Using nature as inspiration is certainly the oldest scientific approach and one that still has much to reveal. Bio-inspired robotics is a research topic at Mines Nantes that uses this process. It does not aim to simply mimic, but actually to understand the tricks nature has found to solve problems. Researcher Frédéric Boyer’s work is driven by such meticulous observation. …

Ultrafast cameras unveil processes that are invisible to the naked eye. At Mines Alès, Pierre Slangen, a specialist in applied optics, uses them to build advanced technology devices and thus to understand how gases and liquids are diffused during environmental disasters.     Certain physical phenomena occur in such small time scales that they remain practically invisible without the use …