Latest news with #NationalCenterforScientificResearch
Arab Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Arab Times
Reconnaissance Research welcomes French economist Maxime Izoulet
KUWAIT CITY, June 2: Reconnaissance Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Maxime Izoulet, a distinguished French economist, to its Economic Affairs Unit. He will contribute to the center's strategic output through in-depth analytical papers and global economic assessments, with a focus on structural dynamics shaping international relations. Dr. Izoulet holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the prestigious EHESS in Paris, where he studied under prominent economists such as Jacques Sapir and Alberto Bagnai. His doctoral work explored the accounting theory of money and finance, and his research has been published in several internationally peer-reviewed journals indexed by France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Dr. Izoulet commented on his appointment: 'I believe institutions like Reconnaissance Research play a vital role in offering a rare space for serious thought. I am honored to contribute to its independence, regional insight, commitment to strategic clarity, and to engage with a team that values long-term analysis over short-term noise.' He marks the beginning of his tenure at Reconnaissance Research with the release of a timely and insightful paper titled:'At the Heart of Sino-American Relations: The Over-Financialisation of the American Economy.' The paper argues that the United States' disproportionate reliance on financial markets, at the expense of its productive base, is at the core of the emerging asymmetry with China. Dr. Izoulet examines how this economic over-financialisation weakens U.S. domestic capacity, amplifies global instability, and shapes the Trump administration's strategic posture towards trade, tariffs, and international alignment. His analysis offers a compelling framework for understanding the contradictions between America's global economic influence and its internal industrial erosion. Founder and CEO of Reconnaissance Research, Abdulaziz Al-Anjeri, said: 'We are confident that Dr. Izoulet's expertise will strengthen our mission to provide high-impact economic insights to policymakers and global stakeholders operating at the intersection of economics, strategy, and geopolitics.', he added: 'His joining also refl ects our commitment to making Reconnaissance a platform for intellectual rigor, and meaningful exchange – bridging Kuwait with global expertise and reaffirming our belief in the value of serious, independent knowledge.'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EU, UK eye weary US scientists with €500M plan
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen announced Monday an initiative aimed at attracting US researchers fleeing funding cuts and restrictions on academic freedom under US President Donald Trump. The plan will see half a billion euros in funding between 2025 and 2027. 'The role of science in today's world is questioned. The investment in fundamental, free and open research is questioned. What a gigantic miscalculation,' von der Leyen said. The announcement followed one made by France's flagship scientific research center Sunday. The president of the French National Center for Scientific Research, Antoine Petit, said the program was designed to attract foreign scientists whose work is under threat, as well as French researchers who 'don't want to live and raise their children in Trump's United States.' The UK is also considering a similar scheme, which will be supported by £50 million in government funding, the Financial Times reported. Europe is keen to lure American researchers. Petit said France's strong welfare state, as well as the lower cost of education and health care, would make up for any pay gap with the US.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Newfound ancient Egyptian town had links with Queen Nefertiti's daughter
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered the remains of a "major" 3,400-year-old town dating to the New Kingdom that was possibly built by King Tutankhamun's father and later added to by Ramesses II, a new study finds. The settlement was found at the site of Kom el-Nugus in northern Egypt, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) west of Alexandria on a rocky ridge between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout. Previously, Egyptologists thought the site was not inhabited until later times, when the Greeks founded their own settlement and necropolis there around 332 B.C., during Egypt's Hellenistic period. Researchers found the older ancient Egyptian settlement while they were studying the Greek one. An unexpected discovery of mudbrick dating to the New Kingdom (circa 1550 to 1070 B.C.) revealed the earliest known Egyptian settlement north of Lake Mariout, according to the study, which was published Jan. 23 in the journal Antiquity. It's not clear exactly how large the settlement was, "but the quality of the remains, their planned organization around a street, could suggest a fairly large-scale occupation," study author Sylvain Dhennin, an archaeologist with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told Live Science in an email. The street was designed to drain surface water and protect buildings from water erosion. "There was a temple, built by King Ramses II, as well as private funerary chapels, which mention military personnel," said Dhennin, who is leading excavations at the site. "If the settlement was indeed military in nature, it's possible that there was also a fortified wall and administrative buildings." Related: What did King Tut look like? One particularly interesting find is a stamp on part of an amphora jar that has the name of Merytaton (also spelled Meritaten) on it. Merytaton was the daughter of the pharaoh Akhenaten (reign 1349 to 1336 B.C.) and his wife Nefertiti. Akhenaten unleashed a religious revolution that tried to focus Egypt's religion around the worship of Aten, the sun disk. His son, King Tutankhamun (ruled circa 1336 to 1327 B.C.), later brought back Egypt's traditional polytheistic religion. "The presence of this stamp probably indicates the production of wine belonging to a royal estate" that dates back to the time of Merytaton, Dhennin said. "The vineyards on the margins of Egypt were probably protected by the military and formed part of a pioneering front to occupy this region towards the desert," he said, noting that it's possible that this settlement was founded during the reign of Akhenaten. RELATED STORIES —Mysterious artifacts from King Tut's tomb might have been used in 'awakening Osiris' ritual —Ancient Egyptian pyramids, thought to contain only the elite, may also hold low-class laborers —The first evidence of 'head cones' found in 3,300-year-old Egyptian tomb Roger Forshaw, an honorary lecturer at the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester who was not involved with the research, praised the team's work and noted that the "the presence of a temple underscores its strategic and cultural importance." Forshaw also noted the sophisticated design of the street. "This street was ingeniously designed with a water-collecting system to drain surface water and protect the fragile mudbrick walls," Forshaw said. Excavations at the site are ongoing, and Dhennin said they may help reveal how large the settlement was and when exactly it was founded. Another question is what Egyptians called the settlement in ancient times.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Curiosity finds largest-ever organic molecules on Mars
