T-Licht 24.3

T-Licht Association magazine of T.S.V. ‘Jan Pieter Minckelers’

MAY 2020 VOLUME 24 EDITION 03

Interview:

Frank Baaijens

Graduation Projects: Too long? Study Trip to Milan Cover images: Japie Gala 2020 Photos made by Erik Griemink

Hello dear readers, Once again we have two new members of our editorial board. As they are as enthousiastic as all of us are, they wrote too long of an introduction. Thus, we have put their introduction on page 24 so you can read it completely. I must say that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very proud of this specific edition. Everything went quite well, worked together very well and we have an amazing line-up of articles.

18 Letting of some steam Prices are increasing, quality is lowering and the sodium content seems to increase exponentially: the soups in the canteen.

Before we get into this edition of T-Licht, I want to apologise for the delay. I do not like pointing fingers, but I think we all know why this is the case; the Corona virus. What I can assure you though, is that the editorial board is hard at work so that edition 24.4 will be on time! We hope that this T-Licht can provide you with some distraction from all the chaos, do not forget to take a look at the puzzle as well! Untill next time! Teun Prinsen Editor in Chief

22 Het Y van de Donateur Wouter and Koen will tell you their opinion about the (apparently not so well) music taste of the F.O.R.T.committees.

T-Licht May 2020 04

By the Chairman: Expectations

Carte Blanche: All sizes matter

05 Education: Graduating: too long, or not?

Carte Blanche: Study Trip to Milano

06 Spraakwater: Getting acquainted with Japie as an International

24 Introduction: Introducing Storm & Amy

Carte Blanche: The "mom-bag" in Milan!

Science News: Forget about it

Storm on Research: Mastering the art of Caffeine Consumption

28 Puzzle: Planning to study

10 Interview: Rector Magnificus Frank Baaijens

29 Internship: Into the woods of Mol

Carte Blanche: Avoiding the burnout

PhD Article: Supramolecular interactions: from Nature to Polymers

Beer of the Quartile: A tale of empty shops, raspberries and stomach acid

From the Lock-Up: The Circle of Life

Uyt den Ouden Doosch: Wervingsdagen 2004: The Pathway to Succes.

From the Benefactor: Het Y van de Donateur

Het Y van de Huismeester: Changes

Letting of some steam: Stock for sale

38 Coronavirus: Strange Times.

Culture Shock: 'Kia Ora!' from New Zealand

Wist je datjes

Mastering the art of Caffeine Consumption

Colophon Volume 24, edition 3, Circulation: 550 Editor in chief: Teun Prinsen. Editorial board: Bart van den Bersselaar, Amy van Bezouw, Raoul Hendrix, Aaryana Kunte, Storm van Merwijk, Douwe Orij, Marc Willemsen & Roy Wink. Printer: Gildeprint Drukkerijen info@gildeprint.nl

The T-Licht is the association magazine of T.S.V. ‘Jan Pieter Minckelers’, study association of the department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of the Eindhoven University of Technology. Contact: T.S.V. ‘Jan Pieter Minckelers’ Attn. Het T-Licht Helix STW 0.25 Postbus 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven Tel: 040-2473756 tlicht.st@tue.nl | www.tsvjapie.nl

The editorial board always reserves the right to edit or decline the provided copy. Index of advertisements: Page 12: Chemelot Career Center Page 34: Dow

Expectations By the Chairman

One of the things you get confronted with a lot as a board member, is expectations. Expectations usually originate from opinions, traditions or ideas, and generally set a high bar for the people who try to fulfil them. Typically, having too little expectations can lead to less productivity, while having too many expectations can lead to stress and other problems. Of course, I have some expectations of you, the members, as well! During your time as a student, it is inevitable that you will have encountered a lot of different expectations. Most of the time, these expectations are related to performing specific tasks or achieving certain goals. While these can keep you motivated, it can occasionally pressurise you too much. However, instead of imposing complicated goals on you, I would like to highlight some of my light-hearted expectations for the coming half a year and beyond. During the last few years, our

students managed to have significant input on courses and the educational system. When I compare this to other universities, I can only be proud that the students in Eindhoven show this much involvement. By giving constructive feedback, we are able to shape the way that we are educated in a positive manner. I expect that you all keep this committed to improving our study! Additionally, within Japie, there are many moments where it is important to be heard, take the general member meetings as an example. I expect that you all keep on showing your ideas, opinions and creativity to keep this excellent association growing! With the last quarter of the academic year just around the corner, there are also a lot of athletic challenges coming up. Last year, Japie één managed to achieve a historically high 64th place during the Batavierenrace, beating all our brother- and sister associations. Furthermore, we finished in second place during the ONCS. While these results were great, I expect that you all go the extra mile to end up even higher on the scoreboard during both events!

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Finally, the most important thing I expect is that you will enjoy the coming final quartile as much or even more as the first three! I already have a lot of great memories from

“I expect you all to keep on showing your ideas, opinions and creativity to keep this excellent association growing” the past activities, such as the dies week, the gala and many more. I am expecting that your enthusiasm will not diminish, and look forward to the next events!

WRITTEN BY:

Jord Jansen Jord wanted to show his expectations for the upcoming quartile of the year as chairman. Disclaimer: This article was written before the cancelation of activities.

Graduating: too long, or not? Education

Where are my 60 study points?! That is a question one might ask after working on a graduation project for a year. And to some extent, this is a reasonable request. It sometimes seems that the trains of NS are less delayed than the graduation project. However, it might be simpler to shorten your graduation project. But this is easier said than done. How did this problem occur? What can be done about it? Or is there not a problem at all?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It sometimes seems that the trains of NS are less delayed than the graduation project.â&#x20AC;? A graduation project is a large project of 45 study points that is done at the end of your masters. As you might know, one study point, or European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), amounts to 28 study hours. In total, you have to spend 1,260 hours on this project. This corresponds to 7.25 months. However, most graduation projects take longer than that. When asked, some professors will tell you that a graduation project is nine months. These professors would be right some years ago, but after the introduction of the graduate school, the graduation project was shortened. At this very moment, the graduation project is evaluated by the quality assurance committee (CK-ST) of our department. It is not only annoying for students to work longer on your

graduation project. It is also bad for the (inter)national ratings of our study if a significant part of the students is delayed.

do your graduation project within the agreed-upon time. If this is not the case, something should be done.

It has proved to be quite tricky to evaluate this properly. We can access the data of the exact starting and end times of the graduation project. But what happens in between is a mystery: did the student went on a one-month holiday? Or did the student choose to delay their project to obtain better results? As the coordinator of educational affairs, I try to get an answer to these questions as well by organizing graduation project evaluations.

WRITTEN BY:

Huub van den Boogaard Huub wanted to inform everyone about the length of the graduation project.

If it becomes clear that the graduation project is structurally delayed, actions have to be taken by our department. Until that time, it is up to you to prevent delays. The best way to do this is to plan the defence of your thesis at the beginning of your graduation project. I do not think that a student will receive 15 more study points for their graduation project if they took a year to complete it, but feel free to try it. I do think that it should be possible to

Getting acquainted with Japie as an International Spraakwater

My perspective of Japie has evolved throughout these three years of being a Chemical Engineering student. In my first year, stepping into Helix always felt weird and involving myself with Japie activities seemed unnatural. In a place where it was not the norm to speak English, I hastily decided that I did not belong in it. Somehow along the way, I decided to be more open-minded and to involve myself more in Japie. I am glad I gave it a shot. As one of the students of 2017-2018, I was one of the first international bachelor students in the faculty. It is apparent that the faculty was supportive of us that year. Peter Janssens and Kim Pauwels organized meetings every quarter to discuss the study and the board of Japie encouraged others to speak English while we were around. Regardless, people always tend to gravitate to others with similar experiences, and as I was still adjusting to this unfamiliar environment, it made sense that I became friends with only internationals. I unreasonably told myself that making other switch languages is a burden, so it would be easier to just awkwardly stand there and not understand. Because of this, I heavily hesitated to attend any Japie events or talking to people within the faculty. This subsequently made me feel even more estranged from the study. I was envious of others in my year who appeared to fit into Japie. There were even internationals within them, which made me wonder if it was my own mentality that held myself back. Eventually, I decided that I wanted

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to be an active Japie member as it would be a good way to naturally feel more integrated within the study association. This year, I got the opportunity to become a member of the GalaCie. The tasks were not arduous but having responsibilities which required me to interact with people within Japie made the process less daunting. It made me realize that we are all just students after all. My perception of the board of Japie having a high hierarchal position slowly disappeared and my belief that higher years hold more authority disintegrated. This committee has been such a learning experience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not just by teaching me the tasks of being

a committee member but also the warmth of the people that guide me through it. Of course, this is just my personal experience. I just hope that others reading this feel encouraged to try the things that are afraid to and to try to talk to the people that are not accustomed to.

WRITTEN BY:

Zafina Aminuddin Zafina wanted to tell everyone how being an active member can change your vision of Japie.

The “mom-bag” in Milan! Carte Blanche

During the study trip to Milan, the chairman of the organizing committee, Bart, was carrying a so-called “mom-bag”. This bag contained all kinds of medical and personal care products meant to keep the hungover Japies standing and representative during the company visits in Milan. This is the story of the “mom-bag”. Late at night on the 26th of January, my owner took me out of the back of a cabinet in his room and put me on top of a suitcase. However, he did not put anything inside me, except for a small notebook and a pen. It made me wonder what he had planned for me. Once we arrived at a hostel room, a red linen bag was taken from the suitcase of the committee, and its content was emptied into me. This content consisted of medical products, such as Rennies (antacids),

Lozenges and paracetamol, and also some personal care products such as deodorant and a toothbrush were present. I had basically become a walking hangover apothecary. After that moment, I think I remained on Bart’s shoulder for the rest of the time in Milan, except during the few hours that he slept. While I had hoped for everyone that I would not be needed much during the trip, on the second day, this seemed to have been idle hope. Already then, the spearmint gum and vitamin C were very popular, but some people even already started to ask for Rennies or Lozenges. During the third day, some people even seemed to be eating the medicines like candy. To the point where my owner was actually already picking out Rennies if Rick was coming towards him or picking out Lozenges if Dylan was coming. Eventually, on the last day, when they would come again to ask for them, he just gave them half a package, so they could stay away for a few hours before needing replenishment. While it was sometimes a bit inconvenient to my owner, he also really enjoyed his task of handing out

“During the third day, some people even seemed to be eating the medicines like candy.” the helping hand towards those who really needed it and recommends it to all his successors. The only thing he is secretly still a bit sad about, is not having been able to hand out the toothbrush trophy, as nobody had to throw up during the trip. However, that does mean that my job was done correctly.

