News

On the 17^th of February 2025, a fin whale was spotted at the C-Power wind farm in Belgian waters. This is the first confirmed sighting, backed by images, of a live individual of this species in Belgium in recent times.

Paleontologists have named a new species of 85-million-year-old fossil crab, found in the Houthalen coal mine, after volunteer Patrick De Saegher. He has been digitizing historical documents for the Institute for twelve years.

Anyone who is concerned with the sustainable management of the Belgian part of the North Sea or wants to stay informed about the North Sea policy can now visit northseabelgium.be.

An international research team has demonstrated that the role of sulfur during the mass extinction that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs has been overestimated.

Researchers from the Institute of Natural Sciences and the University of Oxford have found the oldest evidence of livestock whose horns were deliberately deformed. The ancient Egyptians forced the corkscrew-shaped horns of sheep, which naturally grow sideways, to stand upright.

Cut marks on bird bones from the Scladina cave, near Namur, indicate that Neanderthals ate various bird species and made tools from some of the bones.

 

The Institute of Natural Sciences and Federal Science Policy (BELSPO) took the initiative to organize a conference dedicated to the current rapid loss of biodiversity, called “Mass Extinction Conference”.