5 questions
The Netherlands’ updated healthy eating guide explained
Last April, the Voedingscentrum (Netherlands Nutrition Centre) presented the updated Wheel of Five. The familiar guide remains a tool to help people eat healthily. What has changed, and why?
What...
How bad are wildfires, really?
Wildfires dominated the news over the summer. How bad is it, really, when forests, heathland and raised bogs go up in flames?
Summertime blues: why toxic algal blooms are closing our swimming spots
Anyone visiting a swimming lake this summer may well encounter a sign reading 'closed due to toxic algae'. How does this happen, and is the phenomenon on the rise?
How do white blood cells migrate?
White blood cells are the first line of defence against infections. These immune cells circulate in the blood, but must be able to travel...
The Asian tiger mosquito is here to stay in the Netherlands
According to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), the Asian tiger...
20 Years of Beleef de Lente
For the twentieth year running, visitors to vogelbescherming.nl/beleefdelente can watch, via hidden cameras, how various birds pair up, lay eggs and raise their young...
What makes egg-laying mammals so remarkable?
The popular exclamation 'every family has one!' applies within the class Mammalia to only a handful of cases: the so-called monotremes. How do these...
Is the Netherlands running short of plant taxonomists?
A recent publication in Trends in Plant Science (2025) warns of a global shortage of plant taxonomists, including in the Netherlands. Is the lack of taxonomic expertise a cause for concern?
What babies do better than adults
Babies may seem helpless, but these newborn creatures possess all manner of skills and remarkable qualities. In some respects, they are even better than...
Can you propagate a (Christmas) tree indefinitely?
Many Christmas trees end up as green waste in the first week of the new year. Can a new tree grow from an old branch, and can that process be repeated indefinitely?