Chercheur engagé et inlassable pédagogue, ce grand amoureux de l’archive entreprend une synthèse de l’histoire sociale de la France au XXe siècle avec « Les Français de la Belle Epoque ».

Moyennant 400 millions de livres par an, l'opérateur télécoms, qui détenait déjà les droits de la compétition jusqu'en 2020-2021, en conserve l'exclusivité outre-Manche pour trois années supplémentaires.

Dans un style direct et parfois maladroit, l’évêque de Toulon plaide pour une revitalisation du christianisme occidental, que le « succès » de l’islam devrait selon lui stimuler.

The environmental impact of such technological advances can be huge

There is, alas, no such thing as a free lunch. This simple and obvious truth is invariably forgotten whenever irrational exuberance teams up with digital technology in the latest quest to “change the world”. A case in point was the bitcoin frenzy, where one could apparently become insanely rich by “mining” for the elusive coins. All you needed was to get a computer to solve a complicated mathematical puzzle and – lo! – you could earn one bitcoin, which at the height of the frenzy was worth $19,783.06. All you had to do was buy a mining kit (or three) from Amazon, plug it in and become part of the crypto future.

The only problem was that mining became progressively more difficult the closer we got to the maximum number of bitcoins set by the scheme and so more and more computing power was required. Which meant that increasing amounts of electrical power were needed to drive the kit. Exactly how much is difficult to calculate, but one estimate published in July by the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge suggested that the global bitcoin network was then consuming more than seven gigwatts of electricity. Over a year, that’s equal to around 64 terawatt-hours (TWh), which is 8 TWh more than Switzerland uses annually. So each of those magical virtual coins turns out to have a heavy environmental footprint.

Dipsea’s Gina Gutierrez spends her days setting investors straight and moderating “Hunks Brainstorm” sessions.