231 search results for “liveable planet” in the Staff website
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Planet found too big for its parent star
The discovery of a planet far too large for its sun defies models about the formation of solar systems and planets. In a paper in Science, researchers, including Yamila Miguel of Leiden Observatory, report the discovery of a planet more than 13 times heavier than Earth orbiting the ultracool dwarf star…
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Research: Points system makes neighbourhoods nicer to live in
A lot of municipalities work with a points system to encourage construction projects to take biodiversity and creating green areas into account. But this way of working also benefits local neighbourhoods and residents, master's student Marije Sesink discovered. She based her study on The Hague.
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Are tropical forests threatened by democracy?
Democracy may lead to more deforestation in the tropics. So write environmental scientist Joeri Morpurgo and his colleagues in the prominent scientific journal Biological conservation. They found that competitive elections are associated with more loss of tropical rainforest than elections without competition.…
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Making better use of our natural resources
The availability of natural resources, the energy transition, the importance of circularity and our dependence on China. This and more is what Professor of Industrial Ecology René Kleijn's inaugural lecture is about.
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Report: what does our urban mine have to offer?
On 21 January, the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) has released two reports on circular economy and urban mining in the Netherlands. In them, together with Statistics Netherlands, they take stock of part of the Dutch ‘urban mine’: how much raw material can we reuse from the electricity grid,…
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The importance of diversity and equity in sustainability research: an anthropological reflection on the productivity of frictions
Inaugural lecture
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What was there first? Water or planets?
Could water be present in planet-forming disks before the formation of rocky planets? The James Webb Space Telescope may have found evidence for that. Webb has for the first time observed water in the inner disc around young star where at greater distance, giant planets have already formed. The research…
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Extinction, Extraction, Emergence: Plantation Necrobiopolitics on the West Papuan Oil Palm Frontier
Lecture
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Leiden University joins Hague Climate Agreement: for a sustainable, healthy and green city
Leiden University has joined the Hague Climate Agreement. This comprises 38 climate deals aimed at making The Hague climate neutral by 2030.
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First detailed picture of ice in planet-forming disk
An international team of astronomers led by Ardjan Sturm of the Observatory has made the first two-dimensional inventory of ice in a planet-forming disk of dust and gas surrounding a young star. The researches, including Melissa McClure, used the James Webb Space Telescope and publish their findings…
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Planet-forming discs around young low-mass star differs fundamentally from one around sun-like star
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of researchers, including Leiden Professor of Molecular Astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck, has discovered a palette of hydrocarbons in a planet-forming disc around a young, low-mass star. The results confirm that discs around very lightweight…
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Archaeologist Everest Gromoll wins LUF Thesis Prize with groundbreaking research on human responses to climatic shifts
On Saturday, February 11, 2023, at the Dies for Alumni event, archaeology alumni Everest Gromoll was awarded the LUF Thesis Prize. His thesis, titled ‘Neolithizers by Nurture’, explores parallels between the only two comparable climatic shifts in the history of modern humans: that of the one 12,000…
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How can we make better use of natural resources?
Mining for natural resources harms the environment. But we desperately need them, for both the development of countries and the transition to a sustainable energy system. Professor of Sustainable Resource Use Ester van der Voet researches how we can reduce the environmental impact of natural resources…
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The effect of nanoparticles on our planet
‘Solar panels, toothpaste and sport socks. What do these things have in common?’ Martina Vijver, professor of ecotoxicology begins her TEDx-talk. Watch her online lecture if you want to learn more about the effects of nano-particles on our environment and health.
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Widespread cultural diffusion of knowledge started 400,000 years ago
Different groups of hominins probably learned from one another much earlier than was previously thought, and that knowledge was also distributed much further. A study by archaeologists at Leiden University on the use of fire shows that 400,000 years ago knowledge and skills must already have been exchanged…
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Students become ‘change agents’ in Sustainability Challenge
Leiden students working to solve a sustainability problem at the request of an external party: that is the Sustainability Challenge. During a recent symposium, 28 groups of four to five students unveiled their solutions. The commisioners expressed great enthusiasm.
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Buurtlab 070 launched – sustainability research in, by and for the community
Buurtlab 070 is a new Leiden University project in which residents, researchers and students from The Hague work together on climate, sustainability and biodiversity solutions. What do they expect of the lab?
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What tiny isotopes reveal about planets outside our solar system
Planets existing in other solar systems contain invaluable information about the origin of planets and life. PhD candidate Yapeng Zhang has studied their atmospheres by looking at their smallest parts: isotopes. With her research she hopes to discover what makes our own solar system unique.
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Ties to the fossil fuel industry
Debate
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Report: Tracking down green spaces in The Hague in places you don't always want to be
Although there is considerable evidence that nature in the city is beneficial to both people and animals, we still do not have an overall picture of those benefits. To rectify that, a Leiden PhD candidate and a student – armed with a cargo bike – are using The Hague as a life-size laboratory.
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Lukasz Tychoniec
Science
tychoniec@strw.leidenuniv.nl | +31 71 527 5737
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Nominations for the Frontiers Planet Prize - 4 October 2023
Research
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Nitrogen experts suggest switching from deposition to emission policy
In an essay Professors Jan Willem Erisman (Leiden University), Chris Backes (Utrecht University) and Wim de Vries (Wageningen University) suggest amending nitrogen policy in the Netherlands. They call for a shift from a deposition to an emissions policy, with sectors responsible for reducing their own…
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LUGO Sustainability Day
Conference, Symposium
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Keynote Sustainable Environment by Marja Spierenburg @ESOF
Conference
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Marja Spierenburg in openingspanel ESOF
Conference, Panel
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Blog: Freedom is important, commitment too
Professor Jan Willem Erisman is happy with the freedom at our University. But frameworks are needed, he believes. That is why he makes a proposal for such a framework from the perspective of his own profession. In fact, he makes a proposal for a wonderful ambition for Leiden University.
