What happens when the power goes out?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.
Olympic questions: how safe is the road to gold?No whining, just perform. For many athletes, that's a lesson they learn early on at their sports club. Standards like that travel with them, from youth teams to the Olympic podium. But they also have a downside: an increased risk of physical, psychological and sexual misconduct. The Winter Games show a glorious result. But how safe is the road to get there?
Why will all computers crash in 2038?It’s almost 2026. As we prepare to ring in the new year, think back to the turn of the millennium in 2000. Remember? The world was gripped by the ‘millennium bug’. Computers were expected to go haywire, stock markets to crash, planes to fall from the sky. In the end, it wasn’t so bad. What people often forget is that this was thanks to billions spent on preparation.
Do smart cities make us safer?Smart cities promise to make us safer. Cameras on every corner that detect violence and algorithms that alert the police before anyone calls. For many, that sounds reassuring. But how safe do these systems really make us, and more importantly, for whom?
CSI in Twente: what AI can tell us at the crime sceneEntering a drug lab without knowing which gases are being released is life-threatening. “That risk needs to be reduced,” says University of Twente researcher Dimitar Rangelov. Together with Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the Police Academy and the Technical University of Sofia, he is developing an AI-driven forensic investigation system that makes crime scene work faster, safer and more accurate.
Developing AI that doctors can trustAI helps clinicians quickly find the information they need, filtering hundreds of reports and documents, automating processes, and preventing something from being overlooked. But traditional AI isn't safe enough when it comes to high-level tasks, such as diagnosing. Here, explainability is crucial. Unlike non-explainable models that operate like black boxes, explainable AI follows a clinically acceptable reasoning and reveals how it arrives at a decision, so doctors can evaluate whether its output is trustworthy.
Drones as a threat: this spin-off company is doing something about itDrones have become more commonplace in today’s society. You see them fly over more often, to take breathtaking shots at festivals or to use them to inspect the facades of buildings. However, there’s also a flip side to it, where drones are also used for criminal activities and warfare.
How Big Tech is weaponising public opinionPropaganda used to be distributed through leaflets or broadcast over the radio. Today, it reaches us with a click on our smartphones, and it is tailored to our preferences. The way we consume information has changed - and with it, the way we form our beliefs about political and social institutions. Assistant professor Adam Heschke is worried about what comes next.
When failure isn’t an option: smart maintenance for defenceEarlier this year, Prof. Tiedo Tinga was invited to speak at the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) about strengthening the connection between academia and the Ministry of Defence. The topic of discussion was how scientific research could address some of the Ministry’s challenges.
How your mobile internet could be much betterImagine: you’re at a festival, and your phone always has full signal. No more slow internet or apps that won’t load. Sounds like a dream, right? Lotte Weedage, a PhD candidate at the University of Twente, is researching ways to improve the mobile network in the Netherlands, so this could become a reality.
Can you detect landmines with a drone? These Mechanical Engineering students researched howYou might not always think about it, but landmines are still an enormous global threat in today's day and age – with (post-)conflict regions being heavily contaminated. The demining of such areas is extremely dangerous and time-consuming. Mechanical Engineering students Benjamin O’regan and Reinis Jaunarajs developed an effective solution as part of their bachelor’s thesis project: they built landmine detection drones.
Podcast #4: The data security detanglerExplore the future in our podcast series, "My Future Dream Job," where Anic van Damme guides you to the year 2030. Our scientists explore prospective careers in cybersecurity, climate adaptation, and energy transition. Listen in to gain insights into the professions taking shape at the University of Twente.
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