Science The Netherlands

Science-- list of articles in the section Science The Netherlands

  • The Academic Medical Centre (AMC) in Amsterdam
    Nevil Gray reports on the recently opened AMC, the University of Amsterdam’s teaching hospital. At the time, it was the biggest building in Europe and replaced two old hospitals in the city …
  • Concentration camp syndrome
    Dutch psychiatrist Jan Bastiaans (1917-1997) identified this syndrome and developed a treatment for it, sometimes using LSD, which was highly controversial but effective. It not only applies to …
  • 1st edition of Research File
    “In this weekly programme, we’ll be covering science as it really is, including some of the problems scientists are facing to keep their programmes sufficiently funded. We’ll be …
  • The Prince and the panda
    Anne Blair Gould traces the history of the international conservation movement, which resulted in the establishment of the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The founding president was His Royal Highness …
  • Robert Swan
    Polar explorer Robert Swan
    Anne Blair Gould meets Robert Swan, the first man to walk to both the North and the South Pole. Apart from being a leading Pole explorer, Swan is also deeply committed to the future of the …
  • Dolfinarium
    Did you know that walruses whistle and that rays are basically flattened sharks? Find out more as Anne Blair Gould revisits the Dutch marine animal park at the Harderwijk Dolfinarium. It has the …
  • The Mauna Kea telescopes and the 1991 solar eclipse
    On the eve of the total eclipse of the sun on July 11, 1991, our reporter Nina Morgan describes the preparations made for this event at one of the world’s best observatories, the Mauna Kea …
  • Virtual reality
    Virtual reality is now a household term. It has been used in science and technology since the 1950’s. But when this programme was made, virtual reality was just becoming accessible to consumers …
  • 150th anniversary of the Delft University of Technology
    This year the Technical University of Delft celebrates its 150th anniversary. The TU Delft was officially founded in 1842 by King William II as a Royal Academy, with the primary purpose of training …
  • Witnessing the evolution of a star
    It can take many billions of years for a star to get its act together, for the heavens are in a constant state of flux—at a pace rather a bit too prolonged for mere humans to observe. Yet when this …
  • 100 years of psychology in the Netherlands
    In the modern age almost every facet of our lives is affected by the findings of science of psychology: business and politics, the work floor, education, traffic safety, fashion, design and the list …
  • Research File: Dinosaurs and Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn this edition of our weekly science magazine Research File, our special guest is Douglas Adams (1953-2001), author of the science fiction comedy …
  • The advent of electric cars (1993)
    Jonathan Groubert explores the early days of electric cars. Considering the efforts already being made when this programme was made in 1993, why aren’t our streets already swarming with …
  • Why is only 10% of the world’s population left-handed?
    As every left-hander knows, the world is set up for the convenience and safety of right-handers, and all sorts of sinister and guache associations are linked to the use of our southpaw. Ninety …
  • The 1992 Rio Earth summit – One year later
    Protection of the Earth’s environment may well be the greatest challenge facing humanity in this century, and not a day goes by without a mention of it in the media somewhere. Important goals …
  • Four Macronarian Sauropods (© Wikipedia)
    What new wonderful discoveries are we still making about dinosaurs?
