Human Evolution in the Sea at Bioko
Did some of our human features evolve while our ancestors were living in water? The aquatic ape theory has been disregarded by paleoanthropologists, but it deserves another chance.
NTNU
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Avian songsters
Bird songs have many functions, but their main purpose is to attract a mate. Some of the best avian singers are described below.
Sharing a chalkboard from 300 km away
Nicklas is 300 kilometres away. He waves and hands you a piece of chalk. You take it from him and draw on the board.
High drug use in nursing homes
A number of different medications are used to treat psychiatric disorders in Norwegian nursing homes. Even when residents’ symptoms show improvement over time, new research shows that many of them continue to be given the drugs.
Real men dance the minuet
The Birken ski festival, the Great Trial of Strength cycling event and the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon are considered to be real tests of manhood today. But a few hundred years ago, the minuet was how men displayed their skills and strength.
A floating tunnel under Sognefjord could withstand an explosion
Concrete can tolerate much more force that previously believed, which could open the door to a new kind of road structure: a floating tunnel.
Blood, banishment and a 500-year split
A series of bloody religious wars were fought after a Church divide that Martin Luther did not originally want. How did it all go so wrong?
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.
Fuel of the future
Heavy-duty trucks will soon be driving around in Trondheim, Norway, fuelled by hydrogen created with solar power, and emitting only pure water vapour as “exhaust”. Not only will hydrogen technology revolutionize road transport, it will also enable ships and trains to run emission-free.
Earth to ISS: Norway calling
Norway has direct contact with the ISS space station. Now CIRiS – the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Space – is opening a new control room.
How early can a mother have skin contact with her premature baby?
Early skin-to-skin care is important for newborns. But should preterm babies have this same experience, or is it more important to get them right into an incubator?
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.
Astrophysics a field for great discoveries
As a child, Professor Myrheim wondered what the far side of the Moon looked like. Trondheim’s Starmus festival will welcome a trio who has actually been on the moon, and the astrophysicist is excited to hear their lecture. “Perhaps it’s the magic of childhood that lingers on,” he says.
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.
Two prestigious awards for research on interfaces
Two international professional organizations recognize PhD research that could improve everything from weather forecasts to the prediction of volcanic eruptions.
How plague attacks us – and how we can defend ourselves
The plague that is believed to have caused the Black Death still occasionally ravages populations, albeit to a much smaller extent than before. Now we know more about how the bacteria attack us.
Climate change, ocean diversity and women in science
Science has made great strides since Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish Nobel Laureate who in 1896 first determined that carbon dioxide from human activity could warm the planet. The same progress hasn’t been made in increasing the number of women in the sciences.
Award-winning science communicator “not surprised” that Trump pulled out of Paris climate agreement
This year’s winners of the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication 2017 were announced yesterday at a press conference in New York. The winner of the science communicator award is astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The medal itself will be awarded on 20 June during the Starmus Science Festival in Trondheim.
Will send a giant sunflower into space
Imagine a firefly fluttering near a floodlight. Can you see it? Not unless you shade the light coming from the glare of the lamp. This is where the sunflower screen enters the picture.
Stinky city air as climate art
Imagine breathing polluted New Delhi air. It’s a scorching 40 degrees and the humidity is high. But you’re not in New Delhi – you’re in an art installation, during the Starmus festival in Trondheim in June.
Religious individuals regret having casual sex only slightly more
Whether you are religious or not does not matter so much. You regret one-night stands about as much as other people do.
Popularizing science the Brian Cox way
Many of the speakers at the Starmus Festival are superstars in their fields of expertise. But few have as many fans as Brian Cox, the researcher who also feels at home in popular culture.
Eradicating extreme poverty
When Jeffrey D. Sachs (62) comes to Norway in June for the Starmus science festival, attendees will need to fasten their seat belts. The economics professor is described as a “battering ram” and a “bully,” who is ploughing his way to a tough goal: the global eradication of extreme poverty.
Look at Eva, 4 months old and standing
With practice, children can stand without support even before they are 4 months old. This is much earlier than has been reported in the literature.