Octobre 2020

LA LETTRE D’INFORMATION DU BUREAU DU CNRS DE WASHINGTON

EXPLOREZ NOS ACTUALITES, DES INFORMATIONS SUR LES LABORATOIRES ET PROJETS DE LA REGION AINSI QUE DES TEMOIGNAGES DE CHERCHEUR.SE.S QUI FONT VIVRE LES COLLABORATIONS FRANCO-AMERICAINES SUR NOTRE SITE INTERNET!

SOMMAIRE

EN DIRECT DES ACTIONS STRUCTURANTES

. Le Cemca lance un diplôme international avec l’Université Métropole Autonome et l’Ecole Urbaine de Lyon . Partenariat de près de 3 M CAD entre l'Université de Sherbrooke et Stace . Joint Montpellier-Stanford Lab announces the 2.0 release of the AgroPortal vocabulary and ontology repository . Scientific and academic cooperation with United States: University of Florida and INRAE sign their first partnership agreement

ETATS-UNIS

. Trump tests positive for the Coronavirus 1

Octobre 2020

. Remdesivir and interferon fall flat in WHO’s megastudy of COVID-19 treatments . Covid-19 Vaccine research mischief concerns . Saying human trials aren’t enough, researchers call for comparison of COVID-19 vaccines in monkeys . FDA approves first treatment for COVID-19 . New test detects coronavirus in just 5 minutes . Amid pandemic, U.S. faculty job openings plummet . Trump presidency legacy on science . What a Joe Biden presidency could mean for science policy . Stem cell research, clinical use of ‘magic mushrooms’ among issues on state ballots this year . 2020 Nobel Prizes distinguish American researchers . US civil-rights group offers support to researchers facing China scrutiny . A NASA mission is about to capture carbon-rich dust from a former water world . Open Access initiatives blooming in USA . The Epigenetic Characterization and Observation program, a promising collaborative effort involving the NIH and DARPA . NSF awards a UC Davis-sponsored project to investigate long-term viability of cell-cultured meat . The Wetland Mitigation Banking Program supports 8 new projects with $5M award . A new Dean is appointed at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences . USDA-NIFA invests $45M to address the “citrus greening disease”

CANADA

. In memoriam : Louis Fortier, pionnier de la recherche en Arctique . University of Alberta virologist awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine . Le premier ministre annonce le renouvellement du mandat de la scientifique en chef du Canada . Canada’s innovation superclusters have shown themselves to be hotbeds of innovation . Ottawa verse 214 M CAD pour des vaccins candidats contre la COVID-19 fabriqués au Canada . Federal government funds small nuclear reactor ahead of national strategy to adopt more of them . Government of Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Parks awards $5M to enhance emissions reduction efforts in Alberta . University of British Columbia conservation biologist award the Volvo Environment Prize

MEXIQUE

. Le meilleur scénario est d'avoir le vaccin Covid en décembre : Ebrard

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Octobre 2020

. Le Mexique renouvelle ses liens de coopération scientifique et technologique avec l'Union européenne . Le Conacyt allouera près d'un milliard de pesos à des projets scientifiques de pointe . La polémique continue autour de l’élimination par le Conacyt de 109 fiducies pour la science . Les députés approuvent le blocage des applications qui ne paient pas d'impôts au Mexique . Le Michoacán reconnait la science . Deux exoplanètes découvertes à partir d'un télescope établi au Mexique . Le Mexique annonce la création de l'Agence spatiale latino-américaine . Des universitaires de Chine et du Mexique interrogent les défis sociaux contemporains . UNAM-Royaume-Uni partage des classes virtuelles internationales . Le Conacyt lance un appel à projets pour une transition énergétique

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Octobre 2020

EN DIRECT DES ACTIONS STRUCTURANTES

Le Cemca lance un diplôme international avec l’Université Métropole Autonome au Mexique et l’Ecole Urbaine de Lyon

Ces dernières années, la réflexion sur les enjeux environnementaux et la relation entre humanité-société-nature a été associée au concept d' « Anthropocène » : l'empreinte humaine sur la planète est devenue si importante qu'elle a conduit à la définition d'une nouvelle ère géologique. L'émergence du concept rend visibles divers débats au sein de la communauté scientifique. Par ailleurs, la nature vertigineuse des changements induits entraine des incertitudes sur l'avenir de l'espèce humaine et de la planète.

Pour explorer ces questions, l'Université Métropolitaine Autonome-Lerma, le Centre d'études mexicaines et centraméricaines (CEMCA) et l'Ecole Urbaine de Lyon présentent le Diplôme International d'Anthropocène Urbain (DiAU). Son objectif est de faire connaître la proposition théorique de l'Anthropocène pour générer des stratégies de transformation sociale basées sur les besoins locaux et actuels d'un territoire défini. Compte tenu de l'ancrage territorial de l'Unité Lerma de l’UAM, des travaux seront menés sur ce territoire à titre d'exemple concret et pratique, avec une approche interdisciplinaire, utilisant les systèmes agroalimentaires comme axe thématique. La thématisation de DiAU 2020 sur les systèmes agroalimentaires interroge une pratique commune : l'alimentation, un besoin fondamental reliant l’homme aux écosystèmes au quotidien.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y3vxvlsm

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Octobre 2020

Partenariat de près de 3 M CAD entre l'Université de Sherbrooke et Stace

Une équipe de recherche de l’Institut interdisciplinaire d’innovation technologique (3IT) et du Laboratoire Nanotechnologies et Nanosystèmes (LN2) de l'Université de Sherbrooke bénéficient d’un montant total de près de 3 M CAD du partenaire industriel STACE pour développer ces cellules photovoltaïques à concentration (CPV), dans le cadre de ce projet intitulé Materials and Architectures of Solar cells for CPV (MARS CPV).

Stace est une entreprise, cheffe de file québécoise dans la fourniture de panneaux solaires. Ayant déjà contribué à l’implantation du parc solaire de l’Université de Sherbrooke, Stace fait appel à l’expertise et aux connaissances des membres du 3IT et du LN2 afin d’innover dans ce domaine d’avenir.

Le Laboratoire Nanotechnologies et Nanosystèmes (LN2) est une structure soutenue par le CNRS (IRL – International Research Laboratory), entre la France et le Canada. Créé en 2012, le LN2 regroupe du personnel du CNRS, en partenariat avec l’Université de Lyon et l’Université Grenoble-Alpes, ainsi que de l’Université de Sherbrooke qui est l'établissement d'accueil au Canada.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y5wdgkms ; https://tinyurl.com/yxrju4cc ; https://tinyurl.com/yxbkuv2a

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Octobre 2020

Joint Montpellier-Stanford Lab announces the 2.0 release of the AgroPortal vocabulary and ontology repository

The CNRS partnership with University of Montpellier and Stanford University, directed by PHILIPPE POIGNET (FR), OUSSAMAN KHATIB and MARK MUSEN (US) has announced on October 28th the 2.0 release of the AgroPortal vocabulary ontology repository. This partnership started in 2005 and focuses on semantic web, as well as surgical and underwater robotics. This technical development has been allowed by thorough collaborations between INS2I (the CNRS Institute of Information Sciences and their Interactions), Stanford University and INRAE. INRAE has been especially involved since CLEMENT JONQUET, associate Professor at the Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics of Montpellier, is temporarily working in the research department “Mathematics and Applied Informatics from Genome to Environment”.

