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Sciences

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Eco-neighbourhoods are experiments in how to live together but do they represent the future for our cities?

Ecotopia

Cities of the Future

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Medicine and health

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Science can be much easier to understand than you might think.

Eureka!

Lithium is crucial for use in batteries, and as Europe tried to go green and switch to electric cars, demand for this white gold is skyrocketing. The EU imports most of its lithium, but its demand keeps increasing. Mining companies are tempted by the possibility of finding and exploiting reserves right here in Europe. But that would mean sacificing small rural  communities, for 'the greater good'.

ARTE Reportage

Rural mountains in Portugal have vital reserves of lithium. But villagers vow they'll stop any development

The Dirty Truth Behind Green Cars

Saype is a graffiti artist with a difference. He doesn't spray his works on walls but in fields and on grass, using his own biodegradable paint. His huge works of art are best appreciated by drone, where the true scale is revealed. 

Gymnastics

Saype, Green-Fingered Graffitti Artist

Built in 1972, under the military dictatorship, the BR-163 road that crosses Brazil from north to south is both an artery essential to the economic development of the country and a path that threatens to destroy the rainforest.

Brazil: The BR-163 Corridor

For hundreds of years, local farmers have been growing tomatoes on the lake's surface, on well-kept floating gardens nourished by the river mud. The locals live life to the rhythm set by the harvests. But modern pesticides and fertilisers are killing the lake, and killing the locals. But they continue to use the chemicals out of necessity. It's a lethal catch 22.

Myanmar: The Dying Lake

Many think that the European Union is not doing enough about green issues. But the EU is beginning to implement concrete measures to counter-act climate change.

Euromyth No 11

Europe is Letting Our Planet Die

An eco-district isn't just imposed on residents from the top down: it's a community project, and often, future residents are involved in making major decisions. The eco-villages of des Noés (Val-de-Reuil, France), Clichy-Batignolles (Paris, France), and the Vergers (Meyrin, Switzerland) describe how it's done.

Building a Life Together

Environment

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In 10 years, Jean-Patrice Keka and his team have succeeded in getting five rockets off the ground with varying degrees of success. This 'Made in Africa' space programme is one-of-a-kind and proof of what can be achieved by one engineer with a bold dream: to become the first African in space.

DR Congo's Space Man

DR Congo's 'Made in Africa' space programme is proof of what can be achieved by one engineer with a bold dream

We will be able to upgrade our brains with a microchip, blurring the boundaries between man and machine in a way that we've never seen before. But what will happen to us when our computers become smarter than we are? Helen Fares is on a mission to test the limits of the human brain.

Homo Digitalis

The Upgraded Brain

How can we attract plants and animals onto eco-housing communities built on brownfield sites?

Reinventing Nature

Will human relationships become obsolete in the future, to be replaced by artificial intelligence and virtual reality? Today, researchers can simulate the presence of a loved one. In this episode, Helen Fares finds herself faced with the hologram of her best friend Josy, and explores the nature of friendship in the digital age.

The Perfect Friend

Does living in a digitised world divert sexual pleasure away from other people and towards the screen? A recent study confirms the trend in both Japan and Europe. Since the advent of the smartphone, the amount of sex couples have has decreased. At the same time, sex robots are now a reality. Helen Fares meets one of these lovers of the future.

The Digital Orgasm

Technology and innovation

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The planet's jet streams are being affected by rising temperatures in the Arctic. These streams are part of a wind system that circulates at high altitude around the Earth, and they have an influence on extreme weather events. Changes in them are bad news for life on Earth.

How Climate Change Makes Storms Worse

Changing jet streams are bad news for life on Earth

Winds of Change

Chat forums are full of tales of miraculous healing thanks to the medicinal properties of cannabis. But there's little hard scientific evidence to back those claims up. In Germany, since 2017, cannabis has been available with a doctor's prescription. Many medical professionals have criticised the widespread use of cannabis as a massive experiment on the most vulnerable. Meanwhile in France, legislation remains strict, while in Israel, medicinal cannabis has been used for decades.

A Controversial Plant

Chat forums are full of tales of miraculous healing thanks to the medicinal properties of cannabis

Medical Marijuana

The universe is big. So big, that surely 'Earthlings' can't possibly be the only form of intelligent life. What then is the probability that extraterrestrials exist? What could they look like? Finally, wouldn't their existence force us to rethink our place in the cosmos?

