Videos

A strawberry picking robot: a fine example of innovation in agriculture. Yet innovations seem difficult to spread in the agricultural sector. That's why Evelien Cronin is researching how we can improve the innovation process: "Alone you go faster, but together you get further."

In order to convince the construction sector to build more circularly, hard figures are needed to show that circular constructions are more advantageous both ecologically and financially. This is what Lisa Van Gulck (University of Ghent) wants to ensure.

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.

In these covid times, we have to follow concerts via live streams, musicians jam virtually instead of in their rehearsal room, and music lessons take place via online video. But how does technology influence musical interactions? Musicologist Bavo Van Kerrebroeck (Ghent University) studies this through fascinating experiments using VR and spatial sounds.

Heavy smartphone use results in poorer study performance, according to research by Simon Amez (Ghent University). To investigate this, Simon followed students for three years. Students with above-average smartphone use even score up to 1 point out of 20 less on their exams than their fellow students. 👨🏼‍🎓 📱

The disappearance of forests is nothing less than "a genocide of trees, with bleeding stumps and amputated branches. With this powerful imagery, the French writer Pierre Gascar already sounded the alarm about the environment 50 years ago. Sara Buekens studies how he and his colleagues wanted to put environmental issues on the agenda in their novels half a century ago. Are you ready for an ecological novel?

Did you know that the Greek philosopher Aristotle considered the idea that the woman is inferior to the man as a scientific fact? But how did Islamic philosophers of the Middle Ages, who were quite fond of Aristotle, think about the role of women? Completely different, according to the research of philosopher Tineke Melkebeek.  

On social media clips of skirmishes between citizens and the police regularly pop up and, in a flash, go viral. They elicit a lot of reactions, not least the classic "things used to be better in the old days". But was there less violence on the streets in the past? Historian Martin Schoups delves into documents from 19th-century Antwerp.

Can you imagine a future where you could travel from Liverpool to London in a fully electric flying taxi in one hour? Andre Pitillas (Imec & Ku Leuven) is working on the 'batteries of the future' that will help make this happen.

Industrial exoskeletons can support factory and construction workers in their heavy daily tasks and prevent back pain and other work-related injuries. So why exoskeletons not yet widely used in companies? That's what Shirley Elprama (Imec - VUB) is researching: she talks to companies and informs exoskeleton-designers so that they can build better exoskeletons in the future. 

Migration is often seen as something 'negative', and as a 'modern' phenomenon. But migration has always been a part of humanity and comes with many positive effects, as Ahmad Wali Ahmad Yar (VUB) argues.

Corrosion of metal structures can lead to disasters, such as the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genua in 2018. In order to help prevent such tragedies engineer Negin Madelat is working on a method for the early detection of corrosion underneath a thick layer of coating.