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This film derives from the Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies DVD. Annick Loiseau (ONERA, Microstructures Laboratory) describes carbon nanotubes, their geometries, properties and multiple applications. They were discovered in Japan in 1991 by Sumio Iijima but are the result of extensive research on the various possible structures of carbon compounds. This research was stimulated by the discovery of fullerenes in 1985 by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley. Carbon nanotubes…

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.

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.

The carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere is one of the causes of the climate change which threatens the 21st century. To better understand this phenomenon, it is important to measure and quantify the mechanisms of storage and release of carbon in ecosystems. The Carboeuroflux network created by the European Union consists of 29 sites which are representative of the diversity of the landscapes of Europe. The Puéchabon holm oak forest, near Montpellier, an ecosystem characteristic of the…

In 2010, André Geim and Konstantin Novoselo won the Nobel prize in Physics for their discovery of graphene, a two-dimensional material as flexible, light and sturdy as steel. This animation film is a presentation of the various possible applications of graphene, such as in mechanics and electronics.

This 3D animation documents the progression that led to the discovery of graphene, a material with exceptional properties, and many hoped for applications.

As a 2016 CNRS Innovation Medal laureate, Cathie Vix-Guterl takes a look back on her career. As a chemist, she heads the Material Science Institute in Mulhouse and the Mica Carnot Institute she contributed to both create and successfully establish in the Alsace region. A peerless research director and innovation manager, she is also an expert in carbon materials, ceramics and hybrid materials. Her basic and applied research work is dedicated to the controlled synthesis of new materials, their…

The Youtube channel Zeste de science explores all aspects of scientific research, proving that even the most complicated scientific facts can be explained in less than 5 minutes, and that even the most seemingly trivial events of everyday life, if thoroughly studied, can contribute to the biggest technological advances. Episode 6: What is this strange blue cloud escaping from a bottle of Champagne? This phenomenon, that lasts 2 milliseconds after the opening, only occurs when…

After the Russian "Mars 96” mission had failed, the European Space Agency (ESA) took over the programme and created "Mars Express”. The objectives of sending this new probe to Mars are to map the planet, analyse its subsoil and study its atmosphere. It was launched on June 2, 2003 using a Russian rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, the Mars Express probe reached Mars in only 7 months. Since then, the aircraft has been making a series of rotations around Mars, at the rate of one every 7 hours…

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…

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

Portrait de Jérôme Gaillardet lauréat de la Médaille d'Argent 2018 du CNRS. Enseignant-chercheur en sciences de la Terre à l'IPGP (DR01) et à l'Institut universitaire de France, directeur de l'équipe de Géochimie des enveloppes externes et coordinateur, à l'échelle nationale, de l'infrastructure de recherche Observatoire de la zone critique, applications et recherche.

In the Effervescence, Champagne and Applications laboratory at the University of Reims, a team of researchers is studying the effervescent properties of champagne and carbonated wines in general. The physicist Gérard Liger-Belair is particularly interested in all the stages of the life of a bubble in a flute of champagne, from its birth to the moment it bursts on the surface. Using an ultra-fast camera, he identified the origin of bubble trains climbing up a flute wall. Far from being trivial,…

In 2004, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Rosetta mission. Its main objective is to analyse the composition of the nucleus of comet Churiumov-Guerasimenko in order to better understand the origin of water and life on Earth. After a ten-year journey through the solar system, the Rosetta probe succeeded in the double feat of orbiting the comet and then depositing the lander named Philae on the comet's nucleus. Two years of in-orbit and in-situ observations and analyses of Churiumov…

The POMME program (standing for Programme océan multidisciplinaire méso échelle, or Multidisciplinary middle-level ocean program) has as its main goal the better understanding of the effect of oceans on climate, given that they function as a reservoir of carbon, heat, and transformation of living matter. From April 16 to May 7, 2001, the oceanographic vessel Atalante carried out one of four series of measurements included in this research program in the northeastern Atlantic, halfway between…

A l'occasion de sa deuxième participation à VivaTech, le rendez-vous européen consacré à l'innovation technologique, le CNRS présente un échantillon de son savoir-faire dans la deeptech à travers différentes start-up issues de ses laboratoires. Les nouvelles technologies rendent plus performantes les thérapies actuelles. Elles préviennent les complications, réduisent les risques et régénèrent les tissus. Healshape propose la première bioprothèse mammaire personnalisée…

Bruno Grandidier, a researcher with the IEMN (Institut d'électronique, de microélectronique et de nanotechnologies) in Lille, presents the operating principles and uses of the tunnel effect microscope. This microscope is used in the open air to study the surface of a graphite sample. For other materials which oxidize in air, such as silicon, researchers use a more sophisticated microscope which operates in an ultra-vacuum. The tunnel effect microscope also makes it possible to manipulate and…

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…

In this short film, Gérard Férey and his team, who have developed hollow sphere-shaped molecules in which we could notably trap the greenhouse gases, explains this process.

