27 October 2017
On Monday 30 October, the University of Groningen launches a free online course that will investigate the sources of modern science. During a three-week period, three scientists will take the participants to the seventeenth century, to the origin of the scientific revolution which took place in those days: ‘Scientific Revolution: Understanding the Roots of Modern Science’. Three researchers from the Talent Scheme (Veni) are the driving force behind this MOOC (‘massive online open course’): Andrea Sangiacomo, Han Thomas Adriaenssen and Doina-Cristina Rusu.
23 October 2017
Birds will sometimes care for the offspring of other birds of their own species if they anticipate future benefits. Being tolerated in another bird’s territory and the chance to inherit that territory later are considered rewards for which some birds are willing to postpone their own chance of reproduction. On 23 October 2017 veni researcher Sjouke Kingma from the University of Groningen has published an article on this subject in Nature Communications.
16 October 2017
For the first time, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space and time — in addition to light from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars. This marks the first time that a cosmic event has been viewed in both gravitational waves and light. The discovery was made using the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO); the Europe-based Virgo detector; and some 70 ground- and space-based observatories.
12 October 2017
Frisian mariners' communities were important merchant shippers within Dutch trade between 1650 and 1770. However, how this arose had not been clear up until now. Simone Steenbeek investigated the characteristics of the places where the mariners lived and the navigation routes that they followed. She discovered that due to the specialisation in agriculture, the division of labour, and population growth, mariners' communities became active in regional transport and thus automatically became involved in national and international transport as well. Steenbeek defended her PhD thesis on Thursday 12 October at the University of Groningen. Her research was funded by a grant from NWO's Free Competition (humanities) programme.
5 October 2017
Individual genes have little influence in the development of antisocial behaviour. However, the interaction of genes as a whole could explain some of the differences in antisocial behaviour. This was revealed by international research among more than 25,000 participants in which the researchers Jorim Tielbeek, Arne Popma, Tinca Polderman and Danielle Posthuma of VUmc and VU Amsterdam were involved. Tielbeek carried out this research with funding from the NWO programme Research Talent. The research was published today in JAMA Psychiatry.
2 October 2017
The research programme Sport strengthens scientific and multidisciplinary research in the area of sport and exercise. The intended collaboration between the fields of sport and healthcare has been realised and that has already led to a lot of valuable knowledge, innovations and products for everyday practice. These are several conclusions made by Bureau Bartels in the final evaluation of the research programme Sport. This programme was jointly developed, co-financed and realised by NWO Domain SSH, NWO Domain TTW and ZonMw, in collaboration with the Taskforce for Applied Research (NRPO SIA).
