Videos

Katleen Wils is a geologist researching earthquakes, yet you'll mostly see her on a boat bobbing in lakes. "What on earth do lakes have to do with earthquakes?", we hear you thinking. "Thanks to lakes, we can look back in time, up to thousands of years ago," Katleen explains. And at the bottom of lakes, this is how she finds traces of ancient earthquakes. What we can learn from this for the future, she tells you in this video.

Dogs and humans have a lot in common, at least when it comes to cancer. That means that successful new treatments tested in dogs could be applied to humans. That's why Nayra Valle uses dogs with spontaneous cancer to develop and test a new technique for image-guided surgery. This could help surgeons better remove cancer tumors when operating on patients.

Do you drink juice in the morning or enjoy a glass of wine to relax after a busy day? Did you know that in order to preserve its flavor and prevent bacterial growth, your favorite beverage has to go through several stages of processing? One is the filtration process, a very expensive production stage. To ensure you can enjoy your favorite drink at a low(er) price, Rishav Phukan is developing next-generation membranes, which will help the industry cut costs and produce in a more eco-friendly way.

What if highways became walking and cycling corridors with live music, food trucks, street artists, and beautiful green spaces? What if your train car was transformed into a gym or a comfortable working space to use during your commute? Hannah Hook (UGent) wants to re-evaluate travel, focusing on human well-being.

Research shows that young children learn too little in nurseries. Should creches then become little schools? "No," says pedagogue Simon Wemel. "However, they can focus on 'learning by playing', because playing is the driving force in young children's development." To inspire and support child supervisors in this, Simon and his colleague Ann Steverlynck created the book "The realm of play", with numerous practical examples. Let's play!

Every year, the Belgian police have the equivalent of some 3,600 officers absent due to sick leave. "That's as if there wasn't an officer in Antwerp and Ghent for a year," explains criminologist Celien De Stercke (UGent). Why is it that absence rates in the police have been higher than in other sectors for years? By looking at the sick absences from 2019, De Stercke got a better understanding of which groups within the police are especially absent for long periods and what factors play a role.

As an occupational therapist, how do you ensure that older people can continue to live independently and safely at home for as long as possible? That they can continue to drive their own car? Or that they can use public transport when that is no longer possible? To better support occupational therapists working with older people living at home, Leen Bouckaert & her colleagues drew up a clinical guideline. In it, they pour the latest scientific insights on elderly care into concrete recommendations for occupational therapists.

Home and family care workers go out on the road every day to help their clients. That busy round is often a complex puzzle, where they have to take into account distances, personal preferences but also, e.g., medication times. To help them with this, Ruben Vanbosseghem and his colleagues are using AI to develop a smart home care planner.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. One out of 4 people dies from it. To improve treatment options for patients suffering from heart disease, mechanical engineer Mathias Peirlinck develops digital twins of patient hearts. Digital what? Watch Mathias (and his digital twin) explain it in this video.

Last summer, Wallonia experienced massive rainfall, resulting in deadly floods. Did you know that we only expect such weather once every 400 years at the most? We can calculate this because we have been measuring precipitation in our country for more than 120 years. But with 120 years of data, how (well) can you predict 400 years from now? Jorn Van de Velde will tell in this video. 

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.

In the not-so-distant past, Flemish mathematics education was at the top of the world. Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen a negative trend. Bea Merckx and her colleagues want to help turn the tide. Thanks to their research, as a teacher you are only a few mouse clicks away from a more varied and deeper mathematics and science education!