The Pavin Lake is the youngest French crater lake (6000 years). Its volcanic origins give it a very concave shape, which is responsible of a unique phenomenon in France: the lake deep waters never mix with the superficial waters. In this film, a multidisciplinary team of scientists presents the results of several years of research.

Microalgae can produce food, fuel and capture carbon dioxide in the process. These tiny organisms seem to meet many of humanity's development challenges. Yet scaling up the technology from a lab environment to industrial capacity is no easy task. The AlgoSolis research platform, inaugurated this year on the West coast of France, will provide scientists the tools they need to develop and test the next generation of technologies for a mass production of microalgae.

Cultivating microalgae on the walls of our cities, in particular to capture carbon dioxide, is the concept developed by Olivier Scheffer of XTU Architects and Jérémy Pruvost, a process engineering researcher at the University of Nantes. The first achievements will soon see the light of day. As a result, our bio-facades will come in all shades of red, brown and green!

Antoine Spire interviews Danièle Hauser, an environmental physics researcher and director of the CNRS laboratory LATMOS. She studies the surface of the oceans and its influence on climate.

In the scientific research station located in the Nourages natural reserve, in French Guiana, researchers make an inventory of the different tree species.

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…

Certains objets sont très difficiles à recycler parce qu'ils sont faits de nombreuses couches de différents matériaux : baskets, panneaux photovoltaïques ou batteries. Au laboratoire ICMCB à Bordeaux, une équipe de chercheurs utilise les fluides supercritiques pour séparer les éléments. C'est un domaine entre le solide et le gazeux où les propriétés des matériaux sont étonnantes et promettent de belles avancées dans le recyclage des déchets...

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…

A summary of a day of lectures in conjunction with an "Open Day" event organized by the IHES (Institut des hautes études scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette) at the Centre Georges Pompidou on September 18, 2000. Highly varied aspects of mathematics are addressed by eight experts. Stacked oranges and correction codes, by Denis Auroux. Morley's marvelous theorem, by Alain Connes. Under the street lies symmetry, by Etienne Ghys. The genome and mathematics, by Alessandra Carbone. …

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 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...

What if we could power our vehicles with powdered metals? Aluminum and magnesium have the same energy density as fossil fuels and the waste - metal oxydes - can be recycled with concentrated solar energy.

A way of reducing polltion is the use of nanoparticles of gold in catalytic converters. The carbon monoxyde is completekly oxidized by the gold.

LEAP is a new generation aircraft engine that reduces fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 15%. It was jointly designed in a collaboration between Safran Aircraft Engines and several CNRS laboratories, including EM2C (Laboratoire Énergétique Moléculaire et Macroscopique, Combustion/molecular and macroscopic energy and combustion laboratory). The advantage of this partnership is to improve knowledge on the production of soot, which is fine particles resulting from the incomplete combustion…

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.

Between January 1990 and March 1995, the research program KERFIX carried out the first continuous measurement of parameters linked to the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean. These longitudinal observations form part of the study of global climate change.

In this report, scientists introduce 2019 CNRS Gold Medalist, Thomas Ebbesen and his research. This prestigious French scientific award is awarded to the Franco-Norwegian physical chemist for his highly interdisciplinary work in nanoscience, which covers fields as diverse as carbon materials science, optics, nanophotonics and molecular chemistry. His discoveries have led to technological breakthroughs in optoelectronics, optical communications and biosensors.

In 2019, the CNRS gold medal, one of the most prestigious French scientific awards, is awarded to the French-Norwegian physical chemist Thomas Ebbesen. His interdisciplinary work in nanoscience covers areas as diverse as carbon materials science, optics, nanophotonics and molecular chemistry. His discoveries have led to technological breakthroughs in optoelectronics, optical communications and biosensors. This professor from the University of Strasbourg was director of the…

With the short-term depletion of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal, etc...) and the deterioration of our environment looming, the use of renewable power sources is becoming essential. The energy transition has thus become one of the major technological and scientific challenges of the 21st century, with non-carbon renewable power sources representing a major alternative to fossil fuels. However, their exceptional potential is strongly offset by the storage problems caused by the intermittent…

Valentina Lazarova, 58, is a senior expert and project manager at Suez Environnement and a specialist in the field of wastewater treatment and recycling. "Being able to reuse these effluents is a major geopolitical, socio-economic and ecological challenge on a global scale,"she points out. Viewed as one of the world's leading experts in this strategic area, this process engineer has filed seven patents and published some 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. As a winner of the 2014 innovation…

Jacques Gierak est ingénieur de recherche CNRS et responsable de la plateforme Instrumentation et sources d'ions au Centre de nanosciences et de nanotechnologie. Il a également oeuvré dans la nanofabrication par faisceaux d'ions focalisés (FIB). Avec ses nombreuses avancées brevetées, il a notamment conçu l'outil FIB Nanowriter, capable de structurer du graphène, un matériau formé d'une seule et unique couche d'atomes de carbone dont les propriétés pourraient trouver des applications dans l…

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…