Are We Alone in the Universe?

The universe is big. So big, that surely 'Earthlings' can't possibly be the only form of intelligent life

42: The Answer to Almost Everything

Millions of people worldwide suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), an extreme and persistent exhaustion for which there is no cure. An investigation into a little known illness focusing on the experiences of three individuals suffering from CFS: Ralf, Sonja and Aileen.

ME/CFS – A Misunderstood Illness

 An investigation into little understood illness focusing on the experiences of three individuals suffering from CFS: Ralf, Sonja and Aileen.

Living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Drugs have a bad press. But scientists have long been convinced that the use of psychedelics can sometimes be beneficial. The use of ecstasy, LSD and other hallucinogens could soon be authorised for therapeutic purposes. Should we change our relationship to certain drugs?

Are We Doing More Drugs?

Scientists have long been convinced that the use of psychedelics can sometimes be beneficial.

Does living in a digitised world divert sexual pleasures away from other people and towards the screen?

Helen Fares is on a mission to test the limits of the human brain

Parasites get a bad rap: they can make us sick or even kill us. For centuries, we have been trying to protect ourselves against them, in particular through hygiene measures. Yet half of the living beings on Earth are parasites. If they are really everywhere, maybe they are not fundamentally useless?

The Purpose of Parasites

Parasites get a bad rap: they can make us sick or even kill us.

A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Water

 A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Good News From Our Planet

Our most powerful weapon against the covid-19 pandemic has been the little known messenger RNA technology. But researchers have been developing it for the last 20 years with the initial goal of creating a cancer vaccine.

Can mRNA Vaccines Cure Cancer?

Over the last 20 years, researchers have been developing mRNA technology with the aim of vaccinating against cancer, not coronavirus.

Are eco-neighbourhoods the future for our cities?

The pole vault is a discipline is based on the transformation of kinetic energy into elastic energy and then into gravitational energy. Athletes must play with energy, optimise it, transform it, and conserve it.

Pole Vaulting: Overcoming Gravity

Athletes must play with energy, optimise it, transform it, and conserve it

The Strongest of Them All

Long considered clean and inexpensive, nuclear energy raises a major problem: radioactive waste. It must be buried underground for at least a million years, or forever. But our civilisation won't be around forever. How can we warn our distant descendants of the risk of nuclear waste sites? What pictograms could warn them against the toxic gift we leave them?

Nuclear Waste

How can we warn our distant descendants of the risk of nuclear waste sites?

The pandemic has provided us with a painful reminder of how important physical contact is for our mental well-being. Individuals share their experiences of physical isolation.

Need a Hug?

The pandemic has provided us with a painful reminder of how important physical contact is for our mental well-being.

Psycho Bugs

Will human relationships become obsolete in the future, to be replaced by artificial intelligence and virtual reality?

Are rural eco-neighborhoods a weapon against the rural exodus? We take a look at three next generation, eco-friendly villages in France to find out.

Rural Eco-homes

Are rural eco-neighborhoods a weapon against the rural exodus?

Rubbish sorting systems differ according to the eco-neighborhoods. It's not always simple to manage it in a green way, and each eco-village has developed their own methods.

Green Waste Management

It's not always simple to manage waste in a green way

Ectopia

The fact that we have a breathable atmosphere on Earth is largely down to algae. Could these aquatic plants be the secret of solving climate change and saving ourselves and the planet?

Could Algae Save the Planet?

The Answer to Almost Everything

A look at three pioneer eco-districts in Europe, set up between 1995 and 2005, to encourage ecological living..

Pioneering Green Neighbourhoods

A look at three pioneer eco-districts in Europe

Clichy-Batignolles (Paris, France) and the Eco-Village des Noés (Val-de- Reuil, France) have been awarded the label "One Planet Living" by the WWF, helping the inhabitants to adopt a more sustainable way of life.

An Eco-Village For Every Taste

Helping the inhabitants to adopt a more sustainable way of life

Most popular

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The blob has no brain and yet it is capable of solving complex problems and possesses remarkable capacities for leaning and communication. Xenius investigates why this sticky superorganism found in woodland fascinates science.

The Blob: A Superorganism without a Brain

Xenius investigates why a sticky superorganism found in woodland fascinates science.