WRITTEN BY:

Bart Timmermans It is not very often the case that we have a writing bag. The editorial board thus decided to let it (/him/her?) write about it’s experience in Milan.

Forget about it Science News

Did you ever want to forget about a specific event in your life? Or do you want to erase that one piece of ‘too much information’ from your memory? A chance may well be coming your way, as scientists may have found out a way to erase specific memories for good. No, it does not involve a big whack to the head or a certain amount of alcohol; it involves certain types of cells that normally keep track of removing the damaged ‘connections’ in your brains. Their memories shape people. We experience important moments in life that stay with us forever. These memories are revisited by our brains on a daily basis, take, for example, the memory of speaking. If you forgot how to speak, you would lose the ability itself, requiring you to learn it all over again. We also learn from mistakes we make and like to think about positive memories to brighten up our day. Losing all our memories means losing who we are. How exactly memories are ‘installed’ in our brain, is still not entirely clear. Scientists, however, do have a good substantiated guess. It all has something to do with the connections that big groups of nerve cells can make with each other, also called synapses. Creating certain connections, very likely creates memories. Therefore, breaking a connection could plausibly erase that memory. But how can we achieve this, within our complex brains, without damaging the brain as a whole? The answer seems to be one that every human being has readily available in their bodies. A certain type of brain cells, called microglia, are capable of breaking down these connections. In a healthy human being, these immune cells are being used to break down damaged and

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unnecessary synapses, to create a free pathway for new connections and thus new memories. These cells can also be linked to the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. They can start to disfunction, unselectively also attacking the connections that are not damaged. If we could control which synapses should be affected by the microglia, we could control which memories to erase. In order to test this theory, a research team of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, has used mice and introduced them to a specific memory. In this experiment, the research team introduced a memory of fear, releasing mild shocks on the mice’s feet while in a particular

cage. Even though testing on animals should not be something to be proud of, the research team found some surprising results. Five days after the ‘shock therapy’, the mice would still start getting afraid when being placed in the cage, thinking they would get more shocks, freezing from fear. After 35 days, almost all mice had stopped associating the cage with getting shocks. The mice stayed relaxed, indicating they had forgotten about the traumatic event. To make sure that forgetting this fearful memory is an effect of the microglial cells doing their work, a follow-up experiment was performed. In this experiment, the same shocks were introduced, but this time some

mice were given specific drugs. One group of mice received a drug that destroyed the microglial cells, another group received one that just disabled these cells, and the remaining mice were left untouched. The mice with no functioning microglial cells appeared to stay afraid of the shock, even after significant time had passed. This while the unharmed mice forgot after a short period. The lack of functional microglial cells, therefore, seems to lead to the mice holding onto the memory for a longer time. Scientists now know that it is indeed possible to erase memories using microglial cells. However, in this experiment, only the susceptibility of the fear memory was tested. Which, of course, leads us to wonder whether other memories can be removed as well and what actually makes a memory more susceptible to be removed by these cells. Another experiment has been done in which the fear holding cells were disabled from giving of signals, by dosing another drug to the mice. In this way the memories did not get revisited anymore, inactivating the connection in the brain. These inactivated connections were broken off earlier

in time by the microglial cells, than the connections of the mice in which the memory stayed active. This well suggests that the unused memories were more susceptible to the memory removing the function of microglial cells. Up until now, this has only been tested on the brains of mice. The human brain is even more difficult to understand, mainly because we humans store a lot of memories for a long time. Figuring out how this mechanism would work for the human brain could be crucial in the development of remedies against mental illnesses. Scientist could use it, for example, to overcome Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages or for example to remove traumatic memories from the mind of someone with post-traumatic stress disorder. Other applications could include optimizing the functioning of the brain, by eliminating unnecessary old memories. You could, for example, forget what you had for lunch last week, to make room for new memories and wisdom. In the future, it could well be that our knowledge of the brain will expand

beyond imagination. Maybe even allowing us to manually remove any memory we want, any time we want. No more regretting the mistakes you made in life, because you would forget that you even made them. However, a lot of research needs to be done in other to reach that milestone, so, for now, you can forget about it.

WRITTEN BY:

Amy van Bezouw Amy wanted to learn more about the science behind forgetting and decided to share her knowledge.

Wang, C., Yue, H., Hu, Z., Shen,

Y., Ma, J., Li, J., … Gu, Y. (2020). Microglia mediate forgetting via complement-dependent synaptic elimination. Science, 367(6478), 688 LP – 694. https://doi.org/10.1126/science. aaz2288

Sanders, L. (2020). Brain cells

called microglia eat away mice’s memories. Retrieved 8 February 2020, from https://www. sciencenews.org/article/brain-microgliamemories-forgetting

Wikipedia . Memory. Retrieved 8

February 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Memory

Interview With Frank Baaijens Interview

Frank Baaijens is of course a household name here at the university. As Rector Magnificus he naturally has an agenda that resembles a brick wall, so imagine our surprise when Frank accepted our offer within 30 minutes! Most students won't come into contact with Frank except for his pep-talk during the introduction week. Therefore we are gratefull for this opportunity and are happy to bring you two pages of his toughts. How did you end up as rector?

I more or less landed in the function. I started with studying mechanical engineering here, I spend one and a half years at Philips research during my promotion. Shortly after I became a professor and in the year 2000, I made the switch to the BMT department. Following this, I became the dean of this department, which was more or less a prelude to the office of Rector, as this is a decision made by a committee, not something you do by yourself. After the deanery, I did a national research program after which I returned as the Rector here. The rectorship thus wasn't a long-standing ambition, it's also something you really need to think through as you are leaving research and education.

In rectoral colleges you meet with rectors from other universities from this country, can you tell us more about these meetings? In general there is a really positive vibe at these meetings, an enormous amount of knowledge is transfered there. We meet every 5 or 6 weeks

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and talk about things like policies, promotions and student retention. These meetings are something unique to Dutch universities, something comparable doesn't happen in Belgium or Germany. Overall it's very good for Dutch universities and by extension, for you students.

Do you like working with students? What is the least favorite thing about your job? Yes, students are fantastic to work with. The least favorite? Well, some processes are lengthy and sluggish, although that does have a charm of its own. If you want to change something at an university, you should count on 2-3 years of time to market.

What are the largest differences between current and past student life?

Overall, I think educutation is way more fun nowadays than it used to be. We had rigid practical courses and an old-fashioned curriculum. Nowadays you have way more freedom of choice and the programs are more challenging.

What really strikes me is that the students make way more use of the university facilities then I ever did, you are all going to MetaForum. Online, you are communicating all day, but you still spend the effort to meet up in real life. That's different from my time, I was studying in my room, but then again, we didn't have Netflix or Spotify.

Is there something that was better in your time?

No. We of course were very different from you at the time. From research it seems that high schoolers are reading less and find it harder and harder to read and learn from books. Everything is getting a bit shorter and more fast-paced. That being said, for the past 2000 years the older generation constantly thinks there is something wrong with the younger generation, which is nonsense of course.

You obviously have a passion for the field of tissue engineering, Where do you think this field will be in 40 years, when we are old? I think there will be tissues and perhaps even whole organs that we can repair much better compared to the current situation. When we started with heart valve research, all tissues had to be grown in the lab. Then we realized that there are other approaches, for instance using biologically degradable materials that develop into heart valves in the body. Thus, I think we are increasing our understanding of the recovery mechanism in our bodies and how to control these mechanism to benefit us. So where will this be in 40 years? Well, when we started we assumed we could pack up everything in 10 years, but I think that skin tissues and heart valves will be developed in that time.

Are you happy with how the IrĂ¨ne Curie fellowship is working out until now?

I'm running a bit ahead of what we have communicated, but I think that at the very least people have been made more conscious about hiring female scientists. The side-effect is that we have improved our hiring procedure on several fronts and we got multiple very capable female scientists on board. It is important that we do this without lowering our quality standards, it really is not the case that we are just hiring anyone now. Overall, I think the policy caused a shift in thinking, but it really isn't the case that we will only hire women going forward. If 50% of our new hires are female, I think we made a good step forward.

Will other universities follow with similar policies? I think a lot of people are watching this program to see whether it can

provide the intended results. Half a year after the measure, it is still too early to make definitive conclusions, as the hiring process can take up to a year.

Which goal from the TU/e 2030 plan would you like to see implemented tomorrow?

We are very involved with two items at the moment. With education, you can clearly see we are looking for education styles whereby we give you the maximum room to develop yourself. Challenge based learning is one form hereof, meant to excite student and simultaneously let them gather in-depth knowledge. If we can get students over disciplinary boundaries, I think we will make considerable progress.

Rapidfire Questions Favorite craft beer? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t drink beer Favorite drink? Italian red wine

For research, we would like to see more intensive cooperation between researchers. To share knowledge and infrastructure between them in order to get new science.

Favorite sport? Golf

Do you have a final advice for the Japie members?

