A l'UM la science [S01-ep18]: From electrodynamic forces to the Agro Institute's hydraulic hall

This week on A l'UM la science, Jérémie Torres, a researcher at Montpellier'sInstitute of Electronics and Systems (IES), reveals the mechanisms of intracellular interactions between proteins. In the second half of the program, Gilles Belaud takes us on a tour of the G-Eau laboratory's hydraulic hall.

In the 60s, the German-born English physicist Herbert Fröhlich, a leading expert in particle physics, tried to apply his work to certain biological mechanisms, and in particular to the mechanisms by which molecules interact with each other within a cell to ensure its function.

As the back cover of a detective novel, my teaser may not make you dream, but I'm talking about one of the great scientific enigmas of the century. Since the early 20th century, specialists in classical and quantum electrodynamics have been predicting that physical forces govern these intracellular interactions, but without being able to explain them. And poor Fröhlich, twice nominated for a Nobel Prize, died in the 90s without having solved this mystery.

It wasn't until 2022 that a European consortium comprising four French laboratories, including two from Montpellier, the Institut d'Électronique et des Systèmes and the Charles Coulomb Laboratory(L2C), unraveled this enigma by revealing the mechanisms of intracellular interaction between proteins. Jérémie Torres, a physics researcher at Montpellier's Institut d'Électronique et des Systèmes, is part of this consortium, and was with us in the studio to explain this small revolution.

In the second half of the program, Aline Périault gets down to business - literally for some, you'll hear. We head for the Gaillarde campus, where Gilles Belaud, a professor at the Institut Agro en sciences de l'eau, takes us on a tour of the G-EAU laboratory's hydraulic hall.

Finally, the next Bar des sciences will be held this Thursday at the Dôme bar at 8:30pm. And this month's event sounds like an incantation, as we invite you to ask yourselves the question " Esprit critique où es-tu?" (" Critical mind, where are you?").

At UM la science you've got the program, here we go!

Production: Université de Montpellier/Divergence FM
Animation : Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interviews : Aline Périault/Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing : Aline Périault
Direction : Adeline Floch'/Anna Demeulandre

Listen to the "A LUM LA SCIENCE" program on Divergence FM 93.9