The Mars Curiosity rover's onboard mini-lab has helped confirm the existence of the largest organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. The trio of long-chain compounds preserved in Martian soil are believed to be the remnants of prebiotic components required for life to develop on Earth. Researchers published evidence on March 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which builds on their work that began over a decade ago. In May 2013, Curiosity started drilling into an area known as 'Yellowknife Bay' in the Gale Crater. Scientists were interested in examining the region not for what it is today, but for what it may have been millions of years ago. Yellowknife Bay wasn't a randomly chosen name—the arid and desolate landscape's features still hint at a large, long-evaporated lakebed. Curiosity's soil survey, nicknamed 'Cumberland,' has been analyzed multiple times inside its Sample Analysis on Mars (SAM) onboard mini-lab and has yielded a trove of new information about the planet's past. In particular, it is rich in clay minerals that often form in water, and contains sufficient amounts of sulfur to help preserve organic molecules. Cumberland also features nitrates crucial to healthy animal and plant life, as well as methane containing a specific type of carbon associated with biological processes. Most striking, though, was conclusive confirmation that Yellowknife Bay once hosted an ancient lake, further supporting the theory that Mars was once home to life of some kind. Experts have since spent years examining data gleaned from SAM mini-lab analyses. In one recent experiment, a team including Glavin and Caroline Freissinet, an astrobiologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research worked to locate evidence of amino acids inside the Cumberland sample. While they didn't find them that time, something else caught their eye: trace amounts of three carbon-chain molecules known as a decane, undecane, and dodecane. With 10, 11, and 12 carbons respectively, researchers believe these organic compounds may be residual fragments of fatty acids needed for cell membrane formation and other biological functions. These fatty acids aren't always definitive proof of life, however. Geological events like water-mineral interactions in hydrothermal vents can also produce similar molecules. That said, the length of many of the Cumberland soil carbon-chains could suggest otherwise. Depending on the molecule, organic life fatty acids often contain chains of 11-13 carbon atoms, while non-biological fatty acids usually contain 12 or fewer carbons. This means that at least some of the large organic molecules detected by Freissinet's team may have once existed in organic life. What's more, the discovery eases worries that Martian biosignatures couldn't survive tens of millions of years of exposure to destructive oxidation and radiation. 'Our study proves that, even today, by analyzing Mars samples we could detect chemical signatures of past life, if it ever existed on Mars,' Freissinet, who also served as the latest study's lead author, said in a statement. 'There is evidence that liquid water existed in Gale Crater for millions of years and probably much longer, which means there was enough time for life-forming chemistry to happen in these crater-lake environments on Mars,' added Daniel Glavin, study co-author and sample return senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Unfortunately, Freissinet and colleagues can only discover so much using Curiosity's SAM mini-lab. Organic fatty acid chains are often much longer than just 12 carbons, but the rover's equipment isn't designed to detect those. Luckily, NASA is ready and willing to assist in the next chapter of Martian exploration. 'We are ready to take the next big step and bring Mars samples home to our labs to settle the debate about life on Mars,' Glavin said. Glavin, Freissinet, and colleagues may be waiting a while for that next step, however. While NASA has long planned on a Mars Sample Return mission, a ballooning budget and an uncertain future may push the project as far back as 2040.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DHS denies French scientist barred entry to US over anti-Trump messages
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin attempted to clarify the Trump administration's decision to deny a French scientist entry into the U.S., saying he was in possession of concealed 'confidential information' he kept on his electronic device. McLaughlin was pushing back against claims from the French government that he was blocked because of critical messages he posted against President Trump. 'The French researcher in question was in possession of confidential information on his electronic device from Los Alamos National Laboratory — in violation of a non-disclosure agreement— something he admitted to taking without permission and attempted to conceal,' she wrote on social platform X, in response to a post from a French analyst. 'Any claim that his removal was based on political beliefs is blatantly false,' McLaughlin added. The back-and-forth came after Philippe Baptiste, France's minister for higher education, said Thursday that the scientist, who was set to attend a conference in Houston, was denied entry and deported due to his messages that criticized the Trump administration's policies on research. The academic, whose name was not revealed, was on assignment for the National Center for Scientific Research, according to Baptiste. 'This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because this researcher's phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration's research policy,' Baptiste told multiple outlets. 'Freedom of opinion, free research and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold,' he added. 'I will defend the possibility for all French researchers to be faithful to them, in compliance with the law.' Upon his arrival in the U.S., the academic underwent a random inspection during which his computer and phone were allegedly examined. He also faced allegations of sending messages that 'showed hatred towards Trump and could be deemed as terrorism,' as reported by Agence France-Presse, referencing another source close to the situation. All charges against him have since been dismissed, according to the international outlet. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
