believes they have found an alternative in micro-algae. As a result of samples taken from the French coast, several strains of micro-algae showed surprising capacities. Based on a defence mechanism common to many living beings, RNA silencing, researchers have demonstrated the ability of plants to ramp up their immune system. Extract D, a micro-algae discovered in Brittany, has revealed its ability to directly…

Can human development continue at this pace without causing a loss of biodiversity? A group of researchers at the French Institute of Pondicherry believes so. By studying the impact of human activities on a biological hotspot in the South of India, they hope to find the key to a harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife.

Through the properties of oxalogen trees, which convert CO2 into limestone, it is possible to capture CO2 while implementing sustainable agroforestry in developing countries.

Plants and bacteria combined with sunlight have the ability to breakdown or absorb various molecules from our waste water. If nature knows how to effectively purify water, we can use this as inspiration to create purification facilities which themselves become natural areas of beauty!

In forests, the underground work of fungi mycelium transforms organic waste into nutrients for the plants. Gil Urban and Arnaud de Grave, president and technical director of the company Polypop respectively, use this capability to clean polluted areas, and even dealing with hydrocarbons. Can fungi provide new ecological solutions for human societies?

Charles-Hervé Gruyer guides us around the Bec d'Hellouin farm that he founded in Normandy following permaculture principles developed in Australia in the 1970s. Inspired by nature and the ways ecosystems work, here disorder is managed by hedges that protect from the wind and combinations of plants that grow on mounds. Since 2011, INRA and ParisAgroTech have been studying the farm's yields: it is as productive as conventional farms, but on an area 10 to 12 times smaller...

About 70.8 % of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans. This huge reservoir of biodiversity is home to millions of species. Three researchers, Gilles Le Boeuf, Nadine Le Bris and Nathalie Niquil, explain the impacts of climate change on the marine environment. The multiple alterations caused by humans weaken ocean ecosystems and undermine their role as natural climate regulators. These far-reaching changes, which affect the abundance and diversity of marine species, have an impact on the…

Episode 1: In the future, what if toilets separated our organic waste directly into a reusable product, and our urine was used to fertilise the fields with minimal pollution? We take you on a journey to discover the toilets of the future!

Episode 2: As the melting of ice intensifies and glaciers erode year after year, threatening to accelerate the rise in water levels, researchers from the CNRS are closely monitoring the Argentière glacier (Alps) using an original method to better understand and measure its movements.