    This programme is part of the series Research FileHow long have we known about dinosaurs? And what new wonderful discoveries are we still making about these intriguing creatures which appeared over …
  • Nuclear fusion and fission
    At the very latest after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in Ukraine in 1986, the broad public was thoroughly aware of the unsustainability and long-term dangers to life as a result of energy …
  • Research File: Condoms
    This programme is part of the series Research FileThe use of condoms not only helps to prevent unplanned pregnancy but it can also prevent sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea, herpes and …
  • Sad Music can make us cry (© Flickr/aj Speight)
    Research File: Music and emotion, virtual reality and more
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn this edition of our weekly science magazine Research File, we speak with Dr. John Sloboda, professor of psychology at Kew University, about his …
  • Research File: Life after death and near-death experiences from a scientific point of view
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn this edition of our weekly science magazine Research File, we speak with two scientists who have studied what might really be happening when we …
  • Homeopathy and Acupuncture
    Alternative medicine has been gaining ground over established medical practice. Rather than go to a physician, hundred of thousands of patients turn to treatments that they believe are more natural …
  • Research File: Saba and Sint Maarten
    This programme is part of the series Research FileAnne Blair-Gould visits two of the six Caribbean islands that make up the Netherlands Antilles. Saba is tiny, rocky and made up of sheer volcanic …
  • Bonobos
    Bonobos, known for years as “pygmy chimpanzees”, are now recognised to be a separate species of primate, and one of our most intriguingly close relatives. They are particularly loved for …
  • Research File: Sexual Orientation
    This programme is part of the series Research FileThis Research File was made at a time when scientists were asking whether a genetic factor is involved in a person’s sexual orientation. …
  • Statistics
    This edition of our weekly science magazine “Research File” focuses on statistics. As Mark Twain famously pointed out: “There are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are …
  • Research File: Christiaan Huygens
    This special edition of our science program , Research File, is devoted to the achievements of Dutch 17th- century mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695). Huygens’ …
  • The angel of Cortona: A conversation with Arend Jan Dunning
    Robert Chesal talks to Arend Jan Dunning (1930-2009), cardiologist and prolific writer about medicine and society, medical history, ethics, science and religion, art, theology and about his extensive …
  • The birthing room
    Midwives were often older mothers who used their knowledge to help others deliver their babies safely at home. But through the years, their position has been taken over by doctors and hospital staff. …
  • Beer and brewing in Holland and England
    When you lift a glass of golden, glistening foam-coiffed beer to your lips and taste the liquid as it seeps down your throat, do you really have any idea what lies behind the magic that then fills …
  • Alternatives to animal experiments
    Experiments that involve animals often evoke strong emotions. So any solution that does not involve the hapless creates must be welcomed. Right? Unfortunately, it’s far more complicated than …
  • Research File – Edition 2
    In this edition, the Netherlands expects to produce 10% of its energy from wind energy. The programme examines how the world nearly hunted whales to extinction, and why the current moratorium on …
  • Research File: Chernobyl
    In this edition of the programme: Two years after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Research File attends A conference in Washington reviewing the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and how the world …
  • The Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk
    The Research File visits the BPRC in Rijswijk. At the centre, there are 1500 apes and monkeys, which are used to test new vaccines for malaria and AIDS. Some say that this is cruel. Others argue that …
  • Dinosaurs: Tracing their tracks
    For this edition of our weekly science magazine “Research File”, Liesbeth de Bakker attended the 1998 annual science festival of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and …
  • Alzheimer’s disease
    Some 50 million people around the world now suffer from the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease, a degeneration of the brain’s functions that occurs mostly among elderly people. So as the world …
  • The Sun Programmes
    A two-part series on the sun. In part one, a personal view of the August 1999 total eclipse of the sun by Laura Durnford. In part two, a portrait of the sun, our nearest star.…
  • DNA
    DNA: The essence of life
    Liesbeth de Bakker investigates the possible impact of the unraveling of the exact composition of our DNA. Can we really weed out bad genes, and do we really want to? Are human beings really defined …
  • Eclipse journal: The total solar eclipse of August 1999
    A total eclipse of the sun was seen in England on August 11, 1999. Our science editor Laura Durnford, a native of Cornwall, went home to witness this unique event, when the moon passes between the …
  • Pulling the plug on pox
    Smallpox is regarded as one of the most consequential of all the pestilential diseases that have plagued humanity for the past ten thousand years. One in three could die from it during an epidemic, …
  • Albert Einstein with Hendrik Antoon Lorentz in Leiden in 1921
    Lorentz: the grand old man of physics
    Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853-1928) was the second Dutchman to win a Nobel Prize. His award was in theoretical physics. Albert Einstein worshipped him as a father figure, and he was well respected by …
  • HIV/AIDS in perspective in 1999
    Anne Blair Gould takes stock of what has been happening since HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS in 1984: what has been achieved so far, what has failed and what we can expect in the near …
  • Ice
    Research File – Ice through the ages
    When we enjoy a cold drink on a hot summer’s day, we don’t realise that the phenomenon of coldness itself was the subject of scientific scrutiny or that this clear cold crystal was once …
  • The angst behind our urban myths
    Now if you live in the Far North and you think you’ve spotted a polar bear rummaging through your trash or a moose wandering around your backyard, or even in the Alps, if you think you see a …
  • The science and art of Dr. Sylvius
    In the mid-17th century, Dr. Franciscus Sylvius was a professor of medicine at Holland’s first and most famous university. The Faculty at Leiden paid double the normal salary to entice the famous …
  • Climate change and human health
    This Research File special is all about global warming and how it will affect the health of people all around the planet. It coincides with this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in The Hague. The …
  • Prof. Dr. H. B. G. Casimir , lid Raad van Bestuur *29 oktober 1958
    Impact of war on scientific research
    Gareth Mitchell investigates the impact of war on scientific research and the changes it brought about on life in the postwar years. Radar, nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, psychology, new …
  • Lyme disease
    Anne Blair Gould explains what Lyme disease is, what causes it, how it manifests itself and why it is so difficult to diagnose. We hear the story of two suffers – Radio Netherlands’ …
  • The Discovery and re-discovery of Eugène Dubois
    Eugène Dubois was a Dutch doctor and anatomist whose ambition was to prove that evolution was not just a theory. He wanted to find fossils from an extinct creature that was the intermediate in form …
  • The mosasaur
    Anne Blair Gould visits a quarry near Maastricht where in 1998 a skeleton was found of a mosasaur, dating from the Maastrichtian, a geological period stretching from around 65-71 million years ago. A …
  • Research File: Microbes in the home
    Microbes are a major source of diseases: from colds, diarrhoeae and respiratory infections to salmonella. And most of thesse we pick up in the home. As Anne Blair Gould heard from one of her guests, …
  • Stichting Aap
    Anne Blair Gould visits Sitchting Aap in Almere. The rescue centre offers a (temporary) home to animals confiscated from airport customs, science labs and private homes. The animals range from …
  • Research File: Polio and the eradication of disease
    When this programme was made in 2000, the world celebrated the 20th anniversary of the global eradication of the dreaded smallpox disease. Encouraged by this tremendous achievement, a global campaign …
  • Chernobyl in 2001: Fifteen years after the nuclear catastrophe
    In this programme, Liesbeth de Bakker investigates what has become of those who were affected by the world’s worst ever nuclear accident. Many people have been unable to return home as their …
  • Foot and mouth disease
    In this special, Anne Blair Gould tries to find answers to some pertinent questions. How did the latest outbreak start in Britain, where did it come from, how to best combat it and what do we know …
  • Chris Chambers meets Dr. Frans Vera
    This programme is part of the series Chris Chambers meetsIn this unedited interview for Talking it Over, Chris Chambers meets the controversial ecologist and conservationist Dr. Frans Vera. He talks …
  • Assassin Bug, mole cricket, Emperor gum moth, and a European wasp
    Insects: in film, art, medicine and magic
    Insects in film, insects in art, insects in medicine, insects in magic – you name it and insects have been in it! Add together all the dragonflies and honey bees, beetles and butterflies, locusts and …
  • Research File: Science and crime – Part 4 of 5
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn the fourth programme of the series Science and Society, Laura Durnford investigates to what extent science and technology are helping us to fight …
  • Research File: Science and religion – Part 1 of 5
    This programme is part of the series Research FileDan Falk examines the relationship between science and religion. Just think of the fate of people like Copernicus and Galileo whose discoveries …
  • Research File: Science and food – Part 2 of 5
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn part two of science and society, Anne Blair Gould examines the relationship between science and food. From food safety, how to make our food …
  • Porpoises and walruses
    Anne Blair Gould goes on location to talk to Dutch researchers who are testing the hearing abilities of dolphins and porpoises. This information should result in an alarm system that would warn …
  • Ripples in the pond
    Ripples in the pond – Personal thoughts on suicide
    Am I the master of my own life? Are any of us? Or do our responsibilities to the ones who love us make them co-owners of our lives? Do we have the right to put the full stop at the end of our own …
  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
    There’s a medical condition that can cause a huge range of problems – for example, brain damage, physical abnormalities of the face and heart, problems with behaviour, vision and the immune …
  • Learning languages
    Why is it that adults have such a tough time learning a new foreign language, while children and even babies put the rest of us to shame and learn fluency in no time. What can scientists learn from …
  • Dutch agriculture in crisis?
