News overview 2024
Published on: | 20 June 2024 |
Seagrasses have all but disappeared throughout the world, but these unique saltwater plants play a vital role in an ecosystem. On the occasion of the World Seagrass Conference this week (17-21 June) in Naples, Italy, the BBC premieres a mini documentary on the seagrass restoration work done byUG scientist Laura Govers.
Published on: | 04 June 2024 |
Professor of Energy Conversion Aravind Purushothaman Vellayani is working on systems that use hydrogen to produce electricity – for large factories, for instance. But even your car or your toilet could be capable of producing electricity from hydrogen.
Published on: | 31 May 2024 |
In de nacht van 3 op 4 juni staan zes planeten - Mercurius, Mars, Jupiter, Saturnus, Uranus en Neptunus - in een bijna rechte lijn aan de lucht.
Published on: | 30 May 2024 |
A sustainable way to produce hydrogen has been around for a century, but it is still much cheaper to make hydrogen from natural gas. Researchers from the UG are working on more efficient, affordable, and scalable production of green hydrogen.
Published on: | 21 May 2024 |
Green hydrogen holds many promises. But grey hydrogen from natural gas is still much cheaper, storage of hydrogen is not trivial and as an indirect greenhouse gas is not as clean as it might look.
Published on: | 16 May 2024 |
In Noordpolderzijl is een nachttuin geopend, waarin een kunstwerk staat dat de schoonheid van het open land verbindt met de sterrenhemel.
Published on: | 15 May 2024 |
Er is een nieuwe steen geplaatst op het graf van Nobelprijswinnaar Frits Zernike en zijn zus Elisabeth.
Published on: | 13 May 2024 |
In his laboratory, physicist Steven Hoekstra is building an experimental set-up made of two parts: one that produces barium fluoride molecules, and a second part that traps the molecules and brings them to an almost complete standstill so they can be investigated
Published on: | 08 May 2024 |
University of Groningen chemists created an enzyme with boronic acid at its reactive centre. This approach can produce more selective reactions with boron, and allows the use of directed evolution to improve its catalytic power. The new-to-nature enzyme was presented in the journal Nature on 8 May.
Published on: | 01 May 2024 |
Light-driven molecular motors were first developed nearly 25 years ago at the University of Groningen. However, making these motors do actual work proved to be a challenge. In a new paper, UoG scientists describe improvements that bring real-life applications closer.
Published on: | 29 April 2024 |
Every two weeks, UG Makers puts the spotlight on a researcher who has created something tangible, ranging from homemade measuring equipment for academic research to small or larger products that can change our daily lives. That is how UG researchers contribute to the solutions for big scientific and societal challenges.
Published on: | 16 April 2024 |
A European team of astronomers has discovered the largest stellar black hole of the Milky Way.
Published on: | 15 April 2024 |
Every two weeks, UG Makers puts the spotlight on a researcher who has created something tangible, ranging from homemade measuring equipment for academic research to small or larger products that can change our daily lives. That is how UG researchers contribute to the solutions for big scientific and societal challenges.
Published on: | 27 March 2024 |
Hoe beïnvloeden feromonen, de zogenaamde ‘communicatiemoleculen’ tussen individuen, ons gedrag? Wat zijn lentekriebels? Deze en andere vragen kwamen op 21 maart aan bod in het Kenniscafé.
Published on: | 17 March 2024 |
Every two weeks, UG Makers puts the spotlight on a researcher who has created something tangible, ranging from homemade measuring equipment for academic research to small or larger products that can change our daily lives. That is how UG researchers contribute to the solutions for big scientific and societal challenges.
Published on: | 04 March 2024 |
Every two weeks, UG Makers puts the spotlight on a researcher who has created something tangible, ranging from homemade measuring equipment for academic research to small or larger products that can change our daily lives. That is how UG researchers contribute to the solutions for big scientific and societal challenges. This episoide: Qi Chen and her plant-based sensor.
Published on: | 13 February 2024 |
Researchers at the UG are going to research the material properties of more sustainably produced steel.
Published on: | 12 February 2024 |
Elisabetta Chicca studied how instects navigate, which can come in handy when developing energy-effecient robots.