From a technical perspective:  AgroPortal is now based on OntoPortal 3.0. The OntoPortal Alliance is the community effort of organizations reusing the original NCBO BioPortal software.  AgroPortal specific features (mappings, metadata model and visualization, cf. previous notes, etc.) have been merged in OntoPortal 3.0 code in LIRMM’s own branches.

This release includes significantly changed user interfaces, more responsive and user friendly. We also fixed the BioMixer plugin and the graph visualization tabs are now working when browsing a class. AgroPortal Annotator now includes the latest version of the FastContext algorithm used to contextualize textual annotation. This feature has been mainly developed for biomedicine, but could be relevant for other contexts too. Acknowledgments: AgroPortal is currently being developed within French ANR D2KAB project (ANR-18-CE23-0017). It also receives or received support from ANR SIFR project (ANR-12-JS02-0010), European Union H2020-MSCA SIFRm project (No 701771), the NUMEV Labex (ANR-10-LABX-0020), the IBC of Montpellier project (ANR-11-BINF0002), the Agro Labex (ANR-10-LABX-0001) as well as from University of Montpellier, CNRS and INRAE.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y5mxhvxt

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Octobre 2020

Scientific and academic cooperation with United States: University of Florida and INRAE sign their first partnership agreement

This early fall, PHILIPPE MAUGUIN, CEO of INRAE, and LISA C. STROUD, Research Administrator and Director of Programs on behalf of University of Florida (UF), signed a partnership agreement between the two institutions. This commitment reinforces the cooperation between INRAE and the Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (IFAS) of UF. Acknowledging the importance of mutual collaboration and of social contributions from these higher education institutions, this master agreement intends to promote academic and research exchanges between the two signatories, based on common interest themes.

Ranked in third position among INRAE American partners for the 2016-2018 period, UF attracts 55 000 students in Gainesville, among which one third are international. The fields of agriculture, food, and natural resources come second after health on campus. UF’s internal institute IFAS deals with topics such as agriculture, food and the environment, which are shared by INRAE. In 2017, UF published about 1,460 peer-reviewed articles on these themes. For the past twenty years, the University has been ranked as a top institution in the USA, in terms of research and development expenses dedicated to the agricultural sector.

Successful collaborations already exist between INRAE and IFAS researchers, including in modeling of climate change impacts on crops. Initiated after the visit of JEAN-FRANÇOIS SOUSSANA, VP of INRAE in charge of the international policy, in January 2020, which also celebrated the 75 years of UF, this agreement will generate new cornerstone projects, in this field as well as in agroecology, livestock, animal health and nutrition.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yywfc2ax

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Octobre 2020

from a mouse, which was engineered to have a TATS NIS E -U human immune system, that had the spike protein injected into it. Trump tests positive for the Coronavirus En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6qkysqt

Remdesivir and interferon fall flat in WHO’s megastudy of COVID-19 treatments

One of the world’s biggest trials of COVID-19 therapies released its long-awaited interim results yesterday—and they’re a letdown. None of the four treatments in the Solidarity trial, which enrolled On 2 October, the White House announced more than 11,000 patients in 400 hospitals around PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP received an experimental the globe, increased survival—not even the much- antibody treatment after a test revealed he was touted antiviral drug remdesivir. Scientists at the infected with SARS-CoV-2. At the time, he World Health Organization (WHO) released the data reportedly had mild COVID-19 symptoms, including as a preprint on medRxiv, ahead of its planned fever and congestion, and he was transferred to publication in The New England Journal of Medicine. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The prospects of the malaria drug Later, the president’s medical team confirmed he hydroxychloroquine and the HIV drug combination had started a course of remdesivir, an antiviral drug ritonavir/lopinavir had faded after another large shown to modestly help hospitalized COVID-19 study, the United Kingdom’s Recovery trial, showed patients. Two days later, on 4 October, the team they did not increase survival in June. After revealed Trump had been given a steroid normally analyzing that reserved for severe COVID-19 cases, although his study and its own physician offered optimism about a quick recovery. data up until then, He was discharged from Walter Reed on 5 October. WHO decided to The antibodies treatment he received is a drop both from the combination of two antibodies produced by study. Regeneron and directed against a key protein of the There was still hope for remdesivir and for virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2. They bind interferon-beta, which had initially been given in to a region on the main surface spike protein that combination with ritonavir/lopinavir but was tested helps the virus attach to a receptor on human cells as a standalone drug after the Recovery data came called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. The out. But neither of those treatments lowered targeted region is dubbed the receptor binding mortality or delayed the moment patients needed domain. One antibody comes from a human who ventilation to help them breathe. The results in had recovered from a SARS-CoV-2 infection; a B cell these two treatment arms are likely to be the most that makes the antibody was harvested from the scrutinized. person’s blood and the genes for the immune En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6fnpx5u protein isolated and copied. The other antibody is

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Octobre 2020

FDA approves first treatment for COVID-19 The hearing, live-streamed on YouTube, drew intense interest, and some of the committee members—a mix of academics, consumer On 22 October, the U.S. Food and Drug representatives, and government scientists—had Administration approved the antiviral drug Veklury an unsettling but clear message to FDA: Hold your (remdesivir) for use in adult and pediatric patients horses. 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds) for the treatment of Several VRBPAC members worried an EUA could COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. Veklury should contribute to the public’s growing hesitancy toward only be administered in a hospital or in a healthcare COVID-19 vaccines by fueling the perception that setting capable of providing acute care comparable FDA was compromising its famously high standards. to inpatient hospital care. Veklury is the first Earlier in October, in a 3-hour symposium, was also treatment for COVID-19 to receive FDA approval. organized by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School This approval does not include the entire population of Public Health and the University of Washington, that had been authorized to use Veklury under an about “preserving the scientific integrity of getting Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) originally to COVID-19 vaccines”. “Despite a lot of the political issued on May 1, 2020. In order to ensure continued noise, the science is going well,” said FRANCIS access to the pediatric population previously COLLINS, director of the National Institutes of Health covered under the EUA, the FDA revised the EUA for (NIH). “I know there’s a great deal of anxiety about Veklury to authorize the drug’s use for treatment of mischief here. It would be pretty darn hard for suspected or laboratory confirmed COVID-19 in mischief to derail this process. And I hope hospitalized pediatric patients weighing 3.5 kg to everybody can start to get calmed down about less than 40 kg or hospitalized pediatric patients less that.”. than 12 years of age weighing at least 3.5 kg. Clinical En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yylg5nt9 ; trials assessing the safety and efficacy of Veklury in https://tinyurl.com/y6m3acyz this pediatric patient population are ongoing. En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yxfupg3f Saying human trials aren’t enough, researchers call for comparison of COVID- Covid-19 Vaccine research mischief concerns 19 vaccines in monkeys

