Videos

"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 👉 🎥

As if developing a cancer drug is not difficult enough, you still have to successfully get that medicine to the tumor. Tim Bomberna (Ghent University) explains how computer simulations show us the way.

Did you know that the water we drink and the air we breathe contain small fractions of metals? If the doses are low, this is not a problem, but once they're too high, this becomes harmful to our health. That's why Reinhart Van Poucke wants to capture metal particles from the air, water, and soil so that they don't end up in our food chain.

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.

We used to go to the doctor when feeling ill. Now we all first pay a visit to Doctor Google. But how reliable is online health information? Joyce Stroobant (University of Ghent) has three tips for you to assess the trustworthiness of online health info.

Almost 100 years ago Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic: penicillin. Even then, he warned that there would come a day when bacteria would be resistant to all antibiotics. That day is now very near. Will the 'killer combination' of enzybiotics and water droplets save us from super-bacteria?

Worldwide, some 235 million people suffer from asthma. Drugs such as a quick-relief inhaler can help to suppress their symptoms. But they can't cure asthma. Fien Gysens hopes that her research will contribute to finding a cure for asthma!

Mice that follow a low-calorie diet appear to be protected against the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Charysse Vandendriessche is investigating why this is the case to gather more insight in the underlying disease mechanism. This information could into the future contribute to the development of a treatment against this devastating disease.

Do you know where these worms live? Well, they actually live in the intestines of humans. A quarter of the world population is infected with these soil-transmitted helminths. Sara Roose is developing a new diagnostic test to help fight human worm infections.

Frederik Engelen is working on vaccines for cattle. This way, he wants to ensure that beef does not become contaminated with a dangerous variant of the e-coli bacterium.

Rahel Park has a dilemma for you: what to do if a bunch of flies land on the cake you were just about to eat? Should you eat it anyway or should you throw it away? Watch the video for the -scientifically substantiated- answer!