Number 15, July 2011

News Earth and Life Sciences


New impulse for research in top sector Horticulture and Propagation Material
The Netherlands has always been at the forefront of horticulture and plant breeding. Scientific research is an important aspect of this. NWO and the Technology Top Institute Green Genetics are funding five new projects in the research programme Green Genetics.


Henk Brinkhuis director NIOZ
On 1 December 2011 Prof. Henk Brinkhuis will become the new director of the NWO institute NIOZ. He will succeed Carlo Heip, who has retired. Brinkhuis worked as a marine biologist at Utrecht University.
Brinkhuis has published regularly in magazines like Nature and Science, regarding his research on climate extremes in the past. 		Henk Brinkhuis

Grants for knowledge utilisation
ALW has set up the programme Meerwaarde together with the NWO divisions for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Projects that have already been awarded funding receive a small additional grant when an activity aimed at knowledge utilisation is added to the project. Six ALW projects are developing the following applications:
  • a warning system for the protection of birds,
  • a project, together with Shell, which focuses on the administration of the North Pole area,
  • a project aimed at monitoring algal growth to meet the needs of mussel producers in the Wadden Sea,
  • a digital database of the paleogeography of the Rhine-Maas delta,
  • a game that supports future water management,
  • and a virtual environment for neurological patients who have problems orientating.


Successful workshop about mobile laboratories on Antarctica
Together with the Ministry for Education, Culture and Science, the Netherlands Polar Programme is funding the realisation of a Dutch research facility on Antarctica. This consists of four small laboratories. During a workshop, the selected Dutch researchers met their British partners and logistics personnel from the British Antarctic Survey. 		Workshop Rothera

Netherlands can continue to play a leading role in earth research
Climate and water, natural disasters, energy and the scarcity of natural resources (minerals and ores, space and biological wealth): these themes will require an integral approach from Dutch earth scientists over the next few years. In the recently published report 'Agenda 2020' the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) calls for the national knowledge infrastructure for the earth sciences to be strengthened.		 Agenda 2020 KNAW

New BWM workbook about nutrition
'Je bent wat je eet.' [You are what you eat] is the title of the booklet about nutrition and health. Food is in the spotlight more than ever before. To keep fit you need to eat healthily. But how do you decide which food is healthy? This booklet of the foundation BWM (Life Sciences and Society) tackles subjects such as forgotten vegetables, staying slim and dieting, the large quantities of salt we consume and probiotics. 		BWM cover


Annual report ALW in Synthese 2010
The annual report for the Division for the Earth and Life Sciences is included in the general NWO annual report. NWO's annual report for the general public is called Synthese. In Synthese (available in Dutch) the ALW report is given on pages 8 to 12. It is introduced by plant biologist René Geurts from Wageningen University and Research Centre who describes the good fortune of a batch of old seeds found at the bottom of a draw of several retired botanists. 		Synthese cover

ALW Board and office
  • Prof. Marcel Dicke and Prof. Rien Herber have stepped down from the Divisional Board after completing their terms of office.
  • At the ALW office policy officer Auke Bijlsma is retiring.

Grants awarded
The Divisional Board has approved proposals in the following programmes:

Calendar

  • 31 August closing date National Roadmap for Large-scale Research Facilities
  • 31 August closing date Investment Subsidy NWO Medium (cross-disciplinary proposals)
  • 31 August closing date Investment Subsidy NWO Medium (ALW)
  • 31 August closing date Innovational Research Incentives Scheme Vici | full proposals
  • 1 September closing date Rubicon | full proposals
  • 4-6 September Conference Plant genome evolution
  • 6 September 2011 closing date PhD Grant for Teachers | full proposals
  • 8 September closing date Urban Regions in the Delta | Letter of Intent
  • 15 September 2011 closing date Lorentz Center
  • 15 September closing date MEERVOUD
  • 4 October closing date Incentive Fund Open Access | journals
  • 4 October closing date Innovational Research Incentives Scheme Vidi
  • 6 October awards ceremony Dutch Network of Women Professors
  • 6-7 October North Sea Days 2011: 'At the edges of the sea'

More calendar items.



Press releases

Fish placenta is unfavourable survival strategy
Fish with a placenta struggle to adapt to rapid changes in the food supply. They probably evolved in a stable, food-rich environment. As ecosystems change under the influence of humans, they are experiencing greater difficulty in surviving than fish which lay eggs. Rubicon researcher Bart Pollux has published his findings about this in the journal Functional Ecology.
Phalloptychus januarius

Similarity between diseases is no coincidence
Researchers from Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam have discovered that different congenital disorders can cause similar complaints. That is because the genes involved cooperate closely, they write in Nature Genetics. This research was funded under the ALW Open Programme.
 
Young shellfish quickly find a safe place in mussel club
Mussels seek out fellow mussels to form 'clumps' in order to protect themselves. They do a so-called Lévy walk, which was found to be the most efficient searching strategy for finding a mussel club as quickly as possible. NIOO researchers published an article about this in Science that was based on research carried out under the ALW Open Programme.		 Mosselpatroon

Reduction in human output of greenhouse gasses has no effect on the increase in meltwater lakes
In Siberia, Alaska and Canada the permafrost soil is melting. This leads to the formation of meltwater lakes on a large scale, which release the strong greenhouse gas methane. The surface area of these meltwater lakes is set to rapidly increase in the future, but only up to a certain maximum surface area. The methane emission is therefore a lot lower than had been estimated but can no longer be influenced by reducing the human emission of greenhouse gasses. Researchers from VU University Amsterdam drew these conclusions in an article published in Nature Climate Change that was based on research funded under the ALW Open Programme.

Effect of 'leaking' Indian Ocean on climate receives too little attention
In a review article in Nature, professor Wil de Ruijter from Utrecht University highlights the often forgotten role of the Agulhas leak around South Africa in climate models. Research from the INATEX project funded by the Sea and Coastal Research Programme (ZKO) reveals that the Agulhas leak influences the Warm Gulf Stream.
Agulhas lek