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  Writing Colonial History 15.09.2026 55min

  As many economists, political scientists, and policy makers reflect on growing economic inequalities dividing world populations today, a question often arises: how did we get here? Why is it that such significant wealth gaps grew over the years, both within countries and among different regions of the world? Many experts turn to history for answers,…
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  Research at École Polytechnique 27.08.2026 30min

  85 years ago, Louis Leprince Ringuet created the first research lab at École Polytechnique – a physics lab dedicated to research on the atom, cosmic rays and subatomic particles. Today, École Polytechnique boasts 23 research centers staffed by 1600 researchers in fields as diverse as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and social sciences. Most recently,…
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  Understanding Russia: The French Connection 01.07.2026 41min

  Winston Churchill famously said: “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Today, almost four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many people, throughout the world, are baffled by the long-term goals of the Russian regime and by its internal workings. Historically, France provided a successful model for understanding Russia. Much of…
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  The Rest is Silence 27.05.2026 40min

  One of the mottos of the Enlightenment was “sapere aude”: Dare to know. With this motto, Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot, Voltaire, and Rousseau rejected fanaticism, conventional thinking, and, in many cases, the authority of the Church, submission to religious principles and belief in the afterlife. As they faced death, therefore, it seemed natural that these…
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  Research at Sciences Po 14.04.2026 36min

  Over the last few decades, Sciences Po has significantly increased its footprint in research, becoming one of the world’s leading institutions in social science research. The Sciences Po ecosystem is structured around five disciplines: law, economics, history, political science, and sociology. Research priorities include: the analysis of social policy; economic transformations; social inequalities; environmental transition;…
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  Women’s Rights Today 05.03.2026 52min

  Thirty years ago, the Beijing Declaration charted a path to achieve gender equality worldwide. Since then, some progress was achieved. Girls are surpassing boys in school completion, women are gaining seats in parliament, and nearly 100 countries have scrapped discriminatory laws. But poverty, hunger, conflict, climate change, and backlash against women rights are eroding progress…
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  Mending The Living World – a Conversation with Corine Pelluchon 19.02.2026 34min

  Debates about climate change and the environment often focus, understandably, on risk evaluation, mitigation, and adaptation. Important research is dedicated to technical innovations like carbon capture or renewable energy; adaptive strategies to protect biodiversity; or financial solutions to bolster sustainable investment. This work is important, of course. But in order to get to the root…
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  News from the Extreme Universe 21.01.2026 44min

  In 2027, we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Big Bang theory, first proposed by the Belgivan priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître. In the last 100 years, our knowledge and understanding of the universe has been radically transformed. Back in 1917, Einstein still believed in a static universe. Then came Edwin Hubble, who demonstrated,…
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  The Era of Impostures: Beyond Identity and Polarization 17.12.2025 31min

  Politics, today, seems to be divided by ideology, as much as it is by identity. Our political leanings are determined, not only by our particular vision of the common good, but by who we are, where we come from, and the groups we belong to. One way to understand the degree to which identity shapes…
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  Can Responsible AI Make Humans More Responsible? 17.11.2025 22min

  By all accounts, the AI revolution is upon us and, although we know it will transform our world, its long-term impact – on jobs, on education, on privacy, on our political life – can only be surmised with some degree of prudence. While applications of artificial intelligence in the worlds of transport, communications, and medicine…
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  Young Researchers Who Mend Broken Hearts 26.10.2025 32min

  Every year, 1.3 million babies are born with congenital heart disease worldwide. One third of them need an artificial valve implant. These complex heart surgeries save hundreds of thousands of babies’ lives every year. But valve implants are not a perfect solution. New valves need to be implanted every few years, which requires multiple operations…
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  Proust, A Jewish Way: A Conversation with Antoine Compagnon 17.09.2025 31min

  When the French writer Marcel Proust died at the age of 51 more than a century ago, many obituaries highlighted the fact that his mother was Jewish. But Proust’s relationship with his Jewish side was complex and many critics and readers of his masterwork, In Search of Lost Time, perceive signs of self-hatred and even antisemitism…
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  Knowledge is Beautiful 02.09.2025 26min

  When we think about works of philosophy, sociology, history, or economics, we often think of rigorous, methodically argued tomes written in arid, dispassionate prose. Social science enquiry aims to deliver clear, objective knowledge about the human world, not beautifully written narratives. In fact, we tend to be suspicious of social science and humanities works that…
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  The Rise of the French Far Right 10.07.2025 26min

  In June 2024, the French Far Right party, the National Rally came in first at the European elections, way ahead of the party of President Macron. This sent shockwaves in the French political world and Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly and call for early legislative elections. On June 30th, the National Rally won 33% of the…
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  Research at Columbia 01.06.2025 37min

  Over the last 80 years, research has been at the core of scientific and technological progress in our societies; and universities have played and continue to play a critical role in this process. At Columbia University, research offers a critical pathway to build new knowledge and practical solutions that impact people’s lives in significant ways.…
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  New Trends in World Cinema 12.05.2025 43min

  Over the last decades, the world of cinema has gone through profound transformations. The advent of streaming platforms, the COVID pandemic, and the introduction of AI technology at multiple stages of film production all contributed to create a new landscape which raises many questions about cinema in the future. Will cinema theaters thrive again or…
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  After the Fire: Lead Pollution and Notre Dame 14.04.2025 37min

  On April 15th, 2019, the world saw in awe the Notre Dame Cathedral ravaged by flames. As the fire spread through the beloved Paris landmark, toxic smoke spewed billions of particles of lead from the collapsing roof and spire. In the weeks that followed the disaster, experts and civil society groups raised the alarm about…
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  In Search of the ‘Lost Generation’: American Writers in Paris 19.03.2025 33min

  In Woody Allen’s 2011 movie Midnight in Paris, Gil, a young Hollywood screenwriter and aspiring novelist, played by Owen Wilson, is transported back to the 1920s Paris. Every night, he meets his heroes, Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein. He encounters a cast of artists like Picasso, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dáli, Man Ray. Soon,…
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  Technopolitics: Will AI Reshape Global Power Relations? 04.02.2025 28min

  In most areas of our lives, artificial intelligence is promising to bring revolutionary change – from medicine to transport, from education to food production. Even creative industries – filmmaking, music, and the visual arts – will not be spared. We are all aware that we are part of a huge experiment: indeed, we contribute, willy-nilly,…
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  Will AI Revolutionize Transport? 16.01.2025 26min

  Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the way we work, the way we stay informed, the way we interact with others. It is also set to transform the way we move around in cities. In the air, electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles – eVTOLs – (or air taxis) are already being tested, promising to take passengers…