Passionate about the oceans and their protection, sailor Maud Fontenoy publishes with photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand the book "Blue, an ocean of solutions".

Underwater solutions that she details in the program "It feels good", with three marine animals that are keys to medical research.

INTERVIEW

Very involved in the protection of the oceans (particularly with the Ministry of National Education and UNESCO), sailor Maud Fontenoy publishes with Yann Arthus-Bertrand the

Blue

Book 

, an ocean of solutions. 

According to her, "it is almost out of selfishness that we must preserve the marine environment or the environment at all".

Because the marine environment is full of solutions for humans, in terms of food, oxygen, transport ... but also health, as she explains in three examples in the program

Ç

a fait du bien

. 

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For Maud Fontenoy, you have to see the ocean as a huge library, where animals and plants are books.

“If you burn those pounds, you get a little bit of fire and a little bit of energy,” she explains.

"But you won't know the full potential these books offer us."

A superblood worm 

And among these "solution books", there is one that looks like nothing: the lugworm.

This little beach maggot could however revolutionize organ transplants.

"Its hemoglobin carries 40 times more oxygen than human hemoglobin, and transmissible to all blood groups", explains Maud Fontenoy

Another feat of animal blood: it can be freeze-dried.

And therefore kept well beyond 3 weeks, unlike human blood bags.

"We will be able to keep our grafts which are often damaged by lack of oxygen".

No wonder then that the lugworm fascinates researchers.

An immortal jellyfish

In the same vein, medicine is looking at a jellyfish that measures 5mm in length, the Turritopsis nutricula.

"She is currently very studied because she is immortal", indicates Maud Fontenoy.

"When she gets older, she becomes an egg again. It's a bit like imagining an old man coming back as a baby or a butterfly coming back as a caterpillar."

What fascinate medicine, which has not yet found concrete applications for this discovery.

But the world of cosmetics is obviously very interested.

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Maud Fontenoy calls to act for the protection of seas and oceans, "the pot of humanity"

A sponge against cancer

More fundamentally, cancer researchers are also finding solutions in the oceans.

"In 1908, we understood the proliferation of carcinogenic cells thanks to the starfish, a discovery which won a Nobel Prize", reveals the navigator.

And advances in the field continue today.

“Last year, we discovered a molecule in some sea sponges that may be effective in fighting cancer,” she adds. 

Worms, jellyfish, starfish and sea sponges are all additional reasons to protect the oceans.

"If you degrade them, you pollute your own survival. And you crush solutions with your foot at the same time", thus summarizes the ambassador to the Ministry of National Education and Youth for education in the Sea and Sea classes.