Recharge overview
Sustainable development is like a game of chess
What do you ultimately want to achieve in terms of sustainability, as a company or a government? Only when you have answered that question clearly will you know which steps to take right now, according to sustainability expert Karl-Henrik Robèrt. Tomorrow, he will receive an honorary doctorate from Radboud University.
New shortcut enables faster creation of spin pattern in magnet
Physicists have discovered a much faster approach to create a pattern of spins in a magnet. This 'shortcut' opens a new chapter in topology research. Interestingly, this discovery also offers an additional method to achieve more efficient magnetic data storage.
Born resilient?
Is bouncing back from adversities and stress a skill you learn or an inherent capability that some of us are lucky enough to possess?
Motivation is key to understanding our smartphone behavior
Why do we look at our smartphone so often, especially at times where we should be focused on other tasks? Behavioral psychologist Jonas Dora researched why smartphones are such a powerful tool of mass distraction, and found that they may actually be helpful when we experience high amounts of boredom and fatigue.
‘If you’re a professional gamer, you can call yourself a top sporter’
He was chosen three times as the best FIFA player in the world. In 2016, he became the first professional e-sporter in the Netherlands when he signed a contract with Ajax. Now Koen Weijland, a former student of Business Communications Studies, has become a real influencer even though he hates that word. He has 241,000 followers on his YouTube channel. ‘I was a pioneer, and I’m still reaping the fruits of that.’
Young people who game with friends build stronger ties
Games can play an important role in dealing with loneliness among adolescents. By playing video games together, they can build deeper friendships. This was shown in research done by behavioural psychologist Geert Verheijen, who will receive his PhD from Radboud University on 13 October. Playing games alone can intensify a feeling of loneliness in some cases, however.
‘We don’t take enough responsibility for the people in our research’
Social geographer Kolar Aparna recently obtained her PhD with a study on national borders, and launched Asylum University, an educational programme for asylum seekers. She wants to shift the focus away from the individual in science; the people who are the subject of the research study are often forgotten. ‘I felt protected in my role as a researcher, while the people that I was studying exposed themselves. That is a situation in which we should never feel comfortable.’
19th-century regional literature: a journey through Europe
Although the regional or local colour novel may be popular with readers, not a great deal of scholarly attention has been paid to this genre. Nevertheless, there is a group of researchers at Radboud University who are examining nineteenth-century European regional literature more closely.
Bach still trumps Britney
Is there such thing as a cultural hierarchy, a distinction between high culture and low culture? For a long time, it seemed like there was, but nowadays a hierarchy of tastes seems unnecessary and even offensive. Yet people tend to rate certain bands or musicians more highly than others, even if they don’t like that sort of music as much.
The ability to learn is for life
Sometimes Dutch is so potent that we can’t see it: the English word ‘teaching’ doesn’t mean the same thing as ‘learning’, the German word ‘lehren’ pertains to teaching while its counterpart ‘lernen’ pertains to learning, but the Dutch word ‘leren’ can be used to mean either learning or teaching. That you might actually learn more from teaching than from being taught is something that teachers know better than anyone. That’s why I feel that each learner deserves to be given the opportunity to teach and to experience the full gamut of what learning is.
Methane-eating bacteria like nitrogen too
Methane-eating bacteria can degrade ammonium in addition to methane, as discovered by microbiologists at Radboud University and the Max Planck Institute in Bremen. Methane-eaters are important for the reduction of greenhouses gas emissions from volcanos and other areas, but have not previously been linked with nitrogen emission. The study will be published this week in PNAS.
Parents on corona-related distance learning: not all negative
In mid-March, primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands closed due to stringent COVID-19 prevention measures. Six weeks later, they partially reopened. In the meantime, children followed online lessons at home, more or less supervised by their parents. Researchers from Radboud University asked around 800 parents how that went.
Can you create a perfect memory?
Life can be seen as a long chain of memories. Those memories give meaning to how we see ourselves and they form our wishes. The more we remember, the more complete we feel. Good news is: you can train you memory. Neuroscientist Boris Konrad explains how.
Anti-austerity movements hindered by focus on national politics
After the 2008 financial crisis, anti-austerity movements such as Occupy, Blockupy and the Indignados Change Finance developed, aimed at protesting the cutbacks and deregulations of the European Union. Though their protests took place all over Europe, the actual impact they had on politics was limited. Lack of cooperation on a transnational level is one aspect that hindered these groups. Bernd Bonfert concludes this in his research, and will defend his PhD thesis at Radboud University on 15 September.
Historical disaster songs on CD
In her historical research into the processing of natural disasters in the Netherlands, Lotte Jensen came across songs about fires, floods, drought and insect scourges. She is now working on a CD in collaboration with the Utrecht music society Camerata Trajectina, in which this tradition of the Dutch disaster song is brought to life. In order to realise this project and make the disaster songs available to everyone, she has started a crowdfunding campaign together with the Radboud Fund.
About Trump and other mad American presidents
Donald Trump is perhaps the biggest but definitely not the only weirdo who ever sat in the White House. That’s evident in the new book by Peter van der Heiden, lecturer in American Studies. ‘With respect to rudeness, there’s a lot Trump could learn from Lyndon B. Johnson.’
Lebanon: divided politics, shared discontent
The explosion at the port of Beirut killed at least 150 people, and the subsequent massive protests led to the resignation of the government. However, the protests are not about replacing the figureheads, but about addressing the ‘bankruptcy’ of the political pact that was intended to keep the religious groups in balance. The fear is great that giving up on this pact could lead to disorder and even a new civil war. However, for more than a decade, opinion polls in Lebanon have indicated that the population is unanimous in its disapproval of Lebanese politics-as-usual. A more logical vision of the future should therefore focus less on maintaining order and balance between groups and more on the accountability of leaders.
Let’s talk about Islam and women’s rights
Women’s rights in Arab countries: which women’s rights would they be? This is exactly the type of reaction that sociologist Saskia Glas would like to discuss. Having carried out research on religion and women’s rights in Arab countries, Glas came to the conclusion that our perception of this issue should be recalibrated. And this is an essential step, because women’s rights in Arab countries stand to benefit from an open debate.
Can Language Make the Invisible Visible?
We are used to thinking that what we see accurately represents our environment, give or take an occasional lapse of attention. We talk about eyes as being windows to the outside world, allowing us to ‘see reality’. However, research has recently shown that the whole picture is not quite so simple. As it turns out, the way we see our surroundings is very much shaped by our knowledge, experience, and expectations. And one of the things that seems to have the biggest impact on our perception is actually our language.
Van Eyck in 100 billion pixels: admiring the Adoration of the Lamb up close
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a monumental medieval masterpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck can now be admired from behind your desk in incredible detail at 100 billion pixels. Professor by special appointment Ron Spronk, specialised in Jheronimus Bosch and Early Netherlandish painting at Radboud University, is project coordinator. 'Visitors can do scientific research on the site, or simply stare in wonder at the splendid details.”