688 search results for “liveable planet” in the Public website
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Call for abstracts: Thinking planet 2018, students' presentations contest
Thinking Planet is a big public philosophy event which aims to bring ideas from all over the world to the Netherlands.
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Report: Tracking down green spaces in The Hague in places you don't always want to be
Although there is considerable evidence that nature in the city is beneficial to both people and animals, we still do not have an overall picture of those benefits. To rectify that, a Leiden PhD candidate and a student – armed with a cargo bike – are using The Hague as a life-size laboratory.
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The Demographics of Protoplanetary Disks: from Lupus to Orion
The work presented in this thesis is based on ALMA surveys of protoplanetary disks in three star-forming regions: Lupus, OMC-2, and NGC 2024.
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Discover Global and Comparative Philosophy at Thinking Planet
Ever since the foundation of Leiden University in 1575, philosophy in Leiden has been committed to open-mindedness, dialogue, and comparative perspectives. In line with this tradition it makes perfect sense to question the widespread self-image of philosophy as well. Is philosophy the exclusive privilege…
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Nitrogen experts suggest switching from deposition to emission policy
In an essay Professors Jan Willem Erisman (Leiden University), Chris Backes (Utrecht University) and Wim de Vries (Wageningen University) suggest amending nitrogen policy in the Netherlands. They call for a shift from a deposition to an emissions policy, with sectors responsible for reducing their own…
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The puzzle of protoplanetary disk masses
My work focuses on a class of astronomical objects called protoplanetary disks.
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Dutch astronomers photograph possible toddler planet by chance
A group of astronomers was actually examining the dust disc around the young double star CS Cha, when they saw a small dot on the edge of their images. It turned out to be a small planet of only a few million years young, which moves along with the double star. Whether it is a super-Jupiter in the making…
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New research centre for studying planet and star formation
The ALMA Local Expertise Group (Allegro) is located in the Leiden Observatory (Sterrewacht). Professor Ewine van Dishoeck: ‘The Netherlands has played an important role in establishing ALMA. Thanks to this subsidy, we can now reap the scientific benefits.'
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LUGO Sustainability Day
Conference, Symposium
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Together, plants and fungi could slow down climate change
A special relationship between plants and fungi, which plays an important role in carbon storage in soil, has the potential to slow down climate change. However, the amount of carbon stored in soil is decreasing as a result of human activity. This is what researchers say in a publication in Nature Communications.…
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Keynote Sustainable Environment by Marja Spierenburg @ESOF
Conference
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Marja Spierenburg in openingspanel ESOF
Conference, Panel
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Freedom is important, commitment too
Professor Jan Willem Erisman is happy with the freedom at our University. But frameworks are needed, he believes. That is why he makes a proposal for such a framework from the perspective of his own profession. In fact, he makes a proposal for a wonderful ambition for Leiden University.
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Opening of Academic Year on sustainability: optimism and criticism go hand in hand
The theme of the Opening of the Academy Year on 4 September was sustainability and how the university could take the lead as a change agent. How is it going about this and what else can it do? There was also room for a critical note.
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Giant planet at large distance from sun-like star puzzles astronomers
A team of astronomers led by Dutch scientists have directly imaged a giant planet orbiting at a large distance around a sun-like star. Why this planet is so massive, and how it got to be there, is still a mystery. The researchers will publish their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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Oort Lecturer 2018: James Kasting about the search for life on planets around other stars
If there is life outside our galaxy, how could we find it? In his Oort Lecture, James Kasting talks about his search for simple life on other planets. Kasting was in the Netherlands for two weeks, because he was invited as the Oort Professor 2018.
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Students seek sustainable solutions for businesses
Master’s students in Industrial Ecology and Governance of Sustainability have helped answer organisations’ questions about sustainability
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Experts provide three necessary solutions to the biodiversity crisis
It came as a shock to many people: one million plant and animal species are threatened to become extinct. But this number isn’t the most relevant aspect, argue Alexander van Oudenhoven, Koos Biesmeijer and three other experts in Dutch newspaper Trouw. ‘It is more important to realise that the fate of…
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How a global carbon price would weaken Eastern European and Asian economies
Although seen as the fastest and cheapest way to global climate protection, a uniform global carbon price would have major consequences for the economic competitiveness of countries. Hauke Ward, who recently joined Leiden University, showed in the journal Energy Economics that modern western countries…
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GDP? Get rid of it!
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the most powerful indicator in the world. And that while a large part of the scientific community sees it as an outdated figure. Why are we only looking at economic growth? And why do welfare, sustainability and inequality not count? Environmental economist Rutger Hoekstra…
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How China will reduce its carbon impact
Rong Yuang, PhD candidate from the Institute of Environmental Sciences investigated the impact of the renewable energy expansion on China’s carbon emission. On 17 May, she will defend her thesis. China is investing heavily in the development of low-carbon electricity sources, like nuclear, hydro-,…
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What's inside a giant planet? Yamila Miguel will find out with an ERC Consolidator Grant
Discovering what is inside giant planets and their atmosphere, that is one of the goals of astronomer Yamila Miguel. With an ERC Consolidator Grant of 2 million euro, she will study giant planets both inside and outside our solar system. ‘We want to know more about how planetary systems are born, how…
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Astronomers discover largest molecule yet in a planet-forming disc
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, researchers at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands have for the first time detected dimethyl ether in a planet-forming disc. With nine atoms, this is the largest molecule identified in such a disc to date. It is also a precursor…
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First discovery of methanol in a warm planet-forming disk
An international team of researchers led by Alice Booth (Leiden University, the Netherlands) have discovered methanol in the warm part of a planet-forming disk. The methanol cannot have been produced there and must have originated in the cold gas clouds from which the star and the disk formed. Thus,…
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University invests extra funds in groundbreaking research
From museum collections to artificial intelligence: Leiden University has selected eight research programmes that will receive extra funding
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Opinion piece in Nature: Tobias Müller on people of faith being allies to stall climate change
Tobias Müller, post-doctoral researcher in the field of Terrorism and Political Violence at ISGA, writes how together, religious groups and scientists can be a powerful force for a liveable planet.
