Science at UM [S01-ep18]: Electrodynamic forces at the Agro Institute's hydraulic hall
This week on A l’UM la science, Jérémie Torres, a researcher atthe Institute of Electronics and Systems (IES) in Montpellier, reveals the mechanisms of intracellular interactions between proteins. In the second part of the program, Gilles Belaud takes us on a tour of the hydraulic hall at the G-Eau laboratory.
In the 1960s, German-born English physicist Herbert Fröhlich, a leading specialist in particle physics, attempted to apply his work to certain biological mechanisms, particularly those that enable molecules to interact with each other within a cell to ensure its proper functioning.
On the back cover of a crime novel, my teaser may not set your imagination racing, yet I am talking about one of the great scientific mysteries of the century. Indeed, since the early 20th century, specialists in classical and quantum electrodynamics have predicted that physical forces govern these intracellular interactions, without being able to explain them. And poor Fröhlich, despite being nominated twice for the Nobel Prize, died in the 1990s without having solved this mystery.
It took until 2022 for a European consortium comprising four French laboratories, including two in Montpellier, the Institute of Electronics and Systems and the Charles Coulomb Laboratory (L2C), to solve this mystery by revealing the mechanisms of intracellular interaction between proteins. Jérémie Torres is a physics researcher at the Institute of Electronics and Systems in Montpellier. He is part of this consortium and joined us in the studio to explain this minor revolution.
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In the second part of the program, Aline Périault gets her feet wet—literally, as you'll hear. We head to the Gaillarde campus, where Gilles Belaud, professor of water sciences at the Institut Agro, gives us a tour of the G-EAU laboratory's hydraulic hall.
Finally, the next Science Bar will be held this Thursday at the Dôme bar at 8:30 p.m. And this month's event sounds like an incantation, as we invite you to ask yourself the question, "Critical thinking, where are you?"
At UM Science, you have the program, so let's get started!
Production: University of Montpellier/Divergence FM
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault/Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Production: Adeline Floch’/Anna Demeulandre
Listen to the program “A LUM LA SCIENCE” on Divergence FM 93.9
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