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.

Global MRI data offers hope for improving treatment of brain injuries

A sizable research consortium coordinated by NTNU and St. Olavs Hospital will analyse large amounts of MRI exam data from around the world. The data will help researchers gain important new understanding about brain injuries in people who have had trauma to the head. The goal is to improve patient health care.

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.

New lessons from the worst oil spill disaster ever

Ten years ago, the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico killed eleven men and resulted in the largest accidental oil spill in history. Years of investigations concluded that the drilling crew missed critical warning signals that would have stopped the problem. A new analysis suggests that wasn’t the case.

A tiny arctic shrub reveals secrets of plant growth on Svalbard

It’s not easy being a tiny willow on the wind-and snow-blasted islands of the Norwegian territory of Svalbard. It turns out that Salix polaris, the polar willow, handles these tough conditions by growing as best it can in response to July temperatures — a response that researchers recorded all over the archipelago.

From coronavirus to a greener society?

Governments across the globe are funding record-breaking crisis packages to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Is this the time to fund greener, more climate-friendly industries and investments?

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Fast-moving information on a fast-moving virus

Medical researchers worldwide are racing to find treatments and vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe. A new website offers up-to-date summaries on available and emerging options against COVID-19.

Global supply chains as a way to curb carbon emissions

The coronavirus outbreak raised everyone’s awareness of the significance of global supply chains to modern economies. But global supply chains also play an important role in greenhouse gas emissions. How they are managed can either increase or decrease carbon emissions, new research shows.

Abandoned cropland helps make Europe cooler

As nations prepare to mitigate climate change, decision makers need to understand how land use fits into the climate equation. A new study looked at land use changes over two decades and found a major shift from cropland to forests.  That change made western Europe cooler.

VIEWPOINTS

Towards a sustainable term for sustainability

The concept of sustainability has long been incorporated into our collective vocabulary. The word is used in many contexts, including in the PR industry. If we are going to find a way out of the climate and environmental crisis, maybe it should be replaced?

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Are robots designed to include the queer population?

Robot technology is flourishing in multiple sectors of society, including the retail, health care, industry and education sectors. However, are the perspectives of minority groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, considered in robot and AI development?