https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us provides the latest news from Radboud University Nijmegen Governments cutting hundreds of millions of euros in pandemic funding, just a few years after a pandemic. Billions spent on compensation after a flood, rather than on prevention beforehand. Governments find it difficult to deal effectively with major, but not acute, risks. Why is this such a challenge? This was researched by Bas Heerma van Voss, who will be defending his Ph.D. thesis at Radboud University on April 13. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-beware-hard-invest.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:00:01 EDT news694251976 Loneliness is a common problem among students. However, encouraging students to socialize at an early stage can improve the well-being of this group. This is evident from an experiment with a new preventive intervention developed by researchers at Radboud University. Their findings are published today in the journal ESB. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-students-socialize-early-stage-loneliness.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 15:11:18 EST news688317061 Babies as young as eight months old can adapt their learning style to changing situations, according to research by Francesco Poli of the Donders Institute at Radboud University. This is the first time that babies have been shown to learn in such a flexible way. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-month-babies-style-situations.html Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:00:04 EDT news670059481 Every year, around 90,000 young people make the transition from school to work. A large number of them start to participate in sports less during this transition. This is worrying, because those who participate less in sports usually do not pick it up again automatically. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-young-people-play-sports-job.html Wed, 28 May 2025 15:18:03 EDT news667664281 How come you can't tickle yourself? And why can some people handle tickling perfectly fine while others scream their heads off? Neuroscientist Konstantina Kilteni from the Donders Institute argues in an article published on May 23 in Science Advances that we should take tickle research more seriously. She researches these questions in her tickle lab at Radboud University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-enigma-dont-years.html Tue, 27 May 2025 14:24:02 EDT news667574639 "Angry" citizens often experience a lack of trust in politics and democracy. Governments are doing everything they can to involve this group in democracy again with referendums and participatory budgets. Research by Rosa Kindt shows that this is having an effect: these meetings provide satisfaction and a feeling of being heard, especially among right-wing populist citizens. Kindt's Ph.D. defense will take place on 1 April at Radboud University. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-participatory-referendums-ease-populist-citizens.html Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:09:03 EDT news662224142 A pitiful sound from tinny speakers, sad virtual eyes, trembling robot arms: It doesn't take much to feel sorry for a robot. This is the conclusion of a study by Marieke Wieringa, who will be defending her Ph.D. thesis at Radboud University on 5 November. But she warns that our human compassion could also be exploited; just wait until companies find a revenue model for emotional manipulation by robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-10-robot.html Tue, 29 Oct 2024 06:00:02 EDT news649352893 Will AI soon surpass the human brain? If you ask employees at OpenAI, Google DeepMind and other large tech companies, it is inevitable. However, researchers at Radboud University and other institutes show new proof that those claims are overblown and unlikely to ever come to fruition. Their findings are published in Computational Brain & Behavior today. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-09-dont-hype-artificial-general-intelligence.html Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:04:03 EDT news646913041 The murder of George Floyd in 2020 revived the Black Lives Matter movement, a large scale social movement that aims to highlight and reduce structural racism and inequality in the United States. The movement—and its coverage—strongly affected how white Americans thought about Black Americans, shows Ph.D. researcher Max Primbs. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-explore-effects-black-protests-racial.html Mon, 16 Sep 2024 11:19:03 EDT news645704341 The International Court of Justice in The Hague has been busier than ever in recent years: it has been asked to render judgments and issue advisory opinions on conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Myanmar, among others, and it settles border disputes all over the world. What roles does this Court of Justice play in such cases, and how can its authority be explained? Rosa Möhrlein examined these questions and will defend her Ph.D. thesis at Radboud University on 28 August. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-world-mired-conflict-international-tribunals.html Tue, 27 Aug 2024 14:26:02 EDT news643987561 Green hydrogen often, but certainly not always, leads to CO2 gains. This claim is based on research published in Nature Energy by Kiane de Kleijne from Radboud University and Eindhoven University of Technology. