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.

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Is green growth possible?

Increases in economic growth contribute to one-for-one increases in carbon emissions. Energy system decarbonization and economic productivity gains are the most effective carbon emissions mitigation mechanisms for sustainable economic development.

Glasgow climate talks and the fate of the planet

Just over two months after UN Secretary-General António Guterres described a new climate report on the state of the planet as “code red for humanity”, the nations of the world have the chance to do something about it. But will they?

Mt Pinatubo erupting in 1991

Blocking the sun to control global warming

It sounds like something out of a bad science fiction movie — artificially blocking sunlight to keep global warming from overheating the Earth. Nevertheless, a small cadre of researchers is studying the option — so that if humankind ever needs to use it, it will be an informed decision.

NICU incubator
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Is it always right to save lives? A radical proposal

In neonatal medicine, there is a grey area where professionals may be uncertain whether it is in the child’s best interests to start life-saving treatment. Without it, the infant dies. But the treatment can also do great harm. One of the foremost duties of medicine is often said to be to “do no harm”. But how much of a burden on the infant is acceptable? At what point is the hope simply too small to justify action?

Icebreaker in ice

What kind of sea ice is that? Ask Knut!

A new app under development is using deep learning and artificial intelligence to classify different kinds of sea ice. People snapping photos during Arctic cruises and uploading them to the new app could someday help prevent Titanic -scale disasters.

A robotic microplankton sniffer dog

The microscopic, free-floating algae called phytoplankton — and the tiny zooplankton that eat them — are notoriously difficult to count. Researchers need to know how a warming climate will affect them both. A new kind of smart, lightweight autonomous underwater vehicle (LAUV) can help.

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Making sure ships, other marine craft find their way

If you’ve ever wondered about the importance of shipping and navigation, think back to the grounding of the Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal in March this year. The ship, stuck fast for six days, crippled shipping worldwide at the costs of billions of US dollars. A new edition of a popular textbook looks at marine guidance, navigation and control.

Robots with boxes

An automated box on wheels — with personality

Robots are becoming more and more omnipresent in our lives, even though we may not notice. New research shows that when a boxy motorized hospital robot can talk, people find it funny and engaging. And that may help people be more willing to accept new technologies, like robots, in their everyday lives.

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From programming a calculator to activist professor for gender equality

Letizia Jaccheri has won a Norwegian award recognizing her efforts to bring more women into the tech industry. She’s been instrumental in helping increase the number of women in leadership positions at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where she herself is a professor of computer science.

People with genetic map in background
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Twenty years of sequencing genes… for better or for worse

It’s been 20 years since the first draft sequence of the human genome was published in the journals Nature and Science. The result led then-President Bill Clinton to state that we are now learning the language in which life was written, and that “doctors will increasingly be able to cure diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer by attacking their genetic roots.”
Sequencing 30 000 genes has changed the world, but in a different way than expected.

Using ships themselves to monitor and predict waves

Waves present an enormous challenge for the world’s roughly 91,000 commercial vessels, but predicting sea conditions is challenging. A new approach uses the movements of ships themselves to create an online estimate of what kinds of waves ships can expect.

The Longship that could help save the planet

Everyone knows there’s just too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — and we’re heating up the planet at an unprecedented pace. In the third episode of NTNU’s new English-language podcast, 63 Degrees North, we’ll hear what Norwegian researchers are doing to help address this problem.

Shedding light — on the polar night

The polar night is dark — if you’re a person. But not if you’re a krill or a seabird or a fish. In the first episode of NTNU’s new English-language podcast, 63 Degrees North, learn how researchers discovered that there’s more than enough light in the polar night for the tiny creatures who live there.

Smart site selection can make hydropower greener

Even though new hydropower dam developments are intended to provide green energy, they can drown areas that are rich in plant and animal species. But this kind of collateral damage can be limited by strategic site selection, a new study shows.

Trained medical staff can perform safe, effective hernia surgery

Many low and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, don’t have enough surgeons to perform vital surgeries, such as groin hernia repairs. Training non-doctor associate clinicians in this procedure provides a safe and effective solution, a new study shows.

a gaggle of barnacle geese

Skinnier but resilient geese thriving in the high Arctic

Barnacle geese in the Arctic have been on a diet. So many now migrate to northern breeding grounds that in some places there’s less food to go around. The good news is that it doesn’t seem to restrict their population growth — yet.

Dan Moran and Richard Wood from the Industrial Ecology Programme
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NTNU researchers among the world’s most highly cited

The 2020 ISI/Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers list includes seven researchers affiliated with NTNU. The list includes authors who have multiple articles ranked in the top 1 per cent by citation in their field over the last decade.

Palm oil plantation and native forests

Losing ground in biodiversity hotspots worldwide

Agriculture is eating into areas that are important in protecting some of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. Most of this new agricultural land is being used to grow cattle feed.

NTNU’s new COVID-19 test to be used in India and Denmark

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has signed agreements to deliver as many as one million COVID-19 test kits to DTU, the Technical University of Denmark, and APS LABS, an Indian biotech company. “It is very positive that this technology can now also be useful internationally,” says Bent Høie, Norway’s Minister of Health and Care Services.