As new U.S. cases of the pandemic coronavirus set Primate researchers a daily high of more than 75 000, FDA’s Vaccines and in the United States Related Biological Products Advisory Committee have banded together (VRBPAC) held a 9-hour virtual meeting to discuss a in a push for an regulatory pathway that could permit the widescale ambitious monkey use of a COVID-19 vaccine that has only minimal study that would do head-to-head comparisons of evidence of safety and efficacy. A so-called the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Although emergency use authorization (EUA) could use 10 candidates are already undergoing large-scale preliminary data from vaccine efficacy trials now tests in people, proponents of the monkey plan say underway to shave many months off the standard those clinical trials may not deliver the approval process, and FDA wanted VRBPAC to comprehensive data needed to choose the safest weigh in about the wisdom of taking this shortcut. and most effective vaccines. The comparison trial in 9

Octobre 2020 monkeys, in contrast, could shed light in a matter of their odds of spotting a signal. That added weeks on how the candidates stack up on measures complexity, cost, and time, and put a strain on including potential side effects, the strength of scarce chemical reagents. immune responses they trigger, and how well they Now, researchers led by JENNIFER DOUDNA, who won protect against infection and disease. a share of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for The proposed monkey vaccine comparison faces her co-discovery of CRISPR, report creating a novel hurdles: It would add to the pressure on the CRISPR diagnostic that doesn’t amplify coronavirus dwindling U.S. supply of research monkeys, RNA. Instead, DOUDNA and her colleagues spent potentially delaying research on other diseases, and months testing hundreds of guide RNAs to find it does not yet have funding. The effort would cost multiple guides that work in tandem to increase the an estimated $10M, compared with the $10B the sensitivity of the test. TRUMP administration’s Operation Warp Speed has En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y5q5n2qh already devoted to a COVID-19 vaccine push.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y64xxc6c Amid pandemic, U.S. faculty job openings plummet New test detects coronavirus in just 5 minutes The scarcity of academic jobs is a perennial problem for U.S. science trainees. But this year, across STEM disciplines, faculty job openings at U.S. institutions are down 70% compared with last year, according to an analysis of job advertisements on the Science Careers job board. (The Science Careers news team operates independently from the job board.) Only 173 U.S.-based jobs were posted between July and September this year, compared with 571 during the same period last year. Non-U.S. job postings CRISPR tests work by identifying a sequence of dropped by 8%. RNA—about 20 RNA bases long—that is unique to SARS-CoV-2. They do so by creating a “guide” RNA En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y36zp7wd that is complementary to the target RNA sequence and, thus, will bind to it in solution. When the guide Trump presidency legacy on science binds to its target, the CRISPR tool’s Cas13 “scissors” enzyme turns on and cuts apart any nearby single- stranded RNA. These cuts release a separately As he seeks re-election on 3 November, TRUMP’S introduced fluorescent particle in the test solution. actions in the face of COVID-19 are just one example When the sample is then hit with a burst of laser of the damage he has inflicted on science and its light, the released fluorescent particles light up, institutions over the past four years, with signaling the presence of the virus. repercussions for lives and livelihoods. The president and his appointees have also back- These initial CRISPR tests, however, required pedalled on efforts to curb greenhouse-gas researchers to first amplify any potential viral RNA emissions, weakened rules limiting pollution and before running it through the diagnostic to increase diminished the role of science at the US 10

Octobre 2020

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Across small victories for the research community. many agencies, his administration has undermined But 2 years later, in the runup to the November scientific integrity by suppressing or distorting election, those cheers have been replaced by evidence to support political decisions, say policy private handwringing. Observers say there is scant experts. evidence that DROEGEMEIER, who also holds the unofficial title of the president’s science adviser, has tried to mitigate any of the administration’s most controversial policies relating to science and innovation. The list includes its chaotic approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, rolling back a slew of environmental regulations, restricting immigration, and proposing deep cuts in the budgets of most federal research agencies. Although many U.S. scientists share negative “I’ve never seen such an orchestrated war on the sentiments, other aspects of the administration’s environment or science,” says CHRISTINE TODD overall record elicit a more positive response. Ask Whitman, who headed the EPA under former researchers how federal funding for their fields has Republican president GEORGE W. BUSH. fared since Trump took office in January 2017, and TRUMP has also eroded America’s position on the they might acknowledge sustained support and global stage through isolationist policies and even mention new opportunities in some areas. rhetoric. By closing the nation’s doors to many Inquire about what they think of the appointees visitors and non-European immigrants, he has made leading the federal agencies that fund their work, the United States less inviting to foreign students and they will offer some good—even glowing— and researchers. And by demonizing international reviews. Those seemingly contradictory responses associations such as the World Health Organization, reflect the complexity of an $80-billion-a-year Trump has weakened America’s ability to respond system that remains the envy of the world. Any to global crises and isolated the country’s science. president trying to alter that behemoth has three For most U.S. levers to press—policies, budget requests, and researchers, leadership appointments. PRESIDENT DONALD En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y469vgdp ; TRUMP’S decision to https://tinyurl.com/y4ad9eqs ; wait 18 months https://tinyurl.com/yxsq4l7z ; before nominating https://tinyurl.com/y3mnlm85 meteorologist KELVIN DROEGEMEIER to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

(OSTP) confirmed their belief that his administration had little regard for the value of science in setting policy. But they applauded the July 2018 selection of a career academic and university administrator, and they hoped DROEGEMEIER’S genial manner and reputation as a team player might produce some 11

