news

According to a CNRS communication dated February 19, 2026. Based on a scientific publication in Science Advances , to which the RDP - Plant Reproduction and Development Laboratory contributed: "The actin cytoskeleton is required to maintain plant cell division orientation against cellular geometry." Thumbnail credit: © Camila Goldy In plants, cells cannot move or reorganize freely due to their rigid cell walls.

In plants, cells can neither move nor reorganize freely due to their rigid walls. How, then, do they correctly orient their division to build coherent tissues - A study published in Science Advances reveals that, in addition to an already well-documented classical cue, plant cells rely on the actin cytoskeleton to adjust the plane of division according to their environment.

In an article published in Genome Biology , scientists show that DNA replication not only ensures faithful duplication of the genome, but also helps reshape the three-dimensional organization of chromosomes in the nucleus.

According to a communication from the CNRS dated November 12, 2025. Based on a scientific publication in Nature Ecology & Evolution to which Lucie Étienne, CNRS research director at CIRI, and Alexandre Legrand, INSERM researcher and CIRI doctor, contributed: Evolutionary characterization of antiviral SAMD9/9L across kingdoms supports ancient convergence and lineage-specific adaptations.

According to a CNRS communication dated October 16, 2025. Based on a scientific publication in Current Biology to which the RDP laboratory at ENS de Lyon contributed: "Robust branch patterning in moss shoots via symplasmic auxin diffusion." Image © Des Callaghan In an article published in Current Biology , scientists explore how auxin, a plant hormone, travels through the stem of moss to shape its architecture.

Press release, Villeurbanne, October 9, 2025. The past of the planet Mars continues to captivate the scientific community.

In an article published in Current Biology , scientists explore how auxin, a plant hormone, travels through the stem of a moss to shape its architecture. In vascular plants, such as most grasses or trees, it has been known for several decades that auxin is actively transported between cells via dedicated molecular pumps.

According to a press release from the Lyon Observatory dated September 4, 2025, based on a scientific publication to which Elliot Lynch, researcher at CRAL (ENS de Lyon/CNRS/UCBL), contributed as part of an international team: "ALMA Reveals an Eccentricity Gradient in the Fomalhaut Debris Disk", published in The Astrophysical Journal on September 4, 2025.

According to a CNRS communication dated September 22, 2025, following a scientific publication in PLOS Computational Biology co-authored by Lucie Riglet, Christophe Godin, and Isabelle Fobis-Loisy, researchers at the RDP, ENS de Lyon, together with Catherine Quilliet and Karin John from LIPhy, Université Grenoble Alpes.

According to a CNRS communication dated September 22, 2025, based on a scientific publication in Current Biology co-authored by Yoan Coudert, CNRS researcher at the RDP, ENS de Lyon, together with Saioa Ricou-Dreneuc and Claudine Ah-Peng: "Architectural shift to epiphytism fuels exotic bryophyte invasiveness.

Researchers at the ESRF - the European Synchrotron - together with CNRS, ENS de Lyon and the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, have unveiled how Atlantic Bluefin tuna transforms the toxic form of mercury into less harmful forms. Their study, published in Environmental Science & Technology , shows that the tuna's edible muscle contains not only toxic methylmercury, but also mercury bound in stable, non-toxic compounds.

Mercury contamination is a global public health problem. This chemical element comes from both natural sources, such as volcanoes and forest fires, and human activity, including coal combustion, gold mining and the incineration of industrial and household waste. Bacteria transform mercury into methylmercury, a toxic form that accumulates in the food chain.

Focus on the scientific publication "Geochemical chronologies in Paranthropus robustus teeth inform habitat and life histories," published on July 23, 2025, in Nature Ecology and Evolution , to which Vincent Balter, CNRS research director and member of the LGL-TPE laboratory at ENS de Lyon, contributed alongside Andrew Sillen and Christopher Dean.

Following a scientific publication to which several members of the High Field NMR Centre in Lyon contributed, namely Andrew J. Pell, lecturer-researcher (CNRS/ENS de Lyon/Claude Bernard Univer

CNRS press release dated 23 July 2025. Based on a scientific publication to which members of the Lyon Astrophysics Research Centre (CNRS, ENS Lyon, Claude Bernard University) and the LPENSL Physics Laboratory (CNRS, ENS Lyon) contributed: 'A Core-sensitive Mixed f/g-mode of the Sun Predicted by Wave Topology and Hydrodynamical Simulation', published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

CNRS Communication - July 17, 2025. Based on a scientific publication co-authored by Régis Chirat, researcher at the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon , together with Derek E. Moulton and Alain Goriely, professors at Oxford University: "Hierarchical mechanical patterns in morphogenesis: from mollusc shells to plants, fungi and animals" , published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface on June 25, 2025.

Lyon's research stands out in the new post-quantum era. Two algorithms designed by Damien Stehlé are among the 3 standards published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2024.

According to a CNRS communication dated October 29, 2025. Based on a scientific publication in Physical Review Letters to which Ludovic Bellon, a CNRS researcher at ENS de Lyon's Physics Laboratory (LPENSL), contributed: "Information Engine Fueled by First-Passage Times." Thumbnail image: a Brownian particle (subject to thermal agitation) wanders in a confined well until it reaches a threshold, where an automated system (a demon) acts on the position of the well to extract energy from the particle.

A researcher from the Physics Laboratory at ENS de Lyon "unravels knitwear" to turn it into a research subject. This article made the front page of the latest Pop Sciences newsletter. Written by Martin Koppe for the CNRS, the article honours Audrey Steinberger and her subject, which might be considered "exotic": knitwear.

Light, soft, resistant, deformable and sometimes ugly, knitwear is not just an everyday object; it's also a metamaterial whose extraordinary properties are of great interest to physicists. While physics research is often associated with such gigantic technical infrastructures as the LHC, it also sometimes takes an interest in everyday objects.