Geneticist Edith Heard and streamer Arkunir are guests of Clique. CNRS gold medalist and director general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the scientist looks back on her research on epigenetics. Arkunir, followed by more than a million followers on X, presents his blood donation drive with record ambitions against Mouloud Achour.
Edith Heard, a scientist on the set of Clique
Edith Heard is an accomplished scientist. A biologist specializing in the research of epigenetics and the X chromosome, she recently obtained the CNRS gold medal. She is the eighth woman to receive this prize since its creation in 1954. She is currently a professor at the Collège de France after having worked at the Institut Pasteur and the Institut Curie. “If we want to understand how life works, we have to understand where we come from.” His research represents a major advance in understanding how mammalian DNA functions.
In addition to her work on epigenetics and chromosomes, Edith Heard is a fervent defender of the planet and its preservation: “Humans will not survive if the planet does not support us. We have a responsibility to watch over her. We owe him everything.” She asks the general public to trust the words of scientists and encourages them to deliver a clear and accessible speech. “Over the past 100 years we have doubled our life expectancy. Humans are very strong if they take care of themselves and let science advance.”
A record blood drive driven by Arkunir
Edith Heard is joined in the second part of the show by Arkunir. At 22, the streamer gave his first TV interview on the set of Clique. He already has a million subscribers on X, formerly Twitter, where he stood out after winning €40,000 following a bet launched by the number 1 American YouTuber Mr. Beast. The sum was then entirely donated to the 30 million friends Foundation. “I want to take advantage of my notoriety to do good things, so that the day it stops, I can tell myself that I was useful.”
Arkunir has teamed up with the French Blood Establishment for a record blood drive. Indeed, from November 28 to December 1, 2024 at the Paris City Hall, they hope to motivate 4,000 people to participate. “I noticed that on social networks, we tend to do actions through donations via events like the Z Event, but we think less about grassroots actions like donating blood.” Arkunir notes that traditional blood collection campaigns do not necessarily reach young people and wants to remedy this gap.
The interview with Edith Heard and Arkunir is available in replay on myCANAL.