What is you favorite music? Hefty rock

Make the most of your study here. You really are in a privileged position, there is an enormous demand for you in the labor market. The period between 18 and 25 years old is special, I really enjoy seeing you grow in this period. Take care to develop yourself and you will have great career prospects

WRITTEN BY:

Roy Wink & Storm van Merwijk Storm and Roy wanted to share the toughts of the man that is behind all education at this university

Education or research? Both

Favorite university (outside the TU/e) ? Harvard What would you do following a career switch? Research & development Do you like working with students? Absolutely Your house is on fire, what do you bring? My wife and kids Robert Jan Smits or Nicole van Ummelen? Both Favorite fried snack? Fries

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Als Trainee neem je deel aan een 2 jarig intensief leertraject gericht op persoonlijke en professionele ontwikkeling voor een carrière op Chemelot. Je wordt intensief begeleid en krijg je diverse trainings- en ontwikkelmogelijkheden geboden zodat je jezelf optimaal ontwikkeld. Binnen jouw opdrachten wordt je begeleid door een mentor binnen je opdracht, een ontwikkelcoach en een carrière coach. Door middel van evaluaties en intervisiemomenten kijken wij samen naar welke extra ontwikkeling en vervolgopdracht het beste passen. Er zijn regelmatig samenkomsten met andere trainees, om getraind te worden, te werken aan groepsopdrachten en waarmee je ook leuke dingen gaat doen.

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Avoiding the Carte Blanche

After weeks of caffeine-fuelled, anxiety-ridden, last-minute studying for exams, came a much-needed break to relax and reset. With a weekend to myself, I sat down just before the quartile began to read up on which courses were going to hold me hostage next. As I ran my eyes over each study guide, I felt that familiar sense of panic beginning to set in. Comprehending the amount of content I was expected to remember, and almost immediately, I sprung back into study-mode. For most of us, that first week of the new quartile tends to follow the same, mundane narrative. You promise yourself you will attend every lecture, complete every self-study exercise, read the relevant chapters in advance as well as the additional reading. But by the time midterms roll around, most of that momentum is lost, and you return to playing catch-up for each course. The structure of the quartile system means taking a week off for yourself is almost impossible, given you need to obtain three courses in eight weeks while new content is relentlessly thrust on you, regardless of whether you have sufficiently understood it. That flow of material keeps us chained to the desk initially, but eventually compels us into complacency, a surrendering acceptance that no one could possibly understand all of this content. As the academic year progresses, this cycle tends to repeat, as we promise ourselves to do better and subsequently feel too overwhelmed to follow through. It is akin to making New-Yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resolutions every two months, and when have you ever known anyone to stick to those?

be inspired to study every morning. What you can control is your own self-discipline, and to an extent, your mindset for learning. Here are three tips to avoid burning out this quartile.

Give yourself time to do the things you truly genuinely enjoy, whether that is a sport, socialising or even just watching a little Netflix.

1. Plan ahead (and be realistic!)

The initial wave of panic that hits you at the start of each quartile is natural, and the mistake I made was thinking that stress would propel me to do better. Stress, however, takes its toll physically and mentally, and while it may initially push you to do better, it will be draining drained by the end. Find activities that recharge you, whether thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being with friends, meditating, or exercising. Your brain will thank you.

I love a good Google Calendar sorting session, with its colour-coded appointments and weekly reminders; it provides me with the sweet delusion that I have my life together. The truth is, your schedule will be in flux, and that is okay. Allocate time to studying but leave blocks free in case unexpected events come up, you can always switch it around to suit your needs. Motivation is good, but be practical too; do you really truly expect yourself to be reading for five hours straight?

2. Make time for your other commitments

The mistake most of us make is not accounting for our other responsibilities or our daily desires.

3. Take time to de-stress

WRITTEN BY:

Aaryana Kunte Aaryana looks at why we tend to burn out in the middle of the quartile and how to avoid it.

Getting motivated is easy, but being consistent with that motivation is tough; you cannot expect yourself to

Supramolecular interactions:

from Nature to Polymers PhD Article

In the Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry group (or probably better known as the Meijer Group), we focus on the design, synthesis, characterization and applications of new supramolecular systems with novel properties and functions. By on the one hand focusing on fundamentally understanding the self-assembly behaviour of these supramolecular systems, we hope to obtain insights which can be used to then take the step into potential applications. Even though supramolecular chemistry is the main research topic within the group, there are four different subgroups each with their own flavour added into the mix of design, synthesis and characterization of the systems we study. Ranging from fundamental research in organic solvents to understand multi-step noncovalent synthesis, or creating novel polymeric materials with exotic structure-property relationships, towards more biomedical applicationdriven research where we study our systems in water and complex media. For me, having an MSMC background mixed up with some courses from biomedical engineering

Figure 1

and an internship at a pharmaceutical company, the latter is, of course, where my research best fits. But, before diving into that, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first focus a bit on why we use all these supramolecular systems and why it is interesting to use them in, for example, biomedical applications. It all has to do with taking inspiration from nature. If we look at nature, we can find incredibly complex systems where multiple molecules and subunits are assembled into more complex structures. All these structures are not being held together by â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;classicalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; covalent bonds, but instead by weaker supramolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonds, hydrophobichydrophilicand

electrostatic-interactions. Not only complex structures are formed, but these structures also exhibit a specific function. For example proteins and enzymes, which owe their function and specific properties to their folded structure, which is dictated by the supramolecular interactions upon folding of their primary structure. Now, another important thing that we have in nature is dynamicity. Cells have a cytoskeleton, and it is crucial for cell division and to provide support to the cell, but it is also important that the cytoskeleton is dynamic, to change its organization when needed. This dynamicity can be ascribed to the rapid polymerization and depolymerization of filaments inside the cytoskeleton. This rapid polymerization and depolymerization can on its turn then be related back to the non-covalent interactions between the individual subunits. So, in nature, we have all these complex and dynamic systems governed by supramolecular non-covalent interactions. It all seems to work perfectly (if we ignore pretty much all diseases and even diseases have a clever way about them if you think about it), so why not use this non-

Figure 2

Figure 3 covalent organization in our synthetic work? Translating these dynamic supramolecular interactions found in nature into synthetic systems has lead to the use of benzene-1,3,5tricarboxamide (BTA) as an important building block in our group.1 (Figure 1A) π-π stacking of the aromatic core, in combination with threefold hydrogen bonding between amide bonds surrounding the core gives rise to the cooperative assembly of these monomers into supramolecular one-dimensional fibres (Figure 1B). Depending on the functional group surrounding this BTA core these monomers can either be soluble in an organic solvent (1) and thus be used for fundamental research. Or, in my case, if you make them water-soluble by attaching a tetraethyleneglycol unit and a C12-spacer this motif (2) can be used to make supramolecular fibres in water, where the fibre formation is driven by the hydrophobic effect and the hydrogen bonds of the amides surrounding the core provide directionality. The nice thing about using these BTA motifs as buildings blocks for supramolecular polymers, is the facile synthesis of functional monomers by attaching a functional group on the outer periphery of the watersoluble chain. By using a noncovalent synthesis method, you can then easily make the final fibres functional by mixing in functional monomers with the ‘normal’ fibre-forming BTA. By addition of fluorescent dyes on the outer periphery, we have been able to

show that these polymers are actually dynamic and that they can rearrange overtime, visible from intermixing of the green and red fibres (Figure 2).2 This dynamicity is an interesting feature of these fibres, as this can give rise to adaptive and responsive materials which are of interest for biomedical applications. In my research, I would like to use this dynamic behaviour to take the next step towards the application of our supramolecular fibres. In nature, an important action principle is the multivalent effect.3 One binding is usually weak, but when multiple interactions happen simultaneously, the binding becomes inherently strong. This effect is used by cells to control downstream signaling processing, as a certain threshold of ligands is needed before the binding is strong enough to cluster receptors together. But, more importantly, bacteria and viruses also use multivalent interactions to bind to host cells and to eventually infect them (Figure 3A). Monovalent ligands (Figure 3B) could be used to inhibit the binding between the pathogen and the host cell, but due to the high concentrations needed for effective inhibition, this is not feasible for therapeutic use. Instead, a multivalent scaffold of ligands would be more effective in blocking the interaction (Figure 3C). Up until now, efforts to create multivalent scaffolds have mostly been focused on using dendrimers, polymers and other covalent architectures.4

However, in nature, everything is dynamic. We believe that by introducing dynamicity into pathogen targeting, we can even more efficiently inhibit the binding between pathogens and cells. The fibres that we have are constantly arranging and rearranging, which could lead to an optimal fit, while covalent architectures are not able to do this. Hopefully, in a few years, I will be able to show that we can use our fibres in a biomedical setting and that indeed the dynamicity of these fibres is of great added value for example pathogen targeting.

WRITTEN BY:

Marle Vleugels Marle wanted to share the research done in the Meijer group and give an insight into what she will be working on during her PhD.

1. Cantekin, S., De Greef, T. F. A. &

Palmans, A. R. A. Chem. Soc. Rev. 41, 6125– 6137 (2012).

2. Albertazzi, L. et al. Science (80-.

). 344, 491–495 (2014).

3. Mammen, M., Choi, S.-K. &

Whitesides, G. M.. Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 37, 2754–2794 (1998).

4. Fasting, C. et

al. Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 51, 10472–10498 (2012).

Wervingsdagen 2004: The Pathway to Success. Carte Blanche

The modern TU/e student can easily drown in the possibilities to engineer their career. Numerous activities aimed at career development are organised at Japie and other initiatives at the university. It seems nowadays completely normal to plunge yourselves into lunch- and drink lectures, excursions and other company activities. However, Eindhoven students working on career development as meekly lambs are quite a new phenomenon, since not so long ago (pre-Bachelor College times), organisers worked like a dog to herd the flock towards their activities. Students’ interest in companies had reached a low point in what freshmen would call a lifetime ago. In May 2000 the coordinator of external affairs ranted in the T-Licht that students are lazy and uninterested, unless there is a drink. As an example he mentions the excursion to tyre manufacturer Vredestein, where only five nonboard members subscribed. And while lack of time is often given as a reason for non-attendance, the study

T-Licht Issue 24.3

trip to Barcelona in the first lecture week was almost full. He also laments the poor attendance at the pinnacle of career development: the Career Expo (then known as ‘Presentatiedagen’). He recalls that he was only one of the few of his study cohort present. The enthusiasm for visiting the Career Expo was indeed very low. The Expo was a good moment to catch up with your colleagues as sometimes

the number of stands was higher than the amount of students walking around. Furthermore, the students that were visiting the Expo were not very enthusiastic either. They were not very assertive, did not ask followup questions and were simply pleased with a no. For some companies reason enough to not come to the Wervingsdagen in 2004. Participation was not profitable, especially when comparing the Expo to Delft’s:

“The enthousiasm for visiting the Career Expo was indeed very low.” students are a lot more enthusiastic, they even pay to attend the fair! Needless to say, it were challenging times for the Committee Wervingsdagen 2004, not only for the economic headwind. Chaired by the Japie Joost Hennen a roadmap was developed for a successful enterprise. The first step was condensing the Career Expo into one ‘Bedrijvendag’ of then sixty different stands. The next step was launching a PR-offensive never be seen at the university. It started by handing out spatulas as a Christmas gift (the kitchen gadget has become a classic since) and a chocolate candy action followed suit. The campaign ended with driving Wervingsdagenthemed cars, a big billboard, placemats in the canteens and a wuppie-actie, two years before the famous one during World Cup 2006.

