Setting Spaceship Earth on the right course
If the world is going to be able to meet the UN’s sustainability goals by 2030, research must give individuals and businesses alike the tools they need to make the right choices.
Keeping electric car design on the right road
Pushing nanoscale battery developments in the right direction can help create a sustainable transport sector.
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.
Does it matter how long you sit—if you are fit?
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.
Helping today’s power companies anticipate tomorrow
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.
Lazarus ice
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.
Three Arctic researchers at North Pole
Three NTNU researchers have visited the North Pole during a research cruise in their efforts to better understand sea ice.
Ocean acidification bad for cod
Increasing ocean acidification could double the mortality of newly-hatched cod larvae, a study just published in the American online journal PLOS ONE reports.
Summer is for the birds
Five Gemini stories that detail the secrets of Norway’s bird populations.
Jellyfish invaders: Trondheim Fjord in transition
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.
Trashing the ocean
Marine debris has become a big problem. But plastic and old fishing nets can be turned into a resource rather than being an environmental hazard.
Five Nordic universities look into the crystal ball
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.
Major climate benefits from shifting to renewable energy
Wind and solar power are variable sources of energy that require storage and transmission capacity. But the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Premature babies may grow up to have weaker bones
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.
Plastic floors, concrete ceilings and hot fish
Fish can adapt their metabolisms to cope with warmer ocean temperatures, but not necessarily with extreme heat.
Uncovering the secrets of Arctic seabird colonies
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.
Bombs away— WWII bombs provide living laboratories for cold-water coral reefs
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.
Dissolving cholesterol crystals may help treat heart disease
An American mother’s hunch might result in new treatments for patients who can’t tolerate conventional cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Japan-Norway Arctic Science and Innovation Week
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.
NTNU builds bridges to Japan
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.
Freezing plants to predict the fate of the Arctic
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.
Dark lords, werewolves and Indiana Jones in the polar night
The polar night descends on the arctic archipelago of Svalbard for more than 100 days a year. But even in the depths of this darkness, the oceans are churning with activity.
Keeping Arctic villages, infrastructure from falling into the sea
The Arctic is set to be a 21st century boomtown, as summer sea ice melts away, opening the area to increased trans-Arctic shipping and oil and gas development. A new understanding of Arctic coastal erosion offers clues to how to best protect the docks and other infrastructure this development will bring.
Household consumption significant driver of climate, other environmental impacts
You won’t make big cuts in your environmental impact by taking shorter showers or turning out the lights. The real environmental problem, a new analysis has shown, is embodied in the things you buy.
Hacking Trondheim to cut greenhouse gas emissions
NTNU and Norway’s technological capital—Trondheim—hosted a Climathon to give the city the tools it needs to make ambitious greenhouse gas cuts. The results might be helpful to other cities around the globe that face the same problem.
Food waste recycling not always the best idea
With Norway as a case study, a first-ever effort to quantify the benefits of recycling food waste versus preventing it shows prevention is the best policy. But Norway continues to invest significant funds in biogas facilities for food waste recycling.
Iron-age Norwegians liked their bling
Norway’s Main Air Station at Ørland will be expanded to house the country’s new F-35 fighter jets. Archaeologists called in to examine the expansion site before construction have found evidence of Iron Age longhouses, complete with glass shards, beads and lots of garbage.
ABC — anything but coal
Policymakers, industry and government officials will have to invest US $2.5 trillion for electricity generation over the next 20 years. A new report presents the environmental costs and benefits linked to different renewable energy sources, and makes one thing abundantly clear: anything is better than coal.
Two tickets to Paris to talk about carbon cuts
NTNU was given only two admission tickets to the UN climate talks in Paris later this month. The tickets will be used in part by two researchers from the university’s Industrial Ecology Programme to give a workshop about carbon accounting.
Timing is everything for renewable energy use
There’s no time to waste in shifting to renewable energy sources if we are to avoid dangerous climate change. That’s especially true when it comes to bioenergy, which causes a temporary increase in CO2 levels that is later removed as replacement biostocks grow.