    Some say it is a call for change. But which change? All critics seem to agree that Holland can’t sustain its position as a major food exporter. Animal welfare must be strengthened. The …
  • Plant biotechnology in the Netherlands
    In the 1980’s and the early 1990’s, the Netherlands had a leading position in this field in Europe. That’s gone now. Why? Liesbeth de Bakker talks to experts, politicians and …
  • The 2002 Arctic Science Summit Week
    The 2002 Arctic Science Summit Week was held recently at the University of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. The main focus of the summit: the interaction between the Arctic and the …
  • Diemerpark days
    A series of visits to a site that’s being transformed by special engineering and technology into a ‘wild’ city park for thousands of people after a long history as a wildlife haven, …
  • Malaria research in the Netherlands
    The Netherlands is specialising in working towards a vaccine against one specific stage in the malaria parasite’s complex life cycle. We discuss the issues and discoveries and drop in on a …
  • Botulin toxin
    In this Research File special, Liesbeth de Bakker looks at the surprising applications (and future possibilities) of a poison that is best known for causing botulism. Apart from the cosmetic …
  • Biodiversity under threat
    When this programme was recorded in 2002, there were 1.7 million known species. Scientists estimate that there are an additional 20 to 100 million species that have not yet been described. 90% of all …
  • Aletta Jacobs: For the sake of the common good
    Laura Durnford examines the life and work of Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929). She was born in the middle of the 19th century, became the first woman to go the university (in 1871!), became a medical doctor …
  • Hand transplants
    In this updated version of the programme, which was first broadcast on December 18, 2000, Laura Durnford looks at the progress being made in hand transplants. The programme examines the techniques …
  • Osteoporosis or brittle bone disease
    As life expectancy increases, so is the prevalence of osteoporosis or brittle bone disease. The genesis of osteoporosis is often during childhood. If, for instance, you didn’t like milk as a …
  • Abruzzo National Park
    The sheer size and beauty of mountains never ceases to provoke feelings of awe, humility and wonder. But mountains are also important water towers and natural habitats for peoples, plants and …
  • Research File: Science and sports – Part 3 of 5
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn part three of a series on science and society, Liesbeth de Bakker examines the influence science has had on sports. At one time, talent was the …
  • Research File: hot stuff with cool atoms
    Laura Durnford investigates the weird and wonderful world of a new type of matter. It is called Bose-Einstein condensate and is very different from the solid, liquid and gaseous states of matter …
  • Banking the genes: Preserving the genetic information about our plants
    Many of the crops we ate just a century ago have disappeared from the face of the earth. Scientists are responding to the threat of further genetic erosion by storing seed samples of threatened …
  • Skaftafell: Where fire and ice meet
    The sheer size and beauty of mountains never ceases to provoke feelings of awe, humility and wonder. But mountains are also important water towers and natural habitats for peoples, plants and …
  • Antiobiotic resistance
    In our efforts to fight disease, we have inadvertently created new strains of bacteria that are immune to our entire arsenal of antibiotics. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), for …
  • Science of fireworks special
    The tradition of setting off fireworks has existed for centuries in the Netherlands, initially, it was thought, to scare off ghosts. Every year, 2.5 million Dutch families set off 50 million kilos or …
  • The Janus gift: Manic depression and creativity
    A person with bipolar disorder or manic depression typically can experience mood swings between extreme happiness and the deepest hell. This thoroughly treatable condition is the subject of a widely …
  • Short circuit: The mental landscape of synesthetes
    This edition of Sound Fountain is one of a series called “stigma” on various forms of mental phenomena that we tend not to speak about often or candidly. One such mental quirk, …
  • Iceland be damned
    In the chilly highlands of Iceland, construction is under way. Roads are being made to serve a new hydro-electric power plant, which doesn’t yet exist. If it’s built, this will be about the largest …
  • Gender and sex in the animal kingdom
    The very diverse ways that animals deal with their gender and sexuality and even their sexual preferences are absolutely fascinating. This week’s programme begins with advice from a certain Dr. …
  • Research File: Archeology
    This programme is part of the series Research FileBecause of the high water table in the Netherlands, even wood can be preserved in the Dutch soil for thousands of years, making this country a great …
  • Diabetes: a Research File Special
    This programme is part of the series Research FileThis programme gives us an update on the treatment and prevention of diabetes. There are two types of the disease, but in both cases the increased …
  • Interactions in the Microbial World
    Anne Blair Gould reports from the RAI on the 9th International Symposium on microbial ecology, attended by 1700 microbe ecologists. She meets a host of Dutch and foreign experts who explain the …
  • Searching for Sibylla: The life of Maria Sibylla Merian