The innovations of the committee turned the tide for the Wervingsdagen. The amount of participants rose and companies were enthusiastic again. The edition of 2004 marked the first rebirth of the Wervingsdagen. The Bedrijvendag would go on to grow until 134 companies, and return to a two-day format in 2015 because of the renovation of the Hoofdgebouw (Atlas). Luckily by then the students’ enthusiasm had risen and the calmer environment when spreading the Expo over two days was even seen as advantage. How the tables have turned…. On the 10th of March another edition of the Career Expo took place, so I sure hope you didn’t miss this opportunity to orientate yourself!

WRITTEN BY:

Jeroen Janse Learning about the history, the author is proud to call himself member of the 34th Committee Wervingsdagen. Pictures left and above by Bart van Overbeeke. Picture below shows the Committee Wervingsdagen 2004.

The program of the Expo was also revamped. New was the opening lecture by a vice president of Unilever. He was the first of many ‘super speakers’ to open the Career Expo such as CEOs from DSM, ASML and Phillips but also people like astronaut Andre Kuipers, presenter Arjen Lubach and MythBuster Jamie Hyneman. Besides the opening free lunches were handed out and the day was concluded with a comedy show and a drink. Local station Omroep Brabant visited the fair and paints the picture of the event just like we know it nowadays: two DAF-trucks in front of the Auditorium, inflatable tubes attracting people and students wandering about stands in search for an internship or job.

Stock for sale Letting off some steam

As I write this, I am filled with a great amount of nostalgia. I’m thrown back to those good old days, when courses were still in Dutch, ‘Fysische Transport Verschijnselen’ was still partially taught by Johan Padding and tante Nel was running the reception of the Helix. Another amazing part of those days past was the fact that the ‘soups’ from the canteen were reasonably priced. Let’s take some steps back in time, when I was even younger than I am today. It was possible to walk into the canteen without it being overcrowded with the 100+ new freshmen that flood our faculty every year and choose between two so-called ‘soups’ which were both priced reasonably to their taste, at €0,50. Sometimes, you were unlucky, and your picks were simply between two clear soups with some lost vermicelli, but at times you were pleasantly surprised to find a well-filled gado-gado soup, topped with eggs and fried onions, all for your €0,50. This all changed however, with the arrival of Eurest and their distinction between ‘basic’ and ‘luxury’ soup. Ever since then, things went south really quickly. Soups got more expensive without the quality improving with said raise. Moreover, the size of the cups in which you can pour your beloved

“Ork-ork-ork, soep eet je met een...” hot side-dish is more unreliable than a Matlab-script of an average MSMCstudent. The newest addition to the family of soup bowls are of course the salad-trays. Although at first glance I thought this finally put the price/ quality ratio back to the good old days, I was shocked to see the soups suddenly being priced at a whopping €1,18. I simply cannot get how hard it can be to serve some cheap soups every day without one of them tasting like the North Sea in a cup, let alone the fact that you serve soup and then say that you’ve run out of spoons. I get the old Dutch joke “Ork-ork-ork, soep eet je met een …” but trust me,

you cannot eat soup with a fork. Although the purchasing power of Helix-students must’ve decreased tremendously over the past five years due to the monopoly that the caterer has been exploiting, I want to end off with a more positive tone. I want to make a big thank you to the lovely ladies of the canteen, who have mostly been here throughout my entire time as a student of Helix and provided me with a muchneeded laugh and, at times, delicious soup when I came down for a lunch break. It was probably also not their idea to sell dissolved stock cubes for shocking prices, so let’s just thank them for their efforts every day to make as much as possible out of the materials they’re provided with.

WRITTEN BY

Bart van den Bersselaar Bart wanted to talk about his frustration on soup-prices, but also thank the canteen ladies for their efforts

T-Licht Issue 24.3

‘Kia Ora!’ from New Zealand Culture Shock

Enduring incessant jetlag and a crippling 12 hour time difference, I made it to New Zealand, or Aotearoa in Maori, the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, in time for my short but sweet Christmas break. The country’s culture is vast and fascinating, influenced greatly by the Maori people, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. Their ancient traditions and treatment of the land work to enrich the history of the country and play a prominent role in its citizens’ lifestyles to this day. One of the highlights during my fortnight in New Zealand has to be my visit to the Maori Village in Rotorua, a city in the North Island. There, I got to see first-hand the customs and livelihoods of the indigenous Maori people, from their welcoming rituals and entertainment, to the way they hand-make their clothes and prepare their food. Before granting entry to their village, the tribe leaders approached for an intimidating posturing ceremony, intended to ensure the visitors were not a threat; to crouch was to challenge the leader, to remain still and maintain eye-contact was submission. Covered top to toe in tattoos and wielding spears, these ferocious men suddenly turned into smiling hosts, as they greeted us with a gentle nose-to-nose tap, a symbol of friendship. For our dinner, the food was cooked in earth ovens, dug into the ground and heated by hot coals,

with the food packed in leaves and placed on top, a method known as hangi. The rest of the night was filled with cheerful song and dance, as the tribe performed old Polynesian melodies, traditional chants and the rhythmic poi. But one need not visit a tribal village to understand Maori culture. The weaving of their traditions into the fabric of contemporary Kiwi society is discernible, as locals frequently welcome travellers with a warm ‘Kia ora!’, replacing the conventional ‘Hello’ with the sincere Maori wish to ‘Be well.’ Perhaps the most wellknown adoption is the Haka, a Maori challenge which now plays its role on the international stage as a game commencement ritual of the All-Blacks, the national rugby team. Naturally, the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century brought significant change to Maori lifestyle, and colonialism has its

own dark narrative, but compared to countries like the United States, with its mass incarceration and limited representation of Native Americans, or even New Zealand’s immediate neighbour Australia, with its persistent stigma around Aboriginal culture, New Zealand has had the privilege of seeing a relatively successful integration of indigenous culture into the modern world. The Maori are active in all circles of New Zealand’s society, with independent representation in media, politics, sport and everything in between. Although there is still progress to be made in closing the socioeconomic gap between the native Maori and other NewZealanders, it is an enduring example of how a country can rebound from its colonial past and reconcile with its ancient roots. So I suppose this is not so much a ‘Culture Shock’ as it is a ‘Culture-Pleasantly-Surprised-By’.

WRITTEN BY:

Aaryana Kunte Aaryana recounts her trip to an indigenous Maori village in New Zeeland and explores the country’s amicable relationship with its past.

All

Sizes

Matter

Carte Blanche

hemistry and chemical engineering work on vastly C different scales. From the smallest quantum particles to kilometers of huge industrial complexes. From nanosecond reactions to years of research and from the three-letter Tin to the 189,819-letters IUPAC name of Tintin, the largest known protein. In this article, we’ll look into some of the extremes of chemistry and chemical engineering. Let’s start off small. It might surprise you to hear that the smallest chemical reactor isn’t man-made, but found in nature. Biochemical processes can create toxic compounds that might harm the cells that they take place in. Luckily nature found a way to protect itself, by letting these reactions take place within the enzymes, effectively creating reactors. A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology studied propionyl-CoA synthase in bacteria. As an intermediate the toxic acrylylCoA is produced, which is kept inside a pocket, which only opens once the acrylyl-CoA is further converted to a harmless product. While these enzyme pockets are nothing new, the team did find the that the pocket for this reaction is the smallest one reported, with a volume of a mere a 33 nm3. Good luck with upscaling that reactor. Using an example of nature might be a bit cheating though, as it has had millions of years to optimize it’s reactions. But mankind is always

T-Licht Issue 24.3

pushing the edges of what’s possible and decided to one-up nature. In the USA, where bigger usually means better, they instead decided to do the smallest reaction possible, one of only two atoms. Using optic tweezers, researchers at Harvard trapped a single sodium and a single cesium atom. They then proceeded to bring these atoms together near absolute zero and with the help of a photon managed to create a bond between the atoms.

Those atoms can obviously be found on the periodic table. The biggest of which was created during Avogadro’s day in 2019. Avogadro’s day takes place on October 23rd from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m. At Wayne State University all 118 elements were painted on 30 by 40 ft tarps for a total of 141.600 ft2 of tribute to the 150th birthday of the periodic table. But if you think the periodic table is old, think again. The oldest chemical company that’s still operating is 352 years old. In 1668 Friedrich Jacob Merck opens a pharmacy in Darmstadt, Germany. Ownership of the company stays in the family and in 1816 Emanuel Merck uses the pharmacies lab to isolate and characterize several compounds. In 1827 he starts producing some of these compounds in bulk. To this day, Merck is still running and amongst the largest chemical and pharmaceutical companies in the world.

The honor of the largest chemical company goes to Merck’s German countrymen BASF. With annual sales of $69.1 billion it beats DowDuPonts $62.3 billion and has almost twice as much as 4th place SABICs $37.6 billion.

methyl isocyanite. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. Water had leaked into amethyl isocyanite storage tank, causing a runaway exothermic reaction. This damaged the tank and caused it to leak the gas to nearby towns.

and fired a rocket. Perhaps the biggest missed chemical related opportunity is that none of the facts in this article were taught in this class.

