Sci-Tech Watch e-Newsletter

Tara is on her way to Cape Town. She will be there, mid-July.

Tara Oceans is an exceptional 3-year marine expedition managed by Tara Expeditions’ team and a scientific consortium, including major international laboratories, led by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Like the previous expeditions, it will sail under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). This program will allow researchers to study previously unknown and crucial marine ecosystems. Eric Karsenty Research Director for EMBL and CNRS is leading Tara oceans as Co-director of the voyage. The urgency of understanding and coping with global warming makes this an extraordinarily important voyage to add to earlier understandings of the origins of ocean life so as to better preserve the diversity of its future. (read…)

Call for applications for a GDRI-STAR Training Workshop on Rock Engravings Recording

18th – 22nd October 2010, Kimberley, South Africa

The workshop is organised through GDRI-STAR, a South African – French collaboration network gathering together teams of South African and French researchers from backgrounds as diverse as archaeology, linguistic, heritage conservation, materials science, and geosciences, with a common interest in rock art. GDRI-STAR is jointly funded by the French CNRS and the South African NRF. It is the vocation of GDRI-STAR to contribute to the spreading of up-to-date techniques and methodologies in rock art studies and the Kimberley workshop will be the third training workshop organised by GDRI-STAR in its Training Workshops Series. (read…)

About the GDRI-STAR

The “Science, technologies, rock art” international research group (GDRI-STAR) aims at fostering collaboration between France and South Africa in the field of rock art research, focusing on recording, material micro-analysis and dating, conservation and public rock art. An original feature of the GDRI-STAR is to include from its start facilities providing state-of-the-art techniques for material micro-analysis, dating and 3-d imaging. They will contribute directly to the archaeological research on rock art materials and its contextual environment.. The actions fostered by GDRI-STAR fall into the following larger and inter-related categories: International Trainings, Research and Networking Activities, Public Rock Art and Knowledge Dissemination. GDRI-STAR has launched a program of international training courses at the start of the project to foster the development of new bilateral scientific cooperation. A strong mobility of individual researchers from participating institutions is sought to facilitate exchanges between teams and co-publication of the results. The international research group will then contribute to a better visibility of the on-going rock art research in the participating countries at an international level. (read…)

Scientists at the ends of the earth!

A long way away from Metropolitan France, the isolated and frozen French southern and Antarctic islands are nevertheless a paradise for researchers. Remarkable boats such as the Marion Dufresne and the Astrolabe keep them connected with the rest of the world. Getting there is a genuine expedition; and staying there is an adventure like no other. These little known islands at the ends of the earth are however part of French territory: they form the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Territoire des Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises - TAAF) (read…)

The European Institutes for Advanced Study (EURIAS) Fellowship Programme

The European Institutes for Advanced Study (EURIAS) Fellowship Programme is an international researcher mobility programme offering 33 fellowships for the 2011/2012 academic year. It proposes 10-month residencies in one of the 14 participating Institutes: Berlin, Bologna, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Cambridge, Helsinki, Jerusalem, Lyons, Nantes, Paris, Uppsala, Vienna, Wassenaar. The Programme builds on the strong reputation of the Institutes for Advanced Study for promoting the concentrated, self-directed work of excellent researchers within the stimulating environment of a multidisciplinary and international group of fellows.
EURIAS Fellowships are mainly offered in the fields of the humanities and social sciences but may also be granted to scholars in natural and exact sciences, if their proposed research project does not require laboratory facilities. The diversity of the 14 participating IAS —which have agreed on a common selection procedure— offers a wide range of possible research contexts in Europe for worldwide scholars. Applicants select up to three IAS outside their country of nationality or residence as possible host institutions.
The Programme welcomes applications worldwide from promising scholars at an early stage of their careers as well as from established senior researchers.

