Short news science

Russian grant
Professor Kemo Hanjalic, emeritus professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, was recently awarded a grant worth 3.6 million euros from the Russian government. He is one of the 40 scientists to win a Lead
Scientist award in a competition in which 517 applications were submitted. The programme aims to attract leading scientists to Russian educational institutions in order to improve the standards and focus of research. Prof. Hanjalic will lead the ‘Laboratory for simulation of energy processes’ at Novosibirsk State University.
www.ibnfirnaslectures.tk

Poe’s science
Edgar Allan Poe is not only the godfather of horror, fantasy and detective stories, he also published revolutionary ideas on cosmology, the Big Bang and evolution before scientists did so. Rene van Slooten translated Poe’s last book, Eureka, into Dutch and is known as a ‘Poe expert’. On Thursday evening (18:00 – 20:00), Van Slooten will deliver a lecture on Poe’s ideas on science and the Quran for the Islamic student association, Ibn Firnas.

Rail crisis
The Dutch Parliament wants to know what went wrong with the trains on Friday, 3 February, when thousands of passengers were stranded. Dr Wijnand Veeneman (TPM) argued in De Volkskrant that instead of playing the blame game, NS, (trains) and ProRail (rails) should get together and build trust to face crisis situations. Veeneman: “They’re like a couple with relational troubles. The last thing they’re waiting for is a quarrelling mother in law.”
bit.ly/ns-crisis

Lake Vostok

(Image: Zina Deretsky/NSF)

After decennia of attempts and misfortunes, a Russian team in the Antarctic has finally reached its largest underground lake, Lake Vostok. The 350 meter deep water reservoir is covered with 3.769 meters of ice and it has been closed off from the rest of the world for 15 to 25 million years. Scientists are very curious to know if life exists in the lake and what it might look like. They will have to wait another year, it seems, because the lake’s water rose by 30 to 40 meters (due to the pressure of the ice), froze immediately and fixed the drill. With the end of the summer in sight, Russians are now packing up.