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n° 20 Quarterly January 2011 international magazine The FuTuRe oF Computing Science w Gérard Férey Recipient of the advancing the frontiers CNRS 2010 Gold Medal N°20 I quarterly I jaNuary 2011 Contents | 3 4 I 5 In the News 30 I 31 Innovation cooperation, Bio-refineries of the Editorial Conclusion of the 2010 Eliminating toxic waste, Home future, Democracy in question, International Year of Biodiversity, pollutant detectors, LLTech’s Book reviews. France a clean-tech leader, innovative imaging technology. CNRS tops ERC grants, Ernst Jung 42 CNRS Facts and Gold Medal, Maurice Allais 32 I 34 In Images Figures POLYTECHNIQUE (1911-2010), Chikungunya’s viral Unearthing Anatolia’s ancient Latest data on the largest COLE / É structure. civilization. fundamental scientific institution in Europe. ERNER 18 I 19 Profile 36 I 41 CNRS Networks © B. W Gérard Férey, CNRS 2010 Gold Israel country profile, DERCI: a 43 Snapshot BY phIlIppe baptIste, Medal recipient. new office for international Plankton up close. sCIeNtIFIC DIreCtOr OF the CNrs INstItute FOr COMputer sCIeNCes (INs2I) 6 I 17 Live from the Labs Recent advances in computer and Driverless electric cars, Evapotranspiration, information sciences have triggered a revolution whose spectacular develop- The mathematical properties of Actin, Better ments have radically transformed our /CEA antidepressants, Asteroid collision, Surface daily lives. Today, CNRS faces new plasmons, Oceans of magma, Cutting-edge EYMANN challenges in digital technology, cancer treatments, The world’s first insects. © A.-C. R A.-C. © especially in the health and environmen- QUE tal protection sectors. è By founding the Institute for 35 Insights Computer Sciences (INS2I),1 our national research center has strengthened its Geneticist Jean Weissenbach /CNRS PHOTOTH position in this highly competitive area. discusses recent progress With the primary goal of pushing the on “artificial life.” ÉBÉDINSKY boundaries of computer science and © C. L information technology, the INS2I is also actively involved in research at the interface of software and hardware, like automatic control, signals, imaging, robotics, and systems-on-chip. This interdisciplinarity, which makes new tools and concepts available in all disciplines, is at the heart of CNRS’s agenda. What's more, CNRS welcomes all current and future debates raised by such novel scientific and social practices. Through the INS2I, CNRS intends to pursue a policy of excellence for the benefit of the scientific community, while encouraging knowledge transfer and CONSORTIA LFI enhancement through partnerships with ET industry. It also intends to develop inter- HFI , national collaborations through new ESA ; QUE international joint laboratories like the è Japanese-French Laboratory for Informatics (JFLI), created in 2009 in 2 Tokyo. Similar structures are being /CNRS PHOTOTH developed with Argentina and Canada, both in areas related to the foundations FRÉSILLON of computer science. They should be © C. operational by 2011. 20 I 29 Focus 01. Institut des sciences informatiques et de leurs interactions. 02. With the University of Tokyo, Keio University, and The Future of Computing Science the National Institute of Informatics (NII) of Japan. 21 I The Digital Revolution 25 I Navigating the Datasphere 28 I Quantum Computers: the Ultimate Challenge w 4 | In the News cnrs I InternatIonal magazIne 2010 InternationalYearofBiodiversity A Positive Outlook areas should be raised to 10%. All parties agreed to intensify their efforts to back up this biodiversity protection plan through new financial mechanisms. France is highly committed to the fight for biodiversity preservation. As a first step, the French government has promised to double public funds allocated to the development of biodi- versity by 2012. This will be followed by a regular increase to reach the global target of €500 million per year by 2014. A second encouraging factor came on December 21 from the United Nations’ 65th General Assembly (UNGA). Following up on Nagoya’s conference agreement, the UNGA 2010 N adopted a resolution for the creation of Pa Ja the Intergovernmental Platform on COP10 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services © q the coP 10 was (IPBES). Its mission is to provide held in nagoya ood news finally came on The signatory countries agreed to governments with scientific expertise and (Japan) on october October 29, the last day of the implement a strategy whose main goals knowledge assessment to help them make 18-29, 2010. Ginternational Conference of the will be to increase protection of existing the right decisions in terms of environ- Parties to the Convention on Biological natural environments. For example, land- mental and biodiversity protection. Diversity (COP 10) held in Nagoya