Science as we know it is rooted in the seventeenth-century Scientific Revolution. Since then, the foundations of the sciences have been the subject of constant debate. How certain is scientific knowledge? Is there such a thing as a scientific method? What is the relationship between science and metaphysics? What is the nature of space and…

The first-ever SHA Music Night was a great success! A few musicians from the SHA had gathered a couple of times to rehearse 10 songs that were performed in the Cambridge bar. We from the music committee had a fantastic evening and we hope all guests did too. The final song wouldn’t have been as…

The students from the Science Honours Academy visited Oxford for their 2014 international annual academic trip. The trip took place from November 18th to 22nd and included visits to the Department of Computer Science, Earth Sciences and Pharmacy (Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre). Watch this page for more detailed reports from the students. Oxford 20/11/2014: The UU…

The students from the Science Honours Academy this year are visiting Geneva and Zurich for the annual academic trip. Amongst the institutions they will be visiting are CERN and ETH Zurich. The visit will take place from November 19 till 23. Utrecht Beta Honours Academy Students at ETH Zürich November 22nd 2013 Programme Booklet in…

September 17th 2013: Life 2013-14 Interdisciplinary Modulo kick-offGuest Speakers:Prof. Ewine van Dishoeck (Astronomy, Leiden) Building Planets and the Ingredients for Life between the StartsDrs. Peter van Rossum (UMC Utrecht) Life changing Robot SurgeryDr. Rob van Gerwen (Philosophy, Utrecht) What is to lead a Life? Organising Committee: Charly Beulenkamp, Maxime Brugman, Bram Custer, Jalda Hamidpopal and…

Our visit to Heidelberg has definitely sharpened our minds. What we have learned, and how the experience differed from our expectations, we will outline below. First and foremost, it was very exciting to see how often interdisciplinary research is taking place in science. Especially DKFZ hosts researchers from many different backgrounds. We did not really…

For the last institute visit, we went to the top of the hills surrounding Heidelberg, to visit the newly opened Advanced Training Centre of the European Molecular Biology (EMBL) with its impressive DNA strands as staircases. The building looked very interesting. What would we learn from this visit? In contrast to many of the other…

On Friday we visited the Faculty of Physics of Heidelberg University (Physikalisches Institut). The Faculty of Physics is one of the largest in Germany, with the highest number of graduating PhD students per year. The faculty is very research-minded, and covers inter-disciplinary border areas as well as core fundamental topics, which push the boundaries of…

Cancer is a horrible disease that affects many people. One of the research institutes that try to tackle it is the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), founded in 1964. This enormous institute has many departments, ranging from tumour biology to cancer imaging and radio oncology, which contribute to a better diagnosis and therapy of cancer….

During the past decades, the foundations of science have developed a new pillar: scientific computing. Using the power of modern-day computers, it is possible to model processes, analyse data and image interesting phenomena in a sophisticated way. The University of Heidelberg thought this development was important enough to establish the IWR, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific…