Videos

Katharina
Schopf
KU Leuven

How leadership in air traffic control could keep flying safe

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically reduced air traffic. But did you know that normally some 3,000 planes fly over Belgium every day? Katharina Schopf (KU Leuven) investigates the role of air traffic controllers and their leaders in ensuring that there are no airborne collisions
Sebastiaan
Vanuytven
FWO
KU Leuven

Analysis of tumours, cell by cell

What is the link between a smoothie and the analysis of cancer tumours? Well, Sebastiaan Vanuytven explains it smooth(l)y in this video
Julie
Metta
KU Leuven

Mapping the maker movement

Have you ever broken one of your cherished devices, but had to dump it because you couldn't fix it? Julie Metta (KU Leuven) wants to help us reclaim our belongings, by uncovering local heroes, called the Makers.
Sara
Petit-Jean
KU Leuven

White bread, but deliciously rich in fibre

Do you also love bread? Belgians eat an average of 33 kg of bread a year, about 1,000 slices. But that's mostly white bread, which doesn't contain much fibre. To make us eat more of that healthy fibre, Sara Petit-Jean (KU Leuven) is working on new, high-fibre white bread.
Max
Bols
FWO
KU Leuven

Beating enzymes at chemical catalysis

To make the production of plastics and other chemical processes less energy-intensive and waste-producing, Max Bols turns to nature. Enzymes, the catalysts of living cells, hold the key to improve chemical processes, as he explains in this video. 
Alexander
Cruz
imec
KU Leuven
VUB

A dog's nose in your smartphone

A dog's nose is one of the most powerful sensors we have. Trained dogs are even able to detect early signs of certain diseases by sniffing our breath. As this would not be very practical, Alex Cruz is looking to integrate a doglike 'nose' in our smartphones to do the trick.
José
Santos
imec
UGent

Smart cities are transforming their urban services

Imagine a city where street lighting only functions when there are cars nearby and where waste bins alarm garbage trucks when they're full and need to be emptied... This might soon become reality, but only if we manage to process the huge amount of data that these smart devices will produce. That's what José Santos is trying to accomplish in order to turn our cities into smart cities.
Mónica
Vara Perez
FWO
KU Leuven
VIB

Understanding the self-cannibalism instincts of melanoma

Melanoma is a very common and lethal type of skin cancer. Melanoma cells have a strange, yet effective defence mechanism called autophagy: they can manage to survive by eating parts of themselves. Monica Vara Perez tries to figure out this self-cannibalism mechanism in order to help defeat melanoma.
Shorok
Abdelhameed
FWO
KU Leuven

Studying protein structure thanks to metal oxides

Did you know that our body contains more than 20.000 different types of proteins? These are crucial for vital functions such as wound healing. But when these proteins mutate, they can lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's. To help fight such protein-based diseases, Shorok Abdelhameed investigates methods to study the very complex structures of proteins.
Ana
Escorza
KU Leuven

A cosmic dance: understanding double star systems

Did you know that more than half of the stars you see in the sky are born with a partner? Just like with humans, the presence of a partner can really have an effect on the life and the behavior of a star.
Hans
Gerstmans
FWO
KU Leuven
UGent

Enzybiotics in drops: a killer combination!

Almost 100 years ago Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic: penicillin. Even then, he warned that there would come a day when bacteria would be resistant to all antibiotics. That day is now very near. Will the 'killer combination' of enzybiotics and water droplets save us from super-bacteria?
Nick
Gys
UAntwerpen
VITO

Your smartphone is a gold mine

Did you know that your smartphone contains, among many other precious metals, about 20 milligrams of gold? That may not seem like much, but it's 200 times as much gold as in a small piece of gold ore. Nick Gys (UAntwerpen - VITO) is working on a technique to easily recycle these precious metals from smartphones.