So while BASF might be the biggest moneymaker, it isn’t the biggest height wise. Here, oil platforms stand with head and shoulders above the rest. The highest of which is the 609 meters tall Petronius platform out in the Gulf of Mexico. On land, the highest chemical structures are the chimneys, where the tallest is located in Kazakhstan, where the 419.7 meters high chimney exhausts the flue gasses of the GRES-2 Power Station.

The longest pipeline in the world is also the friendliest. The Druzhba pipeline is 4000 km long, starts in Russia and branches out to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. Not only is it friendly enough to branch out to all of the countries, it’s name literally means Friendship in Russian.

Marc Willemsen

The largest industrial area lies in Saudi Arabia. Until 1975, Jubail was a small fishing village. These days it’s home to a 1016 km2 oasis of steel and concrete. This is more than twice the size of the country of Andorra, and it’s still expanding. It houses the largest producer of desalinated water in the world with a capacity of 5.6 million cubic meters per day.

WRITTEN BY:

Marc has gathered the largest amount of world records about chemistry in one T-Licht article. The Guinness Book of Records submission is still pending.

On the 27th of November in 2018, 1440 participants attended a chemistry class in Cascais, Portugal. Here they carried out an acid based experiment

Of course, such big endeavors also carry big risks. The largest chemical disaster was the Bhopal gas tragedy, where a gas leak caused over 500,000 people to be exposed to the toxic

Study Trip to Milano Carte Blanche

Extensive lunches, aperitivos, pizzas, a mommy-bag, a train and 25 students with their scientific companion. What could possibly go wrong? Especially since there weren’t supposed to be any ‘younglings’. Turns out, a lot can go wrong when students can afford the alcohol. Milan is not as expensive as you might think. Monday morning, at a far too early time, the group gathers at Japie and transfers to the airport. For some, the time for their first beers of the vacation had come at around 11.00 a.m, while others decided to learn the gestures Italians like to make. Once in Milan, we discovered the sounds corresponding to the moving hands are poepi-di-papedi. Apparently, Irian turned out to be a great interpreter of the Italian language. Luckily, we found an English-speaking guide to discover Milano. This meant Irian could start being a walking vinocarrier. On the way, we discovered

the Duomo, the middle finger statue and a castle in which ghosts were said to live. In its garden, Jasper was hypnotized by one that was a very nice lady until you were sharing a bed and removed her veil. He did not die, but never saw her again. We also discovered a plaza with a Turin bull on its grounds. Its balls are replaced every year, because people like to drill the ground at exactly that spot. Later that evening we went to a jazz bar with the whole group. Sadly, there was no jazz to be heard, but cocktails were available. Afterwards we found a nice craft beer pub, where we sung Rick ‘Happy Birthday’ at midnight. He had mixed feelings so to say. The second day, we visited the university, but not before having a typical scanty hostel breakfast. And there was no way to leave without doing the dishes. The university was really focusing on their exchange program and thought Ivo was one of the students. They also had one very fancy lab and gave us an elaborate lunch after which we went back to the hostel. After changing, the group went to the enormous Da Vinci science museum. However, they forgot one member. Some miscommunication during the counting, they said. When we left the museum, it was time for an

aperitivo, ordering wine and getting loads of food. At 23.00 we had a small pizza together with litre pulls of craft beer and AC Milan on the screens. In the end we took the metro back, which Tijmen also used for different purposes. Besides, drunk Damian somehow managed to settle the WieBetaaltWat. This meant he had to repair his mistake the day after. Wednesday we also found out Yannick likes to scream in his sleep. “Allemaal hockeyballen rapen.” In the morning we went to Mapei, a glue fabricant where everything had to be blue, except their products. They also liked safety, even the forklift trucks had seat belts. The tour was done by the only process engineer on the plant. We even got goodies, which resulted in leaving as a school group in an amusement park. All wearing the same bright blue bag towards the chemistry institute. This is where we were introduced to the phenomenon ‘Pizza Americano’. Enough with the debate about pineapple on pizza, fries are today’s hot topic. The institute itself was stylish and even had wooden fume hoods. We also found a collection of the books in STO 4.91. Satisfied, we headed to the hostel. Here, the group divided in aperitivo or football game. I chose

to discover San Siro during a match of Inter Milan. After being sucked into the amazing atmosphere, we still headed towards the club the others had found. Alcatraz was the place to become deaf. There was this bluehaired guy creating his own territory. It was not crowded at all, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Until the day after, because some people were going for the infamous toothbrush trophy, which I will not explain into detail. However, Bart’s mommy-bag prevented such perils. Therefore, we could enjoy some sightseeing at the Tenaris plant. Driven around in a bus our guide was very sorry that we could not see the steelmaking, because of a malfunction. That became clear during the feedback session while enjoying one of the best ‘light buffets’ we ever had. In the afternoon we had a tour at Starbucks. This basically is a factory within a shop, and they had all the money to spend on the fancy interior. Of course, we also tried their coffee, which our tour guide from Monday fired shots to. Later on, we had a small aperitivo before dining with pasta that looked like an inner bicycle tire. This was also the evening we ordered a 7 litre train filled with beer. Tom vd B., couldn’t be happier. La Fontanella really has amazing ways to serve beer. However, we also wanted to go clubbing. Thursday, student day, right? Not in Milan, we only found clubs with €200,-entrance fee. No wonder a Lamborghini and Ferrari were up front.

Friday can be summarized by Ivo’s dad joke: “You all look very tyred.” Yes, we were at Pirelli which really has a nice museum. The lab tour, however, was not meant for such a large group. It did show us what a lab with unlimited money looks like. One ‘youngling’ also almost forgot his jacket again. In the afternoon, we could really be the standard tourist. Visiting the Duomo, eating a panzerotti and enjoy some sparkling wine. Then we went to a German running a pizzeria. After some troubles with the reservations we could enjoy way too large pizza’s for a small fee. Poor Huub could only eat a quarter, while others were doing litre chugs of wine. Alcatraz was open again, so after the pre-drinks in the restaurant we partied one final time in a way busier club. Egbert fell in love with his bucket of gin-tonic, whereas the live act got some support from our blue-haired middle-aged friend. Listening ABBA on the way back, we finished the last activity before detoxing during the flight back on Saturday.

WRITTEN BY:

Douwe Orij Douwe joined the study trip and wanted to share his findings with the association.

Milan Milan is the biggest city of Italy and after Rome the second-most popular city. Milan is one of the leading alpha global cities, because of its strengths in the ields of art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism. Milan also is one of the four capital cities of fashion in the world. The city is home to two world-famous football clubs, namely AC Milan and Inter Milan. Both clubs play in the same stadium, which is named after Inter-legend ‘Guiseppe Meazza’ and colors blue/black whenever Inter Milan is the home team, only to change to red/black when AC Milan fans take over, calling the stadium San Siro, named after the area where it is located. During the Study Trip, the companies Mapei S.p.A., Tenaris Dalmine, and Pirelli Tyres were visited. Also, the participants took a look inside the Politecnico di Milano university and the Ronzoni institute.

Introducing Storm & Amy Introduction

Once again the editorial board may welcome two new members to its ranks, ‘vers van de pers’ as we say. They are Amy and Storm, two new members from quite different backgrounds who would love to tell everyone a little bit more about themselves.

Storm van Merwijk

For me (Storm), this will be my very first committee after four years of studying. So, I’m looking forward to working together with this quite large and diverse group of people. Some of you may already know me from the F.O.R.T., where I try to be every Thursday, or the Japieroom where I try to be every day to drink free coffee with my ‘maatjes’ from the board. I suppose the younger crowd might recognise me from the first or secondyear practical course as your friendly neighbourhood lab tutor. Especially since no second-year student could escape my guidance this year. Well,

the latter category is in for a treat, because for my first ever article in this magazine, I will be scrutinising your lab results. ;)

Amy van Bezouw

For me (Amy), this will not be the first time to show my face to the members of Japie. I was in the Freshmen Committee last year, and am currently a member of the LadyCie. I am also fond of showing my face at the Thursday drink every week. Being a second-year student, I have a lot of things to do, but I often use these things as ‘study avoiding behaviour’. I am the typical ‘student’.

Doing a lot of stuff, barely passing exams, barely getting any sleep, but having the time of my life. I love to share my thoughts with everyone around me, even if they don’t want to hear it themselves sometimes. I guess you, being the readers, are the new ‘victims’ with whom I can share my thoughts. In any case, we are both excited to bring you our first articles, so we wish you much fun reading these and the other excellent articles in this edition!

WRITTEN BY

Amy van Bezouw & Storm van Merwijk As two new editors for the editorial board, we made Amy and Storm introduce themselves. We hope you enjoy their articles in this and further editions!

T-Licht Issue 24.3

Mastering the art of Caffeine Consumption. Storm on Research

Fervent fans of the ‘Thomas on Research’ articles who didn’t get their quarterly dose of well-conducted irrelevant research in the last T-Licht, fear not! This segment will live on with a new writer with a very redeeming quality: access to Jan & Wilco’s analytical lab. This edition we will be using new HPLC technology to revisit an old topic, namely the ubiquitous Maas coffee machines we all know and love. We amassed a small army of second-year students to repeat several experiments in order to answer an important question: “Can I automate the tedious research for future articles by utilising 58 second-year students?”

You are probably aware of the benefits that caffeine can have on academic productiveness; I certainly am, as is evident by the empty cup next to my laptop at the time of writing. A proper dose of 80 to 160 mg stimulates the user, increasing alertness, memory function and concentration. It does this by binding to adenosine receptors throughout your body, which generally slow you down by suppressing the release of neurotransmitters after binding to adenosine.

This might lead you to think that more caffeine is always better, but according to science it is best not to rely on too many double espressofuelled writing rampages to finish writing that thesis. Doses larger than 200 mg provide no additional positive weffects and overconsumption can lead to restlessness, agitation and anxiety, culminating in a feeling known as caffeine jitters. Combine that with a biological half-life of 2.5 to 4.5 hours, and you have a recipe for many nights of bad sleep.

