SCIENCE

Whales sing at the same wavelength as the neutrinos emitted by stars. This happy coincidence gave physicists the idea to share their undersea telescopes with marine biologists. By helping the development of a bioaccoustics network to monitor the deep sea environment, they have already enabled the discovery of the unexpected presence of sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea. It is even possible to listen to the song of whales live from home with a personal computer connected to the web, thanks to the LIDO platform (Listen to the Deep Ocean) : http://listentothedeep.com/

European astroparticle physicists are developing together KM3NeT, a large undersea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, dedicated to tracking neutrinos from astronomical sources. The deployment of deep sea neutrino detection lines for current experiments such as Antarès in France, Nemo in Italy and Nestor in Greece has opened up the possibility of also installing monitoring devices for the permanent study of the deep sea environment: studies of ocean currents, of bioluminescence, of fauna and of seismic activity. 

Astroparticle physics is a new field mixing both particle physics and astrophysics and offering many new opportunities for environmental disciplines such as oceanography, climate science and studies of the  atmosphere, geology... 

The ASPERA European network for astroparticle physics and CNRS/IN2P3 invite the media to participate in the workshop on 1st and 2nd December at the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, where the new synergies and challenges of environmental sciences and astroparticle physics will be presented.