Episodes
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In our recent discussions with physicists we have often ended up discussing beauty. Wikipedia says that beauty is a feature that makes objects pleasurable to perceive. And what does prof. Alex Tkatchenko think?
Prof. Alex Tkatchenko (University of Luxembourg), who is a chemical physicist, not only took the time to tell us what is beautiful in physics and chemistry, but also focused on his research interests such as dark energy, drug development and protein folding. A truly enjoyable episode for people who like science!
USEFUL LINKS
About Alex Tkatchenko - https://www.uni.lu/fstm-en/people/alexandre-tkatchenko/
Theoretical Chemical Group at the University of Luxembourg - https://www.uni.lu/fstm-en/research-groups/theoretical-chemical-physics/ -
In this episode of SciLux, we talk about climate science and policy with Dr. Andrew Ferrone, a physical climatologist and the head of the Meteorological Department at the Administration of Technical Agricultural Services in Luxembourg. Andrew shares his expertise and insights into the evolving field of climatology, the significant role of greenhouse gases, and the critical importance of reaching net-zero CO2 emissions to stabilise our climate.
We explore the profound changes in climatology over the years and the increasing involvement of various disciplines in climate studies. Andrew also discusses the dramatic increase in extreme weather events and their attribution to climate change, highlighting recent examples such as the flooding in Dubai and Luxembourg.
USEFUL LINKS
Andrew Ferrone’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewferrone
World Meteorological Organisation: https://public.wmo.int/en
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: https://www.ipcc.ch/
European State of the Climate Report: https://climate.copernicus.eu/ESOTC -
Missing episodes?
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Here's interdisciplinarity at its best - combining experitise in allergies and oncology we get a novel and special look at the interesting link between cancer cell growth and allergies. Listen to our guests, Dr. Aurelie Poli (LIH) and Dr. Heather Bax (King's College London) as they explain the bases of the field also touching upon new developments in the field of IgE antibodies.
SHOW NOTES
About Aurélie Poli's work - https://researchportal.lih.lu/en/persons/aur%C3%A9lie-poli
AllergoOncology Working Group - https://eaaci.org/working-group/allergooncology/
About Heather Bax - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/heather-bax
More about MOv18 IgE - https://epsilogen.com/mov18-ige/ -
Sometimes science is about going very deep, but it pays off to also cross disciplines and try to apply your knowledge to other fields - this is exactly what my guests try to do in their statistical research. Listen to Prof. Masanobu Taniguichi and Sophia Loizidou as they explain complex statistical concepts, but also take the time to clarify what for example distribution is.
USEFUL LINKS
About Prof. Taniguchi - https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100000713_en.html
Prof. Taniguchi's lecture at the Luxembourg - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKgOocsQUUw
Team MIDAS - https://math.uni.lu/midas/
About Sophia Loizidou - https://math.uni.lu/midas/people/dp/?sophialoizidou -
It is time to design policies that will combat poverty without relying on economic growth. In the latest episode, two experts in child poverty, Dr. Anne-Catherine Guio (LISER) and Prof. Olivier De Schutter (Université catholique de Louvain) have shared their findings.
Olivier De Schutter is also UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and together with Anne-Catherine, Eric Marlier and Hugh Fraser he co-authored a book called ‘Escape from Poverty: Breaking the Vicious Cycles Perpetuating Disadvantage’.
USEFUL LINKS
"Escape from Poverty: Breaking the Vicious Cycles Perpetuating Disadvantage" - https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-escape-from-poverty
Olivier De Schutter - Report on non-take-up of rights: https://www.srpoverty.org/ntu/
Conference "The lives of people in precarious situations in Luxembourg and the use of aid": https://www.liser.lu/?type=news&id=2450
Chambre Des Députés conference "Challenges of the youth in Luxembourg" https://www.chd.lu/en/conference_youth -
In oncology the treatment is very diversified right now – there’s surgery, chemotherapy, radiology, but also immunotherapy and targeted therapy. In this episode of SciLux we focus on the last two combined with some studies on gut microbiome and going back to genetics 101. Our guests, Patrick Dang who is Resident in oncology at CHL and doctoral student at LCSB/University of Luxembourg and Michael Dang, Resident in Oncology - Translational Medical Oncology at NCT Heidelberg are very good at explaining basics of their fields so you can count on an episode full of knowledge presented in a very approachable way.
SHOW NOTES
CHL - https://www.chl.lu/fr
LCSB - https://www.uni.lu/lcsb-en/
NCT Heidelberg - https://www.nct-heidelberg.de/en/index.html
More about Patrick's research project - https://www.cancer.lu/fr/projet-de-recherche-ImMi-Tx
The Bright Foundation co-founded by Patrick - https://brightfoundation.eu/ -
Talking to Dr. Dagny Aurich from Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB, University of Luxembourg) turned to be a brilliant travel through many of our previous episodes and we referred a lot to our discussion about unknown chemicals with Prof. Emma Schymanski, Dagny's supervisor.
