Videos

Plants capture CO2 and, through photosynthesis, convert it into green leaves. Over the past 30 years, the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere has thus led to a widespread increase in the number of green leaves around the world. But recently, there has been a shift: the increase in the number of green leaves is slowing down even though CO2 levels are still rising. Vaidehi Narsingh (Imec - UAntwerp) explains why she is determined to find out what is happening.

Snoring can be very annoying for your bed partner, but it can also seriously disrupt your own sleep as a snorer. Because did you know that snoring is sometimes accompanied by periods in which you literally stop breathing - sometimes even for minutes at a time? That is the case with obstructive sleep apnea. Marijke Dieltjens wants to restore peace and quiet in the bedroom by helping people who suffer from this with a small, personalized mouth brace. She explains how this works in this video.

Why do cancer patients relapse despite receiving treatment? This is often due to dormant cancer cells. These cells lie dormant in the body and manage to escape treatment, for example, chemotherapy. Can substances from camel and llama blood provide a breakthrough?

When you think of animals with horns, you probably think of cows, goats, and rhinos. But did you know that many species of snakes have horns too? While this has been under the eye of researchers for a long time, it's still unclear why some snakes have horns. What do you think they're for? Federico Banfi sheds some light on current hypotheses. He hopes to find answers in his Ph.D. research.  

"What if I told you that the way you spend your money, reveals aspects of your mental health, such as anxiety or depression. We can make this connection thanks to Artificial Intelligence." Yanou Ramon (UAntwerp - FWO) explains how to make AI rule(s) in this video, as to offer treatment to people who need it most. 

Every three seconds, someone in the world is diagnosed with dementia. But what causes it? Dementia can be caused by diseases such as Alzheimer's & Parkinson's. The only way to find out the exact cause is by studying the brain tissue of a patient after his death 🧠  Yaël Hirschberg hopes to develop a method of identifying this earlier so that a patient can receive targeted care even before the first symptoms of dementia appear. Watch her explain how  

"As researchers, we are not lucky enough to have the budget to crash hundreds of vehicles to test a new technology." So how can researchers test whether a new tiny semiconductor is safe to use in electric vehicles? For this, Sajib Chakraborty (VUB) developed a digital twin. A what? Watch the video to find out more.

Did you know that cancer cells are not so different from our healthy cells? This makes it difficult for T-cells, important immune cells in our body, to recognise and fight cancer cells. Cancer researcher Heleen Hanssens (VUB-FWO) wants to give T-cells a helping hand by equipping them with more sensitive receptors, or antennae, that are pre-programmed to unmask cancer cells. In the lab, she is looking for the perfect form for these CAR antennae, so that they become more stable and better at detecting cancer cells. 

Ever wondered why your smartphone seems to know everything about you? You talk to a friend on Whatsapp about getting a new coffee machine and suddenly you see online ads about coffee machines everywhere. What is happening and what can we do about this? Laura Drechsler (VUB - FWO) tells you more about data & data protection law in this video.

Did you know that some bacteria can be used to produce a kind of bioplastic? This biodegradable plastic could become a sustainable alternative for the current petroleum-based plastics, but at the moment the cost of the production of this bacterial bioplastic is still too high. Microbiologist Radwa Moanis (VUB) explains why turning to heat-loving bacteria might solve this problem 🦠 🌡

Getting out of bed in the morning is quite a feat, and not just on Monday mornings. It requires a series of complex motor actions, which we perform without thinking, on automatic pilot. In patients with Parkinson's disease, these automatic actions are disturbed. Something goes wrong in the brain so that they suddenly have to think about every action. Mahyar Firouzi (VUB) is investigating whether brain stimulation can help to improve automatic action in Parkinson's patients.

Millions of people worldwide suffer from 'invisible' diseases such as chronic widespread pain and chronic fatigue syndrome, which makes patients feel ill for days or even weeks after a small effort, such as washing their hair. Jolien Hendrix (VUB - KU Leuven) tries to understand these diseases by looking at epigenetics. Epi what?! Well, you can see this as DNA paperclips as Jolien explains vividly in this video!