Books & ideas

Relief is Life

Morgan Jouvenet — 2025-06-12T06:12:28Z

We talk about the Earth without truly understanding it. An overview of recent knowledge about the “Earth system” and its concerning state invites us to promote a new way of looking at the environment and the political approaches required.

The Accumulation of Energies

Marius Bickhardt — 2025-03-11T06:30:00Z

Historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz provides the first genealogical study of the concept of energy transition. In the face of discourses that keep postponing “the transition” to a later date, Fressoz takes up the unprecedented political challenge of a complete phase-out of fossil fuels.

The Vegetable Garden of Eden

Ariel Suhamy — 2025-01-09T07:30:00Z

The question of original sin no longer concerns us as much as that of diet. But what if it were the same?

Inside an animal's soul

Laurent Bègue Shankland — 2024-12-03T07:40:14Z

In this analysis of animal behavior, Florence Burgat brilliantly examines a continent that Freud left unexplored: the animal unconscious. But is psychoanalysis the right framework for such a project?

Life as a Puzzle

Bertrand Vaillant — 2024-09-19T07:30:00Z

The complexity of contemporary biology is a source of wonder, fear, and misunderstanding. Thierry Hoquet reviews the major biological theories to help us think through the social implications of a science that is opening up fascinating, though not inevitable, horizons.

Secrets of the Forest and a Life

Michel Gueldry — 2023-10-19T07:00:00Z

The current craze for trees and their capacity for mutual help owes much to Canadian forestry expert Suzanne Simard, whose book traces her professional and life journey.

How valuable are evaluations?

Coline Soler — 2023-07-06T08:30:00Z

For twenty years, universities and research have been the target of reforms and evaluations. Clémentine Gozlan examines the making of these mechanisms, which are central to the new system of academic governance—in which academics often participate.

Sociology: A Science Just Like the Rest?

Jean-Michel Wachsberger — 2023-06-06T08:27:56Z

Can sociology be a science just like the rest? Against the grain of the dominant epistemology, which defines the specificities of sociological thinking in terms of their differences with the so-called “hard” sciences, Dominique Raynaud argues that a single scientific model is possible.

One Lab Coat Does Not a Scientist Make

Sophie Houdart — 2023-04-18T11:48:45Z

The defense of science and reason is increasingly being instrumentalized by lobbyists hiding behind NGOs. This obscurantist undermining of experts benefits the industrialists these lobbyists are working for, and threatens the foundations of science.

Covid-19: Chronicle of an Outbreak Foretold

Philippe Sansonetti — 2020-03-30T07:00:00Z

What are Covid-19 and the coronavirus? What are the parameters, causes and effects of this disease? What are the short and long-term prospects? Infectious disease specialist Philippe Sansonetti explains why the fate of the epidemic is in our hands.