1,189 search results for “plant soil interactions” in the Public website
-
Cycling and Sustainability: The Leiden University Green Office
Although the weather in the Netherlands will always be unpredictable, June might be the month to say with certainty that the temperatures will be pleasing enough for a ride on your bicycle. Aside from the benefits for your (mental) health, you will also make a positive impact on the environment. Start…
-
Hunter-gatherer toolkits and tasks: detecting microwear traces and residues on Northwestern European Mesolithic artefac
Prof.dr. Annelou van Gijn has obtained a Marie Curie subsidy for research on wetland activity patterns in Mesolithic Northwest Europe. This funding has been used to employ the researcher dr. Aimée Little. The project will commence in November 2011.
-
‘Food is the elephant in the room for human water use’
From treatment plants to hot showers, emissions from water use in the U.S. are equal to 50 million cars driving around for a year. In The Washington Post, staff writer Tik Root consults different experts to learn about ways to reduce our water consumption. He also speaks with Leiden environmental scientist…
-
Ditching meat could release vital land to produce energy and remove carbon from the atmosphere
A radical reduction in the amount of meat, dairy and other products sourced from animals is possible in the coming decades, as people turn to an increasing variety of alternatives. This would unlock vast amounts of land that we could use to produce energy and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Leiden…
-
Pharmacologist Elizabeth de Lange receives Honorary Doctorate in Pharmacy from Uppsala University
Professor of Predictive Pharmacology Elizabeth de Lange has received an Honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Pharmacy of Uppsala University. She will be honoured during the Uppsala Winter Conferment Ceremony on 31 January 2020.
-
MOOC ‘Evolution Today’
Evolution is all around you every day. This is the message of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) of Leiden University and Naturalis that is offered free of charge to anyone interested.
-
Wim Voermans in Nieuwsuur on weak legal basis of curfew
The decision by the court in preliminary relief proceedings to immediately lift the curfew in the Netherlands – following a case brought by pressure group Viruswaarheid (Virus Truth) – has been overturned until the appeal on the case is heard this Friday. The government is doing everything in its power…
-
Alumnus Robert Ietswaart: ‘Machine learning is revolutionising drug discovery’
Robert Ietswaart does research into gene regulation at the famous Harvard Medical School in Boston. He developed an algorithm to better predict whether a candidate medicine is going to produce side effects. He studied mathematics and physics in Leiden, and gained his PhD in computational biology in…
-
Success for Leiden with Vidi subsidies
NWO has awarded a Vidi subsidy to a total of 89 young and innovative researchers. Leiden researchers have won twelve of these subsidies and three subsidies have gone to the LUMC. Each researcher will receive up to 800,000 euro to develop a particular research theme or to set up a research group.
-
Better and faster ways of searching for antibiotics
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major problem worldwide. Molecular biologist Changsheng Wu explored innovative methods of developing new antibiotics more simply and more easily. He also discovered a new type of antibiotic.
-
2010 Pilot excavation in Iraqi Kurdistan
The Netherlands organisation for Scientific Research NWO has granted a subsidy to prof. dr Wilfred H. van Soldt (Humanities, LIAS) and dr Diederik J.W. Meijer (Archaeology, Near East) to conduct a pilot excavation in Iraqi Kurdistan.
-
Ruchama Noorda Doctoral Degree
PhDArts candidate Ruchama Noorda will graduate on Wednesday 9 December 2015
-
What does the Leiden economy of the future look like?
With the long lockdown, it’s been a hard year for Leiden businesses. How can the local economy bounce back and how can the University help? Two talk shows discussing this were recently recorded in the Academy Building. They will be aired on Unity TV on 28 September and 12 October.
-
Dies Natalis: 'The big questions call for collaboration'
Universities cannot survive in this highly competitive world without collaboration. And the ultimate aim is to make the world a safer and more sustainable place. This was Rector Carel Stolker’s message during the 441st Dies Natalis.
-
'Make room for empathy at the university'
Over recent years Leiden University has taken some significant steps forward in innovation in teaching and learning and in diversity. But there is still a lot to be done. These were the comments by governors, lecturers and scholars during the farewell seminar for Vice-Rector Simone Buitendijk on 27…
-
Unique research project in polder Oud Ade
From 9 September onwards, Leiden scientists, citizens and farmers will jointly investigate how to sustainably manage peat meadowland. In ten years' time, they hope to have learned how to promote biodiversity and simultaneously reduce nitrogen and CO2 emissions, among other things. The research will…
-
What to do with the fruit residue from oil palm seeds: refine it into bio-ethanol or use it as fertilizer?
