News

News

• Evidence on microplastics does not yet point to widespread risk, say Europe’s top scientists Jan 11, 2019

  The best available evidence suggests that microplastics and nanoplastics do not pose a widespread risk to humans or the environment, except in small pockets. But that evidence is limited, and the situation could change if pollution continues at the current rate. This is the verdict of a group of experts, nominated by academies across Europe, in an Evidence Review Report published on 10 January 2019 by SAPEA.

• Research into population health wins Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship Jan 10, 2019

  Ecologist Hal Caswell has been awarded the Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship 2019/20 for his research on mathematical models of population dynamics. 'The models we currently use only take very basic aspects of health into account. But in order to cope with challenges such as aging and climate change, we need more sophisticated models.'

• Insomnia has many faces Jan 08, 2019

  Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience revealed that there are five types of insomnia. This finding was published on 7 January 2019 by The Lancet Psychiatry. A commentary in the journal stated that the finding could be a new page in the history of insomnia, promoting discoveries on mechanisms and interventions.

• KNAW: University teaching and research can’t do without one another Dec 17, 2018

  The interwoven nature of teaching and research – the core of university education – is under pressure. That’s because of the keen competition in the research field, the fact that research enjoys higher status than teaching, the increasing number of students, and the workload of academic staff. These are the Academy’s findings in a position paper published today.