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When confronted with an antibiotic, toxic substance, or other source of considerable stress, bacteria are able to activate a defence mechanism using cell-to-cell communication to 'warn' unaffected bacteria, which can then anticipate, shield themselves and spread the warning signal. This mechanism 1 has just been described for the first time by a team of scientists 2 from CNRS and Université de Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier.

A team of CNRS planetary scientists 1 working in collaboration with astronomers from the University of Montréal has presented first evidence that the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140b could be an ocean world. Over the past few years, the planet, which is located around 48 light-years from the Solar System in the constellation Cetus, has been observed by the Hubble, Spitzer and TESS space telescopes, as well as by the ESPRESSO instrument mounted on the VLT telescope in Chile.

The sea worm Platynereis dumerilii is only a few centimetres long but has a remarkable ability: in just a few days, it can regenerate entire parts of its body after an injury or amputation. By focusing more specifically on the mechanisms at play in the regeneration of this worm's tail, a research team led by a CNRS scientist 1 has observed that gut cells play a role in the regeneration of the intestine as well as other tissues such as muscle and epidermis.

It is known that people have been bringing alien bird species onto islands for thousands of years, but how this has shaped the diversity of those species has just been brought to light by a study soon to be published in the journal Ecology Letters. An international team of scientists led by three researchers from the CNRS and Paris-Saclay University 1 has shown that, on most of the 407 islands they considered, humans have a greater impact on alien species diversity than do geographic variables.

A team of researchers including French scientists from the CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, and the Observatoire de Paris-PSL 1 have for the first time ever observed brown dwarfs orbiting very near bright stars-a feat for precise astronomical imaging. Out of the eight companions 2 imaged, the researchers determined that five were brown dwarfs, substellar celestial objects that are still poorly understood, neither stars nor planets but something in between.

A research team 1 led by scientists from CNRS and Université Grenoble Alpes has discovered that the injection of a modified "pseudo-prion" protein into the brains of mice could protect the animals against Alzheimer's disease, a pathology that currently affects nearly a million people in France. This neurodegenerative disease originates from lesions caused by an abnormal accumulation in the brain of two proteins: amyloid- and Tau.

By studying the brain anatomy of newborn baby baboons, a research group including several CNRS scientists 1 was able to predict what hand they would use to communicate after they had been weaned. These researchers had already found that nearly 70% of newborn baboons, like human babies, had early asymmetry in the planum temporale (PT) area of the brain.

Numerous cellular phenomena are guided by mechanical forces, such as embryonic development or the spread of metastases. These phenomena are the subject of intense research aimed at understanding how they are translated into biological processes. Particular emphasis is being placed on new opportunities to treat diseases as resistant as cancer or fibrosis.

Since 2022, anthropology has been in the spotlight at CNRS. Caroline Bodolec, the deputy scientific director behind this initiative, looks back at the main mediation actions around the discipline after it "put on a show" on April 30, 2024. The CNRS Sciences humaines & sociales "Sharing Anthropology" focus ended on April 30.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designed to ensure the long-term conservation of marine ecosystems and the services they provide to human societies; however, only a third of these areas are capable of offering real protection on a global scale. These are the findings of a study, carried out by scientists from the CNRS 1 as part of an international research team, to be published on 9 May in Conservation Letters .

Human embryo compaction, an essential step in the first days of an embryo's development, is driven by the contractility of its cells. This is the finding of a team of scientists from CNRS, Institut Curie, Inserm, AP-HP and the Collège de France. Published in the 1 May edition of Nature, these results contradict the presupposed driving role of cell adhesion in this phenomenon and pave the way for improved assisted reproductive technology (ART) .

The recent discovery of a binary system containing an extremely rare object, the most massive black hole (apart from SgrA*) ever detected in our Galaxy, calls into question the models for the formation of these bodies. Up until now, the Gaia space observatory has been used to observe the position and motion of stars, uncover the underlying structures of our Galaxy, and find new exoplanets.

A research team including scientists from the CNRS 1 has discovered that cancer, one of the leading causes of death worldwide, can be caused entirely by epigenetic changes 2 , in other words, changes that contribute to how gene expression is regulated, and partly explain why, despite an identical genome, an individual develops very different cells (neurons, skin cells, etc.

The emergence in the Neolithic of patrilineal 1 social systems, in which children are affiliated with their father's lineage, may explain a spectacular decline in the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome 2 observed worldwide between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. In a study to be published on 24 April in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from the CNRS, MNHN and Université Paris Cité 3 suggest that these patrilineal organisations had a greater impact on the Y chromosome than mortality during conflict.

Aerial view of slash-and-burn agriculture in the state of Amazonas, western Brazil (September 2022). On our planet, everything is interconnected, from terrestrial and marine ecosystems and biodiversity to ice sheets, rivers and oceans. But a recent report reveals that the dynamics of these different systems is being destabilised by human activities to such an extent that they are reaching points of no return.

Research on tinnitus, a recent investigative field, is now enabling a clearer understanding of the causes and effects of this symptom that affects nearly eight million people in France. Buzzing, hissing, creaking, ringing, clicking or humming; according to a recent French study, although 23 million French people over the age of 15 have experienced tinnitus once in their lives, between four and seven million of them suffer from it on a permanent basis.

By depriving them more or less temporarily of their sense of smell, the Covid-19 pandemic made thousands of people abruptly realise the importance of their olfactory system. Research is now trying to decipher the causes of anosmia and to improve its treatment. In humans, smell is often - wrongly - considered as a secondary sense.

Digital reconstruction of the rampart network from the northern section of the Khaybar walled oasis 4,000 years ago. Khaybar Longue Durée Archaeological Project, M. Bussy & G. Charloux The North Arabian Desert oases were inhabited by sedentary populations in the 4 and 3 millennia BCE. A fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis-one of the longest known going back to this period-was just revealed by a team of scientists from the CNRS 1 and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU).

The pathogenic potential of inhaling the inert fibrous nanomaterials used in thermal insulation (such as asbestos or fibreglass) is actually connected not to their chemical composition, but instead to their geometrical characteristics and size. This was revealed by a study, published on 3 January 2024 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology , conducted on glass nanofibers by a French-Chinese team including a CNRS chemist.

Scientists at the CNRS and the University of Montpellier 1 have discovered that flowering plants growing in farmland are increasingly doing without insect pollinators. As reproduction becomes more difficult for them in an environment depleted in pollinating insects, the plants are evolving towards self-fertilisation.