Number 14, March 2011

News Earth and Life Sciences

Netherlands joins continental drilling programme
Since 14 February, the Netherlands has been a member of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). The programme finances drillings in the earth's crust during which samples and measurement data are collected. Researchers can use this material to develop models to improve our understanding of processes in the earth's crust. NWO pays an annual contribution of 75,000 dollars on behalf of the Netherlands. 		Signing of the ICDP


Financial overview ALW in 2010
NWO's Division for the Earth and Life Sciences spent € 75 million in 2010. It received 71 million euros in income. Grants were awarded to a total of 198 new scientific projects. You can read more about the annual figures here. 		€

Merger in sea and coastal research
The two most important Dutch knowledge institutes in the area of sea and coastal research will merge. KNAW will transfer the Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology (CEME, part of the Netherlands Institute for Ecology) in Yerseke to NWO. CEME will then merge with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) to form a single institute.


BWM workbook about infectious diseases
Stichting Bio-Wetenschappen en Maatschappij (BWM) has published a new booklet. Infectious diseases have unfortunately made a comeback. This is because of the increased global movement of people and goods as well as the development of new infectious diseases and increasing resistance. You can order the workbook 'Infectieziekten. Ongewenste wereldreizigers' [Infectious diseases. Unwanted world travellers] through the website.		 BWM Cahier

Television broadcast on awarded project on underwater sound
Man spreads much noise underwater, such as by ship propellers, sonar and pile driving for windfarms. What is the impact of underwater noise on marine mammals and fish? Out of the Programme Sea and Coastal Research (ZKO) a new research project started on this subject, developed together with industry and government. On Tuesday, March 29 the TV programme on science, Labyrint, pays attention to this research (9:20 p.m. on Ned.2). Underwater Sound is a topical policy issue (windmills, military noise, marine, nature management). Underwater Sound will also be the theme of a symposium that ZKO will organise at the end of 2011. 		underwater noise

ALW Board and office

ALW has a new board member Prof. Melly Oitzl, professor of cognitive neurobiology at the University of Amsterdam and associate professor at Leiden University Medical Center. She succeeds Prof. Marian Joëls on the ALW Board.

Grants awarded
Programme news

Final document Cognition programme
The Cognition programme was concluded in November 2010 with a scientific concluding symposium. Now the final evaluation of the programme has been published in the form of a brochure. This contains the evaluations of the external evaluation committee, the steering group and the programme committee. You can download the English version of the final document here.

Final evaluation Cognition

Positive evaluation Meervoud programme
Meervoud is the programme that facilitates the flow of female researchers to assistant and associate professorship positions. Following an evaluation, the Divisional Board has decided to continue with the programme. Over the next five years, four million euros have been made available for the ALW part of Meervoud. That is enough for one funding round per year with three awards per round.

Meervoud

Calendar

  • 19 March: Pole to pole, public lectures
  • 31 March: closing date Vici
  • 31 March: closing date Rubicon
  • 31 March: closing date PhD grants for teachers
  • 18-20 April: congress Netherlands Society for Microbiology
  • 28 April: closing date Collaboration China (NSFC) - Joint Research Projects
  • 15 May: closing date Lorentz Center
  • 6 June: Bessensap 2011
  • 4-15 July: Darwin Summer School on Biogeosciences

More calendar items.



Press releases

Birdsong is a primitive form of language
Songs from songbirds form a type of language that enables the birds to communicate simple messages. That is the conclusion of a team of biologists and linguists led by Prof. Johan Bolhuis at Utrecht University, which was published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Birdsong can be viewed as a primitive form of our own far more complex language. It might now be possible for scientists to gain a better understanding of how our ability to learn language has developed over the course of history.
Swallow

Step unravelled in the mechanism plants use to assimilate nitrogen from the air
Another step has been unravelled in the mechanism that some plants use to assimilate nitrogen from the air. Researchers from Wageningen University are investigating a striking similarity between how the unusual plant Parasponia uses Rhizobium bacteria to assimilate nitrogen and how nearly all plants exchange nutrients with fungi. The research from Vidi laureate Dr René Geurts, published in Science Express, contributes to the development of an environmentally-friendly alternative for the energy-consuming production of nitrogen fertiliser.

Intensive arable farming threatens farmland birds
On arable farms that use a lot of pesticides and where the grain yield is high, fewer farmland birds breed and fewer birds winter there. This is the conclusion of NWO-funded PhD student Flavia Geiger, which is based on a large-scale study that she carried out together with researchers from nine other European universities. 		Cropland

New method rejuvenates blood cells after a heart attack
Giving blood cells a considerable boost can help to repair the damage caused by heart attack. Rubicon researcher Dr Reinier Boon has successfully developed a protein therapy that rejuvenates blood cells. This method to restore the functioning of old, weak cells, opens up possibilities for the use of stem cell therapy to repair damage to the heart.