Visit their website

Nanosciences Foundation Chairs of Excellence 2011

The Nanosciences Foundation is fostering research in Grenoble (France) focused on "Nanosciences at the frontiers of nanoelectronics" and supports a network of 32 laboratories gathering about 1000 scientists across the various research institutions based in Grenoble. The Foundation’s main goals are to foster a world-class Nanosciences Research in the network’s laboratories by encouraging collaborative and multidisciplinary projects.
The program Chairs of Excellence has been created to attract talented researchers to Grenoble to develop a research project in emerging fields of nanosciences in one of the network’s laboratories. The Chairs of Excellence are open to both junior and senior scientists, available for full time or part time position in Grenoble; the contract duration can vary from 9 months (which might be split over three years) to 3 years. The award package includes an internationally competitive salary, social security, travel expenses and research support for hiring a PhD student and a post-doc and additional fund for operating costs to reinforce the successful candidate’s research activities. The hosting period may start from January 2011. (read…)

International “HERMES” Fellowship Programme 2010/11 call for applications

The HERMES Programme aims at enabling young post-doctoral research scholars in humanities and social sciences from the above-mentioned countries to visit France for the purpose of conducting research there. (read…)

CIRAD 2010 Programme in Capacity Building for Livestock Management

The Teaching and Training Service Unit for Animal Production and Veterinary Medicine of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) have announced their 2010 programme in “Capacity Building for Livestock Management”. (read…)

Europe’s Most Powerful Supercomputer is Powered Up

Tera 100 is the name of the extraordinary machine that ranks among the world’s top three supercomputers with a theoretical computing power of 1.25 Petaflops. The petaflop scale is capable of carrying out one million billion operations per second! Designed and engineered by Bull and CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission), Tera 100 will be used for the CEA simulation program that ensures the reliability of nuclear deterrent weapons. The supercomputer was powered up on May 26, 2010, a few weeks after its installation in March. "The power-up of Tera 100 is a major industrial success. (read…)

Radars Detecting Hazards Caused by Precipitation in Mountains

In the mountains, small catchment areas on steep, often barren terrain channel rainwater directly into torrents and rivers causing erosion, overflows and devastating floods. This is an alarming issue as local operators in charge of hazard prevention do not have the means to predict the sudden phenomena and assess their seriousness. Of course, Meteo-France (French Weather Bureau) uses hydro-meteorological radars operating on C or S bands with ranges of about 120 kilometres in low-lying regions to measure precipitation in real-time and predict dangerous situations, such as flash floods. However, the screen of high terrain prevents the radar network (called ARAMIS, Application Radar Infra-Synoptic Meteorology) from seeing the Alpine and Pyrenees mountain ranges. (read…)

The Taste of Chlorine in Water - Major Findings Clearing the Way for New Outlooks

As part of the Eau du robinet agreable a boire (tasty tap water), a VITAGORA accredited project also called SENS’EAU (start-up in 2006), two CIFRE theses funded by the Lyonnaise des Eaux Group and supervised by the Centre des Sciences du Gout et de l’Alimentation (CSGA, Centre for the Science of Taste and Food) were scheduled. One addressed consumers’ perception of the taste of chlorine, a very important topic as the flavor of the chemical is the target of recurrent criticisms of tap water. The thesis on the subject, which Sabine Puget has just defended in Dijon, focused on highlighting the potential means of neutralizing the flavor in water. The important research findings have cleared the way for new exploratory paths and should lead to optimized production standards. (read…)

Agro Biotech Accelerateur (ABA) Launches First Two Projects

Agro Biotech Accelerateur (ABA) was created by INRA and Seventures Partners, a leading French investor in venture capital, at the end of 2008. Daniel Burtin has recently replaced Pascal Azadian at the head of ABA that is dedicated to providing top INRA research laboratory projects with industrialization potential with the resources to create start-ups for project commercialization. Appointed last December, Daniel Burtin’s first assignment was to complete the selection audits of the projects that will receive ABA support and ensure the incubation and maturing of the facility’s first two projects. (read…)

