Research News

De hexapod, 60 ton zwaar en 6x5x3 meter groot, is de nieuwste aanwinst van de TU Delft: een testfaciliteit die krachten van 100 ton in alle zes richtingen kan aanbrengen. Het apparaat kan onder meer in 4 weken de vermoeiing in gelaste scheepsstukken nabootsen van 20 jaar varen op zee, maar is ook breder inzetbaar om constructies beter te kunnen ontwerpen.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded a grant of more than 17 million euros for the further development of the Netherlands Electron Microscopy Infrastructure (NEMI). The network consists of five university medical centres and eight universities, with Utrecht as the coordinating university. The grant will enable the scientists to combine various technologies in the field of electron microscopy and as a result to learn more about the composition and coherence of the biological and material micro-world.

This month the unique advanced iRASPA app has been launched. This app visualizes molecular structures of various types of porous materials with which material research can be facilitated and improved. In addition, it can help teachers with their explanation to students. The development of the iRASPA is done by a team of computational chemists: Dr David Dubbeldam (University of Amsterdam, Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences), Sofia Calero (Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain) and Thijs Vlugt, Professor of Engineering Thermodynamics at the Process & Energy (3mE).

Many types of mushroom have two different nuclei in their cells, one from the ‘father’ and another from the ‘mother’. Researchers at the universities of Delft, Utrecht and Wageningen have discovered that the genes from the parental DNAs are expressed at different times in mushroom development. “This means that when genes involved in mushroom formation are identified, we first need to find out whether the paternal or maternal nucleus is active,” says TU Delft doctoral candidate Thies Gehrmann. The research results were published in the journal PNAS on 11 April 2018.

Jenny Dankelman, full professor of biomechanical engineering, has received €120,000 from the Delft University Fund for her research project ‘Let’s make surgery safer and available for everyone’.

‘We find ourselves in an age where superhero films are immensely popular. With many students familiar with many of these characters and their superpowers, superheroes can facilitate a unique platform to aid in the dissemination of physics materials in the classroom’, says scientist Barry W. Fitzgerald of TU Delft. In a paper published in Physics Education on 5th April 2018, he considers Wonder Woman, Hawkeye and Invisible Woman.

Research by Pieter Smets of TU Delft and the KNMI shows that infrasound can be used for weather and climate forecasts. These inaudible low sound waves can be used to gain a better picture of the stratosphere, which can barely be measured in any other way. On Wednesday 28 March, Smets will be awarded his PhD at TU Delft for his work on this subject.

Researcher Gautham Ram Chandra Mouli developed a system which charges electric cars quickly and directly using solar power. On Monday 26 March, he will be awarded his PhD at TU Delft for his work on this subject.

The international Open Education Consortium is honouring TU Delft with an Open Education Award in the Open Policies category.

A simple potassium solution could boost the efficiency of next-generation solar cells, by enabling them to convert more sunlight into electricity.

Professors Mark van Loosdrecht (Delft University of Technology) and Bruce Rittmann (Arizona State University) are named the 2018 Stockholm Water Prize Laureates for revolutionizing water and wastewater treatment. By developing microbiological processes in wastewater treatment, they have demonstrated the possibilities to cut costs, reduce energy consumption and even recover chemicals and nutrients for recycling. Their pioneering research and innovations have led to a new generation of energy-efficient water treatment processes that can effectively extract nutrients and other chemicals – both valuable and harmful - from wastewater.