64 search results for “plastic pollution” in the Student website
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Kilotonnes of 'recycled' Dutch plastic waste end up in the sea
On paper it is recycled, but in reality enormous quantities of plastic waste from the Netherlands end up in Asian seas. Researchers from the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences charted the fate of plastic food packaging waste from the Netherlands. They published their results on July 8 in the…
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Thijs Bosker
Science
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Liselotte Rambonnet
Science
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Plastic in cigarette filters: why smoking is bad for the environment too
We all know smoking is bad for our health. But we might not have known that the cigarette filters that litter our streets also impact the environment. Esther Kentin is a lecturer at Leiden Law School. She is raising awareness of the University’s cigarette butt problem.
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Students work on bacterium that makes sustainable plastic
A group of biology students are working on a solution to the world’s plastics problem by getting bacteria to make biodegradable plastic.
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The lifecycle of a cigarette filter
The university is launching a campaign to focus extra attention on our smoke-free university locations. The University is using aptly named cigarette barrels to try to show clearly just how many cigarette filters are being saved from the environment. How harmful are these cigarette filters to the e…
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Canal Watch scoops communication prize
Canal Watch (De Grachtwacht), which has been cleaning canals since 2018, has received the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Communication Initiative Award.
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President Annetje Ottow helps fish plastic out of the canal
Every Sunday you can help fish plastic and other floating garbage out of the Leiden canals. You can use your own canoe or loan one from Plastic Spotter and join the garbage-fishing fleet. Annetje Ottow, President of Leiden University, was one of the crew on Sunday 4 July.
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Jo-Anne Verschoor
Science
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Less plastic in university restaurants
Facility
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Whale poop reveals plastics problem: three million microplastics per day
Whales in the vicinity of the city of Auckland, New Zealand consume large amounts of microplastics every day. A team of international researchers reached this conclusion after carefully examining whale poop. The team included Thijs Bosker, Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences at Leiden University…
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Anagnostis Theodoropoulos
Science
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How light and noise pollution disrupt aquatic life
Fish populations in lakes and rivers have declined in recent decades. This is probably due to light and noise pollution. The Horizon Europe grant enables ecologist Hans Slabbekoorn to investigate this and improve the situation for migrating fish. In order to do so, a seven-metre-long swimming tunnel…
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How polluting buildings and machinery make rich countries ever richer
Rich countries are getting richer because of environmentally polluting (construction) investments from the past, largely at the expense of poor countries. This was shown by long-term economic and environmental data. 'The gap between poor and rich countries is widening.' Scientists from the Leiden Institute…
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Dani Crowley
Science
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Berent Baris
Science
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Arko Ghosh
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen
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How polluting are the clothes in your closet?
Cotton is the most widely used natural fibre for clothes. But how polluting are our jeans and shirts actually? Environmental scientist Laura Scherer coordinated an international research project on the impacts of cotton. ‘The purchases of consumers in Europe can contribute to water scarcity in China…
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Malformations in heart, eyes and nervous system: Nano-plastics disrupt growth
Nano-plastics cause malformations. Meiru Wang, researcher at the Institute of Biology Leiden, looked at the extreme effects polystyrene nano-particles could have, using chicken embryos as a model. Her results were quite alarming. Especially as nano-particles are everywhere. In the air, floating through…
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Wil Tamis
Science
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Katharina Riebel
Science
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Buurtlab 070 launched – sustainability research in, by and for the community
Buurtlab 070 is a new Leiden University project in which residents, researchers and students from The Hague work together on climate, sustainability and biodiversity solutions. What do they expect of the lab?
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Painting and Drawing
Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure
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Leiden University takes another step in becoming smoke-free with 'Peukenzee' initiative
In recent months, the university has been running the 'Smoke-free university' campaign because of the large number of cigarette waste on and around the faculties. As part of this campaign, gatherings were held in June, September and October to draw extra attention to this waste problem.
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iGEM team wins multiple awards at Grand Jamboree
Leiden's iGEM team has won high honours at the Grand Jamboree in Paris. The biology students came second in the Overgraduate category with their project PHAse Out. They also took home awards for Best Biomanufacturing Project, Best Wiki and Best Entrepreneurship as well as a Gold Medal. To top it all…
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Research and current affairs: 2022 in six stories
Life returned to something resembling normal after Covid but other crises soon took its place. These great challenges are also being felt at the University and our researchers are working on solutions. The nitrogen crisis, problems with young people’s services and an increasingly urgent climate crisis:…
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FestiWell en EUniWell
Festival, FestiWell | Event vanuit EUniWell
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‘All of Leiden will join in with the Seeing Stars experiment’
What will happen if the lights in a large part of the city are switched off? How many stars can you see without all that light pollution? This is what researchers, artists and the residents of Leiden are going to investigate during Seeing Stars Leiden on 25 September. ‘Leiden is the ideal place for…
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Three awarded research projects in NWO-XS call
Cryogenic memories, antibiotic treatment for urinary tract infections and recycling plastic sustainably. These are the subjects of the three NWO-XS grants awarded to Leiden Science researchers.
