Pierre DE PARSCAU

Les sportifs de hauts niveaux ne travaillent pas uniquement leurs muscles, ils entraînent également leurs cerveaux. C'est le cas avec la visualisation mentale. Une équipe de scientifiques du CNRS étudient l'activité cérébrale des athlètes lorsqu'ils s'imaginent réaliser des gestes techniques. Ils ont aussi mis au point un outil à disposition des sportifs pour intégrer l'imagerie motrice dans leur préparation.

Connaissez-vous les synapses, ces zones de contact qui permettent aux neurones de communiquer entre eux ? Le cerveau humain en dénombre un million de milliards ! Afin d'étudier en détail ce réseau très dense et complexe, les scientifiques plongent dans l'infiniment petit grâce à des techniques d'imagerie toujours plus performantes. Leur objectif : mieux appréhender le cerveau et les pathologies qui peuvent le toucher, telle la maladie d'Alzheimer.

Nous le savons tous instinctivement : la température est en général plus fraîche au coeur d'une forêt. Mais peut-on aller plus loin et mesurer ce microclimat de manière plus précise, à l'échelle de quelques mètres ? Les scientifiques du projet IMPRINT se sont lancés dans l'aventure en équipant notamment trois forêts françaises de centaines de capteurs de température. Au fil de leur étude, les forêts révèlent peu à peu leur fonction de climatiseurs naturels.

Could it be that water contains an almost inexhaustible source of energy, and above all, that it is within everyone's reach? And what if hydrogen would redefine the contours of our future? Faced with global climate change, the quantities of CO2 from industry and transportation that are released into the atmosphere are widely blamed. In order for humanity and the planet to imagine a viable future by 2100, it is urgent to find a sustainable alternative to our fossil fuels. And in this quest for…

Né en 1953 à Marmande dans le Lot-et-Garonne, Jean-Marie Tarascon est un spécialiste de la chimie du solide et d'électrochimie. Membre de l'Académie des sciences depuis 2004, il intègre le Collège de France en 2014. Tout au long de sa carrière, il a su mener de front recherches fondamentales et applications de ses travaux, sans jamais faire de concession à l'excellence scientifique. Directeur du laboratoire Chimie du solide et de l'énergie (CNRS/Collège de France/Sorbonne Université), à…

La hausse des températures et la répartition des sécheresses menacent la production viticole de la France – la deuxième au monde après celle de l'Italie. Comment la vigne supporte-t-elle ce climat plus aride ? Quels cépages privilégier ? Pour répondre à ces questions et identifier les variétés de demain, une équipe de l'Inrae conduit à Montpellier une étude très ambitieuse, grâce à une collection de vignes unique au monde et une serre géante high-tech.

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…

What did matter consist of less than a millionth of a second after the Big Bang? An international team of scientists has devised a large-scale experiment to look into... a neutron. This particle may indeed hold important clues about the emergence of matter.

Les océans absorbent 90% de la chaleur dégagée par nos émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Résultat : ils se réchauffent, se dilatent et grignotent les côtes – au rythme de 3,5 mm par an. Comment mesurer ce discret phénomène et donc prévoir son évolution ? À La Rochelle, une équipe du laboratoire LIENSs (CNRS/La Rochelle Université) multiplie les mesures, grâce au marégraphe de l'île d'Aix, au drone Pameli et aux données satellitaires.

Au printemps dernier, la France s'est couverte d'un fin voile orange, charrié par les vents sahariens : des poussières de sable. Le phénomène est donc banal sous les latitudes européennes. Ce qui l'est moins, c'est l'effet de ces poussières sur le climat. Un effet pas facile à mesurer, vu l'étendue du phénomène - des voyages sur des milliers de kilomètres - et la taille des particules - millimétrique, voire moins ! À Créteil, une équipe de physiciens a recours à un outil original : Cesam, une «…

In order to sculpt their materials on the nanometric scale, when each speck of dust or infinitesimal vibration can compromise their work, physicists need cleanrooms that are insulated from all types of disturbances. An insight into the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N), where scientists have access to one of the largest such rooms in Europe, allowing them to produce materials with innovative properties.

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.

Two years after the fire of 15 April 2019, Notre-Dame will be the venue of a huge scientific investigation to uncover the cathedral's secrets and to help restore it. In this film, discover how researchers are drawing information from stone and iron to understand how the original builders constructed a cathedral that was much taller than its contemporaries. The ""iron"" team is focused on the remains of the upper part of the cathedral and the nails of the roof frame, using…

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…

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…

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.

There is a branch of mathematics capable of modelling epidemics: finding the point of origin, studying the spread according to the characteristics of the virus, but also thinking of ways to limit the spread in very specific situations. For instance, mathematicians are working on models to adapt a school's timetable, optimise the layout of hospital beds and even study the places most affected by contamination. More importantly, the study of epidemics could create new ways for mathematicians to…

As a passionate researcher and teacher, Jean Dalibard has never stopped playing with light and matter, which for him, are "the fundamentals of the physical world". He contributed to the emergence and influence of a new discipline, cold atoms. Throughout his career, including thirty years at the CNRS, this eminent researcher has distinguished himself by the originality of his approach. His theory and experiments are at the heart of atomic physics and radiation research. …

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...

