NewsA stream of moving cars can become stuck in a traffic jam. A similar process occurs with materials such as sand, toothpaste or shaving foam, which can also transition from flowing behaviour to a fixed, solid state. A Vici grant will enable Professor Martin van Hecke to investigate just what is happening to the material during such a transition.
An international network of European universities, including Leiden University/LUMC, will be collaborating with the University of Cape Town in a research project on anxiety disorders.
In the same way that geologists study earthquakes to find out more about the core of our planet, astronomers study starquakes. Maarten van Hoven investigated the vibrations of magnetars, neutron stars with an extremely strong magnetic field. He discovered that the standard model used by astronomers is not always correct.
It is possible to inject the body with its own stem cells to treat Crohn’s disease. This is the discovery made by LUMC PhD candidate Marjolijn Duijvestein: ‘Stem cell therapy is only used when all else has failed. This bowel disease may not be fatal, but it also cannot be cured. Alternative therapy is therefore very important.’
Curiosity makes people stressed. Satisfying the curiosity works as a reward and also stimulates the memory. Researchers at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition have provided new evidence for a classical theory about human curiosity using functional MRI scans. The researchers have published an article on the subject in 'Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience'.
Loes van Rooijen, postdoc researcher at the Van Vollenhoven Institute, has just returned from a field visit to Indonesia. She describes her five months in the Sikka district: biofuel development, hot women with sunglasses, the ‘edge’ and the best natural honey ever.
Against the background of a turbulent period for the EU, the Dies celebration presented a positive image of the benefits of Europe. President of the Executive Board Paul van der Heijden mentioned in particular the benefits of Europe to education. Both the address given by Dies lecturer Professor Alex Geert Castermans and the Honorary Doctorate awarded to Walter Van Gerven are motivated by European law. And it can hardly be a coincidence that the winner of the LSr Teaching Prize, Isabelle van de Calseyde, is a lecturer in French.
Leiden University prepared a warm welcome for its international students on 2 and 3 February 2012. The students started in the second semester of the 2011-2012 academic year and were given an introduction to Leiden and to Dutch customs and habits. A report. with a film and photo series.
Charles Dickens, one of the best-known and most prolific of English authors, was born on 7 February 1812. The bicentenary of his birth this year is being celebrated in countries throughout the world. What is it that makes Dickens so popular? Dickens specialist Dr Wim Tigges gives some of the answers.
Criminals? They are always men. At least, that’s what we tend to think. Historian Manon van der Heijden wants to show, however, that between 1600 and 1900 in Europe, women were responsible for a substantial share of the criminal activity. She has been granted a VICI award for her research.
During the foundation day celebrations on 8 February Leiden University’s Student Council (LSr) will present the Teaching Prize, which recognises excellent and inspirational teaching. Five lecturers have been short-listed for the prize. ‘I think it’s wonderful when I see passion for a subject being conveyed to the students.’
The Celebration of the Dies Natalis takes place today at 15:00 hrs in the Pieterskerk, Pieterskerkhof 1A in Leiden. There will be a live video broadcast of the ceremony, and a simultaneous translation will be provided in English.
Professor Mirjam de Bruijn has been awarded a Vici grant of EUR 1.5 million by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to conduct innovative and pioneering research into communication in Africa over the next five years.
Leiden University aims to take measures in the coming years to improve the study success of its students and to offer tailored education - linked to a strong research profile where valorisation plays a key role. The University will present these plans to the University Council and to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Studying at Leiden University means you can also study in The Hague. The Institute of Public Administration has moved into the Stichthage Building near The Hague Central Station. Being located on the 13th floor, the master students can enjoy not only their classes but an incredible view over the city as well. See for yourself.
Given the fact that the internet causes opinions to spread faster, further and more efficiently, why is it that we do not all share the same views? Econophysicist Diego Garlaschelli and his colleagues have come up with an explanation.
Four Leiden researchers have received Vici awards from the NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research). Each researcher’s application has been honoured with a subsidy of €1.5 million.
Readers of ‘We are our brains’ (Wij zijn ons brein) will not let such an opportunity pass them by. And their numbers are not insignificant if one considers the more than 240,000 copies of the book that have sold. Dick Swaab is the honorary guest at the Leidsche Ganymedes Borrel on 27 January and at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) on 6 February.
Thousands of Egyptians gathered Wednesday morning op Tahrir Square in Cairo to remember the revolution that took place exactly a year ago. The streets are calm. The thirty Dutch and Flemish students who arrived this week in the Egyptian capital can start their research undisturbed at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC).
Neanderthals already used iron oxides 250,000 years ago, much earlier than had been thought up to now. This is what Prof. Wil Roebroeks, Professor of Archaeology, and a number of colleagues will say in an article to be published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
