Pepijn van Rutten and Edcel Salumbides (VU): Respira: a laughing gas breath sensor to reduce accidents on the road
Traffic accidents caused by driving under the influence of laughing gas have increased more than ten-fold in the past few years. This leads to more than 100 severe injuries and sadly, more than 20 deaths in the Netherlands every year. Respira is being developed as the world’s first breath sensor for laughing gas detection. The sensor is based on extremely sensitive and specific spectroscopic techniques developed at VU Laser Lab, Amsterdam. From discussions with the police, a strong preventative effect is expected when drivers know they can get caught on laughing gas abuse. The objective is to prevent many accidents and to create safer roads for everyone.
Sara Geven (UvA): On track: a scientifically-informed ability tracking procedure to enhance equal learning opportunities Students in the Netherlands are allocated to different educational tracks at the age of twelve based on their teacher’s recommendation. Studies show students from disadvantaged backgrounds receive less ambitious track recommendations. Even within the same school, teachers use different tracking […]
Gerben ter Riet (HvA): Urban Vitality Open Science Checklist: No Time to Waste In medical research alone, each year, hundreds of billions of euros are wasted, due to poor questions, poor choice of methodologies, poor reporting and archiving. The Open Science Checklist aims to optimize research projects, from start to end, in order to research waste […]
Emitzá Guzmán (VU): The Best Ends by the Best Means: Bringing Ethics into Software Computer software is full of ethical problems. It manipulates voters, discriminates by people’s gender, race or social standing, raises enormous privacy problems and is often designed to be highly addictive. Very slowly, Parliaments and Congresses around the world are catching up […]