How solar energy can be stored in ‘batteries’ made from food waste
Soon you may be able to keep your house warm in winter using heat which molecules from food waste have borrowed from yesterday’s sunshine.
Viewpoints
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What happens when artificial intelligence is used in public administration?
Data-driven public administration changes the public sector in a fundamental way. But what does this mean for you as a citizen?
Farms especially suitable for energy sharing
Allowing Norwegian farmers to buy and sell excess electricity they generate is good for everyone. Today’s regulations prevent this.
How many countries are there in Europe?
It sounds like a simple question: How many countries are there in Europe? However, the answer is more complicated than you might think.
This is what relatives think about home-based hospital care
How does it feel to be a relative of a loved one who is a patient in a hospital at home?
Women get help with pelvic floor exercises
Women’s health continues to be given low priority. But a new video provides important information on how to strengthen the pelvic floor after childbirth.
Machines will be the drivers of tomorrow. But how will we get there?
The actions that vehicle drivers perform today will be handed over to machines – just as soon as the technology makes it possible and road users demand that such systems be put in place. This is no simple task, but Norway is far ahead of the curve.
Cultures of fear can be strangled at birth
In the wake of the shocking revelation from a major Oslo hospital that fear among employees is making corporate whistleblowing difficult, some in the IT sector are promoting the opposite. When something goes wrong, they learn from their mistakes together.
We need to adapt our cities to a changing climate. But in Norway it’s still business as usual
If we are to avoid our cities becoming ‘heat magnets’ one day, and overwhelmed by flooding the next, we have to incorporate wetlands and ditch systems into our urban infrastructure.
Many developers forget that even the most intelligent systems have to interact with humans
The last dent in your car, two tragic aviation accidents, and the blow out at the Deepwater Horizon platform may all have had the same underlying cause.
Working from home inhibits innovation. But researchers know how to fix it
When you work from home, you tend to communicate more with the members of your own team. This is good for implementing ideas. On the other hand, you also communicate less with other groups, which does not encourage the creation of new ideas. But all this can be fixed.
Rampant uterine cells can cause disabling pain. Now it’s time to find a cure
Endometriosis: If we utilise all the knowledge we have about cancer, there is reason to hope that effective diagnosis and treatments can be developed to combat the female condition ‘everybody’ is talking about.
Data is just as important as the electricity we generate from the sun and wind
During his visit to Norway earlier this year, Bill Gates was keen to emphasise the innovation that will be needed to reduce the costs of mitigating climate change. One place to start is to educate more experts in the field of data processing.
Winter salting caused the crash – not the steel
Speciality steels made the headlines in 2021 following a serious car accident. Normally, alloys of this type corrode very slowly, but they must not be used to construct barriers along roads that are salted in winter. At other places on the road network, the same steels offer long lifetimes and cost savings.
There are easier ways of integrating solar power into the energy system
We need the electricity generated by solar panels in order to meet our climate change mitigation targets. But solar power must be integrated rationally and fairly – something that can only be achieved with effective regulation.
The Middle Ages here and now
Medieval times may seem dusty and distant, but we are surrounded by the Middle Ages in many different ways in our daily lives.
The New Atlantis – more and more of the world is underwater
Most of our planet is underwater – and steadily more will be underwater in the years to come. What do we really know about the underwater world?
When will we see a ‘Spotify’ for spare parts?
Vessel components are being transported all around the world when just a simple datafile would suffice.
Yes, we should produce hydrogen in Norway
Producing hydrogen will become an important part of decarbonising Europe’s energy system and is one of the opportunities Norway has to maintain value creation along the lines of what the country has experienced with oil and gas.
Fear of new technology in schools is exaggerated
We shouldn’t be too worried that conversational agents such as ChatGPT might be making cheats of our pupils. Schools should be empowering them to try out new technologies.
Nuclear power causes least damage to the environment
A comprehensive analysis of 870 power plants worldwide shows that nuclear power is a clear winner in protecting ecosystems. Bioenergy is a sure loser.
An artificial lava for sealing oil and gas wells has passed its lab tests
Norwegian oil and gas companies are now plugging and abandoning production wells using an artificial ‘lava’. So far, the results have been excellent. Recent laboratory results indicate that the same method can be used to seal subsurface CO2 storage reservoirs.
The hidden helpers
The situation of family carers has recently been the national news in Norway. Hidden helpers – caregiving relatives – must become visible in order to prevent becoming patients themselves, and health policy rhetoric needs to be translated into action.
Jewish prisoners forced to lie in stream so Germans could cross
It is difficult to understand how conspiracy theories can create hatred directed at individuals and an entire people, but we are witnessing the same thing today.