Making sense of science
Behind the pleasure of listening to a song lies an astonishing brain activity: an anticipatory mechanism that translates simple vibrations into emotions. A phenomenon that is especially used in electronic music.
Article
07.24.2026
Holiday-makers cross paths at the beach, but so do multiple facets of physics and mathematics. Three research projects are working to better describe this environment so highly sensitive to climate change.
Article
07.23.2026
The Chinese mathematician Hong Wang is the co-winner of the 2026 Fields Medal (the equivalent of the Nobel prize for the discipline). This distinction recognises work on solutions for the Kakeya conjecture in three dimensions, an extension from a century-old...
Article
07.22.2026
07.21.2026
Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that develops within an ecosystem combining criminality, cyber espionage, and disinformation. CNRS News investigates.
07.09.2026
Marthe Gautier was the scientist behind the discovery of the supernumerary chromosome of trisomy 21, a genetic anomaly that affects some 50,000 people in France. Yet her work was overshadowed and she was not the one who took the credit. The biologist Julie...
Article
07.06.2026
Since 2018, the Trump administration has been waging a trade war through successive hikes in customs duties. Has this policy protected the American economy? Researchers argue that, by fuelling uncertainty, it has actually had the opposite effect.
Article
06.29.2026
In April, the researchers involved in the French-Chinese SVOM space mission presented an update on its initial findings. These provided a number of interesting insights into events that took place in the very earliest days of the Universe. CNRS News takes a...
Article
06.22.2026
Why do some people keep smoking, even when a close one has fallen seriously ill because of tobacco? A recent study questions the effectiveness of prevention policies.
Article
06.17.2026
Ticks that return with the spring can infect humans with both Lyme disease – which is very severe – and other disorders. To improve their understanding of these conditions and the treatments...
Article
06.11.2026
Perusing through a million matrimonial ads from the past hundred years or so reveals changes in the criteria for love over the 20th century, and hint at deeper transformations in societies themselves.
Slideshow
06.10.2026
In 2015, archaeologists unearthed a unique artefact in Iraq: a kiln comprising two interconnected chambers dating from the Chalcolithic (7000 to 5000 BC). To find out how it worked, they decided to...
Article
06.04.2026
Researchers have revealed the existence of an infraslow physiological rhythm during sleep in reptiles. The discovery sheds light on the evolution of sleep… and its mysteries.
05.28.2026
Sophie Germain’s name will soon be engraved on the Eiffel Tower. A brilliant self-taught mathematician, she had to fight throughout her life to gain equal recognition to her male contemporaries, and...
Article
05.22.2026
The extraordinary odyssey of toxoplasmosis, a parasite that manipulates its hosts to turn them into cat food.
Article
05.06.2026
Mixing cake batter, following a recipe, cutting a Yule log. These everyday gestures in cooking actually conceal complex concepts from mathematics and computer science, as shown in an exhibition...
Article
04.30.2026
The physicist Valentina Emiliani has been awarded the 2026 Irène Joliot-Curie Female Scientist of the Year prize, in recognition of her work in neurophotonics, at the intersection of optics and...
04.28.2026
Maïmouna Bocoum, a physicist specialising in acousto-optics at the Paris-based Langevin Institute, develops imaging technologies for the early detection of breast tumours. She was awarded this year’s...
Article
04.27.2026
Every year, the spring season heralds high-profile running events. As the Paris, Boston and London marathons have just come to a close, CNRS researchers explain why some runners experience a sudden...
Article
04.23.2026
The Ramses mission to asteroid Apophis is set to launch in 2028. It forms the cornerstone of a planetary defence programme designed to protect our planet from the risk of collision with near-Earth...