Videos

Imagine a centuries-old university library. Damp air, insects, and books full of tiny holes caused by the ravages of time. It sounds harmless, but for text recognition software it’s a disaster: a tiny hole in the word ‘book’ and suddenly the computer reads ‘oboek’. Fortunately, there’s… maths! Quinten Van Boxstael explains how he uses wavelets – a sort of mathematical microscope – to detect those holes in advance, so that we can digitise books quickly and accurately.

Did you know that many products in your shopping cart contain 'surfactants'? For example, this 'magic' ingredient provides foaming soap to longer-lasting food! But did you also know that almost half of surfactants come from petroleum? In her research, bioengineer Elvira Bytyqi is working on an eco-friendly alternative: biosurfactants! 🌱

Everyone loves sugar. It's delicious and sweet, but healthy? Not really. Yet there are healthy sugars that are lower in calories, fight plaque, or stimulate your gut flora. Unfortunately, these are rare in nature. That's why bioengineer Emma De Beul is studying how to convert unhealthy sugars into healthy varieties - with the help of clever enzymes.

Did you know that during a walk in the woods, you walk across a hidden pharmacy? The soil is chock-full of bacteria, and those soil bacteria naturally produce substances that serve as the basis for antibiotics and other drugs. Anne-Sofie De Rop tracks down these invisible pharmacists by taking soil samples, and analyzing the DNA of the bacteria to discover new medications.

Sinterklaas is almost here, and for many in Belgium, it's a time for chocolate. 🍫 But have you noticed chocolate is getting more and more expensive? 💸 Eliza Van de Sande is looking to unravel the mystery behind the cacao pollinators, to make cocoa farming more efficient and cheaper...

Plastics are everywhere: from the plastic packaging that keeps our food safe and fresh, to, unfortunately, the (micro)plastics that end up in our seas and oceans. "We can't avoid plastics, so we have to improve them," argues Hannelore Geeraert (VUB - FWO). Thus, with the help of bacteria, she worked on biodegradable bioplastics.

99% of people in prison are released at some point. So it is crucial to prepare them for this release. Music can help with this, explains education scientist Silke Marynissen (VUB - FWO) in this video.

Will a miniature device implanted in the brain help stroke survivors in their recovery? That is what Ugur Kilic (KU Leuven - FWO) researches in her PhD. Find out more in this video!

Jasper Smet is working (out) in the lab: he wants to grow 3D human muscles to help those with muscle diseases and injuries. By piecing together tiny muscle sections in the lab, he aims to create realistic human muscle models. These could be used to unravel how muscles work, test the effect of drugs, and one day perform transplants in people with severe muscle injuries. Muscle up!

Did you know that growing up, one in four children worldwide experience a traumatic dental injury? Current treatments for these injuries aren't optimal, nor long-lasting, and render the tooth brittle, leading to possible tooth loss. But what if teeth could heal themselves? That's what Una Ivkovic sinks her teeth into: a hydrogel that guides stem cells to the injury to generate new dental tissue and restore the damaged tooth 🦷

Why do scientists sometimes call microalgae "the green gold"? Well, in addition to biofuels and astronaut food, you could use them to make sunscreen. These tiny algae contain substances that protect them from sunlight, which can also come in handy for humans. Unfortunately, they don't naturally produce enough of those substances. Elke Vereecke researches how to grow microalgae packed with those sunlight-protecting components.

Do you have a lot of fast or rather slow muscle fibers? No worries if you don't know the answer. But for athletes, this is crucial info as it determines how best to train. Only there is one big problem, about 15 centimeters big to be precise .... That's how long the needle, used to remove a piece of muscle to find out someone's muscle fiber type, is. Sounds painful and it is. That's why Freek Van de Casteele is looking for new, reliable, and painless methods.