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Sizing up protoplanetary disks
This thesis focuses on protoplanetary disks: flattened structures of gas and dust around young stars in which planets are expected to form and grow.
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James Webb Space Telescope sees sand clouds on 'cotton candy planet' WASP-107b
A team of European astronomers has found a silicate-based weather system on a cloudy gas planet around the star WASP-107. It is the first time astronomers have found silicate clouds and rain. They also conclude that temperatures deeper in the atmosphere are rising rapidly. 'The presence of clouds has…
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Research Prof.Dr. Arjen Doelman selected within Mathematics of Planet Earth program NWO
The research project ‘Adaptive Semi-Strong Ecosystem Dynamics’ of Prof.Dr. Arjen Doelman is selected for funding as one of the 7 research projects within the program Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) of NWO.
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Astronomers spot benzene in planet-forming disk around star for first time
An international team of astronomers including Leiden professor Ewine van Dishoeck has observed the benzene molecule (C6H6) in a planet-forming disk around a young star for the first time. The observations tell us more about the forming of planets in this disc, like our own Earth. The scientists publish…
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Dust cloud from two colliding ice planets dims light of parent star
For the first time, an international group of astronomers have seen the heat glow of two ice giant planets colliding. They could also observe the resultant dust cloud move in front of the parent star several years later. Led by Leiden astronomer Matthew Kenworthy, they monitored the star's brightness…
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UV radiation from massive stars prevents formation of Jupiter-like planet
An international team of scientists, including Xander Tielens of Leiden Observatory, has used space telescope Hubble and the ALMA observatory to show that UV radiation from massive stars can prevent planets from forming. The researchers publish their findings on 1 March in the journal Science.
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Team
meet our staff
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High-Contrast Imaging of Protoplanetary Disks
To study how planetary systems come into existence we study much younger systems still in formation.
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Navigating the Energy Transition: A Call to Consider the Citizen Perspective
A wind turbine near your home? The energy transition is not seen as just by all parties concerned. It’s essential to involve local residents, argues Emma ter Mors, social psychologist. As a researcher, she focuses on identifying factors that influence public acceptance of energy technologies. Isn't…
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'Better to take action today, than to deal with the damage tomorrow'
It’s better to cut our nitrogen emissions now than to solve the consequences later at great expense. That’s the lesson we can learn from the Dutch nitrogen crisis, according to nitrogen expert Jan Willem Erisman. In Science, he shares this lesson with other countries. According to Erisman, we should…
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Saving threatened orang-utans with climate change-resilient trees
A study of the International Union for Conservation of Nature has identified tree species native to Indonesia’s Kutai National Park that are resilient to climate change. The species support threatened East Bornean orang-utan populations; therefore, the study recommends their use in reforestation efforts.…
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Assessing total environmental impact is becoming even more important
Life cycle assessment (LCA) reveals the total environmental impact of products or production processes, and EU rules are going to make this even more important.
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Research
Urban, Food, Water, Biodiversity, Resources and Energy: these are the main research topics of the Institute of Environmental Sciences. We always strive to be a global leader in our field. And make a real impact with both our research programmes.
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Astronomers capture first-ever image of a multi-planet system around a Sun-like star
An international team led by Leiden astronomers has taken the first-ever image of a young, Sun-like star accompanied by two giant exoplanets. The researchers used The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope for this, known as ESO’s VLT. Images of systems with multiple exoplanets are extremely…
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Michiel Hogerheijde
Science
michiel@strw.leidenuniv.nl | +31 71 527 5590
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How to improve interdisciplinary cooperation within Leiden University?
Conference
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Simulating the birth environment of circumstellar discs
Circumstellar discs are the reservoirs of gas and dust that surround young stars and have the potential to become planetary systems.
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'Climate issues and sustainability should be part of every study programme'
Having lectures on sustainability when you're a first-year student of Law, or a course on climate change when you're studying Public Administration may sound odd, but that is just what Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences Thijs Bosker wants to see happening. Together with his colleague Paul…
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‘We are destroying our own planet' (and Latin America pays the price)
The whole world gets raw materials from Latin America, but at the expense of nature. Håvar Solheim researches the role of organised crime in this environmental crime and Soledad Valdivia researches sustainable urban initiatives in Latin America. What do these university lecturers think the future of…
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Elephants in the Room
Lecture
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Sustainable futures
How can we organise society so as to keep our planet habitable for us and for all other life forms around us? To answer this question, Leiden researchers collaborate across disciplines, from biology to data science, and from environmental economy to archaeology.
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Ewine van Dishoeck
Science
ewine@strw.leidenuniv.nl | +31 71 527 5814
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A long-term perspective on human niche construction and alteration of ecosystems
Dr. Katharine MacDonald (Faculty of Archaeology) sketches the background to a recent paper in Science Advances, co-authored by her and other members of the Liveable Planet team.
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How meat substitutes in your lasagne can help save the planet
National Meat Free Week, from 11 to 17 March, encourages us to choose the environmentally friendly option more often. But apart from preventing animal suffering, does eating less meat really make much difference? Three questions for Leiden Professor of Industrial Ecology Arnold Tukker.