Videos

Heavy smartphone use results in poorer study performance, according to research by Simon Amez (Ghent University). To investigate this, Simon followed students for three years. Students with above-average smartphone use even score up to 1 point out of 20 less on their exams than their fellow students. 👨🏼‍🎓 📱

The disappearance of forests is nothing less than "a genocide of trees, with bleeding stumps and amputated branches. With this powerful imagery, the French writer Pierre Gascar already sounded the alarm about the environment 50 years ago. Sara Buekens studies how he and his colleagues wanted to put environmental issues on the agenda in their novels half a century ago. Are you ready for an ecological novel?

Did you know that the Greek philosopher Aristotle considered the idea that the woman is inferior to the man as a scientific fact? But how did Islamic philosophers of the Middle Ages, who were quite fond of Aristotle, think about the role of women? Completely different, according to the research of philosopher Tineke Melkebeek.  

On social media clips of skirmishes between citizens and the police regularly pop up and, in a flash, go viral. They elicit a lot of reactions, not least the classic "things used to be better in the old days". But was there less violence on the streets in the past? Historian Martin Schoups delves into documents from 19th-century Antwerp.

To protect your data in the cloud, you can encrypt it to make it impossible for others to see. But, if you want to edit your data, for example, put a filter on a picture, you first have to remove the encryption. Cryptographers such as Charlotte Bontee are developing new techniques to keep your data safe at all times.

To have a conversation and interact in a meaningful way, you have to be constantly aware of what has already been said. You have to remember the recent past. But how does that work? How does our brain create a memory? That's what Lies Deceuninck (Imec - KU Leuven) is researching.

Have you ever tried to look at something, but it was too small to see? Well, scientists improving your smartphone are facing this issue on a daily basis. Jonathan Op de Beeck (imec - KU Leuven) explains how they are able to 'see' the invisible.

What if we could offer heart surgeons true 3D-representations of their patient's heart instead of having them rely on 2D imaging such as CT scans for complex surgery? Anabel De Proft (imec - KU Leuven) is working on technology to project such 'holograms'.

Solar panels are very interesting to invest in, but which technology should you choose? How many panels should you install? And what is the return on investment? Gofran Chowdhury is developing a "crystal ball" to help you decide on the optimal solar technology for your home.

Can you imagine a future where you could travel from Liverpool to London in a fully electric flying taxi in one hour? Andre Pitillas (Imec & Ku Leuven) is working on the 'batteries of the future' that will help make this happen.

Wouldn't it be great if you could have your own virus detection facility at home, or even in your pocket? That's what Boshen Liang & his colleagues at imec & Ku Leuven are working on via so-called lab-on-chip technology.

A 'vector', isn't that something for mathematicians and physicists? Linguist Weiwei Zhang (KU Leuven) proves the opposite. She uses vectors to study related words and synonyms that appear in different language variants, such as "subway" in American English and "underground" in British English.