With the Académie des Sciences in 2013-2014

With the Académie des Sciences in

2013 - 2014

Climate System Observation

To assess the impact of human activity on climate, a most critical and thorough

understanding of the Earth’s climatic past on geological, millenary, secular or

decennial time scales is needed. Its evolution since the beginning or the 20

Century is well documented, thanks to the measurements taken within the

global meteorological network and, now, to the global coverage that satellite

observations offer. These observations constitute an exceptional database,

which allows the behaviour of this complex system to be analysed and the

physical and chemical interaction mechanisms occurring in the coupled ocean-

atmosphere-ice-continental surface system to be studied - a system which is

often designated as a synthetic “climate system” (16 December 2014).

Star Formation: from Small to Large Scales

Research on the mechanisms that account for the formation of stars is crucial to

understand the origin of our own sun, as well as to study the formation of planetary

systems and the evolution of galaxies. Despite the great number of physical effects

involved, it seems that these phenomena are governed by quite simple and virtually

universal laws. Building on the most recent data, including data gathered by the

Herschel Space Observatory, this session of the Académie des Sciences was an

opportunity to provide an overview of the star formation mechanisms and question

their universality (1 April 2014).

Major Questions of Cosmology and Fundamental Physics

Cosmology, the science of the origins and evolution of the universe, is now experiencing spectacular developments through ever more

accurate observation tools. The conference of the Académie des Sciences took stock of the current state of knowledge on this topic,

in light of the most recent experimental findings and their theoretical interpretation, and underlined the scientific analogies that link

cosmology and fundamental physics (3 June 2014).

Children and Screens

The construction of the brain functions depends upon the nature of the external

stimulations it receives, whether sensory, emotional or sociocultural. Children’s

exposure to digital screens has therefore a critical impact. The conference held by

the Académie des Sciences in parallel to the publication of its advice note

L’enfant

et les écrans

[Children and Screens]

(Le Pommier Ed., January 2013)

gave the

opportunity to focus on the benefits, in terms of learning, of using screens with

children and teenagers but also the risks of addiction or regressive phenomena (22

January 2013).

Exploring the Interface Between Chemistry and Physics

The interactions shared between chemistry and physics are sometimes little known, while many a research project takes place on the

interface between these two disciplines. The conference of the Académie des Sciences has focused on how they mutually feed one

another, through several examples: molecular conductors and rotors, submicrometric devices from the field of organic electronics,

the electronic properties of transition metal oxides, and vitrimers, a new class of materials sharing properties with glass and

plastic (12 February 2013).