Press Releases
June 2009
26 June 2009 - EMBL
New interdisciplinary structural biology centre for virus research and technology platforms
On June 26 2009 the joint international Unit for Virus and Host Cell Inter actions (Unité Mi x te Internationale) was formally established in Grenoble. The unit is run jointly by CNRS, the Grenoble outstation of the European Molecular Biology Labor atory (EMBL) and the Grenoble University Joseph Fourier. The aim of the unit is to foster interdisciplinary research and to develop technology platforms for structural biology.
25 June 2009 - CERN
CERN is awarded environmental label
On 9 June, CERN was awarded the "Nature & Economie" label by the Swiss Foundation of the same name, in recognition of its land management on the Meyrin site. The label is awarded to organisations that contribute to biological diversity, and at least 30% of the green areas around buildings have to be managed naturally.
25 June 2009 - EMBL
Uncovering how cells cover gaps
Scientists develop a clearer picture of dorsal closure and shed light on wound healing
25 June 2009 - ESO
Milky Way's super-efficient particle accelerators caught in the act
Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way’s particle accelerators. They show in a paper published today on Science Express that cosmic rays from our galaxy are very efficiently accelerated in the remnants of exploded stars.
23 June 2009 - EMBL
New electron microscopy images reveal the assembly of HIV
EMBL researchers provide the as yet closest look at the structure of immature HIV
22 June 2009 - EMBL
European centre of excellence for mouse biology celebrates its 10th anniversary
Mice are one of biology's most important model organisms, because 98% of their genes and many of their traits and diseases are similar to ours. Researchers at the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) take advantage of these similarities and use mice to study molecular mechanisms of health and disease that also apply to humans. Today the EMBL Mouse Biology Unit in Monterotondo, close to Rome in Italy, celebrates its 10th anniversary.
19 June 2009 - CERN
CERN reports on progress towards LHC restart
At the 151st session of the CERN Council today, CERN Director General Rolf Heuer confirmed that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) remains on schedule for a restart this autumn, albeit about 2-3 weeks later than originally foreseen. Following the incident of 19 September 2008 that brought the LHC to a standstill, a great deal of work has been done to understand the causes of the incident and ensure that a similar incident cannot happen again.
19 June 2009 - ESA
Crew of six to finish 105-day Mars mission simulation on 14 July – Media opportunity
On 14 July, a crew of six will leave their Mars mission simulator and see the Sun once again. The crew, which includes a French pilot and a German engineer selected by the European Space Agency, will have completed 105 days of confinement and numerous scientific experiment runs inside the isolation facility at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow. Their simulated mission will help understand the psychological and medical aspects of long-duration spaceflight.
19 June 2009 - ESRF
Size did matter
The mystery of giant sperm present in some living animal groups today has taken on a new dimension. In one group of micro-crustaceans new evidence shows the feature is at least 100 million years old.
18 June 2009 - ESO
World's fastest and most sensitive astronomical camera
he next generation of instruments for ground-based telescopes took a leap forward with the development of a new ultra-fast camera that can take 1500 finely exposed images per second even when observing extremely faint objects. The first 240x240 pixel images with the world's fastest high precision faint light camera were obtained through a collaborative effort between ESO and three French laboratories from the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (CNRS/INSU). Cameras such as this are key components of the next generation of adaptive optics instruments of Europe's ground-based astronomy flagship facility, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT).
9 June 2009 - EMBL
New EMBL service makes web browsing efficient for biologists
The life sciences are scaling up and produce huge amounts of data and new literature at an amazing pace. The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) now offers a new free service to help researchers, teachers and students keep up-to-date with scientific literature on the web, especially when researching unfamiliar molecules.
5 June 2009 - CERN
University of Geneva honours LHC project leader at 450th anniversary ceremony
The University of Geneva is today holding a ceremony at which honorary degrees will be bestowed on four figures renowned for their activities in bringing nations together, including international collaboration in scientific research at CERN.
4 June 2009 - ES0
Stellar family in crowded, violent neighbourhood proves to be surprisingly normal
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have obtained one of the sharpest views ever of the Arches Cluster — an extraordinary dense cluster of young stars near the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Despite the extreme conditions astronomers were surprised to find the same proportions of low- and high-mass young stars in the cluster as are found in more tranquil locations in our Milky Way.
4 June 2009 - ESA
Visit the ESA pavilion at "Le Bourget 2009"
The 48th International Paris Air Show will open its doors on Monday 15 June, until Sunday 21 June. Almost 2,000 exhibitors will be present and over 200,000 visitors are expected to attend this traditional event which this year has special significance as it celebrates its 100th anniversary (the first Paris Air Show was held in 1909 in the city’s Grand Palais).