Masks are now part of our daily lives. But do they really work? What is the most effective material for stopping infectious droplets? At the Ecole Polytechnique in Saclay, the research team led by Christophe Josserand, specialised in flow physics on surfaces, is currently conducting experiments to better define the effectiveness of different types of masks used as barriers against Covid-19. Using the strioscopy technique, a high-speed camera records the flow of droplets produced by…

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...

Does the dialogue that emerges between two musicians improvising together follow patterns similar to language? A team of scientists is trying to find the answer in the STMS laboratory, with an ingenious experiment.

Plasma which is not a solid, liquid or gas, represents a highly reactive state of matter. Scientists at the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Institute in Paris are studying new chemical reactions produced by plasmas reacting inside mini-reactors embedded on microchips. At the crossroads of plasma physics and microfluidics, the team is trying to develop a more environmentally friendly chemistry.

The aim of several scientists is to trace the changes of a comet during its journey through the solar system by reproducing the thermal and light characteristics of the cosmos in the laboratory. This will enable them to understand where the elements that formed the Earth came from and to track down the first traces of life.

A piano capable of playing a Chopin ballade by itself? This now possible! Discover the instrument used by scientists from the Science and Technology of Music and Sound laboratory (STMS), capable of reproducing a piece note for note by mimicking the pianist's intentions. Using this instrument, they are trying to unravel the mysteries of musical interpretation through the Cosmos project, funded by the ERC.

A network of cells that can learn and adapt...and all this without a brain! The Blob continues to fascinate scientists like Audrey Dussutour, who has studied it for years. She hopes that it will reveal new properties and insights into the mystery of life itself.

Welcome to Cybathlon, a competition for people with disabilities equipped with active and robotic technology. In this report, follow the preparations of former Paralympic athlete Christophe Huchet, leader of the French delegation, who will be fitted with a specially-designed motorised prosthetic arm.

How do babies learn languages? A team of psycholinguists at Babylab is focused on how the structure of sentences is learned, how sounds in language are organised, and the effect on the cognitive development of children based on their social environment. In this film, discover the astonishing experimental protocols used to probe the brains of infants.

In recent years parasites such as the tiger mosquito or the tick have continued to conquer new territory, especially in Europe and the United States. What causes this proliferation? How to protect from it? The scientific community is trying to shed light on the phenomenon, which is responsible in particular for the transmission of certain animal diseases to humans.

Fifty years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's historic moonwalk, scientific instruments deployed on the Moon's surface continue to supply valuable data to scientists. Thanks to reflectors still in place on the moon's surface, a team of researchers and engineers in France measure the Earth-Moon distance with millimeter precision!

Some 90% of the digital information that exists today was created in the past two years! Data is generated at an increasingly fast rate and finding new materials able to capture this expanding digital world while using less energy has become a priority for many research laboratories around the world. The Jean Lamour Institute, in eastern France, has a state of the art nanotechnology equipment to take on this challenge...

The battle of Marignano in 1515 is one of the most famous episodes of the Italian wars. What is not well known is that to get to the battlefield, Francis I of France ordered his 40,000 men to cross the Alps in armour, so that they would be ready and equipped in case of an enemy attack. Historians, biomechanists and 3D imaging specialists from the CNRS have joined forces to reproduce this extraordinary journey. For example, researchers dressed in armour that is similar to that worn in the 16th…

In Grenoble, researchers focus on hypoxia, i.e. the lack of oxygen in the blood that can occur at altitude and its consequences on the body. A first study was carried out in France at various altitudes on subjects living in the plains. Then a multidisciplinary mission, Expedition 5300, focused on subjects living permanently at very high altitudes. The mission carried out a study in several cities in Peru, including Lima and La Rinconada, the highest city in the world, where a significant…

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…

In southwestern Zimbabwe, the Matobo Hills are well-known for their thousands of rock art sites. Since 2017, a team of French and Zimbabwean archaeologists and rock art specialists have been studying these caves. Their goal is to date the paintings and identify the pictorial techniques used by Prehistorian artists. This includes analysing the many tools, ropes, and rocks found in the Pomongwe Cave, one of the richest of the area. New technologies are used to reveal paintings that…

From the research lab... to the game room! A team of robotics scientists has developed powerful algorithms that secure drone flights so well that anyone can fly them without risking a crash. The tech startup Drone Interactive tapped into the basic science led at the GIPSA-Lab in the French Alps where researchers and engineers are working hard on creating the future of flying robots.

Discovered in the 1990s, Little Foot is the most complete skeleton of an Australopithecus ever unearthed. Research continues on this exceptional fossil as scientists reveal details about her cognitive abilities using a micro-tomographic scanner.

Is art truly eternal? Paintings by Humankind's greatest masters suffer the passage of time. But scientists and curators have joined forces to figure out exactly what is causing the aging of artwork and find a solution to save this heritage for generations to come.

In Atlit, northern Israel, a team of archaeologists went to explore a Christian cemetery dating from the 13th century. The first excavations carried out by the British in 1934 led to the discovery of more than 2,000 tombs, providing clues to the current layout of the skeletons. Today, archaeologists are trying to restore the original cemetery in its conditions before the English changed them. Based on the metal objects and ceramics found, archaeologists will be able to learn more about these…