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-06-life-analysis-reveals-co8322-benefits.html Fri, 21 Jun 2024 09:03:03 EDT news638179381 Peatlands are affected more by drought than expected. This is concerning, as these ecosystems are an important ally in the fight against climate change. Following long periods of drought, peat is able to absorb little to no extra carbon (CO2). Increasing biodiversity also does little to make peat more drought-resilient. These are the conclusions drawn by researchers from Radboud University in a publication appearing today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-carbon-vault-peat-greatly-drought.html Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:12:03 EST news624129121 Researchers from Radboud University and the UMC Utrecht have succeeded in transforming brain signals into audible speech. By decoding signals from the brain through a combination of implants and AI, they were able to predict the words people wanted to say with an accuracy of 92 to 100%. Their findings are published in the Journal of Neural Engineering. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-brain-speech-implants-ai.html Mon, 28 Aug 2023 17:07:03 EDT news612461221 Countries around the European Union are looking at reforms of energy subsidies, to encourage more sustainable energy use and to accommodate the higher prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These countries should be careful and considerate of the effects these reforms may have on the firms and productivity in these countries, researchers from Radboud University warn. Their study of an energy reform in Iran in 2010, published in Energy Economics, identifies some challenges that can come with such reforms. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-energy-subsidy-reforms-europe-require.html Thu, 29 Jun 2023 16:17:03 EDT news607274221 Human behavior changed dramatically during lockdowns in the first months of the global COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in behavioral changes of land mammals. This is according to a study published in Science by a large international research team led by Marlee Tucker, an ecologist at Radboud University. Wild mammals traveled longer distances and appeared closer to roads during strict lockdowns. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-mammals-severe-covid-lockdowns.html Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:00:03 EDT news605436041 Scientists from the Radboud University have developed synthetic molecules that resemble real organic molecules. A collaboration of researchers, led by Alex Khajetoorians and Daniel Wegner, can now simulate the behavior of real molecules by using artificial molecules. In this way, they can tweak properties of molecules in ways that are normally difficult or unrealistic, and they can understand much better how molecules change. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-scientists-artificial-molecules-real.html Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:00:01 EDT news605435088 New theoretical research by Michael Wondrak, Walter van Suijlekom and Heino Falcke of Radboud University has shown that Stephen Hawking was right about black holes, although not completely. Due to Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but the event horizon is not as crucial as had been believed. Gravity and the curvature of spacetime cause this radiation too. This means that all large objects in the universe, like the remnants of stars, will eventually evaporate. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-black-hole-evaporation-theoretical-stephen.html Fri, 02 Jun 2023 03:00:01 EDT news604846226 With temperatures rising worldwide, more and more people globally consider air-conditioning an essential element of living with climate change. However, air-conditioning units are also rather power-hungry and are likely to increase energy consumption in areas where they are used often. To limit the impact of air-conditioners on our energy grids and our climate, we need data to better understand where they're sold globally. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-social-media-glimpse-popularity-air.html Fri, 21 Apr 2023 14:33:25 EDT news601306400 It's not the individual brain regions but rather their connections that matter. Neuroscientists propose a new model of how the brain works. This new view enables us to understand better why and how our brains vary between individuals. The researchers have published their work in a special issue of Science on November 4. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-11-view-brain.html Thu, 03 Nov 2022 14:00:06 EDT news586693138 Lakes and other freshwater systems emit large quantities of methane, which is the second most important greenhouse gas worldwide after CO2. Dredging and the use of Phoslock (a phosphate-binding clay particle) can reduce these lake emissions by over 50%. This is the conclusion of a study by Radboud University researchers, published today in Science of The Total Environment. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-reduction-methane-emissions-lakes-approach.html Tue, 02 Aug 2022 09:27:28 EDT news578651245 The movement of elephants through wildlife corridors is directly impacted by differing forms of human pressures and development, new research by Elephants Without Borders (EWB) and Radboud University shows. Their study, published today in Frontiers in Conservation, is the first that takes an in-depth look at how varying land use affects elephants and their use of wildlife corridors. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-city-life-farm-elephants-human.html Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:00:03 EDT news578155315 Larger fish are more likely to experience oxygen deficiency in warming water than smaller species. The same applies to fish with large cells, note researchers at Radboud University in their latest study. In addition, marine fishes are less tolerant of oxygen-depleted water than freshwater fishes. Based on these insights, the researchers ultimately aim to predict which aquatic species are at risk due to changes in their habitat caused by global warming and human activities. The study will be published in the journal Global Change Biology on 25 July. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-fish-oxygen-starvation.html Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:28:39 EDT news577952915 Physicists observed a strange new type of behavior in a magnetic material when it's heated up. The magnetic spins "freeze" into a static pattern when the temperature rises, a phenomenon that normally occurs when the temperature decreases. They published their findings in Nature Physics on July 4. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-magnetic.html Tue, 05 Jul 2022 11:38:02 EDT news576239881 Neuroscientists have gained new insight into how our brain evolved into a language-ready brain. Compared to chimpanzee brains, the pattern of connections of language areas in our brain has expanded more than previously thought. The researchers at Radboud University and University of Oxford publish their findings in PNAS on July 4. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-07-language-areas-unique-human-brain.html Tue, 05 Jul 2022 11:32:03 EDT news576239522 It is well known that CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels underlie the havoc being wrought by climate change. Stemming further emissions through innovations in sustainable energy production is certainly part of the solution. However, slowing global warming also hinges upon our ability to capture and retain CO2 from the atmosphere. In a study published today in the journal Science, a team of researchers from the Netherlands, U.S. and Germany shows that salt and freshwater wetlands capture and store huge amounts of CO2 through the plants that build these landscapes. The good news is that restoration of these wetlands is improving, amplifying their ability to be used as nature-based and sustainable tool for counteracting climate change. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-land-building-marsh-champions-co2-capture.html Thu, 05 May 2022 14:00:01 EDT news570965267 If you find yourself shouting and gesticulating wildly if others can't hear you during a Zoom call, you're not alone. The more the video quality of an online meeting degrades, the louder we start talking, a new study by researchers at Radboud University and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics finds. People also tend to change up their gestures to compensate. Their findings were published today in the Royal Society Open Science journal. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-shout-video-image-blurry.html Wed, 13 Apr 2022 13:26:28 EDT news569075182 Generating power while purifying the environment of greenhouse gases should be achievable using bacteria. In a new publication, microbiologists from Radboud University have demonstrated that it is possible to make methane-consuming bacteria generate power in the lab. The study will be published in Frontiers in Microbiology on April 12. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-bacteria-electricity-methane.html Tue, 12 Apr 2022 13:05:38 EDT news568987535 In large parts of Africa, only half of all children are registered at birth. As a result, these unregistered children cannot, or only with difficultly, make claim to essential human rights later in life, be it healthcare, education or financial support. A new study by Anne Lieke Ebbers and Jeroen Smits of Radboud University identifies the factors that contribute to children failing to be registered and suggests how this far-reaching problem could be addressed. The study will be published today in PLOS ONE. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-births-millions-african-children-registered.html Fri, 08 Apr 2022 14:35:58 EDT news568647351 After years of research, the molecular structure of the enzyme responsible for a large part of the global nitrate and nitrogen production by bacteria has finally been uncovered. The anammox bacterium and other bacteria use this enzyme to convert toxic nitrite into nitrate. Now that the working of the enzyme has become clear, new possibilities have opened for the improved deployment of the anammox bacterium for power generation from wastewater and for the production of rocket fuel. Researchers from Radboud University and the Max Planck Institutes in Heidelberg and Frankfurt published a paper on the subject in Nature Microbiology today. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-nitrogen-producing-anammox-bacterium-uncovered.html Thu, 15 Jul 2021 11:00:02 EDT news545559655 It is now possible to screen newborn babies for pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy (PDE), a severe inherited metabolic disorder. This screening promises to enable better and earlier treatment of the disease. To identify new biomarkers that can be used in the newborn screening protocol, also known as the neonatal heel prick, researchers at the Radboud University Medical Center joined forces with scientists at the Radboud University's FELIX laser laboratory. They published their findings in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-disease-biomarkers-newborn-epilepsy-screening.html Thu, 08 Jul 2021 11:23:24 EDT news544962201