Difficulty:
Adv-Intermediate
France
This news report explores the possibilities of new biofuels. The company Gecco is testing biofuels made from coffee grounds and cooking oil on service vehicles and a school bus in hopes of converting waste from schools and other institutions.
Difficulty:
Adv-Intermediate
France
Did you know that France is the most nuclear-dependent country in the world? These protesters are trying to change that statistic in their demonstration against nuclear energy in Paris's Place de la Bastille.
Difficulty:
Adv-Intermediate
France
Birds aren't the only ones who might feel their lifestyle's been a bit restricted lately. France’s rural cats enjoy a good hunt. But the avian flu has put the lid on sporting felines living in affected areas.
Difficulty:
Adv-Intermediate
France
Five of the nine districts of Lyon, the second largest French city, are being monitored for the H5N1 virus, better known as “Bird Flu”.
Difficulty:
Adv-Intermediate
France
It’s common to see photos of celebrities aged forty and up happily pregnant or pushing a pram. But according to most doctors, a woman’s chances of conceiving drop dramatically after age thirty-eight or so. Of course there are exceptions. Modern medical fertility treatments allowed a sixty-six-year-old Romanian woman to give birth to twins in 2005. But unless we’re willing and able to procure such treatments, which can be financially, emotionally, and physically draining, those who want to wait until their forties to have kids will have to take their chances.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
A beekeeper in La Roche-sur-Yon has found the perfect place for his apiary: the rooftop of a supermarket. It's a win-win situation: the store manager helps the beekeeper with his production in return for a steady supply of local honey.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
Global warming is threatening the ski industry in the French Alps. Many operators have to resort to snow guns to keep the slopes open as snowfall has halved in the last fifty years.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
Lionel tells us about the Seine's recent flooding, caused by severe weather conditions in Paris and surrounding areas. A statue of a French soldier below the Pont de l'Alma acts as an indicator of the river's water level.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
After the devastating earthquake, three French volunteer aid workers—a doctor, a nurse, and a rescue crew worker—spent two weeks in Haiti helping the country’s effort to begin to sort through the chaos. We hear the impressions of one of the workers upon his return to France.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
Just how bad can stress from work get? Though the effects of stress may not always be visible or immediately apparent, some employees have been driven to insomnia, depression, even suicide because of difficulties at work. Some companies have implemented new anti-stress measures, but will that be enough?
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
Pain, and how to better manage it, is becoming increasingly focused on by members of the medical community. Some hospitals have even appointed special doctors for pain management and a few are opening pain management centers.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
There are warnings on cigarettes, warnings on bottles of wine, but do we really need warnings on rich foods? Who doesn’t know that they can make you gros et malsain?
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
A robot is sent into a deep ocean fault south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. Its mission: to explore mineral chimneys and collect the organisms that can live there without sunlight.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
Not only can sleep apnea keep you from getting a good night’s sleep, but it can also wreak havoc on your health, causing such serious health problems as brain damage and cardiovascular disease. Luckily, thanks to research by the National Scientific Research Center in Strasbourg and special equipment like oxygen masks, sufferers of sleep apnea may now be better able to get some rest.
Difficulty:
Intermediate
France
The Yacyretá dam in Argentina is controversial for several reasons. Accused by some to be the result of a bribe to displace the local population, the dam has now gotten famed French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand into hot water. Arthus-Bertrand, who was filming a documentary there, is alleged to have walked out on a twenty-eight-thousand-euro bill he owed to a local travel agency.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? You will not be able to recover it.