“According to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre , we exceed our daily quota of 400 mg of caffeine by 30% on average”

We Dutchies happily indulge from a few too many cups of warm bean juice per day. And according to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre (NNC), we exceed our daily quota of 400 mg of caffeine by on average 30%. In this article we will determine caffveine levels in various coffee types from the Maas coffee machines so that you may maximise your productivity with only minimal health risks.

Experimental

Coffee samples were retrieved from vthe Maas PLS1000 coffee system found on the second floor in Helix. All five strengths of regular coffee were analysed in addition to single and double espressos. Only strength 5 espressos were deemed relevant as from my experience these are solely picked for their caffeine content and not for their sub-par taste. Concentrations were determined from HPLC measurements in duplo and a five-point calibration curve (R2 = 0.9998). 58 Students were retrieved from the second-year practical course, divided into 14 groups and instructed to repeat the measurements for regular coffee. Apologies to the researchers of the second floor who, on many occasions, had to wait for a flock of students to retrieve multiple samples. Please know that it was necessary for the pursuit of science!

Figure 1: Caffeine levels in regular coffee for the 5 strength input settings

Results & Discussion

As I have been led to believe by some of the more prominent Japie members, volume should be on top of your priority list when conveying information. To these prominent members I say; the volume of a regular cup of coffee was measured to be approximately 120 ml. A single espresso contained 66 ml and the double espresso clocked in at 100 ml. That’s only 1.5 times as much! I’m guessing these shady practices are necessary to survive as a caterer on a campus filled with stingy students, perhaps we can get Maas to rename it to the one-and-a-half espresso?

“Can I automate the tedious research for future articles by utilising 58 second-year students?” 26

T-Licht Issue 24.3

That being said, although the increase in volume is only 50%, the increase in price is exactly 0%, so for 45 cents, we can’t complain too much. First, we will use averaged results as plotted in Figure 1 to determine the relationship between coffee strength input and caffeine output. First my data will be considered, which seems reasonably close to the typical 85 mg per cup according to the NNC. A linear fit with an R2 of 0.987 was used to construct the following relation: Caffeine per serving (mg) = 79.7±0.8 + (3.4±0.2) ∙ Scoffee

For {S:S: ℤ, 1≤S≤5}

Wherein Scoffee is the strength setting given as input on the coffee machine. From the value for R2 it seems that actual caffeine output of Maas coffee machines increases linearly with coffee strength input.

The student data had some notable outliers, ranging from 600 mg (150% of your daily allowance) to 3.6 mg (a 24th of a normal coffee) per cup. I even encountered thhe elusive negative R2 in one of the calibration graphs. My hope was that the errors would cancel each other out and that the averaged data would be usable. Sadly, this assumption was proven wrong in Figure 1 as values are unreasonably low and a linear fit yielded an R2 of 0.640. Compared to my data the intercept is significantly lower although the slope is somewhat comparable at 2.2±0.9. My best guess would be that this is due to a combination of some null-results and errors in dilution calculations. Table 1 displays the caffeine content of beverages and the 95% confidence interval based on all measurements. The confidence intervals of the student data show the significant inconsistencies in the data set. This table does, however, bring redemption to the double espresso, as the total amount of caffeine is indeed nearly double that of a single espresso.

Conclusion & Takeaway

From the data it must be concluded that 58 second-year students are no substitute for a properly conducted research project, so it seems that I myself will be doing the tedious labour for the foreseeable future. For the coffee, the double espresso reigns supreme when it comes to the caffeine per euro ratio, which at first glance would make it the obvious drink of choice for the cash-strapped student. I’m going to ask you to put aside those stingy Dutch instincts and try a more nuanced approach to caffeine intake.

Table 1: Caffeine content of several bevrages with 95% confidence

I propose a coffee consumption strategy to attain optimal results, assuming 100 mg of caffeine per cup and a biological half-life of 3.5 hours. This scheme would have you drink your first cup at 7:30 followed by a re-dose at 9:30, 12:30 and 16:00, for a safe total of 400 mg of caffeine. With this system the amount of caffeine in your body remains in the sweet spot, between 80 and 200 mg, throughout the work day. At 23:00 you will still have the equivalent of half a cup of coffee in yvour system, which is acceptable but shows how easy it is to overindulge.

If you were to enjoy an additional cup at, let’s say 18:00, you would end up with more than 100 mg of caffeine in your system at bedtime. On an empty stomach this would be like substituting your good-night drink of choice with a strong cup of coffee! So be responsible, enjoy your coffee, but don’t play life on hard mode by wrecking your sleep cycle with caffeine!

WRITTEN BY:

Storm van Merwijk Storm wanted to inform readers about the implications of the surprisingly long biological half-life of caffeine

Planning to study Puzzle

When studying several courses, it is important to keep up. To do this, sometimes a planning can help. During their board year Roy, Tijmen, Jord and Huub have less time to study, so this planning is of importance. All four of them only follow one course. Can you find out which course they follow, which exercise they had to make and how long they spend to complete it?

Jord

Who

Tijmen Roy Huub

Course

Organic Chemistry Thermodynamics Calculus Transport Phenomena 10 minutes

Time

15 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes

Transport Phenomena

Calculus

Thermodynamics

Organic Chemistry

Course

30 minutes

20 minutes

15 minutes

Time

10 minutes

Eight

Five

Three

Two

Exercise

1. Jord invested twice the amount of time in his exercise as Roy did. 2. Huub spend more time in his exercise than the one that follows Thermodynamics, but less time than Tijmen who does not follow Transport Phenomena. 3. The number of the exercise where 15 minutes were spend on is a prime number. 4. Exercise three was not the exercise where most time was spend on. 5. The number of the exercise for Organic Chemistry is the same as the sum of the exercise that Tijmen solved and the exercise that 20 minutes were spend on.

Last edition, the winners, Yannick Adelaar and Janneke Bloemers, received a Four-Piece Party Games Set. This time, the winner will receive a Patton Kamado 13" Grill, courtesy of ExxonMobil. In order to win this prize, you need to mail a scan of the finished puzzle to tlicht.st@tue.nl before the 8th of June. Disclaimer: only regular members are eligible for the prize.

T-Licht Issue 24.3

Into the woods of Mol Internship Report

After finishing my graduation project in the group of Bert Meijer, it was time for the final station of my study journey: the internship. I was always convinced to go abroad, however, when the time came I was not so convinced anymore. Instead I chose to use my internship to investigate my future preferences regarding Dutch or Belgian work culture. I took off to VITO in Mol (Belgium) for four-and-a-half months. Although Mol is only a fifty minute-drive from Eindhoven, I went for the full-Mol-experience and moved in with my boyfriend. Since a few years, I could be considered as a frequent visitor of Mol. So before my internship I knew already from the existence of VITO (Flemish institute for Technological Research) of which the headquarter is located in Mol. Via Bert Meijer I came into contact with the Biopolymers Group. This group is part of the Sustainable Chemistry Research department of VITO. Besides this, VITO has more research departments, which all have at least one thing in common: sustainability. The chemical department investigates the potential of creating new value chains for former waste products, such as biomass. In this context, the Biopolymers group researches lignin: the most abundant natural aromatic molecule that is produced as waste product from the pulp and paper industry. This group develops bio-based polymeric materials by implementing lignin and make use of its aromatic nature. My job during this internship was to develop a model to estimate compatibility and solubility of (modified) lignin with other materials. Microsoft Excel was the only (read: available and accessible) way to go. Additionally – to keep my MSMC heart still beating – I spent some time in the lab to synthetically modify lignin of which I could test

the solubility and compare with my model outcomes. So my project was a very nice combination of theoretical and practical research. Although VITO is a Flemish company, my direct colleagues were mostly internationals. Improving my Flemish was thus not so successful. Although the group mainly exists out of Post-Docs and PhD students, the environment differs from the academia. The performed research is more industry oriented. Most projects are in collaboration with chemical companies with the aim to apply the research as fast as possible to industrial projects. So doing a PhD in an institute such as VITO is a nice opportunity to have a gradual transition from academia to industry. What I experienced as the largest difference with university life, is that many things take more time. For instance, not all analysis can be done yourself, as I was used to do during my graduation project. At VITO there was an analytical team that performed certain analysis for you. The nice part is that you – as a lazy chemist – do not have to do it yourself. The down side however, is that it takes more time until you receive the results. Then you realize that you were a bit spoiled at university. Nevertheless, you easily

get used to it and you can do other things in the waiting time. To conclude, I fully enjoyed my adult-life-practice-session at VITO and (weirdly enough) look forward to start my working life in the near future. I have absolutely no regrets about my decision of going to our neighbouring country. I learned you do not have to go so far for an abroad experience. And let’s be honest; the Flemish language is the cutest thing you have ever heard, right?!

WRITTEN BY:

Lioba Heidendael Lioba wanted to share her insights on whether the grass was indeed greener on the other side of the country border.

A tale of empty shops, raspberries and stomach acid Beer of the Quartile

Beer from Russia. Probably not the first thing you would think of when you are asked to pick a nice, light and spring-time beer. For many people it is probably difficult to imagine any alcoholic drink from this massive country that does not burn your throat off. But even in the cold snow of Mother Russia, the spring sun breaks through every year and combined with the ever growing beer scene inspires young brewers to show their kind side. Shopping for an evening of tasting for the beer of the quartile is always a slight challenge, as we stock managers try to force ourselves to make the beer presented to you in the T-Licht fit the season in which the magazine comes out. However, the tasting usually takes place more than two months before the Japie envelopes hit your doormat. So this time, while we were all massively in the mood for the dark stouts that go so well with winter - just kidding, we are always in the mood for stouts - we had to pick the ultimate

beer for spring. By itself, this is already a challenge since most spring beers are not available yet in January. However, if the craft beer shop we go to decides to only have their shelves halfway filled, the challenge becomes even greater. Empty shelves that should contain beer are of course very frightening to any stock manager, but the saddest consequence of the empty show was the fact that the only spring-time beer style available was sour. Hardly any IPA, saison or white beer was to be found, so the two stock

managers on shopping duty returned to the F.O.R.T. with the pH their bags significantly lowered. And while last time we told you all about the struggles of trying to find an exclusive beer in bulk after youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotten it from the shop, this time we found ourselves on the other side of the situation. With the recent change in suppliers at the F.O.R.T., we suddenly found ourselves in a position where so many amazing craft beers were at our fingertips to order for our beloved bar, but decisively less were the ones we could actually find in the store so that we could sample them for the tasting. And while we stock managers would not particularly mind buying a few extra boxes of liquid happiness, especially some of the good stuff that makes choosing a beer of the quartille a tough job, I (Vilena) decided that I have no wish to be hunted down by my treasurer because of it.

