Background

The Unique Spark: Why Fire Needs Earth

Did you know that fire, as we think of it, can only exist on Earth? The atmospheric candlelight on your table, the bonfire you sat around with friends the other night - it is all only possible in the conditions we find here on Earth.

Saphira Brandenberger • November 28, 2024

Opinion

How Leiden Science Magazine Fights Misinformation Together With Combjellies

It was a Tuesday morning when my dad showed me an article by nu.nl about two comb jellies that can fuse into one when wounded¹. Then, he started to call them“jellyfish” because this was what they were (incorrectly) called in the article. I had to correct him, because comb jellies are not jellyfish!

Hilde Houtzager • November 13, 2024

Queer Animals and Where to Find Them

Did you know that some squids are functionally bisexual? Or that same-sex bird couples make great adoptive parents? The animal kingdom has its very own queer community, which I learned about last month from Werner de Gier’s talk at the monthly Biology on Tap event.

Anna van der Zwaluw • November 06, 2024

Microbiome Makeover – a Potential Treatment for Coral Bleaching?

When we hear the word “coral”, most people have an image of colorful reefs teeming with life in their minds, as we know it from the documentaries. Unfortunately, this image hardly corresponds to reality anymore.

Line Weiß • October 23, 2024

A Task for Tiny Transplants

What is your first thought when you read the word “transplant”? Receiving a new organ usually comes to mind, with maybe smaller transplants like the cornea being known too. But did you know there are transplants with even smaller components?

Kerrin Bertram • October 09, 2024

Interview

Using Bacteria as Sniffer Dogs for Cancer

Adam Sidi Mabrouk is doing his PhD at Ariane Briegel's lab. Among other things he researches chemotaxis; how bacteria move to or from certain compounds. He sometimes uses electron microscopy, for which he wants to make a label. But he also found an unexpected use for chemotaxis.

Louke Nieman • September 24, 2024

Symposium

European great apes and the tooth of time

Our closest evolutionary relatives are chimpanzees and bonobos. This is well known, but our common ancestor is still shrouded with mystery. What did it eat? Where did it live? Where did it come from? And where is it going?

Stellan Bosman • June 10, 2024

Interview

Investigating cooperativity in slime molds is a tough job

Slime molds are unique microbes that can be found all over the world in damp environments, often on decaying wood. Biologist Cathleen Broersma of Leiden University employs these fascinating organisms, which she fondly refers to as “cool creatures”, to investigate how cooperation is maintained.

Nienke Prins • May 17, 2024

Background

What are sequencing technologies?

Have you ever heard of the big keywords of sequencing techniques such as “Next Generation Sequencing”? And what about third generation sequencing? If your answer is not really well, you have definitely landed on the right page!

Clarissa Falempin • May 13, 2024