Octobre 2020

What a Joe Biden presidency could mean for and racial injustice.) BIDEN says the United science policy States will rejoin the Paris climate accord on his first day in office and he will issue

executive orders to strengthen climate protections. Achieving that ambitious agenda will likely require that Democrats control the U.S. Senate. - Change course on foreign policy. Biden’s foreign-policy and immigration plans could mend some frayed ties, but science-policy experts warn that the road to recovery will be longer than a single four-year If former VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN wins the presidential term. Biden has pledged to presidential election, he will face high expectations reverse the travel bans and to make it from the U.S. scientific community. Its members will easier for foreign scientists and engineers be counting on him to bring science and leadership who graduate with PhDs to permanently to the fight against COVID-19 while reversing a host stay in the United States. He has also of moves by PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP that many proposed to increase the number of visas researchers regard as disastrous. A PRESIDENT BIDEN available to highly skilled workers, will have vast authority to move quickly to undo including scientists. many TRUMP policies. But he could be hampered by Another tough challenge will be forces beyond his control, including which party establishing the rules for U.S. research controls the Senate, the ideological complexion of collaborations with China. Under Trump, the courts, and—when it comes to fighting COVID- law enforcement agencies, the National 19—the progress of science itself. Here’s a look at Institutes of Health (NIH), and other some science-related actions BIDEN will likely agencies have stepped up investigations of pursue: scientists who failed to disclose funding ties to foreign institutions, leading to - Tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. BIDEN has criminal, civil, and administrative made confronting the pandemic the punishments. Critics say the effort has centerpiece of his presidential campaign. been racially tinged and has also hindered The most dramatic immediate shift is likely to be in the tone and consistency of efforts to recruit foreign-born talent. They messaging coming from the Oval Office hope Biden will ease the scrutiny. But and federal health agencies. Yet getting Biden has traditionally been a defense new agency leaders confirmed by the hawk, and China’s harsh treatment of Senate could take months, observers say, Uighurs and other religious minorities may and repairing the damage done to the limit moves to ease tensions. credibility of those agencies could be slow. As well as tackling the pandemic and climate - Confront climate change. BIDEN advisers say change, a PRESIDENT BIDEN would have the climate change is one of “the four crises” opportunity to develop other science priorities for he will put a priority on addressing. (The his administration. This process typically includes others are the pandemic, the economy, tapping experts to coordinate science policy and 12

Octobre 2020 establishing research focuses for the White House. additional $5.5B in bonds. These advisers will be crucial because although - Bringing wolves back to Colorado. Gray BIDEN and HARRIS generally support science and its wolves once existed in two-thirds of the role in crafting public policy, neither has worked continental United States, dominating extensively on science issues. mountain ranges and roaming the Great Beyond medical research [especially cancer Plains. But by the 1940s, trappers and research], BIDEN’S broad science priorities remain a hunters had driven wolves to near bit of a mystery. Despite having nearly five decades extinction. In Colorado, Proposition 114 in public service, when it comes to research policy, aims to reintroduce gray wolves to parts of “Biden fundamentally is a blank page,” says MICHAEL the state. The initiative is spearheaded by LUBELL, a physicist and science-policy expert at the the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund, an City College of New York. “He’s certainly not anti- advocacy group. science; it’s just not a priority.” - Legalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms in Oregon. The clinical use of edible fungi that En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yxffvwcv ; contain psilocybin, which causes people to https://tinyurl.com/yxp2d8vp experience euphoria and hallucinations,

could soon be legalized for the first time in Stem cell research, clinical use of ‘magic the United States. Voters in Oregon will be mushrooms’ among issues on state ballots considering Measure 109, the Psilocybin this year Mushroom Services Program Initiative. If passed, it would make Oregon the first

Election Day is 3 November, but U.S. voters have state to allow the use of so-called magic already started to mail in or drop off their ballots. In mushrooms in clinical research settings. addition to selecting candidates for local, state, and - Advancing renewable energy in Nevada. federal positions, voters in many states will be Nevada could soon require a doubling of weighing in on more than 100 initiatives and renewable energy use by the state’s referenda. The measures often deal with mundane electric utility companies. The state financial matters. There are also a few science- already has a constitutional mandate that related initiatives that the research community is 25% of electricity be sourced from watching. Here are examples from four states: renewables by 2025. But if voters approve California, Colorado, Oregon, and Nevada. Question 6, the Renewable Energy Standards Initiative, utilities would have to - Renewing stem cell research funding in increase that to 50% by 2030. California. In 2004, Californians voted in favor of Proposition 71, which established En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y3hoeloy the California Institute for Regenerative

Medicine (CIRM) to conduct work with human embryonic stem cells, and authorized the state to sell $3B in bonds to fund the institute. Now, CIRM’s bond funding has nearly expired, and Proposition 14 aims to renew the flow. It asks voters to approve issuing an

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Octobre 2020

2020 Nobel Prizes distinguish American En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yxespek3 researchers US civil-rights group offers support to The Nobel Prizes most researchers facing China scrutiny years are presented to

recipients in Stockholm and Oslo in December. An Asian American civil-rights group has launched Because of the an effort to support Chinese and Chinese American coronavirus pandemic, the Nobel committee scientists who are facing inquiries from law changed its format. It also announced another enforcement as a result of the United States’ change last month: Each prize will rise to 10 million increased crack-down on foreign interference. The Swedish krona, 1 million more than in the previous organization, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | year. That’s a hike in the prize value of about AAJC in Washington DC, will educate scientists $112,000 in current exchange rates. Here are the about their rights and provide legal resources to 2020 Winners in science: those who receive questions from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Physiology or Medicine: DRS. HARVEY J. ALTER (National Institutes of Health, USA), MICHAEL The effort started to take shape in November 2018, HOUGHTON (University of Alberta, Canada) and when the US Department of Justice announced the CHARLES M. RICE (Rockefeller University, USA) China Initiative. The agency declared that it would received the prize for their discovery of the hepatitis be focusing on Chinese espionage, including in C virus. The Nobel committee said the three universities and laboratories. Scientists and scientists had “made possible blood tests and new lawmakers have raised concerns that the US medicines that have saved millions of lives.” government’s actions are unfairly focused on Chinese scientists, and researchers themselves have Physics: ROGER PENROSE (University of Oxford, United expressed worries about being caught in the Kingdom), REINHARD GENZEL (UC Berkeley, USA; Max dragnet. Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany) and ANDREA GHEZ (UC Los Angeles, USA) En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y3d9rop3 received the prize for their discoveries that have improved understanding of the universe, including A NASA mission is about to capture work on black holes. carbon-rich dust from a former water Chemistry: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly world awarded to EMMANUELLE CHARPENTIER (Max Planck

Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Germany) and On 20 October, JENNIFER A. DOUDNA (UC Berkeley, USA) for their after several years work on the development of Crispr-Cas9, a method of patient study of for genome editing. its enigmatic target, Economic science: PAUL R. MILGROM (Stanford NASA’s $800 million University, USA) and ROBERT B. WILSON (Stanford OSIRIS-REx spacecraft finally stretched out its University, USA) were awarded the Nobel in robotic arm, swooped to the surface of the near- economic science for improvements to auction Earth asteroid Bennu, and collected some dust and theory and inventions of new auction formats.

