The popular Netflix series 3 Body Problem, which launched in March 2024, delves into many topics that the researchers at the Faculty of Science deal with on a daily basis. Virtual realities, extra dimensions, and advanced nano fibers weave throughout the storyline. However, the three-body problem is leading. What exactly entails this complex issue, and does it have real-world significance? PhD candidates in theoretical physics, Mick van Vliet and Arno Hoefnagels , shed light on these questions.

Epidemiologist Sophie Bots has been awarded a Dekker grant of 252 thousand euros by the Dutch Heart Foundation ( Hartstichting ). Over the next three years, she will investigate whether heart failure medicines are equally effective and safe for both women and men. This will ultimately allow doctors to better determine which medications are best suited for each patient.

Taking antibiotics at a young age can make the body more prone to asthma and allergies later in life. This might be preventable by adding a simple supplement, concludes immunologist Olaf Perdijk from Utrecht University. His comprehensive study is published today in the journal Immunity .

Cancer cells are known to take advantage of a mechanism called cell competition, a quality control system that ensures that our tissues are composed of healthy cells.

Utrecht University's Department of Physics will have a new head, starting July 1. Raimond Snellings will then succeed Stefan Vandoren.

The ocean can store carbon and act as a carbon sink, and it can be a carbon source. The difference in 'age' of the organic carbon already present in the ocean and the carbon that is supplied determines whether the ocean acts as a carbon sink or source.

A group of scientists has developed a model that explains how schedule-based systems, such as supply chains and railways, can be prone to spontaneous explosions of large-scale delays. The researchers recommend system operators to prioritize resilience, alongside efficiency, for better long-term outcomes. The study had been published today in the scientific journal Nature Physics .

Glycoscientist Robert de Vries and his research associates have received a €150,000 Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Council (ERC).

AI systems must be accountable, transparent, fair, explainable, and ethical, it is often demanded. But according to professor Pinar Yolum, that is not realistic. Instead, she advocates for trustworthy AI: systems that demonstrate certain properties that allow people to trust their results. For example, by sometimes answering, "I don't know." Yolum delivered her inaugural lecture on July 2.

Some bacteria form colonies that display striking, reflective colours. New genetic insights into the formation of such colours allowed an interdisciplinary, international team of researchers to identify the environments and bacterial groups in which these colours are found.

By burying 36,000 tea bags and retrieving them three months later, researchers and citizen scientists worldwide gathered data on the decomposition of plant material in soil.

What if we could find a way to make electric currents flow, without energy loss? A promising approach for this involves using materials known as topological insulators.

The "greenhouse gas accountant of the world," as Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant once described him. Not an undeserved qualification for Detlef van Vuuren: his research has contributed to, among other things, the Paris Climate Agreement and plays an important role in multiple reports of the IPCC.

Applying physics to better understand complicated biological processes: that is what Meike Bos did during her PhD. She used computer models to investigate how ciliated cells in the airways move to ensure that mucus can be transported. Her research, culminating in a successful dissertation defense on 29 May, highlights the power of computational modeling in addressing complex biological phenomena. "I prefer to apply physics to the real world", she says.