Archive 2005
Chemical pollution in Belgian coastal waters: under control!
(November 2005)
Within the framework of an international report on the evolution of chemical pollution of the North-East Atlantic Ocean, the OSPAR Commission of the Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models (MUMM) checked the Belgian coast water. The attention was focused on certain polluting substances in sediments and in living organisms. It turned out that there was good news…
Tracking down avian influenza (November 2005)
South-east Asia is being plagued by avian influenza. Since a few weeks it is also confirmed in Turkey, Rumania, and Croatia. The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain called in the help of our ornithologists to monitor the risk of the disease reaching Belgium.
Tracking the pioneers onboard the Belgica (July 2005)
Biodiversity is not static: it evolves through time and changes according to species evolution, inter-species relationships, climate, natural disasters or… human action. Consequently, different time-scales must be taken into account in order to understand how it functions.
Our researchers apply this principle in the North Sea thanks to our centennial collections of Natural History. Paradoxically, this dive into our environmental history revealed some forgotten pearls of our local biodiversity...
The return of the peregrine falcons (April 2005)
The peregrine falcon is back! Several organisations have succeeded in bringing this endangered bird of prey back to our regions. You can even see these birds in Brussels! A pair of them have found a home in a tower of the St Michael and St Gudula's cathedral. Watch their offspring on a television screen in front of the cathedral - and soon on our website!
A tsunami in Belgium? (March 2005)
The Boxing Day tsunami that hit southern Asia and eastern Africa has raised a lot of questions for many of us. Did a tsunami ever struck this part of the world? Could it happen in the future? Will we be warned in time?
Cecile Baeteman of the Geologic Survey of Belgium answers these and more questions!
Crunchy crawlies... (January 2005)
Eating insects? Yuk! Or that’s what most westerners seem tot think… Yet, in Africa, South-America and Asia, insects and other creepy crawlies are considered a delicacy! And why not? Eating insects is accompanied by a lot of benefits…
And they don’t even taste so bad. Patrick Grootaert, head of our entomology department, gives you a foretaste!
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