
We are pleased to announce Cyrille Jeancolas’ PhD defense titled ” Making life from scratch in a biochemical laboratory? Implementation of evolutionary properties in biomolecular networks, ethnographic investigation, and epistemological reflection“. The specialization of the thesis is formally in biochemistry but the work brings together an interdisciplinary approach combining biochemistry, […]
Read MoreFriday 8 October at 6 pm (UTC+2): Cyrille Jeancolas will present his doctoral work on the origin of life at the occasion of the science festival “La fête de la science”. Through a double approach involving biochemistry and social anthropology, he will show how to build biomolecular systems between the […]
Read MoreWe are pleased to share an extract of "La vie en fragments" ("Fragments of Life"), our interdisciplinary exhibition project. Elaborated by artists and scientists, this exhibition wishes to offer fundamental insights on life and on the consequences of biotechnologies on the organisation of human societies.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like more information about this project.
Drawing on the achievements of the anthropology of nature, the work of this team seeks to document the variations, in space and time, of the conceptions that humans have of life and the living through the actions they exert on vital processes. In particular, the aim is to explore the diversity of intellectual and practical devices through which humans objectify vital processes - for example, growth, reproduction, regeneration or senescence - in order to influence or control them. Whether it integrates data from biology into its ethnographic investigations or explores conceptions of the living that have developed independently of Western science, this collective reflection aims, from an epistemological perspective, to articulate the approaches to the living produced by anthropology.
The question of the conditions of the appearance of life or the presence of life in the universe, long considered to belong to the speculative domain, is becoming an active field of research. This affects many scientific fields of astronomy and astrophysics (with the discovery of extrasolar planets and our better knowledge of the solar system thanks to space probes), physico-chemistry and biology (with our advances concerning the pre-biotic world, the emergence of living matter, and the key stages of evolution). This reflection is also accompanied by a questioning of our way of thinking about the frontiers between the living and the non-living and how we represent them. With the project IRIS Origins and conditions of appearance of life, PSL wishes to contribute in a unique way to this theme.
The SYVIE project proposes to reflect, from an interdisciplinary perspective, on how to build technical systems that keep living systems alive while being as closed/isolated as possible. It is an interdisciplinary research that brings together anthropologists, ecologists, chemists and biologists, geochemists, and via an international network, space and planets specialists, engineers, architects and experts in robotics and artificial intelligence.
Biomimicry is often presented as a solution to the ecological crisis that human societies are going through. For its advocates, this approach could establish, or restore, a less destructive relationship with the environment, by adopting approaches and manufacturing processes that imitate nature.
But as we sketch out the guiding ideas for new models of individual and collective action, we need to reflect on the conceptions of nature, life and technology associated with these practices, and not only in Western societies. Rather than considering the imitation of nature and life as a universal mechanism, it is crucial to reflect on the anthropological foundations of biomimicry or - to emphasize the diversity of practices - "biomimicry".
Domestication and fabrication of life is an action supported by the Mission Interdisciplinarite du CNRS (Pépinière de site CNRS–PSL) engages in interdisciplinary reflection involving the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics,...), the human sciences (anthropology, epistemology, philosophy, sociology,...) and technologies (robotics,...) in order to question the boundaries and definitions of the living and the non-living.
Sorbonne Nouvelle University
CNRS/ Collège de France - PSL
University of Paris (UP)
Université de Palerme, EHESS, Collège de France
Sorbonne Université
ESADMM
MNHN - IMPMC -IUF
EHESS
ESPCI - Collège de France
Sorbonne Université - ENS
EHESS/LAS/ADEME
ESPCI
CNRS-Collège de France/PSL
University of Roehampton, London
King's College London
University of Brasilia, Brazil
IPGG
Strasbourg University