A special Dutch radio receiver went into space with a Chinese rocket on Sunday night. The receiver - actually three antennas made of fiberglass - will be used to capture signals that may say something about the origin of the earth, NOS reports.
Science
May 3 '18 14:10
Refugees with a scientific background may soon find it easier to find work in the Dutch academic world. Science financier NWO in The Hague is launching an experiment in which refugee scientists can get an appointment with a Dutch research group, NOS reports.
This experiment involves 750 thousand euros, enough to appoint eight to 15 people with a master's or doctor's degree for a year. The program, called Refugees in Science, was established in cooperation with KNAW, De Jonge Akademie and and the Dutch foundation for Refugee Students.
Apr 24 '18 15:40
The Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC) in Rijswijk used 317 monkeys in its tests last year, compared to 95 in 2016. Last year 137 of these animals died, AD reports.
Ronald Bontrop, BPRC director, told AD that the increase is due the the fact that "a long-term experiment with tuberculosis was completed last year". According to him, the monkeys involved in this experiment have been tested on for some time, but were only included in the count of last year - the year in which the experiment finished.
Apr 20 '18 12:30
VDL in Eindhoven is going to help the European Southern Observatory build the largest telescope in the world. Tens of millions of euros are involved in this project, Omroep Brabant reports.
Apr 5 '18 17:00
A student at Eindhoven University of Technology accidentally discovered a method to make a medicine against breast cancer much cheaper, NU.nl reports.
The student, working under lead researcher Lech-Gustav Milroy, conicidentally discovered that the substance Z-endoxifen, which can be used as a cancer medication, can be made in its pure form in one step. This discovery makes an extra step in the production process superfluous, and therefore makes the production process cheaper.
Mar 29 '18 13:30
Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is about to crash, sometime between Friday and Monday, experts expect. Where the space station will re-enter earth's atmosphere, and whether any debris will actually reach the earth, is still unclear. But it is very unlikely that the Netherlands will be hit, Stijn Lemmens of the European Space Agency (ESA) said to broadcaster NOS.
Mar 14 '18 14:00
British physicist Stephen Hawking was an extraordinary man, with a great sense of humor, who did amazing things for science, according to Dutch professor Vincent Icke. The world renowned physicist passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76.
Icke and Hawking worked together at the Institute for Astronomy in Cambridge. "There were a lot of these fake academics around", Icke said speaking to RTL Nieuws. "But Steve was not fake at all, he was a really nice guy."
Feb 28 '18 15:36
A power outage affecting Dutch airline KLM forced the airline to halt all flights from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. The electricity cut had a challenging impact on multiple KLM system around 2 p.m., and some passengers complained on social media platforms that the troubles had persisted for hours.
Feb 27 '18 17:30
A full scan and analysis of Johannes Vermeer's most famous work Girl with a Pearl Earring started in full public view in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague on Monday. Until March 11th museum visitors can watch a team of internationally recognized scientists study this painting in an effort to find out more about the method and materials Vermeer used for this famous work.
Feb 9 '18 14:50
Researchers at TU Eindhoven are developing a material that changes color when you add water to it. The researchers see numerous applications for this material, from packaging, to color changing decorations and even authenticity marks on bank notes, Eindhovens Dagblad reports.
Jan 30 '18 10:40
Archeologists found the remains of a baby that was buried in Nieuwegein some 6 thousand years ago. The remains of the baby was found with the skeleton of a young woman, which was excavated in the Het Klooster area in 2015. When archeologists studied the young woman's skeleton more closely in Leiden, the baby was found in her arms, AD reports.
The municipality of Nieuwegein calls this a unique archeological find for the Netherlands. This is the oldest baby remains ever found in the country. The discovery was presented at the Nieuwegein town hall on Tuesday.
Jan 12 '18 14:05
In 2017 the average sea level was 11cm above the NAP (Normal Amsterdam's Peil). That is 2cm higher that the former record year, 2007.
Fedor Baart, spokesperson of the research institute Deltares explained the phenomenon to newspaper de Volkskrant.
The sea level expert explained that the record is not surprising at all: "Since 1890 the waters along the coasts are rising about 2mm per year, because of the melting of the polar ices and the glaciers, together with the rise in temperature of the seas."
Jan 9 '18 15:30
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) wants to hinder the strong rise in international students enrolled at the academic institution, according to Parool. In ten years the number of international students quadrupled, according to new research from international student organization Nuffic.
Jan 5 '18 10:00
The University of Amsterdam achieved a great breakthrough in the preservation of coral reefs. Research by the university's Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamic found a successful method of breeding coral species, the university announced.
The results were recently published on the scientific magazine Scientific Reports.
Nov 23 '17 17:00
After ten years of research and testing by the university hospitals in Leiden and Nijmegen, a malaria vaccine seems to be on the horizon. Tests on 19 human subjects in the Netherlands over the past six months seem to indicate a breakthrough. They were injected with genetically weakened malaria parasites and none of them got malaria, NOS reports.
Nov 14 '17 09:02
The Netherlands has seen a massive surge in the number of international higher education students, with over 80 thousand enrolled at Dutch universities and applied sciences universities during the 2016-2017 academic year. This figure is double the number of foreign students in the country just ten years ago, according to new research from international student organization Nuffic.
Oct 20 '17 10:40
There may be something to the term 'Dutch courage'. A study by Maastricht University, the University of Liverpool, and King's College London found that consuming a low dose of alcohol, improves bilingual speakers' ability to speak a second language.
For the study, conducted at and funded by the University of Maastricht, researchers tested 50 native German speakers' ability to speak Dutch after drinking a low dose of alcohol. The participants are studying at the University of Maastricht and recently learned to speak, read and write Dutch.
Oct 19 '17 17:10
Inspired by the public outrage around reports of American film producer Harvey Weinstein sexually abusing numerous actresses, and thousands of women sharing their experiences on social media under #MeToo, Professor Vanessa Evers of the University of Twente decided to speak out about sexual abuse and harassment in the science world.
Oct 3 '17 16:30
An Amsterdam VU medical center experiment with a simple injection that contains a substance that resembles the DNA of bacteria, had positive results in preventing skin cancer from spreading, AD reports.
This first experiment involved 52 skin cancer patients, who visited the doctor due to a suspicious skin mark over 10 years ago. All of them were diagnosed with a melanoma in an early stage.
Sep 29 '17 12:10
A group of archaeologists found, in their words, the "largest and by far the richest archaeological site of the Netherlands" in the floodplains of the Maas river between Alphen and Dreumel. There they made over 100 thousand discoveries over the past seven years, including the remains of a Roman settlement, mammoths, and a large number of shipwrecks, NOS reports.
Aug 18 '17 09:42
A team of Dutch and British maritime archaeologists are working on excavating Dutch ship the Rooswijk, which sank on the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent in 1740. This is the largest ever excavation of a Dutch East India Company shipwreck, BBC reports.
Jun 30 '17 17:25
In the Rotterdam World Trade Center on Thursday politicians, companies, architects and inventors signed a 'green deal' for the eventual construction of the Dutch Windhweel - a massive, sustainable building in the shape of a wheel that will, hopefully, generate more energy than it uses. This very ambitious project is still in its planning phase, but if it becomes a reality, it is set to be an icon for green electricity, Trouw reports.
Jun 27 '17 13:55
Construction workers found 45 skeletons during excavation work next to the Eeusebius church in the heart of Arnhem. A cemetery connected to the Minnebroeders monastery, dating from 1487, is believed to be located in the area, according to archeologists. The monastery itself has never been found, NOS reports.
According to archeologists, these 45 skeletons are just the "tip of the iceberg". So far a skeleton was found per square meter excavated. Another 400 meters must still be dug up.
Jun 26 '17 10:19
An object that crashed through a shed roof in the Noord-Holland town of Broek in Waterland in January, was identified as a meteorite, according to scientists at the Naturalis museum in Leiden. This is the 6th meteorite ever to be found in the Netherlands, NU.nl reports.
The meteorite crashed through the roof of a shed at the speed of a high speed train around 5:00 p.m. on January 11th, shortly after several dashcams recorded a fireball in the air.
