2022, the year of mechanics

To maximise the safety of an aircraft despite the presence of multiple holes, researchers at LMT-Cachan are trying to understand and control the mechanics of holes. One needs to drill millions of holes to assemble the structures that make up an aircraft to be assembled together, which can create weak points. Several tests are therefore carried out by engineers, who study the resistance of aeronautical materials and structures, to predict how a perforated material will eventually bend. By…

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 29: Jupiter is a gas giant planet with a mass 1300 times that of the Earth. In 2011, the JUNO space probe was sent into orbit around Jupiter to photograph and take…

At the "Ondes et Matière ' " laboratory in Aquitaine, soap bubbles have become a study subject for detecting instability and turbulence. The aim is to simulate flux and flows to create faithful models of vortexes comparable to natural phenomena such as cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons.

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…

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 10: What happens to a drop of liquid that meets the surface of another liquid? Researchers in Toulouse conducted an experiment to answer that question…

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 24: What happens when two planets collide? The smaller one desintegrates but the bigger one survives, even though some…

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 2: How come beer does not overflow as easily as other drinks? Several experiments performed by physicists from France and the US have shown that the…

To build the airplanes of tomorrow, researchers are turning to Nature for inspiration. But how can we copy a bird's muscles, feathers and brains? With electroactive morphing, piezoelectric turbulence control and real-time feedback loops.

How can wind impact on and interact with plant life? This natural phenomenon has been a field of investigation for many scientific disciplines over the last decade or so. In order to provide answers, Emmanuel de Langre and Pascal Hémon, researchers at the hydrodynamics laboratory of the École Polytechnique Paris Saclay, carry out a first full-scale experiment at the Jules Verne wind tunnel in Nantes. Biomechanicians and aerodynamic specialists or plant biologists have placed a tree in a wind…

The wood-cricket lives in the leaf litter in our forests. It ' s just a few millimeters long, and moves by walking or jumping. On its own scale, the grass, leaves and dead branches in the undergrowth form an extremely complex three-dimensional universe. The cricket is often hunted by the Pardosa lugubris, or wolf spider, which attacks it by surprise, running on the ground. It ' s been discovered that the cricket can sense the faintest breath of air pushed by the spider during an attack. This…

At the Institut de Recherche de Biologie de l'Insecte (Insect Biology Research Institute), under the direction of Jérôme Casas, biologists, ecologists and mathematicians work on physical ecology. They ' re interested in the solid and fluid mechanics of insect life (12 min). Bonus : - The antlion, wave propagation in sand (7 min.) - The wood-cricket : wave propagation in the air (7 min.)

Portrait de Marie Le Merrer, lauréate de la Médaille de Bronze du CNRS, chercheuse en physique à l'Institut Lumière Matière au sein de l'équipe Liquides et interfaces, spécialiste du comportement des fluides complexes.

Portrait de Jean-Léon Maître, lauréat de la Médaille de Bronze 2020 du CNRS, chercheur en biologie et chef de l'équipe de recherche Mécanique du développement des mammifères au sein du laboratoire Génétique et biologie du développement.

Portrait de Émilie Schibler, lauréate de la médaille de cristal 2019 du CNRS. Ingénieure de recherche en mécanique au sein de l'Institut de physique des deux infinis de Lyon (DR07), spécialisée dans le développement d'instruments et de détecteurs utilisés sur accélérateurs de particules, pour l'étude de l'infiniment petit.

Portrait de Vladislav A. Yastrebov lauréat de la Médaille de Bronze 2018 du CNRS. Chercheur en mécanique des solides au Centre des matériaux et spécialiste de la thématique du contact et du frottement entre des corps solides.