An international research team led by the University of Amsterdam researchers Jeroen Bos, Martin Vinck and Cyriel Pennartz has identified a new type of neuron which might play a vital role in humans' ability to navigate their environments. The discovery is an important step towards understanding how the brain codes navigation behaviour at larger scales and could potentially open up new treatment strategies for people with impaired topographi...

Biofilm-forming microorganisms are a growing problem particularly in healthcare. A European study addressed this issue using coated medical implants containing specialised anti-bacterial materials. Biomaterial-associated infection (BAI) in implant devices is caused by biofilm formation, mainly of Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci. BAI is very difficult to treat with antibiotics and alternative approaches are urgently...

High demand is rapidly depleting oil reserves, making the era of cheap oil a thing of the past. Tesla has shown the world that using alternative sources of energy, combined with increasingly cheap and improving batteries, can solve this problem. In the car-industry, the Tesla Revolution has already begun. A new age of energy is about to make its global debut, and it’s all about clean energy, mainly generated by windmills and solar panels. D...

Physicists have for the first time succeeded in directly visualising on small scales how a material abruptly changes its state from conducting to insulating at low temperatures. Researchers Erik van Heumen of the University of Amsterdam and Alex McLeod from the University of California thereby provide evidence for a 60-year-old theory that explains this phenomenon and pave the way for more energy efficient technologies. The team's experiments are...

Dr David Eisenberg and Prof. Gadi Rothenberg of the University of Amsterdam's Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences have invented a type of supercapacitor material with a host of potential applications in electronics, transportation and energy storage devices. The UvA has filed a patent application on this invention. Eisenberg and Rothenberg discovered the supercapacitor material during sideline experiments as part of the Fuel Cells projec...