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Our world, tomorrow by Viviane Lalande / Scilabus

6 episodes
  • 1
    Lifespan: what can we learn from these animal-champions?
  • 2
    Using virtual reality to boost skills in Olympic boxers
  • 3
    Are electric cars a truly sustainable solution?
  • 4
    Cognition: do we all think in the same way? 
  • 5
    New Space: the changing face of the space industry
  • 6
    Digital avatars of patients lungs

Viviane Lalande, PhD, is a science communicator, educator, columnist, and creator of Scilabus.

Viviane holds an engineering degree in mechanical engineering from the Université de Technologie de Belfort Montbéliard in France, a masters degree in research (Quebec system) in biomedical engineering and a PhD in mechanical engineering specialized in biomechanics from Polytechnique Montréal in Canada.

Since 2010, Viviane is passionate about scientific communication and especially about making seemingly uninteresting subjects compelling. She created the channel "Scilabus", which has now more than 490 000 subscribers.

In 2021, she was awarded the Jean Perrin prize for science communication by the French Physics Society, as well as the UTBM excellence prize in 2022.

Here is her collection of articles, entitled "Our world, tomorrow".

Épisode 1/6
Andrew Steele, PhD in physics from the University of Oxford, Science Writer and Columnist at Polytechnique Insights
On July 12th, 2022
5 min reading time
Andrew Steele
Andrew Steele
PhD in physics from the University of Oxford, Science Writer and Columnist at Polytechnique Insights
Épisode 2/6
On October 4th, 2022
3 min reading time
Franck MULTON
Franck Multon
Inria Research Director at Université de Rennes

Key takeaways

  • The REVEA project aims to use virtual reality (VR) for sports training.
  • With the 2024 Olympics fast approaching, this project will help athletes improve certain “sub-skills” such as speed and motor coordination.
  • To overcome the limitations of a real training session, a VR simulator has been developed based on measurements of athletes' movements in 3D.
  • The project is part of a more general sports programme in which physical, mental, and technical preparation complement the VR sessions.
  • The system is constantly being improved through feedback from coaches and athletes, but also by applying new AI research.
Épisode 3/6
Aurélien Bigo, Research Associate of the Energy and Prosperity Chair at Institut Louis Bachelier
On June 1st, 2022
6 min reading time
Aurélien Bigo
Aurélien Bigo
Research Associate of the Energy and Prosperity Chair at Institut Louis Bachelier

Key takeaways

  • Electric car sales increased significantly in 2020, accounting for 10% of sales over 2021. But they still only represent just over 1% of the current French car fleet.
  • In France, the target for the end of sales of combustion cars is currently set for 2040, while the EU should bring this target forward to 2035.
  • In France, the electric car allows greenhouse gas emissions to be divided by 3 in comparison with a combustion car.
  • Unlike combustion vehicles, electric vehicle emissions are zero when in use, and are instead concentrated on the production of the vehicle and the energy used to produce the electricity.
  • Moreover, the problems of congestion, accidents and noise pollution are also still present.
Épisode 4/6
On September 6th, 2022
4 min reading time
Hélène Lœvenbruck
Hélène Lœvenbruck
CNRS Research Director and Head of the Language team at the Laboratory of Psychology and Neurocognition in Grenoble

Key takeaways

  • Inner speech without auditory or visual sensation represents a challenge to current theories of cognition and language.
  • In 2015, neurologist Adam Zeman and his team introduced the term ‘aphantasia’ to describe a specific lack of mental imagery that some individuals report.
  • There is still no objective test to know whether one has aphantasia or not, but some recent experiments seem promising.
  • At the Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition in Grenoble, a large online study on this topic launched in July 2021 found 200 of the 1,000 participants may have aphantasia.
  • Such fundings suggests that self-awareness is itself constructed in an extremely varied manner, not just by language.
Épisode 5/6
On November 3rd, 2022
5 min reading time

Key takeaways

  • Today, new economic models based on agility and innovation are emerging in the space sector, giving rise to the name “New Space”.
  • For the past twenty years, it has become easier to access space thanks to technological developments such as nanosatellites, modern rockets and so forth.
  • New Space offers a way to exploit all the potential uses of space: “low-carbon” space tourism, data tracking or synchronisation of terrestrial electrical networks.
  • Although New Space developed in the United States, Europe is now trying to regain ground, and France is one of the most motivated countries.
  • Nevertheless, growth in New Space and the satellites is involves has raised concerns about geopolitical tensions and the risk of space collision.
Épisode 6/6
Agnès Vernet, Science journalist
On April 27th, 2022
3 min reading time
Cécile Patte
Cécile Patte
Inria engineer in biomechanics, Jeunes Talents France 2020 prize "For women in science" (L'Oréal-Unesco)

Key takeaways

  • To improve treatments, engineers are seeking ways to adapt medical interventions to suit the specific biomechanics of each patient.
  • In order to avoid invasive testing, the MΞDISIM team develops ways to generate digital models of patients’ organs.
  • Cécile Patte is working on a tool to create digital avatars of the lungs of patients suffering from pulmonary fibrosis – a chronic lung disease and one of the long-term effects of Covid-19.
  • These digital replicas will enable doctors to evaluate personalised treatments non-invasively.

Contributors

Andrew Steele

Andrew Steele

PhD in physics from the University of Oxford, Science Writer and Columnist at Polytechnique Insights

After a PhD in physics from the University of Oxford, Andrew Steele decided that ageing was the single most important scientific challenge of our time, and switched fields to computational biology. After five years using machine learning to investigate DNA and NHS medical records, he is now a full-time writer, author of Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old, presenter and campaigner.

Aurélien Bigo

Aurélien Bigo

Research Associate of the Energy and Prosperity Chair at Institut Louis Bachelier

Aurélien Bigo works on the energy transition in transport. In 2020, he defended his thesis at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris on the subject of "Transport facing the challenge of the energy transition. Explorations between past and future, technology and sobriety, acceleration and slowing down".

His work can be consulted on the following page of the Energy and Prosperity Chair, of which he is a research associate: http://www.chair-energy-prosperity.org/publications/travail-de-these-decarboner-transports-dici-2050/

Agnès Vernet

Agnès Vernet

Science journalist

After her initial studies in molecular biology, Agnès Vernet trained as a science journalist at ESJ-Lille. For the past 14 years, she has been writing for various media, scientific magazines, professional titles and general press, in France and Switzerland. Since 1st February 2021, she is the elected President of the French association of science journalists (AJSPI).