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Octobre 2020 pebbles. The encounter, 334 million kilometers of charging authors to publish scientific articles so from Earth, lasted about 10 seconds. they are immediately free to all, rolled out an Two days after touching down on asteroid Bennu, alternative model that could herald the end of the NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission team received on author-pays era. One of the new options shifts the Thursday, Oct. 22, images that confirm the cost of publishing open-access (OA) articles in its spacecraft has collected more than enough material two most selective journals to institutions, charging to meet one of its main mission requirements – them a fixed annual fee; any researcher at that acquiring at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of the institution could then publish in the PLOS journals at asteroid’s surface material. no additional charge. The spacecraft captured images of the sample Moreover, in a bid to boost the reach and reuse of collector head as it moved through several different scientific results, a group of scholarly publishers has positions. In reviewing these images, the OSIRIS-REx pledged to make abstracts of research papers free team noticed both that the head appeared to be full to read in a cross-disciplinary repository, launching of asteroid particles, and that some of these the initiative for open abstracts, (I4OA). Publishers particles appeared to be escaping slowly from the involved in I4OA have agreed to submit their article sample collector, called the Touch-And-Go Sample summaries to Crossref, an agency that registers Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. They scholarly papers’ unique digital object identifiers suspect bits of material are passing through small (DOIs). Crossref will make the abstracts available in gaps where a mylar flap – the collector’s “lid” – is a common format. So far, 52 publishers have signed slightly wedged open by larger rocks. up to the initiative, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y53blfju US National Academy of Sciences.

Finally, the Nature family of journals announced on Open Access initiatives blooming in USA 22 October it has become the first group of highly selective scientific titles to sign an arrangement that On October 1st, one will allow researchers to publish articles that are of the world’s immediately free to read. The deal will allow richest biomedical authors at institutions across Germany to publish an research estimated 400 open-access (OA) papers annually in organizations, the Nature journals, which have traditionally earned Howard Hughes revenues exclusively from subscription fees. Medical Institute En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6774cbp ; (HHMI), said that it will require scientists it funds to https://tinyurl.com/y5k72sll ; make papers open access (OA) as soon as they are https://tinyurl.com/yxkuaudy ; published. Its previous policy allowed a delay of up https://tinyurl.com/y6swxfda to one year before results must be free to read. The non-profit organization, based in Chevy Chase,

Maryland, is only the second US funder to insist on immediate open access, after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington. Later that month, PLOS, the nonprofit publisher that in 2003 pioneered the open-access business model 15

Octobre 2020

The Epigenetic Characterization and Foundation (NSF) Growing Convergence program, Observation program, a promising to explore the long-term sustainability and collaborative effort involving the NIH and commercial viability of cell-cultured meat. The DARPA project is led by DAVID BLOCK, UC Davis professor and expert in fermentation technologies.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The CMC is part of the Biotechnology program, and (DARPA), through its Biological Technologies Office gathers faculty, administrators, senior trainees to (BTO), seeks to better understand how exposure to support research in cultivated meat and related harmful agents and infectious diseases can affect technologies. To develop solutions for large-scale the human epigenome. commercialization of cost-competitive cultivated meat, the project will partner with industries and ERIC VAN GIESON, Program the Good Food Institute, expanding the scope of Manager at the BTO, and projects through new collaborations in industry and his team developed in academia. The project also looks at the technical 2018 the Epigenetic and economic hurdles of developing a sustainable Characterization and cultivated meat industry. Observation (ECHO) program to evaluate in about thirty minutes the human exposure to harmful En savoir plus : agents. This will be done through a device that can analyze epigenetic fingerprint on the spot. The Wetland Mitigation Banking Program The project has potential to improve disease supports 8 new projects with $5M award surveillance, epidemiology, and environmental health science research. ECHO scientists are also The U.S. working to speed up the identification process of Department of antibiotic resistance for staph infections. Scientists Agriculture (USDA) in the program also are developing signatures for announced it will the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, and 10 attribute $5M to other exposures. As the COVID-19 pandemic eight new wetland started, ECHO researchers focused on COVID-19 as mitigation banking it relates to the military personal. This work has projects in several states, most of them in the been supported by NIH’s Genes, Environment, and Midwest. The Wetland Mitigation Banking Program, Health Branch. funded by the USDA’s Natural Resources En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6s24sy3 Conservation Service, supports mitigation banks from conservation partners to provide farmers with NSF awards a UC Davis-sponsored project to an affordable mitigation option. Wetland mitigation investigate long-term viability of cell-cultured banks work to create, restore or enhance wetlands meat and then generate credits to offset impacts from farmers at other locations. Indeed, if farmers cannot

avoid impacting wetlands on their lands, the USDA The University of California, Davis, (UC Davis), Farm Bill allows them to mitigate their activities off- through its Cultivated Meat Consortium (CMC), has site by purchasing mitigation banking credits. This in been awarded $3.55M from the National Science

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Octobre 2020 turn allows them to maintain eligibility for USDA For the record, CALS has 350 faculty members, 16 programs, and benefits healthy wetlands. academic departments and two schools, Most of these credits remain not affordable to matriculating more than 3,000 undergraduate agricultural producers, yet most USDA programs students and nearly 900 graduate students. The require applicants to comply with wetland college encompasses 22 majors and 40 minors, and conservation provisions, according to the Farm Bill. offers more than 1,500 courses. In 2019 its research Promoting this type of projects should contribute to budget exceeded $254 million. lowering the price of such projects for the farmers En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y3c5bl7d who need them. En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y5srle27 USDA-NIFA invests $45M to address the “citrus greening disease” A new Dean is appointed at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded $45M to 12 research projects to

BENJAMIN HOULTON, combat Huanglongbing (HLB), commonly known as director of the John citrus greening disease. This disease was first Muir Institute of the detected in Florida in 1998, and by 2005 it had Environment and spread to all 32 citrus-producing counties. Since its former professor of discovery in Florida, the industry has lost 60 percent global environmental of acreage with about 80 percent closure of juice studies at the plants and packinghouses. NIFA has launched the University of California, Davis, has been named the Emergency Citrus Disease Research & Extension new Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of (ECDRE) program, which gather national top Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell. He scientists to tackle this problem. This program is succeeds to KATHRYN BOOR for a five-year seen as critical for farmers to use a viable solution appointment effective October 1st. She will become to combat HLB, in order to continue to be able to dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for farm citrus in a financially sustainable way. Among graduate education. the 12 ECDRE grants, UC Davis, UF Florida and USDA-ARS have been awarded. HOULTON’S contribution to research is widely recognized. He worked on ecosystem processes, En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yysln9k2 solutions to ameliorate climate change, and to improve carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles for energy and food production. At the John Muir Institute of the Environment, he launched the One Climate initiative, as well as the Working Lands Innovation Center that connects scientists with farmers, ranchers, Native American tribes, business and government in more than 100 acres of farmland carbon sequestration projects. He said he will approach this with a core of principle values such as diversity, equity and inclusion. 17

