What exactly is number theory, and what drives researchers to dedicate their careers to this field? How does this seemingly abstract branch of mathematics connect to the cryptography that secures our digital world?

A couple of weeks ago, Luxembourg hosted the 33rd Journées Arithmétiques, providing us with the perfect opportunity to explore these questions. We sat down with two mathematicians: a visiting researcher and a local expert, offering insights from both international and Luxembourg-based perspectives.

Our first guest is Prof. Jennifer Balakrishnan from Boston University, who led the team that cracked the notorious "cursed curve" problem. We couldn't resist discussing it and learning more from Jennifer about current big questions.

We also explored the mathematical foundations of cryptography with Tim Seuré, a PhD student at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) at the University of Luxembourg, focusing on fully homomorphic encryption.

USEFUL LINKS:

More about Prof. Jennifer Balakrishnan: https://math.bu.edu/people/jbala/

Quanta Magazine article about cracking the "cursed curve": https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-crack-the-cursed-curve-20171207/

33rd Journées Arithmétiques: https://www.uni.lu/fstm-en/conferences/ja25/

Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search: https://www.mersenne.org/

In this episode, Professor Elisabeth Letellier from the University of Luxembourg and Dr. Mina Tsenkova, now at Amgen in California, discuss colorectal cancer research and ketogenic diet. Mina won the Rolf Tarrach Award 2024 for her PhD thesis.

The discussion centers around the critical role of the gut microbiome in cancer development, specifically how diet influences this relationship. Mina shares insights from her award-winning PhD research on the ketogenic diet and its effects on colorectal cancer, while Elisabeth provides an overview of the disease itself and the rising incidence among younger populations. Together, they explore the complexities of diet, microbiome interactions, and the challenges of translating research into clinical practice.

USEFUL LINKS

Rolf Tarrach Award for Dr. Mina Tsenkova - https://www.uni.lu/research-en/events/rolf-tarrach-award-2024/

Amgen - https://www.amgen.com/

Science in Colours - Mina Tsenkova - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGhgWsezc7c

Dr. Patrick Michel, senior researcher at CNRS and global fellow at the University of Tokyo, discusses how our understanding of asteroids has evolved dramatically since the mid-1990s. Early research relied on reflected light observations, but space missions have revealed asteroids as complex geological worlds with diverse shapes and structures. Patrick reflects on this transition from limited knowledge to groundbreaking missions that reveal the intricate features of these celestial bodies.

The episode also covers Asteroid Day, celebrated annually on June 30th, which commemorates the 1908 Tunguska event when an asteroid explosion destroyed a large area of Siberian forest.

Moreover, Patrick recounts the successful DART mission, which tested asteroid deflection techniques and demonstrated humanity's first deliberate alteration of a celestial body's trajectory. He introduces also the Hera mission, designed to investigate the aftermath of the DART impact on asteroid Dimorphos, gathering crucial data on asteroid composition and structure.

USEFUL LINKS

Hera mission - https://www.heramission.space/

More about Dr. Patrick Michel - https://www.oca.eu/michel/

DART mission - https://science.nasa.gov/mission/dart/

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx - https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex/

Asteroid Foundation - https://asteroidfoundation.org/

Dr. Thomas Gibon from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology breaks down why our assumptions about "green" technology are often wrong. Electric cars, hydrogen fuel, steel production – Thomas shows how Life Cycle Assessment reveals the hidden environmental costs that many don't talk about.

The conversation cuts through the usual green-tech hype. That electric car? Its environmental impact depends on how the electricity gets made and where the lithium comes from. Hydrogen as a clean fuel? Not if you're using fossil fuels to produce it.

Beyond the technical analysis, Thomas tackles the harder question: how do we build a low-carbon future that people actually want to live in? The discussion moves from engineering assessments to the social and political realities of climate action – because the best technology in the world won't matter if nobody wants to use it.

