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encOURAGinG the ScientiFic cOmmUnitY

colloquia by and for the scientific community

Confronting knowledge and skills is crucial to scientific progress. Boosted by its interdisciplinary approaches and close connections

with the forces of research, both in France and abroad, the Académie des Sciences organizes every year a series of scientific

meetings focused on research fields that delve into the boundaries of knowledge

3

.

conference debates

Shale Gas

in its report

La recherche scientifique face aux défis de l’énergie [Scientific

research rising to the challenges of energy] (EDP Sciences Ed., December

2012)

, the Académie des Sciences recommended that a study be

conducted before any decision should be taken on shale gas exploitation,

to explore its benefits, drawbacks, economic issues and impacts on the

environment. to this end, it has decided to gather the best French and

international experts regarding these unconventional gas resources so as

to provide all those interested in the issue with the most up-to-date pieces

of scientific and technical information. Following this conference debate,

the work of the Standing committee for Prospects in energy Procurement

has lead the Académie des Sciences to publish the advice note

Elements

to Clarify the Shale Gas Debate

(26 February 2013).

Calculation, Computer Science and Quantum Computers

Calculation, Computer Science and Quantum Computers constitute Quantum Computing (QC), whose general principle is to use the

laws and phenomena of Quantum mechanics for the best profit of information processing. During this conference at the Académie

des Sciences, experts from this emerging discipline, which is still little known to the general public and many scientists, have

described the physical and mathematical bases, the circuits and the algorithmic aspects of QC (2 April 2013).

Mass Data: Directions and Issues Regarding Big Data

Digital data is now being produced in ever bigger quantities. Such quantities

of informations paves the way for new perspectives, both in the exact and the

human sciences. Now how may such “mass data” be best managed and used?

The conference at the Académie des Sciences gave the opportunity to consider the

critical management issues: warehousing, analysing, sorting and optimizing data,

respecting privacy, ensuring availability to all (18 February 2014).

Planetary Climate Engineering

In addition to the necessary policies aiming at reducing greenhouse gas, the possible input of “planetary climate engineering”

techniques remains under discussion. The session organized by the Académie des Sciences gave the opportunity to present the state

of research on the different methods through which solar radiation is managed – cloud seeding – and on atmospheric CO

2

reduction

techniques, such as ocean fertilization, CO

2

uptake by the continental biosphere or CO

2

geological storage (25 June 2013).

© 2013 Andrew Ostrovsky

© Sergey Bobok