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discovery of the Hepatitis C virus. CANADA Among them, MICHAEL HOUGHTON In memoriam : Louis Fortier, pionnier de la is a Canada-based British researcher. recherche en Arctique His discovery with colleagues QUI-LIM Un monument de CHOO and GEORGE KUO in 1989 opened a new field of la recherche sur viral hepatitis research that led to improved blood les changements safety, and hepatitis C treatment to the point where climatiques et the viral infection can now be cured in virtually all l’Arctique s’est patients. New screening tests were developed for éteint. Originaire blood donations as a result of their discovery. By de Québec, Louis Fortier a est décédé à l’âge de 1992, the virus was virtually eliminated from the 66 ans au début du mois d’octobre 2020. blood supply. This, in turn, led to a reduction in L’océanographe de renommée mondiale s’est annual reported transmission by more than 80 per principalement fait connaître en tant que fondateur cent by 1996. et directeur d’ArcticNet, un réseau de centres MICHAEL HOUGHTOn was recruited to the University d’excellence du Canada qui étudie les of Alberta in 2010 as the Canada Excellence transformations de l’Arctique depuis le début des Research Chair in Virology in the Li Ka Shing Institute années 2000. Il a directement contribué à la of Virology. Two years later, he and his team created conversion, en 2003, d’un brise-glace de la Garde hope with the development of a vaccine for the côtière canadienne en navire scientifique à la fine virus that is known to cause cirrhosis, end-stage pointe de la technologie qui sera baptisé liver disease and liver cancer. l’Amundsen, un nom désormais connu à travers MICHAEL HOUGHTON recently began leading an effort tout le pays et synonyme d’excellence en matière de to produce a vaccine for COVID-19. He had also recherche. created a successful vaccine for the SARS-CoV-1 Professeur au Département de biologie de virus in 2004, but it was never needed because SARS l'Université Laval en 1989, Louis Fortier a été disappeared. également un des piliers du laboratoire TAKUVIK, un En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2lgsyme des projets phares soutenus par le CNRS au Canada.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2a2uv3q ; Le premier ministre annonce le https://tinyurl.com/y596rdjp; https://tinyurl.com/y4wz5do8 renouvellement du mandat de la scientifique en chef du Canada

University of Alberta virologist awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Le premier ministre JUSTIN TRUDEAU a annoncé le renouvellement du

mandat de la DRE MONA NEMER en The 2020 Nobel prize in Medicine was jointly tant que conseillère scientifique en awarded to three researchers C. HARVEY ALTER, chef du Canada. Dans le cadre de MICHAEL HOUGHTON and CHARLES RICE for the son rôle, la DRE NEMER continuera 18

Octobre 2020 de mettre en valeur la science et ses avantages pour The program has gained significant momentum over les Canadiens et d’offrir des conseils scientifiques the last 18 months since the superclusters first impartiaux au premier ministre, au ministre de launched their projects, making a national impact l’Innovation, des Sciences et de l’Industrie et au and helping Canada build a strong, global brand. Conseil des ministres. Key results to date as of September 30, 2020 : A cette occasion, le Bureau de la Scientifique en chef • 220+ projects approved, among them nearly 150 a publié le deuxième rapport annuel qui détaille les regular stream projects, with a total investment of activités de la conseillère scientifique en chef pour over 630 M-CAD, and over 70 projects in response la période de 15 mois allant du 1er janvier 2019 au to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a total investment 31 mars 2020. of over 175 M CAD Au cours des derniers mois, elle a également donné • 800 M CAD co-invested, with almost 420 M CAD des conseils au sujet des plus récentes avancées invested by industry scientifiques dans la recherche sur la COVID-19 afin • 630+ project partners, including more than 350 de contribuer à la lutte contre la pandémie small and medium-sized enterprises mondiale. Récemment, elle a également publié un • 6,100 jobs created in 18 months and on track to argumentaire pour mettre en avant le rôle de exceed target of 50,000 jobs created over 10 years l’éducation scientifique dans la lutte contre les (as of August 31). théories de conspiration à propos de la COVID-19. En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y4lqqbjt En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2arl3zn ; https://tinyurl.com/y437k9hc ; https://tinyurl.com/y33hfart Ottawa verse 214 M CAD pour des vaccins candidats contre la COVID-19 fabriqués au Canada’s innovation superclusters have Canada shown themselves to be hotbeds of innovation La société biopharmaceutique Medicago obtiendra la plus grosse part de ce nouvel investissement, avec une somme de 173 M$ destinée à faire progresser son vaccin candidat et à mettre sur pied une installation de production à Québec. Le vaccin développé par cette entreprise en partenariat avec les entreprise GSK et DYNAVAX, actuellement en phase 1, est un produit à base de plantes. Les gènes du SARS-Cov-2 sont intégrés dans les feuilles et les Canada's five superclusters —Digital Technology, cellules des plantes ensuite créent des protéines qui Protein Industries (PIC), Next Generation simulent les virus. Manufacturing (NGen), Scale AI, and Ocean — were Le gouvernement fédéral avait conclu une entente announced in 2018 with 950 M CAD over 5 years to avec Medicago pour obtenir 76 millions de doses de incent large-scale collaboration among industry ce vaccin potentiel, une quantité qui pourrait leaders, SMEs and post-secondary institutions, to permettre de vacciner 38 millions de personnes. develop and scale high-potential technologies in Cette entente porte à 358 millions le nombre de Canada. doses de vaccins actuellement en développement 19

Octobre 2020 que le gouvernement fédéral a réservés dans on emissions reduction in the region of Alberta. TIER l'espoir que l'un d'eux s'avère à la fois efficace et focuses on managing emissions from large sécuritaire. industries like oil sands operations and electricity En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2889av4 ; producers, which account for about 65 percent of https://tinyurl.com/y4tbt77h the region’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Their strategy is to scale Amii’s offerings to various groups of industrials in multiple sectors, including Federal government funds small nuclear agriculture and energy, focusing on emissions reactor ahead of national strategy to adopt reduction thanks to AI. Recruitment for the first more of them cohort of participants has started on September 9, 2020. The selected companies will benefit from An Ontario nuclear power company is getting 20 M various programs: AI Planning, AI Project Lifecycle CAD from Ottawa to try to get its new small modular Support, and ongoing AI Solutions Education. reactor in line with Canada's safety regulations. It is expected that REMI will contribute in the overall The grant to Terrestrial Energy in Oakville, Ont., is emissions from Alberta businesses by enhancing the first investment Canada has made in small their business efficiency and increasing their modular reactors, or SMRs. It comes just weeks knowledge and capabilities, which in turn will before Natural Resources Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN increase their effectiveness in other areas. expects to produce a "road map" to show how the En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6hky24m emerging technology will be used to help get Canada to its climate change goals. Canada has University of British Columbia conservation promised to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by almost one-third in the next 10 years, and then to biologist award the Volvo Environment Prize net-zero by 2050, so any emissions still produced are captured by nature or technology. En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6nxhdtg

