Videos

What if we could make plastic out of... Wood waste? This is already possible today, but unfortunately the technology to make such bioplastics is not yet fully developed. Tim Croes wants to help change that.

After a stomach reduction and despite taking the pill suddenly become pregnant. It could happen just like that, because a stomach operation not only has an impact on the digestion of food, but also on the uptake of medicines, such as the contraceptive pill. That is why Nele Steenackers studies the digestion of patients after such an operation.

Soil biodiversity in our European forests is in bad shape. By focusing on public awareness, Iris Vanermen wants to help keep our forests healthy, so that we and future generations can enjoy them for a long time to come.

"Everything in the universe is made of math, including you" says the renowned cosmologist Max Tegmark. Jan Rombouts shares the same conviction: in his doctoral thesis he does not look at the cell cycle of living beings from the perspective of biology, but pours it into mathematical equations in order to gain a better understanding of the wondrous functioning of the cell.

Elien Bellon tries to find out how we can help children calculate better without letting them repeat math tables over and over again. Does the solution come from Socrates, who states that "true knowledge is to know oneself"?

Jan-Pieter D'Anvers keeps secrets. Your secrets. Think of your bank card code or your e-mails. He develops encryption algorithms to secure electronic communication and transactions.

The older we get, the worse we usually sleep. Julie Vanderlinden (KU Leuven) is therefore investigating whether exercise has a positive effect on sleep and the health of the elderly.

Despite recent advances in breast cancer treatment, too many women still die once this cancer has spread throughout their body. That's why Matteo Rossi is looking to find weaknesses of breast cancer cells, in order to defeat them.

Did you know that Belgium has the dubious honour of being a leader in the use of sleep and sedative medication worldwide? Kristien Coteur is investigating how she can support patients and their doctors in phasing out sleep medication.

Extremely premature babies often need to be resuscitated at birth. While this might help them to survive, they will sometimes live on with severe disabilities. Is resuscitation therefore always in the best interest of the babies? Alice Cavolo wants to help parents and physicians in making this extremely difficult decision.

When do you sexually desire your partner? That's what Sofia Prekatsounaki (KU Leuven) is looking into for her doctoral research.

Did you know that 80 million people worldwide have epilepsy? Thanks to genetically engineered zebrafish such as Didy, Annelii Ny (KU Leuven) hopes to find new drugs to treat these patients.