Videos

When you swallow seawater, you actually ingest thousands of particles (mud, clay, phytoplankton, ...) that are barely visible for the naked eye. Michael Fettweis enlightens you about this universe of particles in a sip of seawater.

Mice that follow a low-calorie diet appear to be protected against the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Charysse Vandendriessche is investigating why this is the case to gather more insight in the underlying disease mechanism. This information could into the future contribute to the development of a treatment against this devastating disease.

Do you know where these worms live? Well, they actually live in the intestines of humans. A quarter of the world population is infected with these soil-transmitted helminths. Sara Roose is developing a new diagnostic test to help fight human worm infections.

Once upon a time there were two types of cephalopods: the nautiluses and the ammonites. Although the ammonites were much better adapted, they became extinct. And the nautiluses? They're still swimming around today. Stijn Goolaerts studies fossils of these fascinating creatures and draws a wise lesson for mankind from the sad fate of the ammonites.

Fertilization is crucial in agriculture, but over-fertilization causes environmental pollution and all-rich algae growth in our watercourses. Wouldn't it be great if plants and crops could grow well with less fertilizer? That's what Astrid Gadeyne wants to achieve in her PhD.

Katrien Van de Vijver is a physical anthropologist: by studying skeletons and bones from the Middle Ages, she tries to reconstruct the story of the past. See what she can learn from this

Frederik Engelen is working on vaccines for cattle. This way, he wants to ensure that beef does not become contaminated with a dangerous variant of the e-coli bacterium.

Not all mothers can breastfeed, which is a pity, because breastfeeding contains important molecules for the baby. But what if we add these molecules to powdered milk? That is what Anke Goormans is working on to help mothers and their babies.

Lucas Vanhaelewyn (Universiteit Gent) studies plants to try to unravel how they actually 'see' and respond to different types of lights. This knowledge can help to optimize the conditions for plants and crops to grow better.

So-called "smart devices" aren't always as smart as you might think. Bram Steenwinckel (imec - Universiteit Gent) fuses artificial intelligence with the knowledge of experts to make them smarter.

Imagine if you could influence Parkinson's disease by altering the intestinal bacteria of patients? That sounds strange at first glance, but Arnout Bruggeman explains why it might work.

Like humans, plants are constantly attacked by diseases. Joren De Ryck (VIB - UGent) does research on a bacterium called Ralstonia, which can infect and kill all these crops in a few weeks time.