Published on: | 09 January 2024 |
On the mudflats along the Chinese coasts where shellfish are cultured, shorebirds like knots and bar-tailed godwits are doing relatively well. That is shown in the dissertation that biologist He-Bo Peng will defend at the University of Groningen on January 15th.
Published on: | 19 December 2023 |
Professor Sijbren Otto is working on a chemical system that shows signs of life, but that is made up of entirely different molecules than life as we know it.
Published on: | 12 December 2023 |
In 2010, UG Professor of Systems Chemistry Sijbren Otto accidentally discovered molecules that copy themselves. Since then, he has been working on artificial life in the lab.
Published on: | 30 November 2023 |
An international team of researchers has discovered a giant and extremely faint stream of stars between galaxies.
Published on: | 24 November 2023 |
Against the trends for many shorebirds, sanderlings have been doing relatively well in the Wadden Sea for the past years. The key to that success lies in the timing of these little birds' main food: shrimp on the mudflats.
Published on: | 23 November 2023 |
Materials scientist Patrick van der Wel contributed to measurements that helped discover the root cause of a deadly metabolic illness called Barth syndrome. This could be a step towards a cure.
Published on: | 23 November 2023 |
Researchers Clemens Mayer and Danny Incarnato of the University of Groningen have been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant.
Published on: | 09 November 2023 |
On November 4, 1953, Professor Frits Zernike received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Exactly 70 years later, the University of Groningen is celebrating its platinum anniversary with a symposium and a microscopy public day at seventy locations throughout the province.
Published on: | 07 November 2023 |
On 7 November, the first full-colour images of the cosmos taken by ESA’s space telescope Euclid were presented. The University of Groningen is responsible for part of the data processing.
Published on: | 02 November 2023 |
Adri Minnaard builds pieces of the tuberculosis bacteria. According to him, this is the route to a more effective vaccine and simpler, more robust diagnostics.
Published on: | 31 October 2023 |
When medical implants are infected, a layer of harmful bacteria forms on the surface of the implant: a biofilm. A team of 14 passionate graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Groningen and Minerva Art Academy took part in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) to tackle this problem. From November 2nd to 5th they will travel to Paris to present their final project to a panel of experts in the field of synthetic biology. Their name? Bye-o-film.
Published on: | 17 October 2023 |
Worldwide, scientists search for novel materials to build computer microchips for brain-like computers. However, there are no theoretical guidelines for the creation of these computers, even though this is crucial, argues Herbert Jaeger, Professor of Computing in Cognitive Materials at the University of Groningen.
Published on: | 10 October 2023 |
Scientists at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, have just reproduced two famous paintings at the micrometre scale.
Published on: | 03 October 2023 |
Astronomers at the University of Groningen are involved in the design and deployment of the European Extremely Large Telescope, while huge parts for this mega-telescope are being built at a special facility in Dwingeloo.
Published on: | 27 September 2023 |
An international team of scientists has developed a method to detect thousands of lipid molecules that are displayed to the human immune system. This information can be used for the development of vaccines or anti-microbial treatments.
Published on: | 25 September 2023 |
Léon Koopmans wants to put a telescope on the moon to peer into the Cosmic Dark Ages
Published on: | 20 September 2023 |
An international team of researchers have resolved the fundamentals of the molecular switching behaviour of a specific class of switchable molecules called azonium compounds. This paves the way towards actual application of these compounds in developing light-controlled drugs.
Published on: | 18 September 2023 |
Giovanni Maglia has developed a method to transport proteins through a nanopore
Published on: | 18 September 2023 |
UG researcher Prajal Pradhan aims to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals from failing
Published on: | 14 September 2023 |
In an article that was published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution on 14 September, Biologists from the University of Groningen show how European pied flycatchers can adapt to climate change.
Published on: | 12 September 2023 |
From September 15th to 17th, teams from all over the world will compete in the European Rover Challenge, an event taking place at the Kielce University of Technology campus in Poland. On a special Mars circuit, known as the Mars Yard, participants will have their own designed Mars rovers perform various tasks on-site or remotely, based on real NASA and ESA missions. This ninth edition marks the first time a Dutch team, Makercie, is participating.
Published on: | 12 September 2023 |
Macromolecular chemist Qi Chen from the University of Groningen used a problematic weed to build a tiny, self-powered sensor.
Published on: | 05 September 2023 |
Bart Verheij thinks that responsible AI should be capable of logical reasoning.