Dagny, who looked into historical exposomics with C2DH researchers through the IAS-funded Luxembourg Time Machine project, currently focuses more on cheminformatics tools. Prepare for a discussion about all of the above and quite a lot on interdisciplinary approach!
USEFUL LINKS
LCSB - https://www.uni.lu/lcsb-en/
Luxembourg Time Machine - https://luxtimemachine.uni.lu/
EU Time Machine - https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/820323
PubChem - https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Chemical Stripes - https://gitlab.lcsb.uni.lu/eci/chemicalstripes
SciLux Episodes related to this one:
Prof. Emma Schymanski on Unknown Chemicals - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1412332/10331298
Aida Horaniet Ibanez on Data Visualisation - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1412332/10172586
Dr. Archibold Mposhi on Epigenetics - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1412332/14549769 -
The invention of heat engines has played a key role in human evolution and this is the starting point for our discussion about thermodynamics with our guests, Prof. Massimiliano Esposito (University of Luxembourg) and Dr. Emanuele Penocchio (Northwestern University). Emanuele is currently working in the intersection between chemistry and physics - studying chemical motors - which we also discuss in this episode. Obviously, two guests also mean two pub quiz questions!
SHOW NOTES
Massimiliano Esposito on Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UTezPWgAAAAJ&hl=en
Emanuele Penocchio on Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=w0buCtcAAAAJ&hl=it
Rolf Tarrach Prize - https://www.uni.lu/en/news/rolf-tarrach-prize-2023-for-physicist-dr-emanuele-penocchio/
Video about Emanuele's PhD - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU0820ENNuo
University of Luxembourg - https://www.uni.lu/en/
Northwestern University - https://www.northwestern.edu/ -
If you want estimate the expected impact of a policy intervention, for example a modification of a tax rate, you can use microsimulations. Microsimulations can inform decision makers on the possible effects of their policies on individual households and support them in evidence-based decision making.
Get to know more about them from our guest, an expert in microsimulations, Dr. Denisa M. Sologon
(Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)). -
This episode felt a little like going back to school as Dr. Archibold Mposhi from LIH was nice enough to first explain very basic genetics and only then moved to his specialisation, epigenetics - the study of the influence of environment and behaviours on genes. So much going on in the field that we did not know about!
SHOW NOTES
About Archibold's research: https://researchportal.lih.lu/en/persons/archibold-mposhi
LIH Website: https://www.lih.lu/en/
Video about Archibold's mentor, Jonathan Turner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqT2BOB7jOI -
Sustainability seems to be discussed in all areas of our lives nowadays. But what does it actually mean for a materials engineer? And most importantly, how can we convince the consumers to buy sustainable materials not only because they are better for the environment, but because these materials are simply pleasing to the eye and nice to touch?
In this episode we had a chance to talk to Dr. Tim Huber (LIST) about his multi-disciplinary approach to designing sustainable materials. Tim, who also has extensive experience of teaching design students, is currently trying to convince more people about the necessary dialogue between material engineers and designers. He definitely got us hooked. And you?
USEFUL LINKS
Tim Huber on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.nz/citations?user=i97I4r4AAAAJ&hl=en
LIST: https://www.list.lu/ -
After a couple of weeks of discussion we finally had the pleasure to talk to the head of the amazing space labs at SnT (University of Luxembourg) and one of the postdocs who is a member of the space robotics group (SpaceR). Prof. Miguel Olivares Mendez and Dr. Carol Martinez told us what a robot really is, what it means when it has some intelligence and how it is to create labs which emulate space conditions. We also touched about the increasingly important issue of space debris and talked about an upcoming conference iSpaRo24.
USEFUL LINKS
SnT - https://www.uni.lu/snt-en/
SpaceR - https://www.uni.lu/snt-en/research-groups/SpaceR/
Carol Martinez's Website - https://carolmartinez.github.io/
iSpaRo24 - https://www.isparo.space/ -
It is not the first episode in which we learn how interconnected everything is. Health economics is all about trying to see the big picture and taking the right cost-effective decisions. Prof. Marc Suhrcke from Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) took the time to explain what his field is about and also presented the various projects he is involved in, spanning from universal health coverage to disability assistance.
USEFUL LINKS
About Prof. Marc Suhrcke - https://liser.elsevierpure.com/en/persons/marc-suhrcke
Project "Financing UHC in challenging times: leaving no-one behind": https://hfacts.net/
Personal Assistance - https://liser.elsevierpure.com/en/projects/assistance-personnelle -
What if we just used the soil that is on your plot instead of bringing the building materials from somewhere else? Doable? Angelika Bocian-Jaworska, the founder of Äerd Lab, convinced us that this is going to happen. Right now Angelika focuses on developing the right sustainable materials, but the future is hers - she wants to 3D print your next house.
