Marianne Guenot

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Polytechnique Insights •

India's transition to electric vehicles

Peter Wells. India as a whole has done pret­ty well in adopt­ing elec­tric vehi­cles, but there’s plen­ty of scope to do more. The coun­try acknowl­edged ear­ly on that there were oppor­tu­ni­ties for gain with the tran­si­tion, notably when it comes to reduc­ing the health effects of air pol­lu­tion and noise. Accord­ing­ly, they have been sup­port­ing this change since 2015, notably with the Faster Adop­tion and Man­u­fac­tur­ing of Hybrid and Elec­tric Vehi­cles (FAME) sub­sidy scheme that su...
Jorg Greuel via Getty Image
livescience.com •

Man nearly guaranteed to get early Alzheimer's is still disease-free in his 70s — how?

A man whose genetics almost guaranteed that he would develop Alzheimer's disease by his 50s has somehow made it to his mid-70s with nary a symptom.The now-75-year-old man, Doug Whitney, is one of only three people known to have escaped their genetic fate, sidestepping a rare form of Alzheimer's disease called dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease (DIAD). Caused by several gene mutations, DIAD makes up less than 1% of all Alzheimer's cases, and its symptoms typically set in between ages 35 and...
livescience.com •

People who can't 'see with their mind's eye' have different wiring in the brain

People with aphantasia lack the ability to summon crisp images in their "mind's eye." But even though they can't visualize in this way, the blueprints for those imaginary images might still be nestled in their brains, a new study suggests.The work, published in the journal Current Biology Jan. 10, provides early evidence that the brains of people with aphantasia can light up as if they were generating mental images in their primary visual cortex — the main part of the brain responsible for proce...
livescience.com •

Sperm cells carry traces of childhood stress, epigenetic study finds

Fathers may carry traces of their childhood trauma in their sperm cells, a new study finds.The new research, published Jan. 3 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, looked at the "epigenetics" of the sperm cells of fathers who had been exposed to high stress in childhood.Epigenetics involves how DNA — the blueprint used to build the proteins and molecules that make up our bodies — is read. Epigenetics doesn't change DNA's underlying code but rather alters which genes can be switched on. Research s...
Nature Medicine •

Can quantum computing crack the biggest challenges in health? - Nature Medicine

Cleveland Clinic in the USA and the
UK National Health Service are both part of a burgeoning community of researchers, health systems and companies exploring applications of quantum computing in health. Although this nascent technology is at least a few years away from having practical applications — and some are warning of the
impending burst of the ‘quantum bubble’ —
many experts believe that biomedical and
healthcare research needs to be ready for the
quantum revolution of tomorrow.
“I know we are taking a gamble,” says
Lara Jehi, Cleveland Clinic’s chief research
information officer, who leads the institute’s
quantum research. Jehi hopes that “there is a
strategic, long-term advantage in being the
group that was first.”
Business Insider •

A powerful solar storm is due to hit Earth on New Year's Eve, sparking beautiful auroras. Here's how to see them.

A pair of powerful geomagnetic storms are due to strike Earth on Tuesday and Wednesday, causing dazzling auroras across the planet which may be seen farther south than usual.The coming auroras have been predicted after the sun recently released some plasma during two coronal mass ejections that are currently traveling toward us at breakneck speeds.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the first wave of plasma will reach the Earth on Tuesday, exciting our outer atmosphere a...
European Union, 2019
European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi speaks at Brussels - EP, Brussels - European Parliament
The Lancet •

New EU Health Commissioner appointed amid controversy

Olivér Várhelyi's tempestuous confirmation process has seen pandemic preparedness and reproductive health stripped from his portfolio. Marianne Guenot reports.
Europe has a new Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. Olivér Várhelyi, the former European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, began his term on Dec 1, as part of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's second College of Commissioners.
The new role for Hungary's Várhelyi was among the most disputed, with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) raising his connection to President Viktor Orbán and the controversial right-wing Fidesz party during his confirmation. Negotiations eventually led to sexual and reproductive health and pandemic preparedness being stripped from Várhelyi's portfolio.
Polytechnique Insights •

How AI could humanise robots - Polytechnique Insights

Watch­ing videos released by robot­ics com­pa­nies like Tes­la and Fig­ure, it could seem like robots will walk into our homes tomor­row, able to exe­cute any com­mand a human asks them to do thanks to advance­ments in large lan­guage mod­els (LLMs). That may be com­ing down the pike, but there are some sub­stan­tial hur­dles to over­come first, says Edward Johns, direc­tor of the Robot Learn­ing Lab at Impe­r­i­al Col­lege London.
livescience.com •

'Tour de force' study may explain why trauma can lead to PTSD

Intense stress can lead to fuzzy memories, which can lead to more generalized fear responses. Now, scientists may have just discovered why.A study in mice, published Friday (Nov. 15) in the journal Cell, suggests that stress hormones can distort how memories are recorded, leading to less-precise recollections and a future tendency to be unable to properly distinguish between safe triggers and threats.The new findings could help uncover new avenues to treat people with post-traumatic stress disor...
Polytechnique Insights •

Quantum computing and AI: less compatible than expected?