When oil is harvested from the seeds of the oil palm tree, the fruit residue can be used to make bio-ethanol. However, it can also be used as a fertilizer on palm tree plantations; which option is best for the environment? Edi Wiloso compared the two green options at the Institute of Environmental Sciences…
-
New zebrafish study to understand human cancer
Ewa Snaar-Jagalska, Shuning He and colleagues from IBL, LION and LACDR reported on a new zebrafish study to understand micrometastasis of human cancer cells. They discovered a novel role for neutrophils in assisting metastasis formation, which provides critical insights for anti-cancer therapies.
-
Effect of insecticides on damselflies greater than expected
The latest research from the Leiden outdoor laboratory ‘Living Lab’ shows that the insecticide thiacloprid strongly influences even the most common and robust dragonfly species in the Netherlands. The study was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
-
Mathematics as weapon against desertification
PhD student Robbin Bastiaansen applies mathematics to get insight in practical problems. By comparing mathematical models with developments in existing ecosystems, he hopes to demystify the process of desertification. His research has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
-
2011 Tell Balata Campaign 2011
The objectives of the 2011 campaign Tell Balata Archaeological Park are to carry out excavations, promotion and awareness, community involvement, gathering oral histories and educating children. The objectives are described in a handout produced for the opening ceremony on June 21st 2011.
-
‘Poorer people often bear the brunt of sustainability initiatives’
The effects of sustainability projects on poorer, marginalised people should be considered at a much earlier stage. This is the opinion of Marja Spierenburg, Professor of Anthropology of Sustainable Development and Livelihood, who will give her inaugural lecture on 25 February.
-
Executive Board visits Leiden University College The Hague
Leiden University’s Executive Board (CvB) visited Leiden University College in The Hague on Friday 11 November during a working visit tour past the Institutes of the Faculty Governance and Global Affairs. Hester Bijl and Martijn Ridderbos were provided with an overview of the programme, the research,…
-
Melanie Fink speaks on Frontex at ‘Open Doors’ Summer School in Naples
On Sunday 18 June 2017 Melanie Fink, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Europa Institute, held a lecture on Schengen and the new European Border and Coast Guard Regulation in the framework of the ‘Open Doors’ Summer School on Migration, (Sea) Border Control and Human Rights.
-
3 October University: big science for small people
‘I already gave a talk about planets when I was five.’ With the theme of the 3 October celebrations being ‘Jong geleerd is oud gedaan’ (meaning something like, ‘You’re never too young to learn’), this year’s 3 October University was especially for children. Many parents came with their offspring to…
-
Popular lake balls under threat
Algae are not what immediately spring to mind when people think of threatened species. But even among algae there are species that have a difficult time, such as ‘Aegagropila linnaei’. In the magazine BioScience Christian Bödeker describes the worldwide decline of this species. He calls for the species…
-
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.
-
A headset and ample amounts of coffee: working from home in times of Corona
Now that university buildings have closed, most staff members have started working from home. How are Faculty of Science colleagues faring in their new offices?
-
A week immersed in solar biofuels
The Honours Class From Solar to Fuel with Bio consisted almost entirely of the workshop on Solar Biofuels from Micro-organisms that drew more than eighty specialist researchers to Leiden's Lorentz Centre in late March/early April. Students Erica Wenker (chemistry) and Jasper van Dobben de Bruijn (law)…
-
Skilling for sustainable food
Is Europe skilling for sustainable food?
-
Photosynthesis works with valves
Photosynthesis is the origin of life on earth, but it is a phenomenon that is still barely understood. Take, for example, the extremely efficient mechanism of electron transport. Leiden researchers demonstrate for the first time where one particular cause of this might be found.
-
Leiden alternative to plastic microparticles wins second prize in European student competition
A team of students from Leiden and Groningen took the second prize at the European final of the BISC-E sustainability competition. Last June, the team had already won the Dutch finals. The students came up with ‘Suckerspheres’, a natural alternative to the plastic micro-particles that are still frequently…
-
Rebellious birds make nests from anti-bird spikes
Innovation in nest building: bird nests made from anti-bird spikes. Researchers from Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Natural History Museum Rotterdam describe this behaviour in a publication.
