Latest news with #Centrenationaldelarecherchescientifique
Local France
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French research centre seeks to lure US-based scientists
The programme aims to attract foreign researchers whose work is threatened and French researchers working abroad, some of whom "don't want to live and raise their children in Trump's United States", said CNRS President Antoine Petit. According to Petit, the "Choose CNRS" initiative has already resulted in some contacts, although the "vast majority are non-Americans". The CNRS ( Centre national de la recherche scientifique , or French National Centre for Scientific Research) is Europe's largest scientific research centre with some 34,000 staff. READ MORE: How easy is it to move to France as a researcher or scientist? Advertisement The initiative is part of a broader effort by France and European countries to cash in on US President Donald Trump's massive cuts in funding for education. Since Trump's return in January, US universities have been threatened with massive federal funding cuts. Research programmes face closure, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, whilst foreign students fear possible deportation for their political views. READ MORE: Calls in France to create new 'refugee' status for US researchers President Emmanuel Macron urged France's research institutions in March to attract and welcome US-based scientists. France's "Choose France for Science" initiative launched mid-April with a dedicated platform for applications to host international researchers. "Some foreign researchers have already arrived in France to familiarise themselves with the infrastructure, waiting for the funds and platform to be set up," France's research ministry said. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will attend on Monday a "Choose science choose Europe" event, "at a time when academic freedoms face a number... of threats" and Europe "is a continent of attractiveness", the Elysee Palace said. In France, the Aix-Marseille University launched its "Safe place for science" programme in March. It will receive its first foreign researchers in June. Petit said the CNRS wanted researchers of all levels, from younger post-doctorates and junior professors to external research directors. The CNRS also aims to recruit "stars" of international scientific research but money remains the driving force behind scientific research and Petit said the CNRS did not have a "very large" room for manoeuvre. "The motivation of a researcher is never the remuneration," he said, but above all "the work environment, with its infrastructure and the opportunity to confront the best" scientists. Petit expressed hope that the pay gap between scientists in France and the United States will narrow, once the lower cost of education and health, and more generous social benefits are taken into account.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A Detector at the Bottom of the Sea Found an Extraordinary Signal From the Unseen Universe
Neutrinos are arguably the most enigmatic particles in the universe, but scientists on Earth are getting better at detecting them. In February of 2023, the underwater Cubic Kilometer Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT) detected a high-energy neutrino with 30 times more energy than any previously detected neutrino. Amazingly, KM3NeT detected this particle while under construction, using only 20 percent of its photodetectors. Neutrinos lie at the frontier of scientific unknowns about the universe. However, there's a problem—neutrinos also like to keep to themselves. They're the ultimate recluses of the particle physics world, but scientists have developed tools over decades to detect the reactions they can sometimes set off. One of those detectors is known as the Cubic Kilometer Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT), which comprises two detector arrays anchored to the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss (ARCA) array is located off the coast of Sicily, and in the middle of the night on February 13, 2023, the installation recorded an unusual signal—a high-energy muon streaking through the array in just a few microseconds. From the data, scientists determined that the muon contained 120 peta-electron volts (PeV) of energy, and further extrapolated that the instigating neutrino must have contained energies of 220 peta-electron volts—a level that's 30 times higher than any neutrino ever detected. The results of this astounding discovery were published in the journal Nature. 'Neutrinos are the closest thing to nothing that we can imagine,' Paschal Coyle, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) researcher and KM3NeT spokesperson at the time of the detection, said during a press conference earlier this week, 'but they are key to fully understanding the workings of the universe.' Scientists don't directly detect neutrinos, but they can infer things about them by analyzing their interactions with the weak nuclear force (neutrinos also interact with gravity, but the effects are negligible). To give you a sense of how difficult it can be to detect a neutrino, scientists estimate that if 10 trillion neutrinos generated from the Sun pass through the Earth, only one will interact with a particle and produce a detectable reaction. Put another way, you could construct a lead wall five light years in width, and 50 percent of neutrinos could still pass through unscathed. So, not only did it come as a surprise when the ARCA array lit up in February of 2023, it was almost unbelievable that the experiment—which, at that time, had only deployed 10 percent of its photoreceptors—detected something as extraordinary as KM3-230213A (the name of the neutrino event). Two things make this particular muon (and, by extension, the neutrino that created it‚, particularly interesting. The first is its high energy level, which suggests a cosmic origin. The second is the angle of its trajectory. Because it was close to the horizon, it's likely that the neutrino collided with an atom in the deep sea surrounding the detector. 'Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious of elementary particles. They have no electric charge, almost no mass and interact only weakly with matter,' Rosa Coniglione from KM3NeT said in a press statement. 'They are special cosmic messengers, bringing us unique information on the mechanisms involved in the most energetic phenomena and allowing us to explore the farthest reaches of the universe.' Although the researchers can't be sure of the neutrino's origin, it's likely that the particle originated from a cataclysmic event like a gamma-ray burst, accreting supermassive black hole, or supernova explosion. It's also possible that energetic cosmic rays that ferried this neutrino to us interacted with protons found in the cosmic microwave background radiation, creating what's known as a 'cosmogenic neutrino.' KM3NeT is only at the beginning of its journey—this discovery popped up when the device was using only 21 of its planned 230 detection lines. And scientists are hopeful that this high-energy particle will be only the first of many similar discoveries. The project will also get a major assist in the exploration of neutrinos from the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, when it goes online in the coming years. Neutrinos may be the universe's most reclusive particles, but scientists are trying their best to bring some of their anti-social behaviors to light. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