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How fungi are helping us be more sustainable
Professor of Fungal Genetics and Biotechnology Arthur Ram explains how fungi can help us be more sustainable.
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Lights out, stars on: Daan Roosegaarde on Seeing Stars Leiden
‘What if we switch off all the lights one evening? That idea crossed my mind from time to time. And when I mentioned it to a taxi driver one day, he said: “Oh, you mean: lights out, stars on!” That’s not completely true, of course, because the stars are always on, but his phrase summed up the idea n…
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The BillieCup is expanding
Facility
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Combining art and science in the recovery of Ukraine
How wonderful would it be to use art, technology and science in Ukraine's recovery? Young Ukrainians currently residing in Poland get guidance to develop creative programmes and activities that can later be implemented. Leiden astronomers Pedro Russo and Kateryna Frantseva cooperate in the project.
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Cod behave differently in noisy environment
Underwater noise from seismic surveys affects the behaviour of Atlantic cod. These are the results of research by Leiden biologists in collaboration with colleagues from Belgium. During such surveys the fish are less active than usual and their circadian rhythm is disrupted; soon after exposure they…
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18 billion animals a year: they die, but never end up on our plate
Each year a staggering 18 billion chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, and cows either die or are killed without making it onto someone's plate. Environmental scientists Juliane Klaura, Laura Scherer, and Gerard Breeman were the first to calculate this number on a global scale. 'Reducing these numbers…
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‘Our students are role models for young children in The Hague’
What better way is there for an alderman to find out where best to put his efforts than to pay a working visit to the university? Hilbert Bredemeijer, Alderman in The Hague for Education, Sport and the Outdoor Space, paid a visit to Campus The Hague on Wednesday 6 October 2021.
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Why do birds flock? Shedding light on collective motions in heterogeneous populations
Leiden physicists Alexandre Morin and Samadarshi Maity study self-organisation and flocking phenomena. They shed light on flocking, which helps to understand how it is possible that birds in a flock don't collide. With plastic microbeads, they create an experimental setup and they developed a mathematical…
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Exhibition shows the ‘beauty and power’ of mathematics
In the ‘Imaginary’ exhibition, its curators show how society is made up of mathematics. From algorithms that save lives to ones that generate art. The exhibition is from 2 June to 25 July at Oude UB in Leiden.
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Student team wins Minecraft programming challenge
A programming competition in Minecraft? It really exists! And even better news: this time LIACS’ student team Mike's Angels achieved the first place! The team has been rewarded $500.
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Wood formation further explored by NWO-XL grant
Leiden researchers, Professor Remko Offringa and co-applicants Salma Balazadeh and Frederic Lens received an NWO-XL grant (2.5 million euros). Together with researchers in Wageningen and Groningen, they will study the genetic and environmental drivers of woodiness. From plant to molecule, the groups…
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Humanitarian aid for Ukraine: donate or volunteer
Social
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Biology student Sander van Zon: ‘We can still learn so much more about lichens’
Lichens enthusiast Sander van Zon was eager to use his knowledge for his internship. He wrote an excellent thesis on lichens’ biodiversity in the city, of which his first scientific publication will appear soon. With it, he is nominated for the Leiden Science Young Talent Award 2022.
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How ‘sleeping’ microorganisms can determine the fate of a population
Microorganisms that temporarily ‘go to sleep’ play an important role in the evolution and survival of a population. Mathematician Shubhamoy Nandan conducted research on the effect of this characteristic called ‘dormancy’ in a novel mathematical model.
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News but nothing new: many pesticides in Dutch swimming and natural waters
There has been a lot of media attention for the report recently completed by the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) from Leiden University. However, it has long been known that Dutch surface water contains too many toxic pesticides. ‘We will have to improve our ways of life together with many…
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‘Butts off our campus’ days: Make our campus butt-free!
Facility
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Students seek sustainable solutions for businesses
Master’s students in Industrial Ecology and Governance of Sustainability have helped answer organisations’ questions about sustainability
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Ester van der Voet appointed professor of Sustainable Resource Use
The energy transition is already a huge challenge for society, but sustainable use of resources is even more complicated. Yet it is at least as urgent. Ester van der Voet has been working on it for decades, for example within the United Nations. Since February, she is a professor at the Centre for Environmental…
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Luchtkwaliteit in Beeld
Experiment
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‘Ask scientists how to build the circular economy’
Some governments and companies are pursuing a more circular economy, but what is the best way to get there? An international group of industrial ecology researchers wrote a report that stresses the importance of including the scientific side into policies and practices. ‘We feel an obligation to support…
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Students: ‘We want to be the most sustainable university in the world’
The students from the Leiden University Green Office have big ambitions and have outlined their recommendations in a new Green Paper. Like being the most sustainable university in the world by 2030. Students Janey Franssen and Job Kemperman are two of the paper’s authors. How do they want to achieve…