Leiden University

Doing your part to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but still missing that social contact? Calling a loved one is more effective in filling that need than texting, according to Ellen de Bruijn, professor neurocognitive clinical psychology at Leiden University. Hearing the voice of a loved one releases oxytocin, texting does not, AD reports.

A small majority of 55 percent of Russian citizens "agree" or "completely agree" that Russia should pay grief damages to the relatives of the people killed when MH17 was shot down should international investigation show that Russia was responsible for the disaster,Trouw reports based on a poll by Leiden University and Raam op Rusland among 1,600 Russians.

Multiple Dutch universities are calling their exchange students back from Hong Kong, due to the increasing tensions in the city. The Dutch educational institutions decided to make an active effort to facilitate their exchange students' return to the Netherlands, as a precaution, NU.nl reports.

The University of Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University, Leiden University, and TU Delft all confirmed to the newspaper that they are facilitating the return of their students. Radboud University Nijmegen said the same to the Telegraaf.  

Wageningen University & Research is the best university in the Netherlands, according to the top 200 global universities ranking by Times Higher Education. The Netherlands has 11 universities in the top 200, and 7 in the top 100. The University of Twente dropped out of the ranking this year. 

After several rounds of voting, senators in the Netherlands selected Professor Jan Anthonie Bruijn as the new chairperson of the Eerste Kamer, the upper house of Dutch parliament. The 61-year-old professor of immunopathology at Leiden University has been involved in politics as a VVD member since 1989 when he first became a local VVD board member in hometown of Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland.

Bruijn takes the reins from VVD politican Ankie Broekers-Knol. She was tapped as justice and security secretary last month.

"Most of the fake news that Dutch people come across online comes from our own country", Peter Bruger, a researcher at Leiden University, said to newspaper Trouw based on his research.

Nearly 5.3 million people liked, shared or responded to Dutch 'pulp news' on Facebook at least once, according to a study by Leiden University that was published on Thursday. The researchers consider pulp news to be commercially driven reports that look like news items. According to the researchers, the term 'fake news' is too politically charged, NU.nl reports.

On a shipyard in Poland, North Korean forced laborers are used to build ships, including many for Dutch companies, according to a study by Leiden University professor Remco Breuker. This involves the Partner Shipyard in Sczecin, Poland. 43 ships were built there in recent years, 38 of which were commissioned by Dutch ship builders, NOS and BNR report.

Over half of outlaw motorcycle gang members in the Netherlands have been convicted of a violent crime and a third have a criminal record with more than 10 convictions behind his name, according to a study Leiden University published on Thursday, ANP reports. 

The Netherlands performed exceptionally well in both the World and Europe University Rankings 2017, according to Times Higher Education. All 13 of the Netherlands' main research intensive universities made the top 100 of the Europe ranking and top 200 in the World ranking. 

The Netherlands outpaced the European average when it came to research reputation, citation impact and research productivity, as well as income measures to academic staff. 

The Netherlands' debate on jihadists is characterized by a simple, sometimes sensational misrepresentation, according to terrorism experts Edwin Bakker and Peter Grol in their new book Nederlandse jihadisten, van naive idealisten tot geharde terroristen. Jihadists can't all be recognized in time, and therefore can't always be stopped. And if you managed to stop them, it is unreasonable to expect that they will suddenly turn into a "model citizen who embraces democracy", they write in the book, AD reports.