USEFUL LINKS
Äerd Lab - https://aerdlab.com/
Institute for Advanced Architecture (Barcelona, Spain) - https://iaac.net/
Circular by Design Challenge - https://www.luxinnovation.lu/cbdc/
Fit4Start Programme - https://www.startupluxembourg.com/fit-4-start -
They fly above our head in the thousands yet we tend to forget about them - the satellites! In this episode we had a chance to learn a lot about them, how to communicate with them, where they are, but we also went beyond to quantum communications. All thanks to our amazing guest, Prof. Symeon Chatzinotas from SnT (University of Luxembourg).
USEFUL LINKS
About Symeon: https://ism.uni.lu/person/prof-dr-symeon-chatzinotas/
Symeon about the SIGCOM Group at SnT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG7tib0BE9E -
Ever wondered how housing policies and markets add to inequalities within and across countries? And how does it work in Luxembourg?
In the PROPEL project, Prof. Lindsay Flynn looks at the forces shaping patterns of inequality within and between generations in affluent democracies. In this episode we look both at the housing situation of younger generations, changes in housing policies as well as try to give some solutions.
The PROPEL project is supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR-ATTRACT project 14345912).
USEFUL LINKS:
PROPEL website: https://propel.uni.luInstitute of Political Science at the University of Luxembourg: https://www.uni.lu/fhse-en/research-groups/institute-of-political-science/
About Lindsay: https://www.uni.lu/en/person/NTAwMzMzNjBfX0xpbmRzYXkgRkxZTk4=/The article about wealth concentration since the Global Financial Crisis is: Post-crisis developments in young adults’ housing wealth: https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287211040443
The article about financial strategies and housing wealth in the United States: Acquisition capital: using a new concept to explore housing outcomes among millennials in the United States: https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2023.2241841
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Would you think about building a bridge or constructing a house before actually making a plan? Probably not. Yet for software we have a tendency of not starting with the bigger picture. We often forget that for complex programmes we need proper software engineering. And this is exactly the domain in which our guest, prof. Jordi Cabot from LIST and University of Luxembourg, specialises in.
We also had a chance to ask Jordi for explanations of quite a few buzzwords so this episode is definitely worth a listen!USEFUL LINKS
Jordi’s Website - https://jordicabot.com/
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology - https://www.list.lu/
Modelling Languages Portal - https://modeling-languages.com/ -
It was great to have the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Kathleen Mommaerts, who works at the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg, an institution affiliated with the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH). Our conversation revolved around sample preparation, storage, variability, and, of course, the fact that Kathleen received the Rosalind Franklin Society Award, a recognition of her contribution to the field of bio-banking.
USEFUL LINKS
More about Kathleen on LIH Website: https://researchportal.lih.lu/en/persons/kathleen-mommaerts
Kathleen’s 3-minute thesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFbG8ZwgXZc&t=1s
More about Kathleen receiving the Rosalind Franklin Society Award: https://www.lih.lu/en/rosalind-franklin-society-award-bestowed-to-lih-researcher/
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Ever wondered how mentorship worked in academia? We did for sure, and that's why for the first episode of the new season we invited two experienced mentors: Prof. Simone Niclou, the Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Luxembourg and Prof. Andreas Fickers, the Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH). Simone and Andreas not only defined mentorship for us, talked about the starting point and their own experiences as mentees, they also shared some surprising questions and comments they encountered on their paths as mentors.
Exceptionally we went so deep into the subject that we found no time for the pub quiz question. But worry not, it's coming back in the next episode!
USEFUL LINKS
University of Luxembourg - https://www.uni.lu/en/
C2DH - https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/
More about ADVANCE mentoring programme - https://www.uni.lu/en/about/gender-equality/advance-mentoring-programme/
Luxembourg Charter on Mentorship in Academia - https://www.researchluxembourg.org/en/mentorship-charter/
Outstanding Mentor Award - FNR Awards - https://www.fnr.lu/fnr-awards-new/ -
Gear up for another SciLux Original! In order to record this special episode (last one of season 3) we went to the Museum of Natural History where we talked to Eric Buttini - the Head of the Department of Geo- and Astrophysics at the museum. Eric’s research interests revolve around asteroids and he’s now busily working on a new temporary exhibition coming to the museum on 10th November 2023 - Asteroid Mission.
Besides talking about the preparations, we had a chance to discuss the mobile planetarium and Eric’s cooperation with Matt Dawson on the LUCID (Luxembourg Comet Identification and Discovery) project.
USEFUL LINKS
Asteroid Mission: https://www.mnhn.lu/de/visit/asteroid-mission/
3D Tour of the Museum: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=8GLBYf7u3aS
Museum Night: https://museumsmile.lu/en/nuit-des-musees - Show more