Kim Calders discovered his passion for scanning trees when doing his PhD in Hallerbos forest, near Brussels. As a bio-engineer, he has been travelling the world with his LiDAR scanner ever since. Along the way, he has ended up face to face with cassowaries and elephants, and collaborated with artists to make a forest sing. A story in nine pictures.
During the Second World War, the patrol ship John Mahn sank off the Belgian coast. Bio-engineers at Ghent University, together with the Flanders Marine Institute, studied its impact on life in the North Sea.
Of all the plastic waste that we are currently sorting, too little is recycled properly (or even at all). As a Chemist at Ghent University, Sibel Ügdüler is developing methods for high-quality recycling, which in her opinion could resolve a serious recycling problem. The industry is watching with interest.
The last years’ drought has caused stress in trees. Some have stopped growing; others have shed their foliage. Sometimes entire forests have perished. The bioengineers at the Department of Environment (Faculty of Bioscience Engineering) are crossing national borders to try to find out the causes of the problems effecting trees globally and working on a type of forest that can cope with climate change.
Jellyfish are the last thing that many beach visitors want to see, let alone feel in the water. Even so, there is no need to be too concerned and the poison from our jelly fish is little to worry about. Been stung? Then there are some things you can do to relieve the pain. Pee for example, or is that a myth?
Every year you hear lifeguards at the Belgian coast appeal to people not to swim in unsupervised zones. And quite right too, say North-Sea specialists Jana Asselman, Sara Vandamme and Colin Janssen. After all, there is lots going on under the water’s surface.
Sweating without the annoying smell? In fact, it’s possible! Much is to do with the bacteria living under the armpit. Chris ‘Doctor Armpit’ Callewaert explains.
“Most people water their plants too much. Or too little. Knowing exactly how much water to give them is not easy,” says Professor Kathy Steppe. She uses sensors to meticulously measure when plants need water and how much.
If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll know how difficult it is to keep chocolate cool during the summer months. So where should you store it? In a cupboard or in your fridge?
What does steel production have to do with fish-food production? Everything! If you ask Myrsini Sakarika and Nele Ameloot from Ghent University. After all, they are helping to convert CO2 from the steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Belgium into proteins, which can then be used for fish food. Pioneering research, although some finetuning is still necessary: “Fish are pretty demanding when it comes to their diet.”
Chicken feathers are full of valuable substances. Working with STAMAGRO, the start-up in East Flanders, researchers at Ghent University have helped to find a way to turn these substances into a product that benefits the growth of plants. That also means less nitrogen and CO2, because the plants require less fertilizer. And it reuses the feathers, which would otherwise end up in the rubbish. Win-win!
A new sugar replacement, call it Stevia 3.0, tastes just like sugar and is much healthier. It’s been developed by an American company, but conceived with input from Ghent-University professor Marjan De Mey. A partnership that will clearly stick around in the future.
