news 2019

What is the impact of weathering processes on microplastics, and how do the particles spread across seas and oceans' Computer models developed by hydraulics engineers from KU Leuven may help to find the answers. Through rivers and wastewater, enormous amounts of minuscule plastic particles end up in our seas and oceans.

The impacts of climate warming are buffered inside forests due to the thermal insulation of forest canopies. These results are based on an international study led by Ghent University researchers. Temperature difference of 4 degrees Scientists of eight universities have quantified the temperature difference between sites within forests and outside, for the first time across the globe.

What happens inside a cell when it is activated, changing, or responding to variations in its environment? Researchers from the VIB-Ghent University Center for Inflammation Research have developed a map of how to best model these cellular dynamics. Their work not only highlights the outstanding challenges of tracking cells throughout their growth and lifetime, but also pioneers new ways of evaluating computational biology methods that aim to do this.

How did bioscience engineers at KU Leuven manage to convert water vapour directly into hydrogen gas, with record efficiency? And does their hydrogen panel signal the end of fossil fuels' We asked Johan Martens and Tom Bosserez from the Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis for the answers. Professor Johan Martens and his team have had some pretty hectic weeks.

The main aim of this research was to look into scientific methods for developing welfare guidelines for captive reptiles. The Green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis) was used to study the effect of long term captivity and specific stressors (environmental provisioning, handling and cage size) on both males and females.

A new treatment for a common type of stroke may soon be possible, thanks to a discovery by an international team of researchers. In a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine , researchers successfully used a new approach that significantly minimized brain damage caused by stroke in mouse models.

Bioscience engineers at KU Leuven have created a solar panel that produces hydrogen gas from moisture in the air. After ten years of development, the panel can now produce 250 litres per day - a world record, according to the researchers. Twenty of these solar panels could provide electricity and heat for one family for an entire year.

Professional football players need to keep a cool head during a match, but some are better at this than others. Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be immune to pressure, while Neymar's performance crumbles under it. It's one of the remarkable findings of a study conducted by KU Leuven and data intelligence company SciSports.

Red giants are old stars that eject gaseous material and solid particles through a stellar wind. Some red giants appeared to lose an exceptionally large amount of mass this way. However, new observations reveal that this is not quite the case. The stellar wind is not more intense than normal, but is affected by a partner that was overlooked until now: a second star that circles the red giant.

Today Belgian researchers set sail for Antarctica. Their goal is to take a census of marine biodiversity and to study the presence of plastic in the Southern Ocean.

On 19 February, nine Belgian scientists will embark on a unique mission to study marine biodiversity and microplastics in the Southern Ocean.

Researchers at VIB-KU Leuven have identified several gut bacteria that may be linked to depression. Their findings provide further evidence that our intestinal bacteria produce substances with a potential impact on our mental health. Jeroen Raes and his team at VIB-KU Leuven examined the faeces of 1,054 participants in the Flemish Gut Flora Project and combined this information with diagnoses of depression in the same group.

Monkey brain scans have revealed new information about the part of the brain that processes visual information. The findings were recently presented in PNAS by neurophysiologists Qi Zhu (KU Leuven) and Wim Vanduffel (KU Leuven/ Harvard Medical School). When the brain receives visual signals from our eyes, it processes them in a strictly hierarchical way.

During fat ingestion , if everything works in our body, an enzyme from the intestine transmits to the brain (through the production of molecules) the message "stop, I am not hungry anymore". This gut-brain axis maintains a balanced food intake. Researchers from the UCLouvain were able to target this enzyme.

Breathing in sea air helps to beat cancer and to prevent a high cholesterol, research shows by Ghent University and the Flanders Marine Institute. Have you ever heard of sea spray? That's what researchers call vaporized sea water in the air. Sea spray contains natural substances produced by algae and bacteria, which are good for your health.