CNRS

​When birds collide with airplanes that are taking off or landing, the results can be catastrophic. And while there are deterrent systems that do work on some birds, they're not effective with raptors (aka birds of prey). According to new research, however, an optical illusion may do the trick.

Quadcopters are most stable with their four propellers arranged in a square configuration, with one prop at each corner of the square. Such a setup makes it difficult for the aircraft to fit through tight spaces, however. That's where the Quad-Morphing drone comes in.

A new eye has joined the hunt for planets around nearby stars. The instrument, dubbed SPIRou, has been installed at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, where it has achieved first light by snapping the spectrum of the star AD Leonis.

Studies have shown that caloric restriction can drastically increase the lifespan of a range of animals. On the path to determining whether humans could benefit from the same lifestyle, a 10-year study on lemurs has now found that animals on the diet lived almost 50 percent longer than usual.

Scientists from the University of Helsinki and CNRS are working on new ways to produce RNA-based vaccines that target specific pests without damaging the host plants or relying on potentially toxic pesticides to protect food crops.

A weapon as legendary as the dagger of King Tutankhamun needs an epic backstory, and last year X-ray analysis showed that the iron in the blade came from meteorites. Now a study has found that the artifact was far from alone as all iron tools dating back to the Bronze Age have otherworldly origins.

​Sauropods were the largest of all dinosaurs. The largest sauropod tracks ever recorded were discovered in 2009, in the French mountain village of Plagne. Now, after further excavation and analysis, it has been announced that they are part of the longest sauropod trackway ever to be found.

​An international competition is coming up in Toulouse, France at the end of next month, but it's not a very big one. The Nanocar Race will see four "cars" each made up of about a hundred atoms, racing against one another on a gold track that's just 100 nanometers long – that's 0.0001 millimeters.

Researchers in France have designed a low-frequency absorption system using metamaterials that is not only many hundreds of times smaller than standard systems, but is also claimed to totally absorb all incoming sound.

For the first time ever, a battery has been developed using sodium ions rather than lithium ions in the industry standard "18650" format used in laptop batteries, LED flashlights and the Tesla Model S, among other products.

Night-vision security cameras could be getting a lot less costly, thanks to the discovery that their lenses can be made from silicon. Ordinarily, thermal infrared camera lenses are made from materials such as germanium and chalcogenide, which are much more expensive.

In the quest to develop better ways of sealing wounds, scientists have created adhesives inspired by porcupine quills, mussels and slugs. Not all good ideas have to come from the animal kingdom, however. Recently, researchers have had success using a solution that incorporates nanoparticles.