Luckily, said new supplier has allowed the F.O.R.T. access to beers from somewhat more difficult-to-get countries, such as New Zealand, the United States, Estonia and Russia. And in all these countries, apparently they brew sour beers. Out of the seven beers that met our glasses during the tasting, five were of the acidic type. Lucky for us though, there can be a lot of variety within one style of beer. This was very apparent in this tasting, as we went from a kind of flat tasting lemonade, via some nicely fruity Berliner Weisses and hoppy sour IPA’s towards an explosive baltic black gose of 10% ABV. And while it may come as a shock, we don’t always choose the darkest beer we try at the tastings, although not without plenty of arguments on the topic. But as we were searching for a beer that would fit with the sun shining, birds-singing vibe of spring, the winner came in the form of a beautiful 4.5% Berliner Weisse with raspberries. This burgundy bottle of freshness blew us away with both its tart raspberry flavor and its smooth finish. Now when you hear of a beer like that you might think that it would come from a sunny and warm place, you’d imagine drinking it while enjoying the sun in your backyard. However the homeland of this beer isn’t exactly known for that. Coming to us all the way from the Bakunin brewery in Saint Petersburg, Russia. To be honest, the brewery itself doesn’t have that original of an origin story.

They started initially in 2013 with a single brew order for a bar in the center of Saint Petersburg - the Bakunin bar. We couldn’t really find what that beer was exactly, but it must have been good because some years later they are now past the 150 beer mark,and finding themselves as one of the best eastern craft breweries. And while we, ourselves knew the brewery

mostly for its mouthwatering stouts and porters, we were very happy to discover that there is also a lot that they can offer in terms of sour beers. Even though the brewery might have a pretty standard craft-brewery story, this beer of the quartile does have a bit more of a story behind it. Let us first introduce the name of the beer - Восточный, or in probably more understandable language: Eastern. On a trip to Berlin, the brewers noticed the large difference in architecture between the western and eastern part of the formerly divided city. They were particularly amazed by the similarity between east Berlin and the architecture in their hometown, Saint Petersburg. As an homage to these similarities, they decided to brew a beer that had some of both cities. They ended up brewing a Berliner Weisse, using raspberries which were grown in Russia. And while you might be surprised тhat such a fresh beer would be inspired by architecture style generally considered dull, what really comes through is the vibrant spirit of the people living there.

WRITTEN BY:

Vilena Petrova & Dennis Thuy With much too low pH in their stomachs but very high spirits, the stock managers wanted to give you a taste of Russian beer culture.

The chemistry behind addiction Chemistry in real life

The human brain is one of the most complex organs in the whole world. Making us what we are, allowing you to study chemistry and read this article. Not only does it allow for these more fun parts of life, it can also cause some of the less pleasant parts. Addiction can be a life changer for many, but it is caused by some very natural reactions inside your brain. Your brain has developed over tens of thousands of years to react to many different situations, encouraging us when we are doing things that we should be doing. Like running from predators, eating, spreading our genes and much more. For a very long time, this system has worked. Hence there are more than seven and a half billion people in the world. More recently however, we have been more and more able to influence our own brains, allowing for the release of these rewarding chemicals even though we should not be getting them. With this I do not just mean taking drugs that directly influence our bodies. We have been able to make eating, sex and many different activities that release hormones like adrenaline into recreational

activities. What is important to understand is that essentially, drugs and the aforementioned activities all affect the brain in the same area. The limbic system, or paleomammalian cortex, is mostly responsible for all the sensations and emotions we feel when doing certain activities. While the limbic system is not a cerebral structure, it does interact very heavily with the cerebral cortex. One of the functions of the limbic system is in retaining memory, it directs the brain into searching in the appropriate neural nets for different emotional cues. Besides memory, it also has a focus in attentional and emotional processes. It assists in defining and responding to a certain stimulus.

The limbic system works, like many different systems of the brain, by using neurotransmitters to pass signals from one neuron to another or to a cell it can activate. Activating those neurons or cells may then lead to many different reactions. There are about forty to a hundred neurotransmitters, depending on how you count. For the sake of staying within a two page article, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just say there are a lot. While there are many, there are a few that do the majority of the work. Acetylcholine, norepinephrine, dopamine, gammaaminobutyric acid, glutamate, serotonin and histamine are the more important ones. They are either excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitters. Where the excitatory neurotransmitters â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;exciteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the neurons they are connected to, thus activating them, the inhibitory neurotransmitters decrease the likeliness of further transmission of the signal.

Drug addiction

In drug addiction, the excitatory neurotransmitters are the main villains. Endorphin is one most people have heard of. It helps with coping and painkilling when we are stressed or in pain. The most important excitatory neurotransmitter though,

T-Licht Issue 24.3

is dopamine. When this chemical is released, our brain is doing itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best to remember our current behavior. Not only in happy moments, but also in less happy moments. This can be when falling, so we do not forget that mistake. There are two ways in which the drugs that cause addiction can interact with the neurotransmitters. They either imitate one of the natural neurotransmitters in a brain, or change the amount that it forms in your brain. The latter can be done either by increasing the amount that gets released or by inhibiting the reabsorption of those neurotransmitters. Drugs like heroin and other opiates act by imitating endorphin and giving of an extreme version of the feeling of euphoria you would normally have. Nicotine mimics acetylcholine, which triggers the release of large amounts of dopamine. This makes you want to remember and redo what you were doing at that time, in this case, smoking. Nicotine also causes gamma-aminobutyric acid to be released. This normally acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, however, at a certain amount it has no more effect. Thus causing dopamine to have free reign.

Alcohol works a little differently; it affects multiple receptors like acetylcholine and serotonin. This explains why most people will at first feel great and happy after drinking and then get a little sedated. More alcohol means a slower communication between neurons, the brain however tries to work against this by making stronger signals. This is what causes shaking in frequent drinkers when they suddenly stop. Cocaine and methamphetamine work by changing the values of natural neurotransmitters. Cocaine interrupts the reabsorption of dopamine and norepinephrine. The cocaine makes so much it gets depleted and more and more cocaine is needed for the same high. At some point, it will not even be possible to achieve that high.

Behavioral addiction

The reaction that drugs have on the limbic system is very similar to the reaction you get from certain situations. There are certain situations where remembering if something will be successful or not is very important. In this, dopamine is released. The same counts for things like gambling. Studies have also suggested that not only the successful situations but also

the near-successes that are greatly remembered and enhance dopamine release. This is due to our brain liking to predict patterns. However, when these patterns are doomed to fail, like in a gambling machine, you constantly get the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;almost thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feeling. This constantly gives you a huge dopamine release and is thus addictive. This is also applicable to sex, food, games, internet and many other situations. Situations that were, a long time ago, a little more difficult to get into and thus had to be rewarded, are a lot easier to access nowadays.

WRITTEN BY:

Teun Prinsen Teun was fascinated by the way our brains work and decided to write about it for everyone to read.

What’s coming next? At Dow, we combine one of the broadest technology sets in the industry with asset integration, focused innovation and global scale to achieve profitable growth and become the most innovative, customer centric, inclusive and sustainable materials science company. Dow’s portfolio of performance materials, industrial intermediates and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of differentiated science-based products and solutions for our customers in high-growth segments, such as packaging, infrastructure and consumer care. Our company delivers innovative products that make the world better. We look across the life cycle of our products to insure our innovations continue to improve, creating a world that is better because of our products. What materials will tomorrow be made of? Join us and help shape the future. Let’s find what’s next. Visit careers.dow.com to continue the conversation.

The Circle of Life From the Lock-Up

We are born; we rise; we grow; we develop; we lie down; we leave. That’s the circle of life each of us goes through. However, this is not just a graphical representation of the inevitable cycle, it has its depth and its height. A lot of things happen in a single life span. There are many words spoken and deeds done by those who praised us and by those who condemned us. It was easy and enjoyable when the first ones stood out, but it hurt when others stood out. So much so that some never got over it, and they just laid down and left too soon. They didn’t get over it because they didn’t have the will to rise again and move on. In the darkness of troubles, they did not have enough strength to find their shining star to show them the way out and a new path. A man has such stars in his life, but some he does not see, and some he does. When we are born, if we are fortuitous enough, the first light we see is bright and vibrant eyes of our parents. We do not understand what they are telling us, but, even though we are tiny, we feel wrapped in a coat of love and happiness. That feeling does not stop even when we are not looking at them. And wherever we might be, that star is so strong as if it was in our palms, and like magic, it pulls us forward. When it is sure that we have found a new light, it slowly subsides and allows us to meet the new power. There are different kinds of loves, but the strength they give us is the same. We love our partner, family, home, friends, science. Priorities are constantly changing, but love and its shine are eternal. Without it and hope in it, one would hardly be able to survive because moving along the path, one encounters obstacles. The hardest among them are those that

“There are different kinds of loves, but the strength they give us is the same.” another man placed on him with the intention of spoiling his happiness. Jealous that he is alone, that he is not loved enough, the man is ready for a lot of bad things. And it has always been like that because if it has not, Romans would not say: ‘Homo homini lupus’. When a man lacks the glow of love, he is ready for anything. Often people come together against an individual who visibly has it. The one who has it can give it, and the one who does not have it, who is eager for it, only has the goal of drawing others into his world without energy either to suppress it or to extinguish the glow of light that is not his. When a well-meaning man finds himself in a whirlwind of evil, he acts differently. Some adapt to it, while others, stronger, oppose it. From love he receives, he draws energy to get out of the swirl. When he does get out, all he wants is to go away as far as possible from that episode in his life. It is hard, but it is even harder to stay and remember it. However, he can never go far enough because nothing can erase the evil. The only option is to forgive. To forgive the unforgivable.