Government of Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Parks awards $5 million to enhance emissions reduction efforts in Alberta For the fourth time since its inception in 1990, the Volvo Environment Prize is awarded to a University The Amii Reducing Emissions Through Machine of British Columbia (UBC) researcher, CLAIRE KREMEN, Intelligence (REMI) project has been awarded $5 who is the President’s Excellence Chair in million over 2.5 years, as part of the Government of Biodiversity. She also has a joint appointment with Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Parks TIER the Institute for Resources, Environment and program. This Alberta-based non-profit institute is Sustainability and Zoology at UBC. Before coming to one of the three Canada’s centers of AI excellence. UBC, KREMEN has created the Center for Diversified The central goal of the project is to support Farming Systems and the Berkeley Food Institute at companies to launch novel applications of artificial University of California. intelligence (AI) that will have a measurable impact 20

Octobre 2020

A conservation biologist by training, she works on diversified farming systems and conservation, aiming to assess the impacts of globalized food systems on biodiversity, sustainability and equity. A key focus of Kremen’s research involves shifting from working lands – agriculture, forestry and ranches – to more diverse landscapes to preserve biodiversity. With the Volvo Environment Prize, she will be awarded about 172,500 USD. En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y4gztao3

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au développement durable, économique et social, EXIQUE M pour les deux parties. La réunion était dirigée par DR. MARIA ELENA ÁLVAREZ-BUYLLA ROCES, directrice générale de Conacyt, et MARIA CRISTINA RUSSO, Le meilleur scénario est d'avoir le vaccin directrice de la coopération internationale de la Covid en décembre : Ebrard Direction générale de la recherche et de l'innovation de la Commission européenne; ainsi Face au Covid, le "meilleur scénario est d'avoir le que l'Ambassadeur MAURICIO ESCANERO FIGUEROA, vaccin fin décembre et le pire, en mars", a déclaré le chef de la Mission du Mexique auprès de l'Union secrétaire aux Affaires étrangères, MARCELO EBRARD, européenne et Ambassadeur du Mexique en qui a souligné qu'il y a un gros investissement Belgique, et DR. LAURA ELENA CARRILLO CUBILLAS, mondial dans la préparation du vaccin pour limiter Directrice exécutive d'AMEXCID, entre autres l’impact sanitaire de l'hiver à venir. "Nous devons participants. nous presser pour avoir un vaccin sûr et réduire le En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y22su73w nombre de personnes qui perdent la vie", a-t-il déclaré. Le Conacyt allouera près d'un milliard de Il a également mentionné que le Mexique poursuit pesos à des projets scientifiques de pointe ses développements pour les vaccins AstraZeneca, Pfizer et Cansino. Le 27 octobre, il a précisé que la commande pour le Mexique serait officialisée le jour même dans tous ses termes avec AstraZeneca; et qu’elle le serait avec les deux autres sociétés Le Gouvernement mexicain, par l’intermédiaire du pharmaceutiques, avant le 12 novembre. Dans le Conseil national de la science et de la technologie même temps, il a annoncé que la phase 3 de l'étude (CONACYT), soutient la recherche scientifique de du vaccin Cansino au Mexique débuterait dans la pointe. Il allouera un montant de près d'un milliard première quinzaine du mois de novembre. de pesos (presque 40 millions d’euros), pour le En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y4bckloc financement de 458 projets de recherche de pointe, qui ont été choisis parmi les 3232 propositions Le Mexique renouvelle ses liens de reçues dans l'Appel pour la Science de pointe 2019, coopération scientifique et technologique auquel presque 14 000 chercheur.se.s ont participé. avec l'Union européenne Cette allocation a été annoncée lors d'une conférence de presse par la directrice générale du

Conacyt, DR. MARIA ELENA ÁLVAREZ-BUYLLA ROCES, qui Le mercredi 30 septembre s'est tenue la 10e a précisé que les près d'un milliard de pesos réunion du Comité directeur conjoint Mexique- envisagés pour financer ces projets comprennent Union européenne pour la science et la technologie. un montant antérieur de 470M pesos mexicains (16 Ses résultats incluent le renouvellement, pour une millions d’euros), engagés depuis 2019. Elle a période de cinq ans, de l'Accord de coopération rappelé que, l'année dernière, le Conacyt avait pris scientifique et technologique entre le Mexique et la décision de financer des projets approuvés, mais l'Union européenne. Les objectifs de cet accord sont non financés, par l'ancienne administration. de stimuler les activités de coopération dans des Enfin, elle a déclaré qu’en cumulant les efforts de domaines d'intérêt mutuel et de promouvoir des ces deux dernières années (2019 et 2020), le projets de recherche scientifique et technologique 22

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Conacyt du parti présidentiel allouera environ 2,14B scientifique et même des programmes de maîtrise de pesos (environ 85 millions d’euros) pour et de doctorat. Dans un communiqué cité par El promouvoir la recherche scientifique de pointe. Universal, le Cinvestav affirme que l'argent qui lui Cela aura un impact significatif sur le est alloué est utilisé dans 66 programmes de développement scientifique et technologique du maîtrise et de doctorat, auxquels sont actuellement pays, puisque les projets choisis contribueront à inscrits 3 100 étudiant.e.s. l'avancement des connaissances et agiront en A ce propos, plus de 700 scientifiques et faveur de la souveraineté nationale, ainsi que de universitaires internationaux (notamment de l'indépendance scientifique et technologique du Harvard, du MIT, de Stanford, d'Oxford ou de Mexique. Cambridge) ont signé une lettre demandant que les En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y4ok35uz fiducies ne soient pas supprimées. Dans une lettre ouverte « À la communauté des La polémique continue autour de universitaires et chercheurs », la directrice du l’élimination par le Conacyt de 109 fiducies Conacyt a défendu la mesure, assurant que les fonds destinés à la science seront toujours garantis, pour la science et alloués avec plus de transparence.

En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2wrgx9z ; Avec 64 voix pour et 39 contre, le Sénat a approuvé https://tinyurl.com/yxdfq9kl ; le 20 octobre, l'extinction des 109 trusts. Les 68 400 https://tinyurl.com/yy9oas8o millions de pesos (environ 27 millions d’euros) ainsi récupérés par le gouvernement fédéral lui permettraient de répondre à la pandémie du covid- Les députés approuvent le blocage des 19 au Mexique. La session de plus de 11 heures de applications qui ne paient pas d'impôts au discussions, et aboutissant à l’extinction de ces Mexique fiducies par la Plénière du Sénat permet au projet de loi de passer à l'Exécutif, pour promulgation. La chambre basse du Congrès mexicain a discuté, mi-octobre, le cadre fiscal. Parmi les différentes nouvelles mesures proposées, la proposition sur le blocage des candidatures étrangères et des sites Web ne payant pas de TVA au Mexique a été approuvée. Il s'agit d'une mesure visant à forcer les entreprises de l'économie numérique basées à l'étranger à mettre en place une adresse temporaire au Mexique pour payer la TVA. La mesure avait été rejetée en 2019 pour avoir été La polémique qui entoure cette décision continue jugée disproportionnée, et du fait de la contestation de gonfler dans les milieux scientifiques mexicains. des secteurs technologiques, notamment de En effet, pour l’heure, les fonds éliminés sont l'Association latino-américaine de l'Internet (ALAI). destinés, entre autres, aux centres de recherche Selon l'ALAI, la mesure utilisée de manière publics. Avec eux, des instituts tels que Cinvestav, discrétionnaire pourrait "porter atteinte à la liberté l'Institut de technologie et le réseau ProCiencia Mx d'expression" et même entraver la croissance du réalisent des tâches de recherche et de diffusion commerce électronique. 23

