Science Stories

Electric bikes have made cycling easier. You are still outside. Your legs are still moving. But how healthy is riding an e-bike really? The answer is more nuanced than you might think.

On the map, the Netherlands seems neatly outlined. A clear border separates us from Belgium and Germany. But how did that line come about? And is it really as fixed as we think?

Place a dry sheet of paper in water and the moisture will slowly creep upward on its own. The same thing happens in walls and trees. In tiny channels, water can rise against gravity due to the attraction between water molecules and the walls of those channels. Once a channel is filled, it is still possible to move the liquid around. You can do this with pressure, of course, but also with electricity. This process is called electro-osmosis: using electricity to drive the flow of water.

The debate on green steel has become strikingly sharp in recent months. Not only in politics, but particularly among economists and other scholars. In a blog on ESB, 117 economists argued against government support for more sustainable steel production in the Netherlands. According to them, public funds could be spent more effectively elsewhere. A group of scientists responded with a counterargument, advocating investment instead. This sense of nuance is also shared at the University of Twente, says Professor of Nonlinear Solid Mechanics Ton van den Boogaard.

The power goes out. The lights go off, the Wi-Fi stops working, and your phone slowly runs out of energy. Annoying, but still manageable. Yet a power cut is about much more than an evening without Netflix or a functional fridge. Behind the scenes, far more depends on electricity than you might think.