
Interpreting brightness and space

To be bright, or to be brightened?
Brightness is often seen as an individual trait. You are either bright or you are unnoticeable. In my chat I would like to argue that brightness is the outcome of a perfect match: a match between you and your environment. This match includes your personality, your skills and above all your motivation. If your environment is awarding you for doing the things that you want to do the most, then your star will shine brighter and brighter.
Harold Bekkering (@BekkeringHarold)
Professor of Social Cognitive Neuroscience & Psychology
Radboud University

Space is brighter than you think
We are surrounded by carbon, even made of it. Most of the larger molecules detected in space contain carbon. Moreover, towards many phases of stellar evolution, telescopes observe infrared features that originate from carbon-containing molecules. The new infrared James Webb Space Telescope, launched Christmas 2021, is expected to revolutionize our understanding of carbon in the Universe. I will explain how our laboratory studies will contribute to interpreting Webb’s future observations.
Alexander Lemmens (Sander)
Postdoc researcher - Physical Chemistry
Radboud University