USEFUL LINKS

More about Dr. Thomas Gibon's research: https://scholar.google.no/citations?user=I3ATYsQAAAAJ&hl=no

Articles discussed:

- Is green growth possible?: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2019.1598964

- How to make climate-neutral aviation fly: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39749-y

DISCUSSED EPISODES

Hydrogen with Dr. Robin White: https://www.scilux.eu/episodes/hydrogen

Urban Health with Dr. Camille Perchoux: https://www.scilux.eu/episodes/urban-health

Empowering Communities with Dr. Gilles Evrard Essuman: https://www.scilux.eu/episodes/empowering-communities

In this episode, we connect with Dr. Bernd Grimm from the Luxembourg Institute of Health and Professor Arndt-Peter Schulz from Germany's Fraunhofer IMTE – two researchers revolutionising orthopedic medicine by looking into the fast developing field of smart implants - here comes the SmILE project.

Musculoskeletal diseases like osteoarthritis and osteoporosis affect millions worldwide, yet barely register on our health radar. These conditions might not kill you, but they can devastate quality of life. That's why Dr. Grimm and Prof. Schulz would like to develop new smart implants which can help monitor and manage such diseases also creating a accessible database which can be used across the EU.

But Dr. Grimm and Prof. Schulz also work on many other projects - listen to this episode to find out more!

USEFUL LINKS

More about SmILE project - https://www.horizon-smile.eu/

LIH - https://www.lih.lu/en/

Fraunhofer IMTE - https://www.imte.fraunhofer.de/en.html

In this SciLux episode, we speak about science communication with Professor Mike S. Schäfer, Head of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. We examine the role of intermediaries between researchers and audiences and discuss the difficulties scientists face when explaining their work,

Mike addresses the need to understand different audiences, and strategies for engaging people who don't go looking for scientific content. We cover changes in science journalism, AI's impact on communication, and the growing importance of countering misinformation.

USEFUL LINKS

More about Prof. Mike S. Schäfer - https://www.ikmz.uzh.ch/en/research/divisions/science-crisis-and-risk-communication/team/mike-s-schaefer.html

JCOM special issue - Science Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence - https://jcom.sissa.it/collections/129/

Amplifying Research with Chris Pahlow - https://www.amplifyingresearch.com/podcast/33-mike-schafer

"Co-Intelligence" by Ethan Mollick - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198678736-co-intelligence

History isn't just what happened - it's who gets to tell the story. In this episode, we sit down with public history researcher Dr. Joëlla van Donkersgoed (C2DH, University of Luxembourg) to explore how communities are reclaiming their narratives and reshaping our understanding of the past.

From the streets of Esch-sur-Alzette to the remote Banda Islands of Indonesia, Joëlla's work reveals how traditional historical methods often miss crucial perspectives. She breaks down the real challenges of public history: building trust with communities, sharing authority over historical narratives, and creating platforms that actually last beyond academic projects. Through her Historesch Gesinn project and other initiatives, Joëlla demonstrates how sustainable community engagement can transform historical research from a top-down academic exercise into a collaborative exploration.

USEFUL LINKS

Historesch Gesinn - https://historesch.lu/

More about Joëlla - https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/de/people/joella-van-donkersgoed

More about C2DH https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/

More about Hikayat Lonthoir - https://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.com/whats-on/exhibitions/manuscript

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114087-the-knowledge

Prof. Takis Tridimas: "Europe for me is a set of values. It's about democracy. It's about putting the citizen at the centre of society."

As we celebrated Europe Day last week, we took the time to revisit the concept of Europe and talk about EU Law with Prof. Takis Tridimas, the founding director of the Luxembourg Centre for European Law at the University of Luxembourg. With Prof. Tridimas we looked closer at the significance of the European Court of Justice, the protection of fundamental rights, and the evolving challenges faced by the EU. Don't miss this engaging discussion that sheds light on the importance of legal systems in our daily lives.

USEFUL LINKS

Luxembourg Centre for European Law - https://www.uni.lu/lcel-en/

More about Prof. Takis Tridimas - https://www.uni.lu/lcel-en/people/panagiotis-tridimas/

The General Principles of EU Law - https://academic.oup.com/book/50587

More about ECJ - https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/