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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A thousand-year-old toy boat from an abandoned water well gives archaeologists tantalizing clues about the culture that produced the object.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It may not be enough just to meet public health guidelines for physical activity if you want to stave off the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle, especially if you are older.
It’s not easy for big, profitable companies to respond to huge technological changes. One NTNU researcher hopes to help Norway’s electric power industry cope with the market challenges from renewable energy and changed consumer behaviour.
Global climate change is causing Arctic sea ice to melt at an accelerating rate, increasing the ability of ships and other structures to travel though Arctic waters. But even as they melt, some sea ice structures actually get stronger.
Five Gemini stories that detail the secrets of Norway’s bird populations.
Jarle Mork has spent the last 40 years of his career studying Trondheim Fjord and its finned inhabitants. Warmer waters and the arrival of new creatures are bad news for the fjord’s cod population, he says. But other fishing practices are problematic, too.
The Nordic Five Tech, an alliance of the leading technical universities in the Nordic countries, celebrated its tenth anniversary this June with a high level summit to plot a strategy for its next decade. There was talk of horses, cars, and swimming robot snakes.
Low birth weight babies are at higher risk of osteoporosis later in life, especially if they are born prematurely. Targeting these children with the appropriate diet and weight-bearing exercise can help improve the problem.
Fish can adapt their metabolisms to cope with warmer ocean temperatures, but not necessarily with extreme heat.
Seabirds nest by the hundreds of thousands in colonies along the Norwegian coast. By combining an ocean current model with fish larvae transport modeling and bird population numbers, Norwegian researchers have uncovered the factors that help determine the location of seabird nesting colonies.
Ocean dumping of munitions from WWII was common in Norway and along the European coast. Some of these bomb dumps offer a natural living laboratory where biologists can study cold-water coral reefs.
An American mother’s hunch might result in new treatments for patients who can’t tolerate conventional cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Representatives from Japanese and Norwegian universities, research institutions, government agencies and industries interested in polar issues will gather in Tokyo in early June to present research results and build partnerships.
Starting today, Hiroshito Matsumoto will work from a base in Toyko on behalf of NTNU and the University of Bergen to build new research partnerships between Japan and Norway.
Global warming means much warmer winters in the Arctic, with more rain and icing. Researchers are working to understand what that will do to plants that have evolved to overwinter under a thick blanket of snow.
