Water was a winner in capturing CO2
Reducing the level of CO2 in the atmosphere will probably require carbon capture. A surprising substance just might be the ticket.
Technology
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Could a chatbot be your friend or romantic partner?
Researcher Marita Skjuve has been interviewing people who have a close relationship with a chatbot called Replika. Her conclusion is that such relationships offer value and meaning to the chatbot’s users, and can even be romantic.
Breaking glass to make it safer
Our craving for daylight has accelerated the use of glass in modern buildings. However, for people concerned about safety, our passion for the light comes with a dark side.
Artificial bees from a pressure cooker?
What if we could create artificial bees that helped us with food production? Ola Gjønnes Grendal cooks up the materials needed to do just this.
This technology will transform you into Superman
Imagine yourself putting on a suit of extra muscles, seeing with super vision and inspired with new skills – with sensors making sure that you don’t overextend yourself. This is the idea behind the project called “HuMan”, which has recently delivered what looks like pure sci-fi technology to partners including an Airbus factory.
Turning waste heat into hydrogen fuel
Hydrogen as an energy carrier can help us move away from fossil fuels, but only if it is created efficiently. One way to improve efficiency is to use waste heat that’s left over from other industrial processes.
Simulating her way to better batteries
Do you have a phone or a car that always runs out of juice? Ingeborg Treu Røe is studying batteries that can store more energy and triple the range of your EV.
Super-strong magnetic supercrystals can assemble themselves
Materials scientists who work with nano-sized components have developed ways of working with their vanishingly small materials. But what if you could get your components to assemble themselves into different structures without actually handling them at all?
Nature’s way of keeping surfaces clean
Nature has long been an inspiration for materials engineers and designers — just think of Velcro, the ubiquitous stick-to-itself tape that was created by a Swiss engineer after he picked burs out of his dog’s coat. Now a team of NTNU researchers has looked in more detail at how tiny conical structures on a lotus leaf or insect’s wing repel water and help keep it clean.
What doesn’t crack them makes them stronger
It sounds a bit strange, but some materials become stronger when subjected to stress. Why is that, and why do they eventually fail anyway?
Ammonia may hold key to greener combustion
One way to reduce flight shame may lie in a ring of flames. And in the gas that’s generated in an outhouse.
This is what you need to know about CCS – Carbon Capture and Storage
Why is there so much talk about storing CO2 underground? Doesn’t it cost more than it’s worth? Here we provide the research scientists’ answers and explanations of why CCS is climate technology that we are completely dependent on. And yes, this can be performed in a safe manner.
NTNU cools down CERN
CERN’s two Large Hadron Colliders detectors to get a climate-friendly cooling system upgrade.
Sensors made this company a world leader in tool production
A small machining company in Norway is the first in the world to use digitalised tools for advanced turning. The technology enables the prevention of damage to complex and expensive parts used in the aircraft and gas industries.
This technology replaces coal power with wood power
The Norwegian company Arbaflame is intent on persuading the world to abandon polluting coal power. The new technology makes it possible to replace coal with eco-friendly wood pellets.
NTNU will lead European sustainability project
Through the Research Centre on Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (FME ZEN) in Smart Cities, NTNU has received funding from the EU to research sustainable plus energy neighbourhoods in Europe. SINTEF and OBOS are partners.
Non-native jellyfish and shellfish can spread via plastic trash
Francesca Verones has been awarded a prestigious grant by the European Research Council of EUR 1 million to study how people affect the oceans.
Building computers the way our brains work
We are approaching the limit for how much more microprocessors can be developed. Gunnar Tufte proposes building computers in a completely new way, inspired by the human brain and nanotechnology.
Recently-developed material makes hydrogen production more efficient
Norwegian scientists have developed a material which can make hydrogen from water vapor, instead of liquid water. It pays off, because heat is cheaper than electricity.
Predicted skewed waves – and found them
He solved a 127-year-old physics problem on paper and proved that off-centred boat wakes could exist. Five years later, practical experiments proved him right.
Seaweed and kelp are more than food
Algae cultivation is popular, but good uses for the raw material are still lacking. Researchers in Norway are set to do something about this, with the goal of fully using this resource.
Practising cyber security gets easier
A new tool will make it easier and cheaper to train individuals who defend us from computer attacks.
These experiments are key to being able to store lots of CO2 safely in the subsurface
When energy researchers carry out experiments to investigate safe and efficient CO2 transport on the roof of the thermal power engineering laboratories at Gløshaugen, Trondheim, the noise they make will be like a jet engine.
What killed this person?
Sometimes it’s hard to know what a person has actually died from. But post-mortem CT scans may provide a useful tool.