Can neuroscience shed light on why some individuals choose to obey harmful orders while others risk their lives to save others? In this SciLux episode Prof. Emilie Caspar at Ghent University shares her groundbreaking field research in Rwanda and Cambodia, exploring the mechanisms of obedience and resistance during genocides.

Throughout the episode, Emilie talks about her experiences of gaining trust within communities, working with NGOs, and the logistical hurdles of transporting EEG equipment to remote locations – all while making the case for the importance of field study. We also talk about the impact of empathy, sense of agency and the feeling of guilt, as well as the influence of group dynamics.

USEFUL LINKS

Emilie Caspar's blog: https://emiliecaspar.home.blog/

Emilie's book 'Just Following Orders': https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/just-following-orders/678F06FDADFE89B9155F3A4907AB5660

Milgram experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

More about Rwandan genocide in Jean Hatzfeld's book 'Machete Season': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machete_Season

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Can a single drop of blood tell you whether you'll develop pancreatic cancer — before any symptoms appear? Prof. Eleonora Macchia is working to make that a reality. This week on SciLux, we dig into biosensors, the science of proteins, and the surprising path from organic transistors to clinical trials.

What you'll learn:

• Why the proteome is medicine's great unknown
• How current tests (ELISA, lateral flow) fail at ultra-low concentrations, and what SiMoT technology does differently
• What it actually means to detect a single molecule in a patient's blood sample
• Why AI in diagnostics is only as good as the physicist standing behind the data
• How chemometrics – AI's "old-fashioned cousin" – underpins the whole approach

Key Themes:

• Frontier research and ERC funding advocacy
• Single-molecule biosensing and the SiMoT technology
• Preventive medicine vs. reactive diagnosis
• AI, chemometrics, and data quality
• Circular health and multidisciplinary science
• Gender balance in research careers

Guest: Prof. Eleonora Macchia, University of Bari & Åbo Akademi University

USEFUL LINKS

More about Prof. Eleonora Macchia: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tj6pKhAAAAAJ&hl=en

ERC Ambassadors: https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/news/network-ambassadors-erc-expands

More about SiMoT: https://theanalyticalscientist.com/issues/2024/articles/apr/the-single-molecule-sensor

University of Bari: https://www.uniba.it/en

Åbo Akademi University: https://www.abo.fi/en/

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This month SciLux sits down with Dr. Sophie Nuber, a Luxembourgish climate and marine scientist at the University of Washington and keynote speaker at the Young Women's Conference Luxembourg. Sophie specialises in using natural archives, including corals and foraminifera, to reconstruct historical climate data and better understand modern climate change.

What you'll hear about:

Marine archives and paleoclimate research – How coral skeletons and foraminifera shells preserve centuries of climate data, and why scientists rely on them to contextualise today's environmental changes.

Understanding climate change through history – Sophie explains why historical climate perspective is essential: without knowing where we've been, we can't fully grasp how far we've deviated from natural norms.

Climate communication and public emotion – Sophie addresses why climate science provokes fear, confusion, and denial – and how scientists can present evidence in ways that inform rather than overwhelm.

A call to action – Sophie encourages listeners to engage with climate science critically and empathetically, seek credible sources, and understand that informed citizens are the foundation of effective climate policy.

USEFUL LINKS

Sophie Nuber's profile: https://www.ocean.washington.edu/home/Sophie_Nuber

Young Women's Conference Luxembourg: https://www.ywc.lu/

More about La Benida Hui: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2025/05/24/2003837408

An Inconvenient Truth, film written by Al Gore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth

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