Videos

Did you know that the sea can penetrate our lands and water resources unnoticed? Today, we find that saltwater in our polders, up to several kilometers inland. This salt water can make agricultural land and water supplies unusable. To find out exactly how far inland and how deep the saltwater problem reaches, Wouter Deleersnyder and his colleagues use a helicopter, a giant metal detector, and their knowledge of physics & geology. How all of this works, is explained by Wouter in this video.

Why do cancer patients relapse despite receiving treatment? This is often due to dormant cancer cells. These cells lie dormant in the body and manage to escape treatment, for example, chemotherapy. Can substances from camel and llama blood provide a breakthrough?

When you think of animals with horns, you probably think of cows, goats, and rhinos. But did you know that many species of snakes have horns too? While this has been under the eye of researchers for a long time, it's still unclear why some snakes have horns. What do you think they're for? Federico Banfi sheds some light on current hypotheses. He hopes to find answers in his Ph.D. research.  

"What if I told you that the way you spend your money, reveals aspects of your mental health, such as anxiety or depression. We can make this connection thanks to Artificial Intelligence." Yanou Ramon (UAntwerp - FWO) explains how to make AI rule(s) in this video, as to offer treatment to people who need it most. 

"Muy exclusivo: las fotos del horror" is written on the cover of this Argentine newspaper. That headline refers to the photos of the dead body of a young woman that the journalists shamelessly published. "Fortunately, there are also writers in Latin America who describe gender violence in a more ethical way, in so-called chronicles", says Eva Van Hoey (UGent). She investigates how gender violence is represented in the literary genre of the chronicle.

In Belgium, around 10,000 dogs suffer from epilepsy 🐕 This makes it the most common neurological disorder. Unfortunately, the seizures are often difficult to explain and thus to treat. Fien Verdoodt (UGent) explains why the cause might lie in intestinal bacteria...

Did you know that besides basic physical needs, such as sleeping and eating, you also have basic psychological needs? You will not die immediately if these psychological needs are not fulfilled, but it can make you very unhappy. Daphne van den Boogaard explains what these needs are and how you can train to manage your own happiness.

Did you know that cancer cells are not so different from our healthy cells? This makes it difficult for T-cells, important immune cells in our body, to recognise and fight cancer cells. Cancer researcher Heleen Hanssens (VUB-FWO) wants to give T-cells a helping hand by equipping them with more sensitive receptors, or antennae, that are pre-programmed to unmask cancer cells. In the lab, she is looking for the perfect form for these CAR antennae, so that they become more stable and better at detecting cancer cells. 

Ever wondered why your smartphone seems to know everything about you? You talk to a friend on Whatsapp about getting a new coffee machine and suddenly you see online ads about coffee machines everywhere. What is happening and what can we do about this? Laura Drechsler (VUB - FWO) tells you more about data & data protection law in this video.

Someone who suffers a stroke often has to learn to walk again. Unfortunately, such rehabilitation - walking for hours on a treadmill - is often very boring and therefore difficult to maintain. "Let's make this more challenging", says Emma De Keersmaecker (VUB - FWO). She has patients complete their rehabilitation in a virtual environment using VR glasses, for example on Mars among aliens. "Walking on a treadmill will never have to be boring again!"

Imagine not being able to feel a hug anymore. This is what happens to some patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT1A). They get weaker muscles, their muscles die and sometimes they even lose the sense of touch. In order to research the disease more quickly and efficiently, Karen Libberecht (UHasselt - VIB - FWO) studies her patients ... in a petri dish. She explains how that works exactly in this video.

"The cemetery was the place where Jewish life was concentrated at the end. It was the place where people went to sunbathe, children had to play, ..." Literature scholar Annelies Augustyns (VUB - UAntwerp - FWO) studied German-Jewish diaries from WWII for her PhD. These offer a glimpse into the "everyday" life of Jews in the Third Reich.