Videos

Did you know that every two minutes, enough ice melts on Earth to fill around 400 Olympic swimming pools with its meltwater? "The urgency is real – glaciers worldwide are disappearing at an alarming rate. In various corners of the globe, millions rely on these majestic glaciers for their drinking water and agricultural needs." Dive into the eye-opening short trip with glaciologist Lander Van Tricht as he takes you on a glacier expedition in Kyrgyzstan.

Have you ever seen a timber-frame building? 🏠 You might be wondering how safe such a structure actually is. Well, the truth is that we don't quite know yet. Structural engineer Dries Byloos 👷 tells you why and how he is pushing for safer and taller timber-frame buildings.

Sujith Reddy is working on perovskites, a promising new solar cell technology that captures more sunlight and costs less than conventional solar cells. Sounds great, right! But there's a catch: these perovskite solar cells ironically tend to break down when exposed to ... light. Sujith wants to uncover the mechanisms behind this degradation in order to improve perovskites and to use them on a larger scale.

"Scientific information has to play a bigger role in the process of decision-making in policy." This is Ante Ivčević firm belief. In his research, he seeks to understand how policymakers make decisions and, more importantly, how we can get them to make these decisions based on scientific information. To investigate this, he researches science and policy regarding coastal areas in the Mediterranean basin.

Did you know that the average lifespan of a wind turbine is 20 years? After that, unfortunately, wind turbines end up in landfills as they are built from thermosets, materials that can't be recycled (yet). "It's time to change that", says Marlies Thys. She is looking into making recyclable thermosets by using ... wood waste. 

Do you think we will be able to stop CO2 emissions by 2050? Because that's what we need to do to fight climate change. Worldwide, an estimated one million researchers are currently working on solutions for climate change. At Hasselt University, Talieh Rajabloo is mapping state-of-the-art climate research & technologies that can help energy-intensive industries such as the petrochemical and metal sectors reduce their CO2 emissions.

Have you ever heard of Boyan Slat? At the age of 18, he founded The Ocean Cleanup, an environmental enterprise developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. Environmental entrepreneurs such as Slat and their eco-innovations are the cornerstone of the transition to a more sustainable world. But how can we help them make a bigger impact? That's what Georgios Outsios is determined to find out.

Did you know that we can build bridges out of concrete with a 3D printer? Yet, this promising technology still faces challenges before it can reach its full potential and be widely used in construction. VUB researcher Yanjuan Chen explains what these challenges are and how she's working to help overcome them.

Hydrogen can play a key role in making our energy supply more sustainable. One problem though: hydrogen is highly flammable. So how do we store hydrogen safely? Joren Vanlaere is working on a solution to detect possible leaks at lightning speed.

Did you ever enjoy a nicely packed fruit salad with an easy-peel lid? It's a beautiful display of packaging technology: the packaging is strong enough to protect your food, yet at the same time very easy for you to open once you want to dive in. Bram Bamps (UHasselt) explains how he optimizes heat-sealing packaging to keep our food safe and to ensure long shelf life.

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 🦠 🌡

The next generation of airplanes will be able to feel when they suffer damage, thanks to a nervous system of glass fibers. Engineer Sidney Goossens (VUB) is developing this technology to make airplanes safer & eco-friendlier. Watch the video to find out how he moves forth.