Scientists are trying to date (thanks to the U-Pb method) precisely the moments when asteroids have impacted the Earth. The idea is to link these impacts to possible environmental catastrophes that they would have initiated. To do this, we are looking for clues preserved in the rocks that were shocked during the impact on Earth. These clues are identifiable in the minerals on a very small scale (a few nanometers) and testify to the intense deformations that the material underwent during the impact.

Congratulations to Aslihan Sayilan and Louis-Marie Lebas, two PhD students from INSA Lyon! Their image won the best microscopy award in SEMPA 2022 in Nantes and has been published in "The Conversation" journal on the 7th of September, 2022.

Une formation sur le couplage de la microscopie à sonde locale et la nanophotonique se tiendra à Lyon le 6 décembre 2022.