Videos

Every machine, from your phone to rockets in space, heats up and needs to cool down. To keep your devices from overheating, heat exchangers and heat sinks play a crucial role in absorbing and dissipating excess heat. But how can we make these systems even better? Samanwitha Kolli is keeping it cool with 3D-printing technology!

Chemical pollutants such as PFAS or UV filters are omnipresent. They are used in cosmetics, toys, or food packaging materials. But we don't understand how they affect the human body because we don't have a clear picture of how they interact in the body. This is why Andrea Rodriguez Carrillo wants to follow the journey that chemicals take from the moment they enter your body.

Did you know that 1 in 4 products that surround you contains precious metals? Think about your phone, laptop, or car. "Since these metals are rare and expensive, we urgently need better ways to recycle them", says Omar Martinez (VITO - KU Leuven). His PhD has led to a breakthrough solution: he developed a new, sustainable method, called GDEx, which allows for the selective recovery of these precious metals, with nearly 100% efficiency.

Do you know what happens with your blood sample after a visit to the doctor for a check-up? Your blood sample undergoes testing for common biomolecules like cholesterol, glucose, or vitamin D. Modern technology allows for testing beyond these basics, generating vast amounts of data. Dries Heylen is developing visualizations and analytical techniques to help researchers make sense of this complex data, providing deeper insights into how specific biomolecules relate to diseases and which ones are crucial to monitor. Bloody genius, right?

Have you ever enjoyed a delicious smoothie? The way this tasty drink is made has similarities to how Alzheimer's disease research has been approached in the past decades. In this video, Lara De Deyn explains why she chooses a fruit salad approach in her research. A very nice metaphor to tell how Alzheimer's disease research is evolving.

Why do people get cancer, arthritis, or Alzheimer's? Essentially because a protein key in our body does not fit in its respective lock. This is why Alvaro Martin is looking at removing defective keys and designing new protein keys. Keys that fit and can open the necessary locks, so that for example, our immune cells target and kill cancerous cells. "Protein design can be the key to unlocking a future without diseases."

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.

Have you ever heard of the mysterious "crazy root disease"? Sounds like something you'd rather not have in your garden or greenhouse, right? 🌱 Find out more about this bizarre plant disease and how the VIB and the KU Leuven are determined to get rid of it! 💡✨

What if we could predict whether a person with dementia is about to become agitated? That would help caregivers intervene in time and direct their attention to this person, so as to prevent agitation onset. That's what Hannah Davidoff (KU Leuven - Imec) hopes to achieve. Using wearables and other sensors, she builds algorithms to detect agitation.

Do you own an electric car? Then you know how difficult it can be to find available charging spots. But what if we cover electric cars with solar panels so that they can charge themselves with the power of the sun? Well, that's not easy because conventional solar panels used on roofs can't be integrated into our cars. Electrical engineer Bin Luo is looking at new solar panels suitable for our cars.

Producing renewable, low-cost energy in a robust way remains a challenge. Jose Maria Cuevas (Imec - KU Leuven - Energyville) is looking at a new sort of solar cell that might help do the trick: the *take a breath* 3 Terminal Tandem Bifacial Solar Cell 😅 Say what ⁉️ Jose breaks it down and makes it crystal clear for you in this video. 👏

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.