Published on: | 31 August 2023 |
An international team of marine scientists, led by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the Center for Coastal Studies in the USA, has studied the DNA of family groups from four different whale species to estimate their mutation rates. Using the newly determined rates, the group found that the number of humpback whales in the North Atlantic before whaling was 86 percent lower than earlier studies suggested.
Published on: | 24 July 2023 |
Nature in the Wadden area is under pressure, but what the consequences of climate change, tourism, environmental pollution or sea level rise are is still unclear. Using six bird species, researchers from the RUG, NIOZ, and the UVA want to find out what is going wrong and what protective measures work. Artists also play a role in this.
Posted on: | 29 April 2024 |
This year the students of the Makercie team are participating in the physical edition of the European Rover Challenge in Poland. Read more about the team and the collaboration between the RUG and Hanze UAS here.
Posted on: | 28 February 2023 |
Textbooks will tell you that in dividing cells, production of new DNA peaks during the S-phase, while production of other macromolecules, such as proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides, continues at more or less the same level. Molecular biologists at the University of Groningen, led by professor Matthias Heinemann, have now discovered that this is not true.
Posted on: | 27 February 2023 |
University of Groningen biochemists have succeeded in resurrecting the ancestral genes of five detoxifying enzyms which are present in all tetrapods to show how their divergence in function has occurred.
Posted on: | 23 February 2023 |
Intertidal areas are of greater worldwide importance to sharks and rays than previously thought. Researchers from the University of Groningen and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) have discovered that intertidal areas—coastal areas with sand flats that fall dry at low tide—are important feeding grounds and hiding places for, for example, endangered species of shark and ray.
Posted on: | 21 February 2023 |
On the sixth floor of Forum Groningen, in a corner of the Smartlab, you can find the very first ‘meet-o-theek’ – a library for measuring instruments – of the Netherlands. The collection currently comprises 67 tools, such as wildlife cameras, air quality monitors, smart plugs, telescopes and various microscopes. This way, devices that are too expensive to purchase for some, are available to anybody that would like to use them.
Posted on: | 16 February 2023 |
Governments could help millions of people and save a lot of money with targeted energy subsidies. Different kinds of households around the world suffer in various ways from the exorbitant energy prices and need different kinds of support, states Klaus Hubacek from the University of Groningen in a new study that was published {today} in Nature Energy.
Posted on: | 16 February 2023 |
University of Groningen scientists have now shown through direct measurements what the versatile polydopamine coatings really look like.
Posted on: | 08 February 2023 |
Dutch organizations combine knowledge about controlling salinization in deltas in a new Institute
Posted on: | 02 February 2023 |
Our society must end its addiction to oil and gas. This means that we need a new source of hydrocarbons, the carbon compounds from which fuels and many fossil-based materials are made.
Posted on: | 26 January 2023 |
European Union consumers are 'exporting' negative environmental impacts to their Eastern European neighbours, whilst keeping the bulk of economic benefits linked to consuming goods and services, a new study reveals.
Posted on: | 19 January 2023 |
At the University of Groningen, Jingxiu Xie combines her knowledge of catalysis and chemical engineering to produce kerosene from carbon dioxide.
Posted on: | 18 January 2023 |
Conducting your research in the most environmentally friendly way possible, one might think that this is a common method for scientists. However, this is not the case yet. Thomas Freese, coordinator of the LEAF project and member of Green Labs, is trying to bring about change.
Posted on: | 13 January 2023 |
Chemists from the University of Groningen have found a simple way to produce previously inaccessible chiral Z-alkenes, molecules that offer a significant synthetic short-cut for the production of bioactive molecules. Instead of eight to ten synthetic steps to produce these molecules, the new reaction can be done in three steps.
Posted on: | 11 January 2023 |
A new study reveals that it would take 3 million years to recover the number of species that went extinct due to humans on Madagascar. However, if currently threatened species go extinct, recovering them would take more than 20 million years, much longer than what has previously been found on any other island.
Posted on: | 09 January 2023 |
Students sometimes pull an all-nighter to prepare for an exam. However, research has shown that sleep deprivation is bad for your memory. Now, University of Groningen neuroscientist Robbert Havekes discovered that what you learn while being sleep deprived is not necessarily lost, it is just difficult to recall.