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#ScientistsOnMastodon

☢️‘Without the ozone layer, the radiation that reaches us is comparable to the radiation from an atomic bomb.’

Reynier Peletier, astronomer at the UG, is worried about #SpaceX & Musk's plans to launch another million satellites in space.🛰️

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #astronomy #ozone #KapteynInstitute #astrophysics #physics #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

The distribution of the current 10,000 Starlink satellites around the Earth. At this scale, the satellites would not be visible. | Image Heavens-Above.com

⚛️ How does the biggest #particleaccelerator help to understand the smallest building blocks of #matter?

Ass. Profs. Kristof De Bruyn & Ann-Kathrin Perrevoort use the #LargeHadronCollider @CERN to collide #protons with the aim to discover unexplained phenomena. 💥

Read about the long search for new #physics in our new article 👇
🔗https://www.rug.nl/fse/news/science-in-focus/the-long-search-for-new-physics

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceinFocus #ScienceNewsroom #particlephysics #gravity #proton #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Part of the 27-kilometre-long tunnel, with the tube in which the protons are accelerated. | Image Maximilien Brice, CERN CC BY-SA 3.0

🌏 Why are only a few #planets suitable for life? And why is Earth one of them?

Dr. Rob Spaargaren, together with his international team of astronomers, answers these questions in a new paper.

It may have consequences for the search for life elsewhere.🔎

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #astronomy #KapteynInstitute #astrophysics #physics #exoplanets #planetary #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen @ethzurich

A young star surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. New planets can form from this material. Whether they have the chemical conditions necessary for life depends on the correct oxygen content during core formation. | Illustration: NASA-JPL

Reference: Walton CR, Rogers LK, Bonsor A, Spaargaren R, Shorttle O, Schönbächler M: The chemical habitability of Earth and rocky planets prescribed by core formation, Nature Astronomy, 9 February 2026

🧊 What are #metamaterials, and why does their size matter?

Shyam Veluvali and research team at the UG & UMCG discovered new insights that lead to better implants, robot hands, and bumpers.

🧪 #SciComm #sciencealert #ScienceNewsroom #implants #robotics #materialscience #engineering #mechanics #technology #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen @umcgresearch

Examples of 3D printed metamaterial blocks with different unit cells, as studied in the paper. | Image Shantanu Nath, University of Groningen.

Reference: H.C.V.M. Shyam Veluvali et al.: When Scale Matters: Size-Dependent Mechanics of Architected Lattices for Implants and Beyond. Small Structures, 13 January 2026

🌌 Why are most nearby galaxies moving away from the #MilkyWay?

Astronomers Ewoud Wempe & Prof. Amina Helmi discovered a ‘large-scale sheet’ that explains these motions.↗️

They published their findings in @NatureAstronomy .

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #astronomy #KapteynInstitute #astrophysics #physics #galaxies #darkmatter #galactic #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Simulated movement and speed (indicated by the length of the arrows) of objects surrounding the Local Group (in the centre of the image) | Image Ewoud Wempe and collaborators

Reference: Wempe et al., The mass distribution in and around the Local Group, Nature Astronomy, 27 January 2026.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@ScienceNewsroom_UG/115943867859380319

🚢 Do you want to follow the icebreaker #Polarstern expedition?

Join oceanographer Jacqueline Stefels and marine biologist Maria van Leeuwe (UG) on their journey in the Antarctic.🗺️

Go check the @awi live-stream 👇
🔗 https://follow-polarstern.awi.de/expedition/antarktis-2025-26/?lang=en

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #marinebiology #biology #oceanography #microbiology #environmental #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

🐧‘To make the #WeddellSea a protected marine area, we need to demonstrate that what the area has to offer is of great value to humans.’

On 15 December, Oceanographer Jacqueline Stefels and marine biologist Maria van Leeuwe (UG) boarded the icebreaker #Polarstern of
@awi for an expedition to Antarctica.❄️

Curious? Read more 👇
🔗 https://www.rug.nl/fse/news/climate-and-nature/what-the-smell-of-the-sea-does-to-the-clouds-above-antarctica

🧪 #SciComm #marinebiology #biology #oceanography #microbiology #environmental #research #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Checking the water beneath the ice with a camera| Image Jacqueline Stefels

The icebreaker Polarstern| Image Jacqueline Stefels

🌍 Astronomers from all over the world are coming to Groningen for the #RockyWorlds4 conference.

'We would like to broaden the ideas about what a rocky planet could be made up of,' says Inga Kamp, astrophysicist at the UG.

Curious? Read more 👇
🔗 https://www.rug.nl/fse/news/matter-and-space/the-search-for-extraterrestrial-life-and-can-we-broaden-our-ideas-about-it
🧪 #SciComm

#astronomy #KapteynInstitute #astrophysics #physics #extraterrestrial #ET #exoplanets #planetary #research #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Kepler-22 b: A potentially rocky world, larger than Earth | Artist impression NASA

🤖 Is our chatbot telling lies?

