Current affairs

The antidepressant drug fluoxetine, better known as Prozac can bind to and inhibit a key protein in the replication machinery of enteroviruses. The discovery could pave the way for development of antivirals against these important human pathogens. The research was done at Utrecht University in collaboration with Aix-Marseille University and the results were published in the journal Science Advances.

Terrorism and Political Violence (TPV) is a podcast by Beatrice de Graaf, in cooperation with the journal Terrorism and Political Violence. In three brand new episodes researchers and authors from the Netherlands and abroad discuss the latest developments in their field.

An international team of palaeontologists sectioned the first skeletons of vertebrates. The team discovered that the earliest conodonts developed teeth, which were the very first hard skeleton elements, but were not predators yet. Whereas it has been commonly believed that the only incentive to develop teeth was becoming a predator. Utrecht University researcher Dr Emilia Jarochowska supervised the project.

Alex Sapoznik (Kings College London) will address the subject of bees, beekeeping and honey and wax trading in the medieval world. She offers insight into how Christianity and Islam looked at bees. All are welcome to attend this meeting on 13 January, iorganised by the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies.

In an era when many businesses have come under scrutiny for their environmental impact, the film industry has for the most part escaped criticism and regulation. In this webinar on 28 January, Hunter Vaughan argues that how we make and consume films has serious ecological consequences.

The Migration and Societal Change focus area is very proud to invite you to the screening of the price winning documentary Shadow Game on 28 January, followed by a Q&A with film directors Eefje Blankevoort and Els van Driel.