Understanding epigenetics to preserve biodiversity
Do you know the rivulus? It is a small fish that lives in the Caribbean and has some amazing characteristics. It is indeed capable of self-fertilisation! But in this case, what happens to genetic diversity, which is essential for the evolution of a species? Welcome in the mangroves of Florida and Belize to find an answer.
See content
Arcadie, a new research centre in the ESPHIN institute
Arcadia is the name of an ideal society, a bucolic utopia. But it is also the name chosen by the members of a brand-new research centre at UNamur. This centre, created within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters and attached to the ESPHIN institute, questions three themes at the heart of our contemporaneity: the Anthropocene, history and utopias.
See content
"School and Deafness" by M. Ghesquière and L. Meurant wins an award
On 30 November 2022, Magaly Ghesquière and Laurence Meurant (UNamur), co-authors of the book "School and Deafness” (in French “Ecole et Surdité - Une expérience d'enseignement bilingue et inclusif", received the prize for the best book for Teaching and Continuing Education from the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. This is another fine award that complements the recent release of the first bilingual sign language-French contextual dictionary searchable in sign language.
See content
"Better management of mineral resources around the world": a warning from geologist Johan Yans, new member of the Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer.
Designed to promote scientific knowledge in overseas countries, the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences (RAOS) is an independent, multidisciplinary, national and international forum serving Science in overseas countries. Professor of geology at UNamur, Johan Yans has just been appointed as a new member of ARSOM.
See content
Belgium-Tunisia collaboration: geological and ecological challenges
On Thursday 29 September 2022, the Vice-Rector for International Relations, the International Relations Service and the Department of Geology received Professor Fakher Jamoussi (Tunisia) as part of the "Tunisia on the move - 2022" project. For more than twenty years, the teams of Professors Johan Yans and Fakher Jamoussi have been weaving scientific, didactic and human collaborations aiming at enhancing the fabulous subsoil of Tunisia.
See content
Common good must be saved!
Since the pandemic, this cry of alarm from the Nobel Prize in Economics, Jean Tirole, seems more relevant than ever. On 19 and 20 May 2022, the second Summit of the Common Good, organised in Toulouse, mobilised hundreds of thousands of internet users. On 24 May 2022, in Brussels, the Night of the Common Good raised over half a million euros in donations. And next year, the Our Lady of Peace Chair at UNamur will be dedicated to the common good. But what is this 'common good' that belongs to everyone and to no one? Four researchers from UNamur share their thoughts with us to stimulate our own.
See content
From the Namur snail to the Galapagos snail, there is only one step!
An international team of researchers, including Prof Frederik De Laender, from the University of Namur, publish in Nature Communications. The editor highlights that the authors use theoretical models and field data to show how eco-evolutionary processes can force species to develop more similar characteristic traits in more species-rich communities to avoid competition. Which goes against what we intuitively perceive.
See content
ERGA, a "European Reference Genome Atlas" to preserve biodiversity
At a time when around a fifth of Europe's 200,000 species are threatened with extinction, researchers from the University of Namur are taking part in a pan-European consortium to act fast and together to generate high-quality genome resources on a large scale.
See content
Biodiversity and the value of nature: geographer Nicolas Dendoncker co-authors a major international publication
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has just published a study in the prestigious journal Nature, listing and assessing the different values we place on nature. Nicolas Dendoncker, professor in the Department of Geography and member of the ILEE Institute at UNamur, is one of the co-authors.
See content