Computer scientist Ayushi Rastogi & team at the UG developed a framework that verifies AI-generated chatbot answers, helping speed up human evaluation.💬

In collaboration with AFAS software.

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #AI #artificialintelligence #largelanguagemodel #LLM #computerscience #softwareengineering #software #engineering #technology #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Visual abstract of the study | Image University of Groningen / AFAS

Reference: Herman Lassche, Michiel Overeem, Ayushi Rastogi: Is our chatbot telling lies? Assessing correctness of an LLM-based Dutch support chatbot. Journal of Systems and Software, online 2 December 2025.

🔩 How do metals "remember" their shape?

Mechanical engineer Francesco Maresca & his team at the UG, published an atomistic model which explains how memory alloys, e.g. used in dental braces, can return to their pre-deformed shape when heated.🔥

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #mechanics #modelling #mechanical #engineering #materialscience #technology #research #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Atomistic model showing the coexistence of two solid phases of NiTi: austenite (blue), stable at higher temperatures, and martensite (brown), stable at lower temperatures. The martensite region consists of two differently oriented variants of the same crystal structure (light and dark brown), forming a twinned microstructure. | Image University of Groningen

🐎 'Proteins are the workhorses of our cells.'

🔎 Using nanopore technology, Prof.
Giovanni Maglia developed a method to identify exactly which proteins are important to our health.

🏆 For his research, he won the FSE Impact award.

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #proteins #nanopores #technology #biophysics #chemistry #molecular #biology #research #Impact #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Giovanni Maglia (left) receives the Impact Award from Mark Kas, team leader of Research, Strategy and Partnerships at FSE. | Photo FSE

🗨️"I hope that my research has laid the foundation for a future tool for smartwatches or smartphones."

Master’s student Thijs van der Laan developed an #AI language model to help people with #aphasia find words.

🏆With his research ‘AI-phasia’ he received the FSE Impact.

🧪 #SciComm #ScienceNewsroom #artificialintelligence #largelanguagemodel #LLM #linguistics #technology #research #Impact #science #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Thijs van der Laan (right) receives the Impact Award from Mark Kas, team leader of Research, Strategy and Partnerships at FSE. | Photo FSE

💡"We need to ask deeper questions about the nature and purpose of #innovation."

Prof. at the UG Klaus Hubacek responds to the #NobelPrize for economic growth and innovation. Why innovate, and for whom?

🧪 #SciComm #nobel #economics #environmentalscience #economic #science #technology #environmental #research #ScientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Nobel laureates Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their research on economic growth and innovation | Image Nobel Prize Outreach / Nanaka Adachi

🪐What can we learn from exoplanets?

🔭 Using NASA’s #JamesWebb Space Telescope, astronomers from the UG's #Kapteyn Institute found strong evidence for a thick atmosphere around the ultra-hot super-Earth TOI-561 b.🔥

🧪 #SciComm #astronomy #KapteynInstitute #JamesWebbspacetelescope #astrophysics #physics #extraterrestrial #ET #exoplanets #planetary #research #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Artist's impression of exoplanet TOI-561 b | Image NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

🪐‘My main motivation is that I want to find out how life could have arisen at Earth.’

Planetary scientist at the UG Tim Lichtenberg recently found an unexpected atmosphere, while his colleague Quentin Changeat studies that of a rocky 'lava planet'.🔥

🌍 What can we learn from exoplanets?

🧪 #SciComm #astronomy #JamesWebbspacetelescope #astrophysics #physics #extraterrestrial #ET #exoplanets #research #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

New research suggests that the rocky “lava planet” TOI-561 b, that orbits very close to its star, likely carries an atmosphere | Artist impression Chris Butler/Science Source

🌎'There is always drama, but every COP does produce results.'

Prof. of #Energy Systems Analysis at the UG and Director of #Science and #Technology at #TNO André Faaij returned from the climate conference in Brazil with optimism.

'Eighty countries have committed to phasing out fossil fuels.' ⛽

🧪 #SciComm #COP30 #environmental #research #environmentalscience #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

The entrance of COP30 | Image Alberto César Araúj / Amazônia Real Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

⚡‘This would be of interest to the aviation industry, as static charges can create sparks that may damage the plane.’

Prof. of #Astrophysics Olaf Scholten & his team published a new study in Nature Communications on observed radio wave-emissions originating from a commercial airliner.✈️

🧪 #SciComm #Science #engineering #technology #research #physics #astronomy #electronics #aviation #planes #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen
@nature

KLM Boeing 777-300ER | Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA-4.0S

🔎What are #perovskites and #quantumdots?

Prof. #Photophysics and #Optoelectronics Maria Antonietta Loi uses these minerals and 'super atoms' to create new materials for #solarcells and LED lights - materials that turn light into electricity, or vice versa.💡

🧪 #SciComm #Science #engineering #technology #research #physics #electronic #scientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen