Videos

Why do scientists sometimes call microalgae "the green gold"? Well, in addition to biofuels and astronaut food, you could use them to make sunscreen. These tiny algae contain substances that protect them from sunlight, which can also come in handy for humans. Unfortunately, they don't naturally produce enough of those substances. Elke Vereecke researches how to grow microalgae packed with those sunlight-protecting components.

Have you ever seen a timber-frame building? 🏠 You might be wondering how safe such a structure actually is. Well, the truth is that we don't quite know yet. Structural engineer Dries Byloos 👷 tells you why and how he is pushing for safer and taller timber-frame buildings.

Sujith Reddy is working on perovskites, a promising new solar cell technology that captures more sunlight and costs less than conventional solar cells. Sounds great, right! But there's a catch: these perovskite solar cells ironically tend to break down when exposed to ... light. Sujith wants to uncover the mechanisms behind this degradation in order to improve perovskites and to use them on a larger scale.

How do you make a dairy cow emit less nitrogen without her producing less milk? To this end, Tine Van Den Bossche (ILVO - UGent) is doing tests with different feed additives that help the cow make milk proteins, among other things. Her goal: to provide milk that is not only good for all of us, but also better for the environment!

Can you think of what products you would like to buy in 10 years' time? Predicting the future is quite difficult, isn't it? And yet that is what we expect from people who invent and develop new products. Lore Brosens wants to help product designers, both students and existing design engineers. How? By training them to think critically and come up with creative solutions.

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.

Do you think we will be able to stop CO2 emissions by 2050? Because that's what we need to do to fight climate change. Worldwide, an estimated one million researchers are currently working on solutions for climate change. At Hasselt University, Talieh Rajabloo is mapping state-of-the-art climate research & technologies that can help energy-intensive industries such as the petrochemical and metal sectors reduce their CO2 emissions.

Washing hands, we do it more than ever due to COVID. But did you know there's a dirty side to soap? Heavy metals and chemicals are used in its production. UGent researcher Goedele Luyten wants to make more environmentally friendly soap and for this, she relies on ... yeast. Watch the video 🎥

Did you ever enjoy a nicely packed fruit salad with an easy-peel lid? It's a beautiful display of packaging technology: the packaging is strong enough to protect your food, yet at the same time very easy for you to open once you want to dive in. Bram Bamps (UHasselt) explains how he optimizes heat-sealing packaging to keep our food safe and to ensure long shelf life.

Imagine that you could use the CO2 emissions of factories to feed animals! Two birds with one stone. Well, this is possible! in this video, Lotte Van Peteghem (Ghent University) explains how she would like to use the CO2 emissions of steel factory Arcelor Mittal to eventually feed about 150,000 pigs

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.

Products with an eco-label are often more expensive than regular products. Bio-engineer Sven Dierickx is determined to change this: he uses yeast from bumblebee honey to make environmentally friendly ánd low-cost detergent 🐝🍽🧽