With a num­ber of tech firms promis­ing to be able to solve some small real-world prob­lems with­in the next few years, it would seem that the world is on the cusp of a quan­tum com­put­ing break­through. As such there had been much hope that access to such quan­tum com­put­ing would trans­form arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence too. But a grow­ing con­sen­sus sug­gests this may not yet be with­in reach.

Fil­ip­po Vicen­ti­ni. AI is a very wide-rang­ing term. So, I’ll focus on “deep learn­ing”, which...
Polytechnique Insights •

Biological inequalities between men and women in the face of disease

When think­ing of wom­en’s health, it can be easy to go straight to men­stru­a­tion, preg­nan­cy, and menopause. Researchers are just start­ing to grasp how big a part sex-spe­cif­ic dif­fer­ences play in our bodies.

Shan­non Dunn. We’ve known about how sex influ­ences health for a while now. This was dri­ven by the research of sev­er­al pio­neers in the field who were using both sex­es of ani­mals or humans in research for decades and organ­i­sa­tions such as the soci­ety for Women’s Health Re...
Polytechnique Insights •

Endometriosis: new findings shed light on the cause

Endometrio­sis is a bur­den for a sub­stan­tial num­ber of women and those assigned female at birth (AFAB). This inflam­ma­to­ry dis­ease, which touch­es about 1 in 10 women of repro­duc­tive age glob­al­ly1, can cause debil­i­tat­ing chron­ic pain and poor fer­til­i­ty and was recent­ly found to be linked to a whole host of comor­bidi­ties. It has been his­tor­i­cal­ly under-researched, but recent advances are giv­ing the field hope. We take a look at what researchers are excit­ed about.
Polytechnique Insights •

What happens in our brains during sleep? - Polytechnique Insights

There are few expe­ri­ences more uni­fy­ing than sleep. Sci­en­tists have nev­er found a human who does not sleep. And for that mat­ter, no one has ever, delib­er­ate­ly or acci­den­tal­ly, made a mouse mod­el that can eschew sleep entire­ly. Sleep puts ani­mals in an intense­ly vul­ner­a­ble state — while sleep­ing they could be attacked, injured, or eat­en — but evo­lu­tion has not done away with it, sug­gest­ing it is essen­tial to sur­vival. Still, despite intense aca­d­e­m­ic scruti­ny, res...
British Medical Journal (BMJ) •

How do GLP-1 drugs work for weight loss . . . and everything else?

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists like semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) are constantly in the news for their staggering slimming effects. But it’s becoming clear that there is more to this drug class than weight loss.GLP-1 receptor agonists were once thought to be simple insulin regulators. Now, they’re known to act on the kidneys, heart, liver, brain, and more. “I think it’s absolutely fascinating and definitely very unusual that the potential indications are expanding so dramatical...
Polytechnique Insights •

Drugs alone won't be enough to solve the obesity crisis

Drugs alone won’t be enough to solve the obesity crisis

Semaglu­tide, Ozem­pic, Wegovy… The names of these drugs have been seen across many head­lines recent­ly as they have shown promis­ing results for peo­ple with obe­si­ty, in and out of the lab. These drugs—designed to mim­ic gut hor­mone glucagon-like pep­tide 1 (GLP‑1)—have been tout­ed as near-mir­a­cles at a time when the obe­si­ty epi­dem­ic is rag­ing, with about 1 in 8 now liv­ing with the dis­ease. But can they real­ly solve a med­i
Business Insider •

A Harvard professor is risking his reputation to search for aliens. Tech tycoons are bankrolling his quest.

Harvard's Avi Loeb has been setting the astrophysics world on fire with his claims that extraterrestrial tech could be behind recent near-Earth observations, his rising public persona, and his upcoming off-Broadway one-man show.

In this story, I spoke to the controversial professor to understand his motivation to search for signs of alien intelligence in Earth's backyard. I also investigated how he piqued the interest of wealthy counter-culture philanthropists to fund his quest.
Business Insider •

Wild animals and pets may start behaving strangely during today's solar eclipse

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For millions of people across North America, day will turn into night on Monday as crosse
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