Every day, professor Xavier Saelens and his team work on new and improved vaccines and medicines to counter flu and corona viruses. Recently, they’ve been doing their work in a new research facility. “Our primary goal: to help those suffering from diseases.”
Of all the plastic waste that we are currently sorting, too little is recycled properly (or even at all). As a Chemist at Ghent University, Sibel Ügdüler is developing methods for high-quality recycling, which in her opinion could resolve a serious recycling problem. The industry is watching with interest.
Physicists at Ghent University have succeeded in cooling several ten thousand atoms to just above absolute zero (about -273°C). In doing so, they created a so-called Bose–Einstein condensate: a state in which all atoms behave exactly the same, as was once predicted by physicists Einstein and Bose.
The last years’ drought has caused stress in trees. Some have stopped growing; others have shed their foliage. Sometimes entire forests have perished. The bioengineers at the Department of Environment (Faculty of Bioscience Engineering) are crossing national borders to try to find out the causes of the problems effecting trees globally and working on a type of forest that can cope with climate change.
Alumna Danaë Delbeke is developing a solution that can improve the lives of millions of people with diabetes. The entrepreneur raised 38 million euro last year with the UGent spin-off Indigo Diabetes. The goal: to put a workable product on the market by 2024.
How long should a holiday last in order to completely destress and disconnect from your work? How bad is it for your mental health if you sit on the beach reading your work mails rather than a thriller? Professor Els Clays teaches in the department of Public Health and Primary Care and is investigating the impact of work-related stress on human health.
Will we soon be wearing smart textiles that can adapt to the heat? Professor Lieva Van Langenhove of the Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Process Engineering explains how that could work.
Are we likely to face a greater number of intense storms in the summer, due to climate change? Yet why does it rain harder when the temperature rises? That seems counter-intuitive, but not at all, says Steven Caluwaerts, climatologist at Ghent University and the KMI (Royal Meteorological Institute).
“Summer lovin', had me a blast. Summer lovin', happened so fast.” Danny and Sandy felt it already in the classic film Grease: during the summer there is love in the air. But is there any truth in it? Do we fall in love more quickly in the summer?
“Stay out of the sun, avoid physical activity during the hottest time of day and have plenty to drink: with these three guidelines you will easily survive a hot sunny day and avoid sunstroke – or even worse: heatstroke”, says An De Sutter, head of general medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences).
Jellyfish are the last thing that many beach visitors want to see, let alone feel in the water. Even so, there is no need to be too concerned and the poison from our jelly fish is little to worry about. Been stung? Then there are some things you can do to relieve the pain. Pee for example, or is that a myth?
Every year you hear lifeguards at the Belgian coast appeal to people not to swim in unsupervised zones. And quite right too, say North-Sea specialists Jana Asselman, Sara Vandamme and Colin Janssen. After all, there is lots going on under the water’s surface.
