Knots come in all shapes and sizes: mariners and scouts can vouch for this. Sjabbo Schaveling will obtain his PhD on 1 September for a mathematical method to distinguish between all these knots. ‘I flatten them to a pretzel.’

Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) will host some of Leiden University's IT equipment in its data centre. The two organisations signed an agreement to this effect on 10 April.

Electrons that spin synchronously around their axis, turn out to stay superconducting across large distances within magnetic chromium dioxide. Electric current from these electrons can flip small magnets, and its superconducting version could form the basis for a hard drive without energy loss. Publication…

In their quest for materials that conduct electricity without resistance at moderate temperatures, scientists usually work on their chemical make-up. Now Leiden physicists have come up with a radically new approach: pinching holes in a periodic pattern. Publication in SciPost.

This weeks marks the 10th anniversary of the European Research Council. For the past decade, the council has contributed to many scientific projects all over Europe, including Leiden University. It has funded almost 7,000 researchers, leading to just short of 100,000 scientific articles. A total of…

Questionnaires or concentration tasks can be used to screen for anxiety, but so too can EEG recordings – at least indirectly. The frequent mind wandering of anxious people can also be seen on MRI scans. These are just some of the findings of clinical neuropsychologist Dana van Son. PhD defence on 24…

Leiden research on psychology and archaeology will boosted by two subsidies. Both research projects focus on children.

Two events on Music and the Brain will be held in Leiden later this month.

We don’t understand how some materials become superconducting at relatively high temperatures. Leiden physicists have now found a surprising connection with auxiliary black holes. It enables us to use our knowledge of black holes on the mystery of high-temperature superconductivity. Publication in Nature…

Using musical cues to learn a physical task significantly develops an important part of the brain, according to a new study co-authored by Leiden psychologist Rebecca Schaefer. The results are published in the journal Brain & Cognition.

Eveline Crone, professor of neurocognitive developmental psychology at Leiden University, has been awarded the Dr Hendrik Muller Prize for Behavioural and Social Sciences by KNAW.

A full overview of BPOC/SSNMR PhD theses.

Learning how computers can process and describe images just like human beings do. It is one of the key elements of the research of Michael Lew, who sees Deep Learning as a promising way to achieve this goal. On the 1st of January 2021, he was appointed Professor of Deep Learning at the Leiden Institute…

It is true that girls perform better at school than boys, but this is not due to differences in brain development. This is the conclusion psychobiologist Lara Wierenga draws from a recent study. Publication in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Parents often see that when their sweet, socially-minded children become adolescents they change into selfish 'hotel guests' who think only of themselves. But adolescents become increasingly better at weighing up one another's interests. This discovery has been made by development psychologist Rosa…

Health psychologist Aleksandrina Skvortsova has made clever use of the Pavlov effect to link the ‘cuddle’ hormone oxytocin with the placebo effect. This effect can alter the level of oxytocin in the body, making it possible for people to reduce the amount of medicine they need while still feeling good.…

Seven Leiden researchers have been awarded a prestigious Vici grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

During the ‘intelligent lockdown’ in the Netherlands this spring, the respondents in a Leiden study reported a mild increase in their stress levels. This extra stress could have a negative effect on families, particularly if parents already had psychological problems before the corona crisis.

There is greater variety in the size of men’s brains than of women’s. This could help explain why some psychiatric disorders such as ADHD and autism are more prevalent in boys. Leiden brain researcher Lara Wierenga has published an article about this in the international journal Cerebral Cortex.

What is the effect of training children to exercise self-control? Niko Steinbeis has been awarded a major European subsidy to find the answer to this question. The innovative aspects of this research are the target group, an individual approach to the training and examining the child brain the scann…

Under 18, no alcohol. In spite of this slogan, adolescents still have access to alcohol. But how harmful is that one beer for the adolescent brain? Research, including in Leiden, may provide the answer.

A tried and tested medication for treating ADHD works differently than expected in the brains of healthy individuals during rest: rather than stimulating brain activity, it suppresses it.

Meniere’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear, was first described back in 1861, but there’s still no good test or treatment for it. Tjasse Bruintjes, Professor by Special Appointment of Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, wants more attention for this mysterious disease. And he wants to tell his fellow…

Sleep disorders have a significant influence on our physical and emotional health. Sleep should therefore receive more attention within lifestyle medicine, says Professor Gert Jan Lammers. He will give his inaugural lecture on Friday 20 May entitled: ‘Getting to sleep’.

Parents appear to be extremely sensitive to feedback they receive about their child. Just how sensitive depends on the (‘rose-tinted’) glasses through which they look at their child. All this can be seen in the brain. Neuroscientist Lisanne van Houtum and her Leiden colleagues published on this issue…

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It was already known that social anxiety disorder often affects more than one person in the same family. But research by PhD student Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam has now shown that there are genetic brain characteristics that are associated with social anxiety. The PhD ceremony will take place on 14 Ja…

Synchrony in heart rate, skin conductance and pupil diameter plays a big role in human social interactions, such as gaining trust or being attracted toward each other. This is what Eliska Prochazkova found in several lab and field experiments. PhD defence on 4 March 2021.

“Endophenotypes of Social Anxiety Disorder: Can we detect them and are they useful in clinical practice”

Memory loss and confusion are signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Physicists Serge Rombouts and Martina Huber have developed new methods to help medical science get to the bottom of this insidious disease.

Exclusion elicits the same response in children as in adolescents and adults. That is what psychologist Mara van der Meulen found when she studied brain activity in primary schoolchildren. ‘What is new for us is that it is the same in childhood as later in life.’ Doctoral defence on 10 December.

On 29 October, seven innovative lecturers from different faculties will join the existing ten fellows of the Leiden Teachers' Academy. The current fellows have been engaged for the past year in implementing their innovation projects. How are these progressing?

Young people influence one another to take greater risks, although it's not quite that cut and dried. This is what development psychologist Jorien van Hoorn discovered. Peers also have a positive influence on one another, an aspect that has so far been under-researched. PhD defence 12 January.

From the discovery of exoplanets to the hunt for extraterrestrial life. At the Astronomy Gala on 17 December in the concert hall in Leiden, astronomers looked back, but above all ahead. With King Willem-Alexander as guest of honour.

Why do we need fundamental science? For a lot of reasons, speakers showed at the Lustrum Symposium ‘Science Matters’. This symposium was held on 18 March 2016 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Faculty of Science.

‘There’s so much going on, and it’s hugely interesting.’ Serge Rombouts, professor of Methods of Cognitive Neuroimaging, is describing his new position on the Executive Board of the Institute of Psychology. His appointment as a board member is very new. It is only since February that he has been responsible…

Members of our research team give different types of presentations and lectures.

In the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) we strive to improve health care and the health of people.

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Stack two layers of graphene, twisted at slightly different angles to each other, and the material spontaneously becomes a superconductor. Science still can't explain how something so magical can happen, but physicists use special equipment to reveal what is taking place under the surface.

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