Humanities

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Norway got back on its feet quickly after the war

The conventional view has been that after the Second World War, Norway was impoverished and plundered, but the recovery actually went quite quickly. All the infrastructure that the occupying power built during the war played a significant role.

BitPets get you out for a walk

Are you getting fat from playing way too many computer games? If so, we have good news for you. The game of BitPet requires you to move around in order to do well.

True crime in 19th century Norway

People have always been fascinated by real-life crime mysteries. True crime has become a popular genre in films, TV series, podcasts and books. The 19th century also had its own way of cultivating the genre.

The Alchemists: Turning wild water into white coal

How Norwegian scientists and engineers harnessed the country’s wild waterfalls by developing super efficient turbines — and how advances in turbine technology being developed now may be the future in a zero-carbon world.

Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe and the $6 billion deal

How the unlikely combination of WWII Germany, a modest English engineer who created a worker’s paradise, an ambitious industrialist prosecuted as a traitor and a hardworking PhD helped build modern Norway, one aluminium ingot at a time.

Pirates, noblewomen and bicycling housewives

Why does Norway always rank among the top countries on the planet when it comes to gender equality? Part of the answer lies in medieval times, when Norwegian women battled the Hanseatic League with pirates and threatened to burn down towns to wield their power.

Bombing of Kyiv
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The loser’s ultimate revenge

The war in Ukraine is a disaster foretold. The warnings have come from Russia – and they have been coming for at least 15 years and they have been consistent. But they have been ignored by the outside world. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represents the loser’s ultimate revenge.

What medieval skeletons tell us about modern day pandemics

The coronavirus pandemic has made the whole world more aware of what diseases can do to a society. Now, archaeologists and biologists who are studying medieval pandemics, like the Black Death, are learning lessons about the past that may help us in the future.

Snake robot turned movie hero

In the new Norwegian-produced disaster film North Sea, the snake robot Eelume plays a crucial role. Norwegian researchers and a Norwegian company are behind the newly released film.

A red tree in a black an white photo

Provoking climate engagement

As you walk around the city, nature “pops up” in unexpected places. Like a “lung tree” – a tree that breathes. The Nature in Your Face research project wants to use art to create engagement.

An old doctor's mask and a book in a museum
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Quarantine and financial support for plagues were already in place in the 1600s

Plagues have ravaged Norway many times over the centuries. As early as 1625, the state took systematic action to prevent the plague from spreading. Isolation was a new idea that would prove to be effective. Strict restrictions were imposed on social gatherings, including limits on the number of people who could be present at weddings and funerals. Measures were also introduced to compensate the business community for the financial losses resulting from closures.

A young man greetings an old woman through a glass window. Both holding their hands on the window from opposite sides

Coronavirus measures have actually been pretty mild

Norwegians are unspeakably tired of the measures imposed by the country’s Minister of Health, Bent Høie. But historian Erik Opsahl says the measures are mild compared to the old days. Imported infection during pandemics used to be stopped by gunfire.