news 2018

The lifespan of a transplant kidney has significantly improved over the last thirty years. Between 1986 and 1995, 75% of the transplanted kidneys still functioned five years after the transplant. Between 2006 and 2015, this number had already risen to 84%. However, an international study lead by kidney specialist Maarten Naesens of KU Leuven shows that the progress is stagnating.

By studying the development of the blood vessels of the brain, researchers at Université libre de Bruxelles have just shed light on a question that was pending for 10 years! They provide a molecular

Researchers have achieved a long-sought-after objective of electrically controlling water flow through membranes, as reported in Nature. This is the latest exciting membranes development benfitting from the unique properties of graphene. The new research opens up an avenue for developing smart membrane technologies and could revolutionise the field of artificial biological systems, tissue engineering and filtration.

Inleiding: Mystifying results in excitonic Coulomb drag experiments obtained independently by two research groups in the USA explained by the CMT group (M. Zarenia, D. Neilson and F. Peeters) in a recent Physical Review Letters paper. Taking a multiband approach explains 'electron-hole reverse drag' and exciton formation Mystifying experimental results obtained independently by two research groups in the USA seemed to show coupled holes and electrons moving in the opposite direction to theory.

Ghost particle originates from supermassive black hole An international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. The measured neutrino originates from a supermassive black hole. Researchers from VUB are among those behind the sensational finding.

Introduction: The evolution of Earth's first animals more than 500 million years ago caused global warming, new research from UAntwerp and other universities shows. Some 520-540 million years ago, animal life evolved in the ocean and began breaking down organic material on the seafloor, leading to more carbon dioxide and less oxygen in the atmosphere.

Some anonymously published papers on evolution far predate the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859). With the help of modern AI software, Koen Tanghe (UGent) and Mike Kestemont (UAntwerpen) have revealed the authors of two of these papers. This work may help to foster interest in those early, intriguing publications on evolution, their authors and their possible influence on Charles Darwin.

Introduction: Research by Chris Broeckhoven (UAntwerp) reveals function of lizards' scales. Crocodiles, armadillos, turtles and many other animals are equipped with scales -a kind of body armour. It is generally accepted that the main purpose of this shield is to protect them from predators. Research at UAntwerp has shed a different light on this, however.

Introduction: A large and international team of ecologists reports in the renowned journal Nature that urbanization is driving body-size shifts in animal communities. Three authors of the Global Change Ecology Centre , Erik Matthysen , Lisa Baardsen and Thierry Backeljau (all belonging to the research group Evolutionary Ecology ), contributed to the study.

Chemists from Belgium and China have produced a new material that changes colour under a flow of human breath. After a while, the colour returns to normal. This creates possibilities for encryption and anti-counterfeiting. Our clothes, food and everyday devices get their colour from dye or pigments that absorb light.

Inleiding: LGD is an international, peer reviewed, multidisciplinary journal and has historically carried articles which cover a range of perspectives and approaches. It has a particular focus on encouraging scholars from the Global South to submit papers. The Journal of Law, Social Justice and Global Development is an international, peer reviewed, multidisciplinary journal.

Introduction: Vincent Van Gogh used only two yellows to paint Sunflowers: a light-fast and a light-sensitive type. Researchers from the Universities of Antwerp, Perugia and Delft together with museum staff have painstakingly examined Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). He painted this iconic work, a composition dominated by yellow tints with some orange and blue accents, in 1889 in Arles, France.

Introduction: UAntwerp and partners analysed the multiple impacts of energy efficiency in the European Horizon 2020-project COMBI. Saving energy not only improves the climate but also has positive impacts on air pollution, health, and ecosystems. Resource consumption, the economy and energy security also add benefits.

A major discovery at UCL in the fight against bacterial infections: Jean-François Collet and his team have discovered a new protein, CnoX, which plays a major role in defending bacteria against our immune system. Thanks to this discovery, UCL researchers will be able to develop a system that neutralises this protein and thus weakens the defence of bacteria against immune system attacks and contributes to the development of new antibiotics.

Researchers and clinicians at VIB, KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven have identified a genetic mutation that causes a rare form of the autoimmune disease lupus. They discovered the mutation in one Belgian family's DNA. Lupus is an autoimmune disorder, meaning that the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues.

Introduction: On May 1st, 2018, Els Lecoutere presented her research on the Flemish public television broadcaster, the VRT (Vlaamse Radio -en Televisieomroeporganisatie). If you think of a dull science documentary, you got it wrong. She explained how gender and power relations influence collective action in Smurfs' land.

Communication scientists show that word choice in media reports on suicide has a measurable impact on public opinion. In an empirical study published in Social Science & Medicine , an international team of researchers from the University of Munich, KU Leuven and the Medical University of Vienna show that the specific German word used in media reports of suicides has a measurable impact on how readers perceive and evaluate the act of suicide.

Stephen Hawking's last paper, co-authored by Thomas Hertog, does away with the infinite multiverse and predicts a simpler and finite universe. Find out more in this ERC interview with Thomas Hertog. You put forward a new theory of the origin of the universe. What's wrong with the current one? "The prevailing theory of the Big Bang is called eternal inflation.

A-Mansia is the latest co-spin-off from the University of Louvain (UCL) and Wageningen University. It aims to develop Akkermansia -based products .

Introduction: Kristof Titeca (UAntwerp) about illicit ivory trade (Washington Post). As if Mark Zuckerberg didn't have enough to worry about, Facebook is being accused of harboring yet another illicit activity: making it easy for international wildlife traffickers to sell elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger teeth, reports the Associated Press.