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En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y5cmpxkk aux observations du "Search And CharacterIsatioN of Transiting EXoplanets" (SAINT-EX en anglais), le télescope San Pedro Martir OAN. Le Michoacán reconnait la science Les exoplanètes découvertes orbitent autour de

TOI-1266, une étoile naine rouge vif, et sont de taille L'Institut de Science, Technologie et Innovation très différente: TOI-1266b est gazeuse et plus petite (ICTI) a annoncé les lauréats des Prix de la Science que Neptune, et TOI-1266c est rocheuse et plus du Michoacán, la plus haute distinction décernée petite que la Terre. par l’Etat, reconnaissant les chercheur.se.s contribuant de manière significative à l'avancement En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y6ouwftw des connaissances au Mexique. JOSE LUIS MONTAÑEZ ESPINOSA, directeur général de Le Mexique annonce la création de l'Agence l'ICTI, a souligné que les Prix scientifiques de l'État spatiale latino-américaine 2020 visent à reconnaître la recherche et le développement scientifique, technologique et Le vendredi 9 octobre, le gouvernement mexicain a d'innovation, ainsi que le travail de diffusion de la signé un engagement aux côtés de l'Argentine pour science et de la technologie, en plus des réalisations créer l’Agence spatiale d'Amérique latine et des qui permettent de contribuer au développement de Caraïbes (ALCE), face aux membres de la la société. Les récompenses se sont articulées Communauté des États d'Amérique latine et des autour des thématiques a) science, b) divulgation Caraïbes (Celac). Bien qu'il n'y ait pas encore de date scientifique ; c) travail scientifique intégrant une de commencement, la déclaration signée entre le perspective de genre ; d) technologie ; e) mise en ministre argentin des Affaires étrangères, FELIPE relation (avec la société et le secteur économique) ; SOLA, et le ministre mexicain des Affaires f) innovation. étrangères, MARCELO EBRARD, représente la En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2f9rnn5 première étape pour que la région ait son propre projet spatial. "Nous allons montrer que nous allons Deux exoplanètes découvertes à partir d'un le faire, que nous pouvons avoir notre propre télescope établi au Mexique développement technologique de plus en plus efficace », a déclaré EBRARD.

Deux nouvelles En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yxs3rmrt exoplanètes ont été découvertes avec le télescope Des universitaires de Chine et du Mexique de l'Observatoire interrogent les défis sociaux contemporains astronomique national (OAN) du Mexique, le seul du pays dédié à la recherche et à la caractérisation L'UNAM, le Colegio de México (Colmex) et des planètes en dehors du système solaire, a l'Académie chinoise des sciences sociales (CASS) ont annoncé jeudi 15 octobre l'Université nationale conclu à distance le quatrième séminaire sur les autonome du Mexique (UNAM). relations sino-mexicaines, « Au-delà de la crise de La découverte, publiée dans la revue scientifique Covid- 19: Expériences et défis partagés ». Astronomy and Astrophysics, a été possible grâce

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Pendant trois jours, collaboration à l'étranger lors de la reprise des 33 universitaires et mobilités. autorités des trois En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/y2xtju8g institutions, ainsi que

des diplomates, ont analysé les relations Le Conacyt lance un appel à projets pour une bilatérales entre les deux pays. Les sessions, en transition énergétique anglais, ont été divisées en six panels qui ont couvert des questions telles que les impacts socio- Le 19 octobre, le CONACYT a lancé un appel à économiques de Covid-19 ; la crise sanitaire et les projets pour l'élaboration de propositions détaillées enjeux pour les femmes ; les défis pour le système favorisant la transition énergétique, pour un de santé et la société ; la coopération internationale montant allant jusqu’à 100 000 pesos (4 000 euros). pour le développement et la politique Les propositions approuvées dans le cadre de cet internationale ; ainsi que de nouveaux appel pourront concourir dans un deuxième temps, engagements pour l'enseignement supérieur et la dans un appel qui aura pour objectif de financer les recherche. projets de recherche répondant à l'une des 8 En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yxlwgx4v demandes spécifiques contenues dans les 4 axes thématiques suivants:

- Mobilité durable. UNAM-Royaume-Uni partage des classes - Utilisation efficace et énergie verte pour virtuelles internationales l'industrie. - Systèmes énergétiques ruraux durables. Pour faire face aux défis d'un enseignement virtuel - Élimination de la précarité énergétique et de qualité, le siège de l'UNAM-Royaume-Uni démocratisation de l'énergie. (Centre d'études mexicaines) a conclu des accords innovants avec les universités de Durham, Cardiff et Les projets peuvent être envoyés entre le 26 Manchester Metropolitan, entre autres, visant à octobre et le 20 novembre, avec des résultats partager des salles de classe virtuelles attendus pour le 18 janvier 2021. internationales au cours du semestre 2021-1. En savoir plus : https://tinyurl.com/yy6aysn3 ANA ELENA GONZALEZ TREVIÑO, responsable de cette instance universitaire, a expliqué que les espaces du siège sont idéaux pour ce type d'expérience, car ils répondent aux exigences de neutralité, de protection de la propriété intellectuelle et du droit d'auteur. Les restrictions dérivées de la pandémie ont rendu les établissements d'enseignement supérieur plus flexibles vis-à-vis de l'internationalisation virtuelle. Celle-ci n’a pas vocation à remplacer la mobilité physique. Pour autant, dans le contexte actuel, elle est non seulement viable et efficace, mais fait également office d'incitation aux échanges et à la 25

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Crédits Logos AdN: Atelier Mento

Crédits Photos/illustrations: INRAE - Cemca website - Michel Caron – Université de Sherbrooke – AgroPortal Website Samuel Corum/Getty Images - AP PHOTO/ALTAF – QADRI- WILLIAM SUTTON/ONPRC/OHSU - INA FASSBENDER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES - Señor Salme - STEPHEN VOSS – Wikipedia – NASA – Getty - UC Davis - Karin Higgins/UC Davis Michael Holly - Gouvernement Canada - Richard Amies Conacyt - El Universal – UNAM – NASA

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