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Opening of Academic Year on sustainability: optimism and criticism go hand in hand
The theme of the Opening of the Academy Year on 4 September was sustainability and how the university could take the lead as a change agent. How is it going about this and what else can it do? There was also room for a critical note.
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Students seek sustainable solutions for businesses
Master’s students in Industrial Ecology and Governance of Sustainability have helped answer organisations’ questions about sustainability
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What's inside a giant planet? Yamila Miguel will find out with an ERC Consolidator Grant
Discovering what is inside giant planets and their atmosphere, that is one of the goals of astronomer Yamila Miguel. With an ERC Consolidator Grant of 2 million euro, she will study giant planets both inside and outside our solar system. ‘We want to know more about how planetary systems are born, how…
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Opinion piece in Nature: Tobias Müller on people of faith being allies to stall climate change
Tobias Müller, post-doctoral researcher in the field of Terrorism and Political Violence at ISGA, writes how together, religious groups and scientists can be a powerful force for a liveable planet.
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Help increase your faculty’s NSE response rate
Education
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Leiden University fifth in SustainaBul sustainability ranking
Leiden University has secured fifth place in SustainaBul, the sustainability ranking for universities and universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands.
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James Webb Space Telescope sees sand clouds on 'cotton candy planet' WASP-107b
A team of European astronomers has found a silicate-based weather system on a cloudy gas planet around the star WASP-107. It is the first time astronomers have found silicate clouds and rain. They also conclude that temperatures deeper in the atmosphere are rising rapidly. 'The presence of clouds has…
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Astronomers spot benzene in planet-forming disk around star for first time
An international team of astronomers including Leiden professor Ewine van Dishoeck has observed the benzene molecule (C6H6) in a planet-forming disk around a young star for the first time. The observations tell us more about the forming of planets in this disc, like our own Earth. The scientists publish…
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Dust cloud from two colliding ice planets dims light of parent star
For the first time, an international group of astronomers have seen the heat glow of two ice giant planets colliding. They could also observe the resultant dust cloud move in front of the parent star several years later. Led by Leiden astronomer Matthew Kenworthy, they monitored the star's brightness…
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UV radiation from massive stars prevents formation of Jupiter-like planet
An international team of scientists, including Xander Tielens of Leiden Observatory, has used space telescope Hubble and the ALMA observatory to show that UV radiation from massive stars can prevent planets from forming. The researchers publish their findings on 1 March in the journal Science.
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Navigating the Energy Transition: A Call to Consider the Citizen Perspective
A wind turbine near your home? The energy transition is not seen as just by all parties concerned. It’s essential to involve local residents, argues Emma ter Mors, social psychologist. As a researcher, she focuses on identifying factors that influence public acceptance of energy technologies. Isn't…
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Assessing total environmental impact is becoming even more important
Life cycle assessment (LCA) reveals the total environmental impact of products or production processes, and EU rules are going to make this even more important.
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Calling all researchers: Seize interdisciplinary opportunities on Wednesday 17 May
Research
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How to improve interdisciplinary cooperation within Leiden University?
Conference
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'Climate issues and sustainability should be part of every study programme'
Having lectures on sustainability when you're a first-year student of Law, or a course on climate change when you're studying Public Administration may sound odd, but that is just what Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences Thijs Bosker wants to see happening. Together with his colleague Paul…
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Michiel Hogerheijde
Science
michiel@strw.leidenuniv.nl | +31 71 527 5590
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‘We are destroying our own planet' (and Latin America pays the price)
The whole world gets raw materials from Latin America, but at the expense of nature. Håvar Solheim researches the role of organised crime in this environmental crime and Soledad Valdivia researches sustainable urban initiatives in Latin America. What do these university lecturers think the future of…
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Elephants in the Room
Lecture
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‘Transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations lead to better scholarship and solutions’
How can you persuade researchers who are used to conducting research within clearly defined disciplines to adopt an interdisciplinary approach? Newly appointed distinguished professor Arnold Tukker explained.
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Ewine van Dishoeck
Science
ewine@strw.leidenuniv.nl | +31 71 527 5814
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Final Kiem symposium on interdisciplinarity and decompartmentalisation
How do you set up successful interdisciplinary collaborations? That is the central question of a triptych of Leiden symposia in 2024. The final part, on 6 June, looks at cooperation and decompartmentalisation between public institutions. In addition, there will be information on the new round of Kiem…
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In Memoriam: Katharine MacDonald (1976-2022)
Our dear colleague and friend Kathy MacDonald passed away unexpectedly on August 9th, 2022, a few days after her 46th birthday. Her sudden passing came as a tremendous shock to her colleagues and friends at the Faculty of Archaeology and to colleagues and former students both in The Netherlands and…
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Nienke van der Marel receives New Horizons Prize
Nienke van der Marel has been awarded the New Horizons Prize in physics for her pioneering research on planet formation. This prize is given to young, promising researchers in physics or mathematics. The astronomer and her colleagues found the first observational evidence for 'dust traps' in disks around…