Recharge overview
Artificial molecules that behave like real ones
Scientists from the Radboud University have developed synthetic molecules that resemble real organic molecules. A collaboration of researchers, led by Alex Khajetoorians and Daniel Wegner, can now simulate the behaviour of real molecules by using artificial molecules. In this way, they can tweak properties of molecules in ways that are normally difficult or unrealistic, and they can understand much better how molecules change.
Wild mammals moved farther during severe COVID-19 lockdowns
Omdat mensen hun gedrag tijdens de lockdowns in de eerste maanden van de COVID-19-pandemie drastisch veranderden, gingen wilde dieren zich ook anders gedragen. Dat blijkt uit internationaal onderzoek geleid door Marlee Tucker, ecoloog aan de Radboud Universiteit, gepubliceerd in Science. Wilde dieren legden meer meters af tijdens strikte lockdowns en ze kwamen ook dichter bij wegen.
Why are we blocking a highway as scientists?
How can scientists help engender societal change, and when is it effective to take the road of activism? This question has become increasingly relevant in the face of the urgent need to address the implications of climate change. In this blog (that first appeared on 1 June 2023 as an op-ed in the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant), Professors Thea Hilhorst and Klaas Landsman – both recipients of the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands in 2022 – gave a speech during the occupation of the A12 by Extinction Rebellion. Why did they choose to participate in this action as scientists?
Typhus, scurvy and Covid-19: diseases that made history
From sudden infant death syndrome to kidney cancer, and from memory loss to Covid-19. The lustrum book ‘A Century of Diseases’ describes the most impactful diseases since the founding of Radboud University. ‘I am very interested in birth defects.’
Eventually everything will evaporate, not only black holes
New theoretical research by Michael Wondrak, Walter van Suijlekom and Heino Falcke of Radboud University has shown that Stephen Hawking was right about black holes, although not completely. Due to Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but the event horizon is not as crucial as has been believed. Gravity and the curvature of spacetime cause this radiation too. This means that all large objects in the universe, like the remnants of stars, will eventually evaporate.
Brain works better after bariatric surgery
Bariatric surgery not only leads to weight loss, but has also a positive effect on the brain. In a study exerted by the Radboud University Medical Center and Rijnstate Hospital in collaboration with TNO Leiden, nearly half of the participants scored significantly better on a variety of brain tests six months after surgery.
Your brain shape affects how you think
Our brain activity is the result of how different areas of the brain communicate with each other through complex neuronal connections. This widely accepted idea needs to be modified, argue researchers from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University and the Radboudumc. The overall shape of a person's brain has a much greater influence on how we think, feel and behave than previously believed.
"Without pracademics we won’t be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals!”
Willem Elbers, deputy programme director at AMID, doesn’t beat around the bush: “I really want to make the world a better place. I developed that drive at a young age. Because it’s absolutely essential. And because it gives my life meaning. So it’s fantastic that I’m now a pracademic, fostering collaboration all over the world. Wherever I work, I try to build bridges between academic insights and the real-life issues we encounter in practice.”
Help, the smart devices are attacking!
Our homes are increasingly filled with smart devices connected via Wi-Fi. This Internet of Things makes life much easier for the occupants, but it also poses a potential danger. The reason is that the security level of these devices varies enormously. ‘People are notoriously bad at coming up with unique passwords.’
Learning a new language makes you forget other languages
Learning words in a new foreign language makes it more difficult to remember those same words in another foreign language. That is the conclusion of a research study by Kristin Lemhöfer, Psycholinguist at Radboud University and The Donders Institute, and her colleagues. For the first time, a situation for which there was only anecdotal evidence was replicated under controlled conditions.
Ancient and inexpensive drug promising for patients with osteoarthritis
Patients with osteoarthritis have painful and stiff joints. The current treatment consists of painkillers or major joint replacement surgery. A study conducted by Radboud university medical center and Sint Maartenskliniek now shows that colchicine, an ancient remedy for gout, is probably effective against osteoarthritis.
The Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome has long been forgotten in Nijmegen
The name of Nijmegen is widely known among doctors in Slavic countries. Not because of a university celebrating its centenary, but because a chromosomal abnormality that is particularly common in those countries was named after Nijmegen. Former paediatrician Corry Weemaes discovered this abnormality, which is all but forgotten in her own city, in the late 1970s.
Databases of slave registers Suriname and Curaçao UNESCO World Heritage
The digital databases of the slave registers of Suriname and Curaçao have been officially recognized as World Heritage Sites and included in the Memory of the World Register (MoW Register) of UNESCO, the UN World Heritage Organization. The MoW Register includes documentary heritage of outstanding value to world history. The databases were created as part of the Historical Database Suriname and Curacao (HDSC) project.
Social posts with alcohol should include a warning
Veel jongeren posten regelmatig foto’s waarop ze met een glas bier of wijn in hun hand staan. Zulke ‘alcoholposts’ kunnen ertoe leiden dat leeftijdsgenoten meer alcohol gaan drinken. In een nieuw onderzoek vroeg communicatiewetenschapper Hanneke Hendriks studenten en scholieren wat zij als mogelijke oplossingen zien. ‘Jongeren onderschatten dit probleem.’
Africa Millimetre Telescope (AMT) fully funded for construction in Namibia
The Dutch Research Council, NWO, has awarded a grant of 3.45 million euros to a Dutch team, together with British and Namibian astronomers, that will enable the first colour movies of black holes. The astronomers will build the first millimetre-wave radio telescope in Namibia. It will be a part of the worldwide Event Horizon Telescope network that took the first picture of a black hole. The telescope will help gain a better understanding of the full range of black holes in the Universe, big and small.
University Library donates Surinamese collection to Anton de Kom University
Radboud University library received a large donation of books, reports and journals on Suriname last year. The university library has decided to donate them to the Anton de Kom University in Suriname, believing they are most needed there. The collection will be shipped over this week.
Five recommendations for better transgender care in the Netherlands
The demand for transgender care is increasing rapidly an waiting lists at specialised clinics continue to grow. A research team from Radboud University and Radboudumc, together with transgender people and healthcare professionals, investigated how to improve the connection between healthcare demand and healthcare supply.
Genetics enables personalized dosing of antidepressants
How quickly patients break down antidepressants depends heavily on the genetic code of the CYP450 enzymes they’ve inherited. If the genetically determined degradation rate is known, the dosage of antidepressants (TCAs) can be based upon it, researchers from the Radboudumc and their Dutch colleagues write in a paper in JAMA Network Open. That way, patients would receive an optimal dose against depression almost a week earlier, compared with the current approach.
Behavioral therapy helps with persistent fatigue after COVID-19
People with persistent fatigue after COVID-19 benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy. They are less tired and can concentrate better after treatment. Other physical complaints also decrease. This is the conclusion from research conducted by Amsterdam UMC and the Radboud university medical center together with three other hospitals. Researcher Hans Knoop: 'After behavioral therapy, patients function better both physically and socially, even after six months.'
Future of data storage lies in DNA microcapsules
Within five to 10 years, we will be able to store data in DNA, Professor Tom de Greef expects. Data will not be stored in zeros and ones on a hard disk, but in the base pairs AT and CG that make up DNA. In such a new DNA data centre, new files are then encoded via DNA synthesis. In another section, there are large fields of spheres: with a file packed into each sphere. A robotic arm extracts a globule, reads its contents, and places it back. The research by de Greef and colleagues appears today in Nature Nanotechnology.