news 2026

A four-year study in the Dutch part of the North Sea shows that a small-scale offshore solar farm did not cause measurable changes in currents and water mixing. At the same time, multiple species settled on the floating installations within a short period of time, including mussels, barnacles and other small marine animals.

This weekend we will be switching to a new system for handling student queries. From 16 March you can track the status of your question or request in your portal. Click to read the news article. Better insulation and ventilation in social housing means that children need less medication for asthma or allergies.

Does feeding less protein over a longer period not only reduce nitrogen losses, but also affect methane emissions? Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) investigated this in a multi-year study with dairy cows, funded by the Vereniging Diervoederonderzoek Nederland (VDN), LVVN and the Melkveefonds.

Mitochondria in plants can be inherited from the father more often than expected. The findings come from Wageningen University & Research (WUR), the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPIMP) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The study was recently published in Nature Plants.

The molecular building blocks that make up the cells of humans, animals and plants so sophisticated appear to be older than scientists previously assumed. They were already present in our single-celled ancestor that lived 2.5 billion years ago. That is the conclusion of Wageningen and American researchers in two studies published in Nature and Nature Microbiology.

When Philip Minderhoud travelled through Vietnam in 2015, he sensed that something was not quite right. Minderhoud was working on his PhD research on land subsidence in the Mekong Delta, one of the largest deltas in the world. He had brought along a series of maps indicating how high the land was supposed to be elevated: one and a half metres above sea level, and in some places even two metres, according to the maps.

Northern wildfires, such as the record-breaking 2023 and 2025 fires in Canada, have long-lasting effects on the climate, according to new research from, among others, earth system scientists Max van Gerrevink, Sander Veraverbeke and Nick Schutgens. The summer of 2025 marked the second largest fire season on record in Canada, after the recent record of 2023.

Researchers at Wageningen University & Research have developed a new type of plastic that could not exist according to materials theory. Its properties lie between glass and plastic: it is easy to shape and resists impact. This combination arises because the building blocks are not chemically attached to each other, but are held together by physical forces.

Photo: Jaime Culebras How young animals interact with their siblings during their first months of life determines their social skills later on. This is shown by experimental research on the tropical freshwater fish Neolamprologus pulcher, published in PNAS. Not only does the number of siblings matter, but whether they can interact freely with one another does too.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Vici funding to 39 adventurous, talented and pioneering researchers, including five from VU Amsterdam and Amsterdam UMC/affiliated VU. The Vici grant enables researchers to develop an innovative line of research and further expand a research group over the next five years.

"Behavioural research can show how wolves try to navigate a human-dominated landscape." Highlight After more than 150 years of absence, the wolf has re-established itself in the Netherlands. This raises questions about nature, safety, livestock farming and living together with wild animals. Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is at the heart of that social and scientific conversation, with years of expertise in wolf ecology, monitoring and human-animal interactions.

Eels were once everywhere in large numbers, from the North Sea to the smallest ditches. But for many years, the eel population has not been thriving. Researchers at Wageningen University & Research are therefore closely monitoring the numbers. It is no easy task. The latest methods, such as eDNA testing and AI, help.

Children who eat healthily often continue to do so as adults. That is why Gertrude Zeinstra is studying programmes that help schools and parents to teach children healthy eating habits. These are programmes where they try fruits and vegetables, cook and grow them and are surrounded by good examples.

The transition towards sustainability in the Dutch agrifood sector requires more than isolated chain initiatives. Current coordination and governance arrangements around sustainability agreements fall short, preventing structural solutions from emerging. Researchers Lan van Wassenaer and Elsje Oosterkamp discuss the logic, preconditions and choices involved in developing effective and future-proof forms of steering.

A compound that maize plants use to defend themselves against pests can unintentionally help parasitic nematodes locate their host. This is shown by new research accepted for publication in Nature Plants. The key lies not with the plant or the nematode alone, but in a subtle interaction with soil bacteria.

Avian influenza (Avian influenza, HPAI H5N1) has been detected in a Dutch dairy cow. Research by Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (part of Wageningen University & Research) shows that the cow in question has antibodies against the avian influenza virus. No virus particles were found in the animal. This means the cow is not shedding the virus and does not pose a risk to public health.

Researchers at Wageningen University & Research have developed a new type of plastic that, according to materials theory, should not be able to exist. Its properties sit somewhere between those of glass and plastic: it is easy to (re)shape, yet resistant to impact. This unusual combination is possible because the building blocks of the material are not held together by chemical bonds, but by physical forces.

To manage harmful nematodes in agriculture effectively and sustainably, it is essential to know exactly which species is present. Identifying nematode species is complex, costly and requires highly specialized expertise, which is available only in a limited number of places worldwide. Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) are contributing to the development of an AI-based identification system for nematodes.

How do plants achieve their remarkably regular arrangement of leaves and flowers? And why does this pattern remain so stable, even as plants grow and respond to their environment? Researchers at Wageningen University & Research and the Dutch fruit and vegetable breeding company Rijk Zwaan have identified the biological mechanisms that underpin this precision.

People diagnosed with HIV in the Netherlands face a significantly lower probability of employment and a substantial loss of income for up to seven years following their diagnosis. This is the main conclusion of a new study by VU economists Wendy Janssens and Menno Pradhan conducted in collaboration with researchers from the UvA and Amsterdam UMC.