Then and only then can he move on. A lot of strength is needed for something like that, and only the best ones have it. They have it because love taught them that. Life puts us in different circumstances. It is sad when you get hurt, but we have to decide whether to succumb to them or to survive them. Today in the world of information, we need to be aware of the consequences that await us in those different circumstances and try not to kneel. One needs to know how to make choices and find the right path. Those who choose it, no matter what, are the strongest.

WRITTEN BY:

Marko Beslaç Marko was left alone for an hour and wanted to shed some light on the important things in life.

Het Y van de Donateur From the Benefactor

Met het eind van het jaar in zicht ontkom je in Nederland niet aan de jaarlijkse Top 2000. Nadat iedere Nederlander hiervoor zijn/haar/wil ik niet aangeven (we moeten wel genderneutraal zijn anno 2020) stem heeft uitgebracht, kunnen we tussen Kerst en Oud & Nieuw genieten van alle hoogtepunten die de muziek ons over de jaren heeft gebracht. Gelukkig wordt de Top 2000 ook op tv uitgezonden, waardoor we zonder van de bank af te hoeven komen tijdens de gure decembermaand kunnen genieten van goede muziek. Tijdens het kijken naar het Top 2000 café viel het ons op dat tijdens het meezingen van alle klassiekers opvallend vaak mensen met een enigszins vreemd voorkomen en dito gezichtsuitdrukking in beeld worden gebracht. Dit deed ons denken aan onze tijd als F.O.R.T.-commissie. Wij konden hiermee namelijk een directe link leggen met een al jarenlange vaste gast in de F.O.R.T., die er rond een uur of half 7 niet al te best meer bij zit. Gelukkig zijn er ook hoogtepunten te zien in het programma. Zo kwamen

we in een van de afleveringen van de Top 2000 à GoGo een interessante minidocumentaire tegen. Hierin vertelde de frontman van Liquido over de start van zijn band en hun doorbraak met het nummer Narcotic, tegenwoordig in de F.O.R.T. nog enkel te horen aan het einde van speciale gelegenheden. Naar aanleiding van deze documentaire zijn wij eens gaan toetsen hoe de eindnummers van de F.O.R.T. het doen in de Top 2000 ranking. En precies zoals verwacht bleken we een uitstekende muzieksmaak te hebben. Narcotic is, met plek 429, namelijk erg hoog genoteerd te zijn ten opzichte van alle eindnummers. Sterker nog, slechts 6 van de 20 eindnummers hebben überhaupt de Top 2000 lijst gehaald. Niet alleen muziek bleek op sommige

vlakken overeenkomsten te hebben met de F.O.R.T., het verhaal van Wolfgang Schrödl toonde meer gelijkenissen met een jaar als F.O.R.T.-cie. Aan het begin van zijn muziekcarrière werd hun werk afgebrand door een A&R-manager (artists & repetoire), de talentscouts van de grote muziek labels. Na de doorbraak van Liquido met Narcotic werd de desbetreffende A&Rmanager dan ook ontslagen voor het niet herkennen van uitzonderlijk talent. Wij kunnen parallellen trekken naar een carrière in de F.O.R.T.: de F&L-manager (facilities & logistics) geeft ook elk jaar aan maar weinig vertrouwen te hebben in de nieuwe kandidaten. Het is een wonder te noemen dat deze man tot nu toe zijn werk heeft voort kunnen zetten.

WRITTEN BY:

Wouter de Smet & Koen Kuijpers Als 24e F.O.R.T.-commissie wilden Wouter en Koen graag wat vertellen over de musicale hoogtepunten binnen de F.O.R.T.

T-Licht Issue 24.3

Changes Het Y van de Huismeester

Nieuwjaarsnacht, klokslag twaalf uur. Op tv wensen bekende b-artiesten elkaar het allerbeste, buiten gaan de eerste vuurpijlen en auto’s de lucht in en de eerste nieuwjaars-sms’jes komen op mijn telefoon binnen. Ook TU/e-collega’s kunnen niet wachten om mij alle goeds voor het nieuwe jaar te wensen. Alleen: met hun berichten is, net zoals met sommige afzenders, iets vreemds aan de hand. Ze zijn namelijk allemaal in het Engels. Want sinds 1 januari is er ineens iets veranderd: Engels is officieel de voertaal aan de Technische Universiteit van Eindhoven. Ik dacht, hoopte vooral, dat het in de praktijk wel mee zou vallen en dat ik mezelf met mijn steen(sel)kolenengels nog prima kon redden op de campus. Dat bleek een lelijke vergissing. Op de eerste werkdag van het nog redelijk nieuwe jaar – dat op het moment dat dit blad in de bakken ligt al bijna op de helft is, maar daar kan ik weinig aan doen – bestelde ik een kopje koffie in de kantine. De vrouw achter de balie deed net alsof ze een serveerster op een Amsterdams terras was: ineens sprak ze geen woord Nederlands meer. ‘English, please’, beet ze me toe. Ik maakte er dus maar een dubbele Irish coffee van (Ierland is geen Engeland, maar in elk geval nog wel EU). Met mijn Engels kwam het helaas niet meer goed, die dag. En op de dagen daarna ook niet meer. Zo zijn er wel meer problemen sinds de talenwissel. Studenten die aan mijn bureau komen met een verhaal waar ik niks van begrijp (oké, dat deed ik vóór 2020 meestal ook al niet). Afdelingsvergaderingen waar ik nog minder van opsteek dan voorheen. Want ook mijn vergadertafelgenoten spreken ongeveer even beroerd Engels als Rob Geus op een slechte

dag. ‘Does anybody have anything for the round question?’, vraagt de voorzitter altijd. Ik snap er nog steeds niets van. Waarschijnlijk wil hij de meeting ermee afronden. De veranderingen gaan verder dan alleen de taal. Alles op de TU/e ademt de sfeer van Engeland. De prijzen van de consumpties in de

“Het voelt in ieder geval als verraad aan mijn moedertaal, maar that’s life.

F.O.R.T. zijn in Engelse Ponden. Het bier is schuimloos en ineens donker van kleur (hoewel dat me niet verbaast: alles wat blank is bezwijkt tegenwoordig onder de druk van kleine groepen activisten). En de terminals voor de slagbomen waar je je Campuskaart voor moet houden zijn ineens naar de rechterkant verhuisd. Ik moet de campus dus achteruit rijdend betreden. Voor mij is de switch naar het Engels dus ook letterlijk een achteruitgang. Ik heb niet de indruk dat de voertaal nog ooit terug zal veranderen naar het Nederlands. Er zit dus maar één ding voor me op: Engels leren. Of dat me ooit gaat lukken, that’s the kwestie. Misschien vertel ik er nog weleens over in deze glossy. Of jullie daar chocola van kunnen maken, is nog maar een tweede. Want mijn columns zullen voortaan ook wel in het Engels moeten. Het voelt in ieder geval als verraad aan mijn moedertaal, maar that’s life. Of, zoals ze bij mij in het dorp zeggen: c’est ça.

WRITTEN BY:

Michael Scheepers Na jarenlang communiceren in zijn moederstaal, moet Michael ineens Engels gaan spreken.

Strange Times. Coronavirus It is highly uncommon to find an entire page filled with text written by me. But then again, we live in highly uncommon times. Contributing to an article like, for example, the interview is what I prefer. Being with and amongst people, for something serious, or just for a chat, is what drove me to become a board member. Currently, this is something that hardly happens. I know that everyone is slowly getting sick of all the news about the coronavirus. Every day, we are presented numbers on the news. While I am usually a big fan of numbers, these numbers fed me up. These numbers show how a virus spreads, trying to grab hold of everything it can get. These numbers show how everyone's lives are getting different and different every day. Some even come to a full stop, leaving a lot of people in terrible situations; physically, mentally and financially. But as I said, everyone is tired of this news, so I would like to head to another direction here. I actually want to thank every one of you. The fact that you are reading this means that you care about us, about the association. Behind the scenes, the board and its committees are working very hard to make the best out of this entire situation. The complete world of education has flipped upside down in a matter of weeks, contact moments with the industry are forbidden, and all leisure activities have been cancelled. Running this association in its normal manner is always a hard task, but currently, it asks even more from its members. To see that these members are still willing to help, are still participating in (online) drinks and activities, and are still as involved with the association, makes me very happy, and a very proud board member. So again, to each and every one of you: Thank you! Best regards and stay well, Roy Wink Treasurer 62nd board of T.S.V. 'Jan Pieter Minckelers'

T-Licht Issue 24.3

Wist

je dat... Joost C. zijn tanden poetst met chrystal meth?

... Amy van B. zo'n naar mannetje is dat ze bijna een vrouw is?

... je wist-je-datjes naar tlicht.st@tue.nl kan sturen of in kan leveren op de Japiekamer?

...Huub van den B. รกltijd komt?

...Dylan R. hartstikke mannelijk is op z'n buik? ...Jasmijn J. gewoon niets draagt

...er volgens Dirk B. een hond aan knoflook in de soep zit?

...Tom van den B volgens Bart van den B vijf minuten over een kilometer pils doet?

...Tijmen S. dacht dat Bert M. de Spinazie prijs gewonnen had?

...volgens Meike R. de ouderen de doelgroep van Corona zijn?

Sven R. een halve werkdag heeft gespendeerd aan naaien? ...de winter in Spanje anders is volgens David R.?

T-Licht 24.3

Articles inside

Strange Times.

Changes

Het Y van de Donateur

The Circle of Life

The chemistry behind addiction

A tale of empty shops, raspberries and stomach acid

Into the woods of Mol

Mastering the art of Caffeine Consumption.

Introducing Storm & Amy

Study Trip to Milano

All Sizes Matter

‘Kia Ora!’ from New Zealand

Stock for sale

Wervingsdagen 2004: The Pathway to Success.

Supramolecular interactions: from Nature to Polymers

Avoiding the Burnout

Interview with Frank Baaijens

Forget about it

The “mom-bag” in Milan!

Graduating: too long, or not?

Expectations