Combating the Pandemic: How a novel approach helps combat the COVID-19 pandemic With almost five million suspected deaths worldwide and counting, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the deadliest disasters in human history. Once its global spread and destructive force became clear at the beginning of 2020, scientists…

How the use of optogenetics can restore vision to the visually impaired Seeing is not, as the proverb goes, merely believing, rather it is a literal window to the world. Losing our eye-sight means a major loss of personal freedom and, in most cases, implies an irreversible condition. While there…

How tiny wireless robots can be used for non-invasive, precise, and safe medical diagnosis and treatment Robot technology is already abundant in the medical domain, ranging from assistance in surgery to complex prosthetics. However, using tiny robots inside the body is still a fairly novel thing to do. Inspired by…

How chirped pulse amplification helped to revolutionize the science of lasers Lasers are cool – this is a fact that both children and scientists can confirm. Laser physics has become an increasingly important area, with a plethora of applications in both basic and applied research ranging from space exploration to…

How a new Technology in the field of Optoelectronics is changing the Future of Data The ever-increasing amount of data raises an important question: How can information be transmitted at high speed yet at low cost? The current technology, based on copper wires, is reaching its ceiling due to the…

How fast-charging batteries work and why they matter In order for the European Union to achieve its goal of zero net emissions by 2050, the speed at which devices can be charged needs to increase significantly. Clare Grey, Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge University, sees her work as an important…

Destigmatization: How marginalized groups can achieve greater inclusivity In our post-Covid age of extreme inequality, dreams of upward mobility are more unrealistic than ever. Many people ask where to turn for new sources of hope. Agents of change and the non-profit sector are promoting new narratives of diversity, sustainability, and…

Computer-Generated Decision Making: How new drug candidates can be identified faster through automated molecular design The discovery of new drugs and their development as medicines is a long, arduous, costly, and to some extent serendipitous process. Up to 90% of drug candidates fail during clinical development because they lack efficacy…

Distance Learning: How low-tech solutions help to make education accessible for everyone Education is key for economic advancement as well as social stability. However, providing quality education is especially challenging in countries that lack infrastructure, learning materials and trained teachers. UNESCO estimates that 617 million school-age children around the world…

Power Asymmetries: How big platforms change the organization of society Our society is increasingly defined by big platforms and their algorithms. Google is already an integral part of education and the workspace, while Facebook, Amazon and Spotify heavily influence how we communicate, what we buy and what music we listen…

Rewriting Social Sciences: How humanity’s destiny can be framed by shared heritages through oceanic connections How can we think of the world as composed of categories derived from particular spaces and lifeworlds, rather than a space with categories seen as universal? How do we move beyond contingent formations, like nations…

Semiconductor Technology: How nanosheets can help humanity keep up with Moore’s law Ever since its inception, Moore’s law has been an integral part of technological advancement. In the past five decades, the semiconductor industry has been following Moore’s trend line to approximately double the number of transistors on a chip…

Neuroprosthetics: How electronics can be used to mimic the biology in our brain The human brain is made up of anything between 80 and 100 billion neurons. How exactly these basic working units communicate with each other and transmit information through electrical impulses at the synapses, is a crucial matter…

Astrophysics: How space exploration can answer one of the most pressing questions of all time There is no planet in our solar system quite as fascinating as Mars. For centuries, the red planet has fascinated scientists and the public alike, ultimately leading to one question: Has there ever been life…