A More Compact Infrared Detector for Tomorrow’s Systems

Sofradir working with ONERA (France’s government aerospace research laboratory) has engineered a new infrared detector with integrated optics, which was presented at the SPIE Defence, Security & Sensing symposium last April in Orlando, Florida. Although the design is based on a standard Sofradir small pitch video quality infrared IR detector (640 x 512, 15-micron pixel pitch VGA format), what is new is the integration of an optical lens alongside the IR detector, a feat that requires the control of all the IR detector operating and performance parameters. As a result, the IR detector can produce a standalone image without the use of any other associated optics. The company says the demonstration IR detector provides a very large field of view that is well suited to security surveillance operations. This is the first time that a European company has demonstrated the feasibility of integrating optics into a cooled IR detector.
Sofradir says that the new integrated IR detector could lower the amount of optics and electronics in an IR imaging system by about one-third. For IR camera makers, it offers the potential of halving the size of future IR systems. "At present, with the IR detector, we have been able to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating optics, but it can definitely clear the way for other security applications for cooled IR detectors," said Sofradir Vice President in charge of R&D and Technologies Philippe Tribolet. (read…)

More Info:
Sofradir - http://www.sofradir.com

Nutrition and Natural Food Colouring Agents - New Outlooks for Carrots

Fresh and processed carrots are very healthy foods in terms of mineral, especially potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and anti-cholesterol fibres intake. Pro-vitamin A, or carotene, which gives carrots their typical pigmentation, may stimulate immunity mechanisms, curb atherosclerosis, fight free radicals, prevent cardiovascular diseases or even the development of some cancers. White or violet carrots were domesticated during the tenth century in Central Asia and were to become orange in western Europe, after a succession of natural selections during the seventeenth century. Yet, carrots still have surprises in store in terms of pigmentary and nutritional qualities. (read…)

PIANO Project Makes Two Major Advances on the Role of Nitric Oxide in Plants

In June, PIANO project participants will be meeting to define a new exploratory path, which might lead them to submit a new project to ANR (French National Research Agency) and obtain funding. The PIANO project - accredited by the VITAGORA cluster and funded by ANR - will be over at the end of this year. "Our goal is to apprehend and understand the molecular mechanisms through which plant-produced nitric oxide guides the cell towards an appropriate response," recapped Professor David Wendehenne who coordinates the project and also heads the Cellular and Molecular Signaling in Defence Reactions team at the joint Plant-Microbe-Environment research unit (INRA, CNRS, University of Burgundy). (read…)

Sports & Recreation - SPORALTEC Focusing on Innovation and Training

At its meeting on May 11 this year, the Inter-ministerial Committee on Space Planning and Regional Development (CIADT) decided not to renew the ’competitive cluster’ label for 6 clusters, including SPORALTEC focused on sports & recreation. Nevertheless, the non-renewal does not challenge the quality of the cluster and its members, but underscores that innovation in sports and recreation does correspond to the criteria of the FUI (government agency funding industrial R&D projects), the main indicator for the ’competitive cluster’ label. However, CIADT did recognize the value of SPORALTEC for the businesses, research and training stakeholders involved in the cluster, and for strengthening the attractiveness of the region. Therefore, to keep the momentum going and continue the ongoing work since 2005, SPORALTEC may submit a request for support under the business cluster arrangement. SPORALTEC positioning will focus less on ’research and development’ in the strict sense, but rather on Innovation, Expertise/Training, Promotion of Skills/Globalization. Today, SPORALTEC is the European standard-setter for recent initiatives of sports-innovation networks that are taking shape in Spain, for instance, and that would like to draw on the French experience. (read…)

More Info:
Sporaltec - Thierry Chabroux, General Delegate
Phone: + 33(0)4 77 39 00 31
Email: thierry.chabroux@sporaltec.fr

Discovery of an Unsuspected Strategy Used by the Listeria Bacterium during Infections

The pathogenic bacterium to blame for listeriosis in humans, Listeria monocytogenes is well-known for its ability to enter cells and manipulate different functions for its own benefit to escape the host’s defences. The strategies enable the bacterium to pass through the intestinal wall and other body barriers in the course of the infection in humans. Researchers at two Pasteur Institute units, the Bacteria-Cell Interaction Unit headed by Pascale Cossart and the Nuclear Organization and Oncogenesis Unit headed by Anne Dejean working with a team at the University of Ghent, Belgium, have discovered that Listeria produces a toxin that destroys SUMOylation. (read…)

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