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Fundamental Research Division
The DRF at the CEA assemble approximately 6,000 scientists since January 2016.
A team from Iramis analyzed the long-term corrosion of steel in a clay environment, under conditions of geological storage for nuclear waste. They observed that an iron oxide layer of sub-micron thickness appears on the steel surface, stabilizing the kinetics of the deterioration. This result enhances the corrosion models of the CEA and the Andra!
Data collected at the LHC (Cern) were processed to provide the most accurate assessment of an asymmetry in top quark and top antiquark production. The result is that the measured value is compatible with the prediction of the standard particle model.
A collaboration involving the Inac has revealed an astonishing transition between two phases that possess the same magnetic symmetry. This characteristic makes it impossible for the phase transition to be controlled by magnetism, which imposes the following corollary: the very nature of superconductivity has changed!
The means of diagnosing bladder cancer are proving to be insufficient. Researchers from the BIG are proposing a methodology to determine effective urinary biomarkers.
An international collaboration led by the Irfu has demonstrated that exoplanets in orbit close to their star are rapidly approaching or moving away from it under the combined effects of tidal forces and magnetism. The consequences of these two-way migrations (spreading apart or coming closer together) could soon be observed via the distribution of exoplanets closer to and farther from their star, by several space observatories: NASA’s Tess (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) in 2018, or the ESA’s Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) in 2024.
A collaboration involving Iramis and the Institut Joliot has revealed the spontaneous aggregation into amyloid fibers of a bacterial protein called Hfq and non-coding RNA strands. Furthermore, the collaborators demonstrated the ability of these fibers to penetrate a lipid membrane. This study paves the way for a better understanding of bacterial communication in addition to new approaches in antibiotic development.
After 40 years of research, BIG researchers and their partners have uncovered the cause of tubulin detyrosination. The surprise: it is not one enzyme, but two that are capable of modifying this essential component of the cell skeleton.
Should countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet their December 2015 pledges at COP21, global temperatures would expected to rise by about 3°C by 2050 with respect to pre-industrial climate. For the first time, an international team of LSCE researchers has studied the impact of such a scenario on the air quality in Europe in 2050. Their results show that current efforts to reduce European anthropogenic emission reductions would probably be annihilated.
Using a variety of sensors, physicists around the world examined the region from which a gravitational wave originated. This wave was detected on August 17, 2017 by the Ligo-Virgo facilities, in the search for other messengers from the universe. Created from the fusion of two neutron stars, this wave was accompanied by a burst in gamma rays as well as visible light emission, which was detected in particular by the Integral satellite and the VLT, with a major role played by the Irfu. Regarding neutrinos, the researchers analyzed their data without finding any candidates.
“Magnetic skyrmions” are currently emerging as promising nanoscale bits in spintronics, e.g. for dense, energy-efficient information storage or high-performance logical operations. Researchers from the Inac and the Institut Néel in Grenoble have managed to create and erase microscale skyrmions using an electric field.
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CEA is a French government-funded technological research organisation in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. A prominent player in the European Research Area, it is involved in setting up collaborative projects with many partners around the world.