Videos

Did you know that AI can help doctors detect breast cancer? Or that it can be used to predict sepsis, a life-threatening condition, in premature babies? AI seems to be a great advancement in many ways, yet many people fear or don't trust the technology. Ignace Decroix wants to identify what exactly causes people to have more or less trust in AI.

Why is it that some plants like moss stay very small, while others grow to become large trees? 🌳 "There's still a lot that we don't know about how plants grow exactly", says Max Minne (VIB - UGent). To find out more Max uses an innovative technique that allows him to look at every single cell in the plant and unravel how the hormone cytokinin, responsible for plant growth, impacts each one of them. 

Up to 25% of the cells present in lung cancer tumours are currently ignored. As such, we don't know what the role of these so-called B cells is. "It is crucial to figure that out because we cannot efficiently fight something we do not fully understand," says Pauline Bardet (VUB - VIB - FWO).

In her PhD, she wants to get to the bottom of those B cells and thus find out whether those cells are "good guys" or "bad guys".

Roughly every 5 minutes someone on this planet dies of ALS, and the sad truth is that we still do not have an effective treatment to cure this disease. The problem lies in the fact that we do not fully understand what causes ALS in the first place. In his doctorate, Jimmy Beckers is trying to solve a piece of the puzzle. He is investigating whether a malfunction in our internal cellular recycling system might be linked to ALS.

Students constantly talking in class, making crazy noises or just walking around... Recognise this? As a teacher, it is often difficult to deal with problem behaviour in pupils. To support teachers in this, Julie D'haeyer and her colleagues developed 'Leerkracht Veerkracht' (Teacher Resilience). A programme that allows you, together with your school team, to look for a solution that works for your school.

Imagine that, instead of emitting harmful CO2 into the atmosphere, we could recycle it and use it to power your future laptop or smartphone. That's what Kevin Van Daele is researching. He is developing new catalysts to efficiently convert CO2 into formic acid, a valuable chemical that could one day power your future electronic devices. 

Everywhere in Flanders you can find beautiful historical buildings, such as belfries and castles. They have been there for hundreds of years, but keeping all this historical heritage healthy is no easy task. Think of moisture problems and mold growth. And what about climate change? Is our heritage protected against it? Bruno Vanderschelden finds out.

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!

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.

"Loneliness, that's just part of getting older, right?" This perception prevails in our society. Sociologist Haike Delafontaine wants to help dispel myths and stereotypes surrounding loneliness among seniors, thus lowering the threshold for talking about it. This is necessary, because did you know that loneliness increases the risk of dying prematurely by as much as 26%?

What does a duck have to do with your electricity consumption? Researcher Ellen Beckstedde (Vlerick Business School - KU Leuven) explains it to you in detail in this video.