tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1824923061422567732011-11-25T15:06:37.009+09:00Small bits of Science you can take home with you!Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-21250383459117903582011-09-07T20:08:00.001+09:002011-09-07T20:08:57.209+09:00

Most people are probably aware that, following the March-11 earthquake and tsunami, Japan had to reduce its electricity consumption. As one of the measures was to shift activity away from the peak hours (by starting work earlier, or working on week-ends), there has been some discussion as to whether this only resulted in evening out consumption and reducing peak-hour demand, or if this really

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-49398857210547332372011-02-25T10:32:00.005+09:002011-05-25T21:27:46.633+09:00

This blog was created in 2009. The idea, back then, was to take a few scientific topics (from my own research or from the news), and to explain them to a lay audience.I think the idea was good, but the timing was not, as it came at a stage in my career when I rarely had enough spare time to post useful content here.I have therefore decided to temporarily suspend this blog, and to return to it

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-83955093702142419462010-01-11T22:23:00.019+09:002011-09-07T11:43:37.014+09:00

[This post is based on an earlier one posted, in French, about a month ago]My principal research area is complex systems modelling. Without getting too technical, the main purpose is to develop computer-based representation of some interesting phenomena.There is no definite consensus in the scientific community as to when a system becomes complex, but you will probably agree that genetics, the

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-19434320388494116302009-12-10T04:38:00.023+09:002011-09-07T11:43:27.171+09:00

Mon domaine de prédilection, en tant que chercheur, est la modélisation des systèmes complexes. Sans rentrer dans les détails techniques, il s'agit de développer des représentations informatiques expliquant des phénomènes spécifiques.Dans le milieu, la définition exacte d'un système complexe prête encore au débat mais, intuitivement, vous conviendrez que la génétique, le climat, le système

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-8102585024460841682009-12-09T01:21:00.009+09:002011-09-07T11:41:45.117+09:00

Ecology is often said to be detrimental to our modern economies. Fighting to protect biodiversity, or to tackle global warming, should apparently not be priorities, because it would have a negative impact on growth. Nature recently featured an interesting reply to these views, in particular through an interview with Pavan Sukhdev, who leads a study on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity,

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-68747889149480238072009-12-07T23:02:00.036+09:002011-09-07T11:41:33.359+09:00

On oppose souvent Économie et Écologie. Lutter pour la biodiversité et contre le réchauffement climatique ne devraient pas être des priorités, car cela mettrait en danger la croissance. Nature est récemment revenu sur cette opposition, notamment au travers d'une interview avec Pavan Sukhdev, qui travaille sur l'Économie des écosystèmes et de la biodiversité, (projet TEEB).Le point de départ de

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-67314775120404806972009-08-28T16:39:00.003+09:002011-09-07T11:43:57.777+09:00

As you have probably noticed, it has been quite a while since my last post here...This blog is currently on stand-by, as I have very little time to write decent posts for this page. In the meantime, if you have a subject you would like me to cover, please feel free to leave a comment below this post, and I will do my best to help.

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-66978110608691904912009-05-19T19:16:00.010+09:002011-09-07T11:27:18.766+09:00

This post comes third in a series focusing on the influenza outbreak. Earlier posts are available here and here.The most crucial point in these texts was that the WHO pandemic scale only takes virus spread into account, and does not include any considerations on its virulence. This was a concern, because of the subsequent media coverage and the long-term risk of complacency.It is, therefore,

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-68708676285822145042009-05-19T18:51:00.006+09:002011-09-07T11:44:07.782+09:00

Ce post fait suite déja mes précédents billets sur l'épidémie de grippe, que vous pouvez retrouver ici et ici.Dans ces textes, j'insistais notamment sur le fait que l'échelle de l'OMS ne prend en compte que la propagation du virus, et pas sa gravité. Je suis donc ravi que cette notion soit désormais prise en compte par les médias. Ainsi le Monde.fr cite Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, porte-parole de l'OMS

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-44601079976603808922009-05-15T06:12:00.006+09:002011-09-07T11:44:14.028+09:00

Ce matin, en regardant le journal de Radio Canada sur TV5, une chose m'a frappée.Il était question de la sélection de deux nouveaux astronautes canadiens, et de leurs impressionnants cursus. Mais est-il vraiment nécessaire d'avoir ce niveau d'étude pour être efficace dans l'espace ?Je suis donc parti à la recherche d'informations sur l'actuelle mission sur le télescope Hubble, et sur ses

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-70595968193398441552009-05-12T05:51:00.006+09:002011-09-07T11:44:24.363+09:00

L'épidémie de grippe a en partie disparu des journaux, mais reste un sujet majeur des publications scientifiques telles que Nature.Dans sa dernière édition (7 mai), on trouve par exemple un éditorial très intéressant: Between a virus and a hard place (jeu de mot sur la version anglaise de "entre le marteau et l'enclume").Le but de cet éditorial is de souligner que la complaisance est plus

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-42193660218823481292009-05-12T04:46:00.010+09:002011-09-07T14:58:05.694+09:00

The influenza outbreaks has almost disappeared from mainstream news, but remains an important focus in high-profile scientific publications such as Nature.Its latest issue (May 7th) features an interesting editorial: Between a virus and a hard place. In brief, the main message of this editorial is that "complacency, not overreaction, is the greatest danger posed by the flu pandemic".In a way,

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-25034251510563727232009-05-05T07:50:00.003+09:002011-09-07T11:44:44.143+09:00

One of the advantages of having a fairly recent blog is that there is little readers to complain about the lack of update of the recent weeks. That being said, this silence was not exactly planned, and I will try to post more often in the future.The recent flu outbreak has captured the headlines, and I have wondering about the way scientific information is broadcast to the general population.In

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-57982495161220813062009-05-04T03:15:00.024+09:002011-09-07T11:27:08.570+09:00

Peu de temps libre en ce moment, et la rédaction de billets pour ce blog en a donc pris un coup. L'actualité récente est pourtant intéressante, donc je vais essayer d'être concis et précis à la fois.La précision est d'ailleurs justement le thème qui me chatouillait les doigts et m'a fait revenir vers mon clavier.Vous l'aurez sans doute remarqué, la grippe porcine/mexicaine/A-H1N1 (rayez les

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-84163911082378262492009-03-27T20:03:00.003+09:002011-09-07T14:58:49.224+09:00

Bienvenue sur ce blog !J'aimerais ici, en quelques lignes, vous expliquez la raison derrière la création de ce blog, alors que mon emploi du temps n'est pourtant pas extensible à l'infini.Une part non négligeable du travail d'un chercheur est la dissémination des résultats et implications de ses travaux. Cela se déroule à deux niveaux.Bien entendu, la principale "cible" de cet effort de partage

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182492306142256773.post-48589358044102486722009-03-27T01:16:00.014+09:002011-09-07T14:58:43.369+09:00

Welcome on this blog!If you allow me, I will take a few minutes to explain the rationale behind the creation of this blog. As you may know, a researcher spends a fair amount of his/her time trying to efficiently disseminate the results he/she obtained. If we look at it in a very crude way, there are two levels of dissemination.Obviously, the primary "target" of this effort is the scientific

Dimitrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307842984322024456noreply@blogger.com0