Videos

Your gut is filled with 'superhero' bacteria that help you maintain your body in a healthy way. These superheroes rely on prebiotics; compounds that help them grow. Karina Rios Rios (VITO) is looking for such prebiotics in unsuspected resources... Find out how she wants to help you feed your superhero bacteria.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could use a sponge to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and help stop global warming? That's what Yoran De Vos (VITO) is hoping to achieve. But his sponge is nothing like an ordinary kitchen sponge.

Imagine being sick and simply being able to ask your body what's going on and what it needs to get better. Well, the proteins in our body can tell us that. But it takes a long time for us to understand what they're saying. With his tool, QCquan.net, bioinformatician Joris Van Houtven is determined to speed up that process!

Insects and fruit, it doesn't seem like a very successful combination. And yet, insect breeders and their 'critters' can help strawberry farmers to grow more and healthier strawberries. Lise Soetemans (VITO) explains how.

How do we prevent power breaks when everyone starts driving electric vehicles? With smart grid pricing! Niels Govaerts (VITO - KU Leuven - EnergyVille) explains how this works.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased awareness about the importance of indoor ventilation. But measuring indoor air quality and ventilation rates often requires eco-unfriendly substances or complex and expensive equipment. Luckily, Sarah Lima Paralovo (Universiteit Gent - VITO) is developing a simple method to measure ventilation rates.

One in six Belgians is obese and thus runs an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This disease can affect the entire liver, in which case a liver transplant is needed to save the patient. Anneleen Remmerie (Ghent University - VIB) is looking for a way to combat the disease without the need for a new liver.

"Evolution is like a race: the individual who can reproduce the fastest wins the race. But we all know of one race that was not won by the fastest..." Jana Helsen (KU Leuven - VIB) explains how evolution is sometimes a bit like the fable about the tortoise and the hare.

Lots of people dislike these black sweets. But did you know that liquorice candy might well contain an ingredient to help cure wounds? Esther Hoste investigates whether an active compound found in the root of the liquorice plant can heal diabetic wounds 👉 🎥

Melanoma is a very common and lethal type of skin cancer. Melanoma cells have a strange, yet effective defence mechanism called autophagy: they can manage to survive by eating parts of themselves. Monica Vara Perez tries to figure out this self-cannibalism mechanism in order to help defeat melanoma.

Have you ever noticed how seeds are omnipresent? You find them in our daily bread, they are used in medicines, cosmetics, and even jewelry. This has always been the case, throughout the history of mankind. Archaeobotanist Sidonie Preiss dives into archaeological wells, granaries, and even latrines to recover seeds and reconstruct the shared history of plants and mankind.

It’s always thought that evolution happens by slow and gradual changes. But can evolution also happen fast? Oh, yes - as Zoë de Corte's research on beetles shows.