Xenius

What's the recipe for making a song a global hit? Musicologists, brain scientists and professionals in the music industry are actively researching the 'magic formula' for the mega hit.

Does the Perfect Song Exist?

What's the recipe for making a song a global hit?

42 - The Answer to Almost Everything

Nanostructure researcher Serge Berthier has been working on solar energy for years. But he also likes catching butterflies... And he has managed to link his two passions. But what do solar panels have to do with lepidopterans?

Reconnection

Butterflies and Solar Panels: What's the Connection?

Dr Philipp Rothemund promises great progress in prosthetic limbs with soft robots. Made from crisp packets. But what do olives have to do with soft robotics?

Olives and Prosthetic Limbs - What Links Them?

Tarek Besold is an AI researcher. He works on making machines intelligent. But can he make them undersand love? And will we one day fall in love with our smartphones?

Tarek Besold is an AI researcher. He’s working on making machines intelligent. But can he make them undersand love? And will we one day fall in love with our smartphones?

Love and Artifical Intelligence

Why did Frédéric Lechenault, a specialist researcher in interface systems, start knitting? The answers links pullovers with seismic activity.

Jumpers and Earthquakes

What’s the link between a French stick and genome sequencing? Geneticists have managed to sequence the DNA of wheat, and it is more complicated than you might think.

Geneticists have managed to sequence the DNA of wheat, and it is more complicated than you might think.

A Baguette and Genome Sequencing

Humans like to observe and examine the Moon, down to its smallest features. Its seas and craters have all been mapped out and even its mysterious dark side should soon reveal its secrets.

Observing the Moon

The Moon and Us (3/5)

We attribute all sorts of powers to the Moon... And while its influence on our life on Earth is undeniable, its powers are not necessarily the ones we think.

Living with the Moon

The Moon and Us (2/5)

Fifty years after man's first small step, the promise of colonisation and tourist trips to the Moon seem almost within reach. But is the moon ready for us?

Living on the Moon

The Moon and Us

Where does the Moon come from? Mythology and science have each come to their own conclusions.

Making Sense of the Moon

The Moon and Us (5/5)

Lunar eclipses, super moons or pink moons, our lunar satellite offers us an array of surprising spectacles.

Admiring the Moon

The Moon and Us (4/5)

Most recent

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Urban eco-neighborhoods are multiplying and becoming increasingly large. But is it possible to remain ecological on such a large scale? The Docks of Saint-Ouen (France), Eikenøtt of Gland (Switzerland) and Scharnhauser Park in Ostfildern (Germany) took up the challenge.

Living Differently in the City

The Docks of Saint-Ouen (France), Eikenøtt of Gland (Switzerland) and Scharnhauser Park in Ostfildern (Germany) each try in their own way foster sustainable living

An eco-district isn't just imposed on residents from the top down; often, future residents are involved in making major decisions

Eco-neighbourhoods work to maintain social diversity even with high population densities.

Reinventing Diversity

How does a community spirit emerge in a newly built eco-neighbourhood?

Living Together

How can smart digital technology lead to a better connected eco-neighbourhood?

Smart Neighbourhoods

According to futurist Ian Pearson, the holidays of the future will be virtual. The first wave of immigration into the virtual world has already taken place: you can dance, chat or play board games. Some people have even got married via VR. The possibilities are endless to escape real life, or enrich it.

The possibilities are endless to escape real life, or enrich it

Virtual Fun

Eternal life: an impossible dream or our reality in just a few decades? And would you even be willing to modify your DNA to live longer? Is the body is only a computer and DNA the source code? Quite possibly...

Is the body is only a computer and DNA the source code?

Eternal Youth

Each technical revolution has taken us one step closer to simplifying our daily lives. Now, the old fear is back: machines will take our jobs. But will these robots be able to make us more efficient and happier at work?

Now, the old fear is back: machines will take our jobs

Digital Happiness at Work

Is humanity and technology becoming so meshed together that chips in the brain, 3D printed organs and virtual sex will one day just be considered a normal part of life? And if we were to become no longer totally human, but not totally digital either, would that make us a new species - Homo Digitalis? Are we going to take over evolution and decide for ourselves how we want to change?

Are we going to take over evolution and decide for ourselves how we want to change?