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Measuring flood risks the smart way

Dar es Salaam, a fast growing city on the coast of Tanzania, is faced with floods on a regular basis. Hydrologist Hessel Winsemius is gauging flood risks with the help of smart sensors, local people and local means.

Waiting for the perfect storm

For months hydraulic engineer Patrick Oosterlo has been waiting for a heavy storm. One that can truly test his equipment that was installed in and on a dike on the coast of the eastern Wadden Sea. He needs high waves and strong winds to decide: is this dike high enough?

Water with a barcode

How, and at what speed, do bacteria or chemical substances travel through groundwater or surface water? The tracer hydrologist Thom Bogaard has developed using synthetic DNA is putting him hot on their trail. ‘It’s a lot safer than working with real pollutants.’

The creepy crawlies that can save lives

Doris van Halem’s aim is to make drinking water safe and accessible to all. Not by adding expensive chemicals but by putting to work the tiny creatures already present in it. She is tackling the two health risks associated with contaminated drinking water which have been hardest to eradicate: arsenic poisoning and infectious diseases caused by viruses.

The largest battery ever is just under our feet

Windmills and solar panels are great ways to generate green energy. But what if there is no wind? How can we stock up on solar energy to get through a cloudy day? Hadi Hajibeygi is determined to find the answer to this burning question. He looks into how to use our subsurface as a battery to safely store and retrieve hydrogen.

Detecting plastic waste in rivers using drones

Rivers take vital water to villages and cities, but unfortunately they also carry harmful plastic to oceans. In order to prevent this, we need to find out exactly where the plastic comes from and how it is distributed over time and space. Counting plastic waste items from bridges is one of the commonly used methods to do this. But then how can the huge amounts of plastic in inaccessible places be pinpointed?

Up in the clouds

They are a beautiful sight, those cumulus clouds drifting by slowly high above our heads. But what is propelling them? And how do they affect the wind? To find out Louise Nuijens spent a few days with her head in the clouds. Literally.

Stories of Science