The Internet of Things is fast becoming a vast field of experimentation with possibilities that are yet to be taken advantage of, thanks to major technological advances promoting the miniaturization of sensors and the speed of digital exchanges. It is also thanks to services in our digitalized daily life that there will soon be dozens of these new objects in …

Indoor air is polluted with several volatile organic compounds, some of which are carcinogenic. Frédéric Thévenet, a researcher at Mines Douai, develops solutions for trapping and eliminating these pollutants, and for improving tests for air purifying devices.   We spend nearly 90% of our time inside: at home, at the office, at school, or in our car. Yet the air …

New materials, artificial intelligences, green energy, virtual reality, 5G… so many new innovations are impacting our society. The transformations they bring about result in changes to organizations, and redefine the role humans play in their environment, in both the professional and private realms. According to Christian Roux, Executive VP for Research and Innovation at IMT, this aspect must not be …

Claude Shannon, a major scientist from the second half of the 20th century, marked his era with his communication theory. His work triggered a digital metamorphosis that today affects all levels of our societies. To celebrate what would have been Shannon’s 100th birthday this year, the Institut Henri Poincaré will pay tribute to the scientist with a conference on October …

As required by environmental transition, materials of the future must be “greener”. Bioplastics in particular have become a main focus of attention, and are often presented as the solution to the pollution caused by the plastics we use every day, which can take hundreds of years to decompose. Patricia Krawczak, a researcher at Mines Douai, studies these new polymers. Yet …

The sea is becoming increasingly connected, with the development of new real-time transmission sensors. The aggregated data is being used to improve our understanding of the role oceans play in climate issues, but several challenges must be considered: the development of autonomous sensors and the pooling of research on a global level. This was the subject of Sea Tech Week, …

At Télécom Bretagne, Mai Nguyen is drawing on the way children learn in order to develop a new form of artificial intelligence. She is hoping to develop robots capable of adapting to their environment by imitating the curiosity humans have at the start of their lives.   During the first years of life, humans develop at an extremely fast pace. …

The 21st Century is marked by a profound change in our relationship with time, now merely perceived in terms of acceleration, speed, changes and emergencies. At Mines Nantes, the sociologist Sophie Bretesché has positioned herself at the interfaces between the past and the future, where memory and oblivion color our view of the present. In contexts undergoing changes, such as …

Searching for, extracting, analyzing, and sharing information in order to make the right decision requires great skill. For machines to provide human operators with valuable assistance in these highly-cognitive tasks, they must be equipped with “knowledge” about the world. At Mines Alès, Sylvie Ranwez has been developing innovative processing solutions based on ontologies for many years now.   How can …

Since its launch, the Pokémon Go game has broken all download records. More than just a fun gaming phenomenon, it is above all an indicator of the inevitable arrival of augmented reality technology in our daily lives. Marius Preda, a researcher at Télécom SudParis and an expert on the subject, explains exactly what the term “augmented reality” means.   Does …