based protected areas and national parks Such important measures taken at (Japan). The 193 participating nations should be extended from 12.5% of the the close of the International Year of agreed to a treaty that lays down basic Earth’s surface to 17% by 2020. Similarly, Biodiversity bode well for the 2011 rules on how nations should access ge- the global percentage of protected marine International Year of Forests. netic resources from plants, animals, and fungi, and how benefits linked to their use should be shared. The Nagoya commit- ments should ensure the fair and equitable sharing of biological resources between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Innovation w Almost 80% of all innovation in clean energy technology, including solar photovoltaics, technologies results from patents filed by six wind power, biofuels, or carbon sequestration. countries, including France. This was revealed Japan tops the ranking, followed by the US, by an international study1 based on the Germany, South Korea, France, and the UK. examination of some 400,000 patent 1.ConductedbytheEuropeanPatentOffice(EPO),theUnitedNationsEnvironment Programme(UNEP),andtheInternationalCentreforTradeandSustainable documents in the field of clean energy Development(ICTSD). N°20I quarterly I JaNuary 2011 In the News | 5 RoP Erc starting grants: © CNRS Photothèque/o cnrs, European Leader once again w The European Research Council’s third Starting Grant competition for young researchers has approved 427 proposals. Among the 72 projects based in France, 55 origi- nate from CNRS or associated laboratories, making the French research organization first singlee RC grant recipient once again. Physical sciences and engineering account for 32 grants, followed by humanities and social sciences (10), and life sciences (13). the competition subsidizes innovative projects by researchers who have completed their PhDs within the past 2 to 12 years and who need funding to set up or consolidate a research team. the budget for this year’s Starting Grants exceeds €580 million, which represents a 40% increase over last year’s. A total of 2873 applications from candidates of 39 nationalities were registered, up by 14%. With 72 selected projects out of CNRS Bids 269 applications, France ranks second behind the uK (79 projects) and ahead of Germany (66 projects). Farewell to ernst Jung Gold Medal Maurice Allais w Maurice Allais, laureate of the 1978 CNRS Gold w Michel Lazdunski was awarded the Ernst Jung Medal for Medal and 1988 Nobel Prize in Economics, passed Medicine in Gold 2011 for his lifetime achievement in medical away on October 9, 2010. Born in Paris in 1911, he science. Professor at the Medical School of the university of Nice- graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1933. Sophia Antipolis in southern France, and director of the iPMC1 Deeply concerned by the Great Depression of the institute in Sophia Antipolis, lazdunski is a world-renowned expert 1930s and its disastrous social consequences, he on ion channels. lazdunski and his team have made internationally- studied economics in the hope of finding recognized contributions to both basic and applied research in solutions to the major challenges of his time. His pharmacology (antihypertensives, antidiabetics, and inhalational work, in particular on capital theory, the optimal anesthetics) and pathology (pain perception, cardiac arrhythmia, allocation of resources and the “overlapping and cerebral ischemia). his work was rewarded with a CNRS Silver Medal in 1976, and with generations” model, which he introduced in 1947, the CNRS Gold Medal in 2000. has had a lasting influence in macroeconomics. the ernst Jung Foundation, funded by hamburg merchant ernst Jung in 1967, launched Self-declared as a “free-market socialist,” Allais the ernst Jung Prize in Medicine in 1976 and thee rnst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine rewarding often voiced his opinion on French national PMC i A/ lifetime achievements in 1990. the award ceremony will be held inh amburg on May 6, 2011. politics. He was a senior researcher at CNRS from uil 01. institut de pharmacologie moléculaire et cellulaire (CNRS /u niversité de Nice Sophia Antipolis). 1946 until his retirement in 1980. © F. AG cnrs makes the headlines i Snapshots of Viral Infection w The Chikungunya virus is a mosquito-borne while an American team has uncovered the crystal alphavirus which has caused widespread structure of surface glycoproteins at acidic ph of the outbreaks in the last five years.t he virus has glyco- Sindbis virus,2 another alphavirus pathogen that can protein spikes on its surface that are formed and cause fever in humans. both reports made the cover maintained at neutral ph. in the acidic conditions of Nature last December. Comparison of the two encountered in target