Four World Cup gold medals — and a baby
Marit Bjørgen was a world-class athlete at the top of her career — and then she decided to have a baby. How did that change her ability to train — and her performance afterwards?
Envisioning a future where all the trees in Europe disappear
Global climate change is already affecting the globe, as demonstrated by the shrinking polar ice cap, melting glaciers and cities in the grips of longer, more intense heat waves. Now a team of researchers has conducted a radical thought experiment on how extreme land use changes could influence future climate.
Global trade doubles material use for fashion, electronics over two decades
A new database gives researchers — and potentially policymakers — the ability to see how global trade affects environmental impacts.
New study estimates the carbon footprints of 13,000 cities
Many see cities as the new front lines of the climate change fight. Identifying the mayors and city councils in cities with the biggest carbon footprints, and the most power to make big changes, could mobilize a wave of reinforcements.
Exploring new uses for existing antiviral drugs
Broad-spectrum antiviral drugs work against a range of viral diseases, but developing them can be costly and time consuming. Testing existing anti-viral drugs for their ability to combat multiple viral infections can help.
When a hole in the ice is a big problem
When your airport runway is located at 72 degrees south latitude and more than 4000 kilometres from the nearest major city, it better be in tiptop shape. But in Antarctica, where most runways are made of snow or ice, holes can be a big problem.
Herring larvae could benefit from an acidifying ocean
Excess CO2 in the atmosphere is making the oceans more acidic. Some studies show that’s bad news for fish, including commercially important species. But not all fish respond the same way.
Land under water: Estimating hydropower’s land use impacts
One of the key ways to combat global climate change is to boost the world’s use of renewable energy. But even green energy has its environmental costs. A new approach describes just how hydropower measures up when it comes to land use effects.
Moser professors awarded Order of St. Olav
May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser have been awarded Norway’s Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav.
How to train like the world’s most successful female cross-country skier
If you want to be as fast or as strong as the world’s most decorated female winter Olympian ever, you’ll have to train a lot — more than 900 hours a year. But don’t worry — most of that training will be low intensity.
Predicting the fate of oil spills in a frozen world
Global warming and political decisions are opening the Arctic and its frosty seas to increased development. But what will happen if that expansion results in oil spills in the frozen ocean?
Shedding light on zooplankton in the dark
We know that tiny marine creatures in the Arctic respond to weak light from the Moon or the northern lights during the polar night. Now researchers have learned that artificial light from research vessels can also have a negative effect.
How very low birth weight affects brain development
Children born with very low birth weights are at an increased risk of cognitive, emotional and behavioral problems throughout their lives. But what exactly happens in the brain to cause these problems?
Consumer choices for the climate
The gift-giving season is upon us, and perhaps you’re wondering how to give gifts that won’t wreck the climate. Help is on the way.
Thousand-year-old cathedral surrenders its secrets, stone by stone
The secrets of St Olav’s shrine and Nidaros Cathedral have drawn pilgrims for nearly a thousand years. Curious researchers have also made the journey, eager to solve the mysteries locked up in the cathedral’s stones.
One hundred years of producing energy — from water
The 1969 discovery of oil at the Ekofisk field in the North Sea transformed Norway into an internationally important energy nation. But long before black gold was being pumped from the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Norway’s economy was fuelled by a different kind of energy: hydropower.
Controlling problem ice — by cracking it
Most efforts to control ice build-up on structures like wind turbines and solar cells involve creating a surface that repels water. But Norwegian researchers have engineered a different approach that allows ice to form on a surface, but then causes it to crack off.
Helping EU cities and regions cut carbon emissions
A series of first-ever maps shows regional-scale differences in carbon footprints in the EU. The maps can help guide local and regional policies designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Living with zero-emission technology
How does technology change people, and how do people change in response to technology? Sixteen people volunteered to live in a high-tech, zero-emission house to help researchers answer those exact questions.
Brewing Viking beer — with stones
When archaeologist Geir Grønnesby dug test pits at 24 different farms in central Norway, he nearly always found thick layers of fire-cracked stones dating from the Viking Age and earlier. Long ago, Norwegians brewed beer using stones.
Moonwalkers three
Just 12 Americans have set foot on the lunar surface, and of those, only six are still alive. Three—Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt — will be in Trondheim at the Starmus Science Festival to talk about the future of humankind in space.
Finding life — and farming minerals — deep under the sea
Japanese researchers have access to the largest scientific vessel ever constructed, one that has a 120 metre tall derrick capable of drilling to 7500 metres below the seafloor. They’re using it to hunt for life deep under the seafloor and explore for mineral deposits at the bottom of the ocean — topics that are of great interest to Norwegian researchers.
Going deep to learn the secrets of Japan’s earthquakes
The 11 March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake was the largest and most destructive in the history of Japan. Japanese researchers — and Norwegian partners — are hard at work trying to understand just what made it so devastating.
The toy boat that sailed the seas of time
A thousand-year-old toy boat from an abandoned water well gives archaeologists tantalizing clues about the culture that produced the object.
A force more deadly than polar bears
You might think that polar bears— and the potential for attack— are the biggest danger on the Norwegian island archipelago of Svalbard. But avalanches kill far more people on Svalbard than polar bears ever have.
Martin’s world
Visualizing oil reservoirs or tectonic plates under the seafloor requires lots of computing power and the imagination to envision what the data are showing you. That’s Martin Landrø’s work world. But he’s also fascinated by how teachers from a century ago taught their students about the Earth and the way it moves around the sun.
Putting Bluefin tuna back on the menu — by farming them
The Japanese eat one in ten of the world’s fish, and 80 per cent of the planet’s prized —and critically threatened — Bluefin tuna. Tuna aquaculture pioneered at Kindai University in Japan offers hope for both fish lovers and the fish.
Finding ways to fix the climate before it’s too late
Scientists and policymakers rely on complex computer simulations called Integrated Assessment Models to figure out how to address climate change. But these models need tinkering to make them more accurate.
Big data shows how what we buy affects endangered species
We don’t have to snuff out species when we eat a hamburger or buy a tee-shirt— if we know how our consumption affects endangered and threatened species.
Clay and a little salt water can make for enhanced oil recovery
By controlling a mix of clay, water and salt, Norwegian and Brazilian researchers have created nanostructures that might help boost oil production, expand the lifespan of certain foods or that could be used in cosmetics or drugs.
Global hot spot maps link consumers with impacts
A new model creates global hot spot maps to illuminate how what we buy pollutes the planet and where. The idea is to help governments, industries and individuals target areas for cleanup.
Glass fibres with potential far beyond transmitting light
Fibre optics are at the heart of today’s communication systems, a number of medical devices and more. But when researchers put a silicon-germanium mix at the core of the fibre and treated it, they made something with potential far beyond transmitting light.