-
Discoverer of the Year Paul Behrens: ‘We’re running out of time’
Earlier this year, the public voted environmental scientist Paul Behrens Discoverer of the Year 2018. Behrens is an interdisciplinary scientist who wants to understand our impact on the planet. ‘Unfortunately, we are not doing enough. Huge changes are underway and we’re running out of time to avoid…
-
Scientific breakthrough: evidence that Neanderthals hunted giant elephants
Neanderthals were able to outwit straight-tusked elephants, the largest land mammals of the past few million years. Leiden professor Wil Roebroeks has published an article about this together with his German colleague Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser in the Science Advances journal.
-
What if humans could have a different impact on Earth?
Starting 2 July 2022, a new exhibition will be opened to the public at the Old Observatory: More-than-Planet. This exhibit asks the question: how do we imagine our planet?
-
Bio Science Park: from empty fields to hip neighbourhood
New housing in old labs and striking architecture for University buildings and high-tech companies, not to mention waterside parks. An exhibition in Oude UB shows the radical changes that are in store for the Leiden Bio Science Park over the coming years.
-
Which DNA is floating in the ditch?
You pour a scoop of ditch water in the DNA scanner, and voilà: you know exactly which plants and animals the ditch accommodates. Well, it is not that simple yet, but according to PhD candidate Kevin Beentjes, we can already use DNA techniques to monitor the quality of freshwater. For his PhD research,…
-
Plankton and tumours captured in mathematical equations
Plants that grow in patterns of stripes on the edge of deserts, plankton that live on the sea bed or oscillate in the water, and melanomas that spread throughout the body. Mathematician Lotte Sewalt discovered the common elements in these three systems. PhD defence 8 September.
-
Ambassadors visit Leiden: ‘Knowledge knows no borders’
Over 30 ambassadors strengthened their ties with researchers and university leaders in a recent visit to Leiden University. Cross-border collaboration (both literal and figurative) was the theme of presentations and a tour of the Hortus botanicus.
-
Leiden heat of FameLab Competition
Biologists Michelle Spierings and Ryan Bogaars are 2 of the 4 winners of the Leiden heat for the international FameLab competition in talking science during a public presentation.
-
New IBL-professor in "Computational Biology": Vera van Noort
Vera van Noort has been appointed Professor in the field of Computational Biology within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology from the 1st of February 2017. Van Noort’s expertise is in bioinformatics and her research focuses on the computational analysis of large-scale biological data…
-
IBL-strategy meeting in Noordwijkerhout
Scientific director Herman Spaink brought almost all scientific staff members of our institute together in Noordwijkerhout for a two-day meeting about strategies for the future.
-
Female songbirds: Make her voice heard!
Listening to birds and helping science, it is possible. Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) researchers Karan Odom and Katharina Riebel launched a citizen science project to improve the worldwide documentation of female birdsong.
-
University flag travels to Mount Everest and back again
Leiden PhD candidate Mona Shahab climbed Mount Everest two years ago to raise money for the education of disadvantaged children in Egypt. She made it to the top and posed there with the University flag. She recently presented the flag to Rector Carel Stolker.
-
European collaboration shines a light on enzyme discovery for industry
A European consortium has provided a disruptive technological breakthrough to allow the discovery and characterization of novel enzymes for industrial biotechnology. The technology will open the way to more efficient industrial processes such as in the biofuel, animal feed and paper and pulp industr…
-
Bone bingo and telescopes during Museum Night
The strangest things come out at night. This is the motto of the Leiden Museum Night due to take place on 28 May. Leiden University is once again playing a key part.
-
How a nationally recommended diet can improve the environment
Changing your diet can improve both your health and the environment. A new study shows that the national dietary recommendations on reducing animal products can reduce environmental impacts in most high-income nations. Publication in PNAS journal.
-
On Environmental Guilt: Spring Poetry Competition 2022!
The Leiden University Green Office is pleased to announce its Spring Poetry competition, on the theme: (Environmental) Guilt!
-
What is there to do at Leiden University in 2023? Six events to look forward to
From sponsored runs to festivals and from open days to concerts: Leiden University hosts lots of events each year. We are highlighting six of them for 2023.