    For her time, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a modern, daring, scandalous, divorced woman who lived in a cloister and at the age of 52 went off to Dutch Suriname to fulfill her calling as a …
  • Iceland: Hot and cold science in nature’s geological laboratory, Part 1
    The summer of 1783 seemed like the end of the world for European farmers. A dry, foul-smelling fog settled on the land one day—desolating crops, burning plants, and killing people. In one French …
  • Walking the black dog: Depression
    In the early 17th century, Robert Burton’s exhaustive study “The Anatomy of Melancholy” was an immediate best-seller. Nearly four hundred years later, Andrew Solomon included Burton in his own …
  • Tour de Goose: Migratory birds in the Netherlands
    Every year the Netherlands is the favourite stopover of millions of migrating birds, including 1.5 million geese. It’s all about location, location, location. The Netherlands has the …
  • Research File special: Obesity
    This programme is part of the series Research FileIn this special edition of our weekly science programme marking World Health Day, we focus on the growing worldwide problem of obesity. Scientists …
  • Musica Humana
    This is about a Danish research project called Musica Humana which involves music specially composed to relax nervous patients, calm busy nurses and bring deeply anaesthetised patients back to …
  • André Kuipers: The second Dutch man in space
    In 2004 André Kuipers became Holland’s second person in space, when he travelled to the International Space Station with fellow astronauts from Russia and the United States. Shortly before the …
  • Christiaan Huygens: Facets of a genius
    To mark the 375th anniversary of the birth of Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), the Research File looks at this Dutch mathematician, physicist, astronomer and inventor who is widely regarded as one of …
  • Research File special: Global warming and phenology
    Climate change inevitably affects the life cycles of plants and animals. In this special award-winning edition of the Research File, reporter Daniel Grossman explains the science of observing how …
  • Research File special: Threats to the coral reefs
    Sun, fun and snorkeling among the beauties of the sea is what we would like to associate with coral reefs. But disease, bleaching and unsustainable fishing practices are destroying the Earth’s …
  • Iceland: Hot and cold science in nature’s geological laboratory, Part 2
    The summer of 1783 seemed like the end of the world for European farmers. A dry, foul-smelling fog settled on the land one day—desolating crops, burning plants, and killing people. In one French …
  • Biodiversity: a Research File Special
    Anne Blair Gould asks what biodiversity is and why it’s important to stop the loss of biological diversity (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria). Scientists estimate that species are now going …
  • Research File: A real Vermeer?, twins and genetics and more
    This programme is part of the series Research FileA smorgasborg of science subjects in this week’s edition of the Research File: ACT’s – Automatically Controlled Trucks An interview …
  • The Dutch pill
    Laura Durnford examines the relationship between the Netherlands and the oral contraceptive pill, 40 years after its introduction. Apart from talking to the experts in the field of public health, …
  • Releasing the river: Restoring the rhythms of the Zambian wetlands
    Imagine an African landscape nearly half the size of the Netherlands, antelopes and zebra grazing a huge, flat wetland full of storks, cranes and wading birds. This is the Kafue Flats of Zambia …
  • 100 years of nature conservation in the Netherlands
    In this edition of our weekly magazine on developments in this country, Dutch Horizons, science editor Anne Blair Gould looks at the 100th anniversary of Natuurmonumenten, the Dutch Society for the …
  • Italian friends having a good laugh in Florence in 1982
    Humour and healing
    We know humour is good for our health, but why is this so? What is the science behind the healing that comes from a good laugh? This is one of the questions science editor Anne Blair Gould tries to …
  • Chinese giant salamander
    Zoos and research
    Apart from being fun places to visit, zoos are also places were research is being carried out. In Rotterdam Zoo, they are trying to breed giant Chinese salamanders. In the same zoo’s Oceanium, …
  • Professor Jan Van Hooff at a conference in The Hague in 2014
    Dutch Primatologist Jan van Hooff
    Born in 1936, Jan van Hooff’s childhood predestined him to become a famous animal behavourist. After all, his parents were the directors of Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, and this is where he grew up. …
  • Dutch profiles: Govert Schilling
    Govert Schilling is a familiar name on Dutch talk shows and best-selling books about astronomy. He has written dozens of books on space and the stars and has received several awards for popularising …
  • Dutch astronaut André Kuipers – a two-part interview
    Part One: Part Two: In this 52-minute interview, science editor Anne Blair Gould speaks with André Kuipers, who in 2004 became the second Dutchman to travel into space. Kuipers talks about his …
  • Lyme disease: An ode to health and ignorance
    In this documentary, we present personal stories from people who suffer from Lyme disease, a painful and exasperating ailment caused by the bite of the common deer tick, the difficulties and ignorant …
  • The European Space Agency’s Research and Technology Center
    Claire Cavanaugh visits the European Space Research and Technology Center, ESTEC, in Noordwijk in Holland’s North Sea dunes. ESTEC is the “brains” of the European Space Agency …