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Lipid vesicles: a mini revolution Physical chemists at CNRS have developed a simple, fast technique for producing large quantities of lipid vesicles. This is a real godsend, since these microscopic ‘bags’, formed of a membrane similar to that of living cells, have many uses ranging from encapsulating drugs or insecticides to producing red blood cells or artificial bacteria. A patent has been filed for the invention, which is likely to trigger a revolution in biological, medical and industrial research. Soft Matter April 2011 REMORA, a mobile robot with actuation redundancy for manufacturing applications. Parallel robots achieve unparalleled 100 Gbit/s circuits successfully tested performance Parallel robots, equipped with simple arms that move in a A new speed record has been broken: in a single day, CERN in coordinated fashion to perform a task, have broken new records. A Geneva and IN2P3’s computing center in Lyon exchanged the team has developed a new control method for parallel mechanisms equivalent of a petabyte (1015 bytes) of data, at a speed of around with actuation redundancy, i.e. robots that are fitted with more 100 Gbit/s. The experiment was aimed at assessing the possibilities motors than necessary to obtain the desired movements. This of developing RENATER, the telecommunications network that allowed the mechanisms to reach accelerations of 1,000 m/s² connects over 1,000 research and higher education sites in France. in high-precision movements, an unequalled performance This successful result bodes well for a potential switch over to very in industrial robots. high-speed data transmission. Patricia Bouyer-Decitre wins Presburger Prize CNRS senior researcher Patricia Bouyer-Decitre has received the 2011 Presburger Prize. The award is handed out each year by the European Association of Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) to a young scientist working in the field of theoretical computer science. Decitre, who is Deputy Director of the Specifications and Verification Laboratory, works on real-time critical systems such as industrial controllers and communication protocols. Testing the thruster at the PIVOINE-2G national testing facility. 20 kW Hall thruster passes test with flying colors In view of the increasing complexity of in-vehicle embedded electronic systems, a diagnostic-aid CNRS and SNECMA have carried out a series of tests on a protoype software has been patented by a research Hall-effect spacecraft thruster. With a power of 20 kW, this is the team and the ACTIA company. This should help biggest thruster of its type ever tested in Europe. The system, already garage mechanics to select a sequence of tests to find in use on satellites, relies on the action of electric and magnetic fields faulty components with optimal cost and efficiency. to propel charged particles at high speeds. This environmentally- friendly form of propulsion is more efficient and consumes less -------------------------------------------- propellant than conventional chemical systems. 23 2011 A year at CNRS


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