New clues from old bones: Some Vikings were much more violent than others
An investigation into Viking skeletons reveals a hidden story of violence, power, and the surprising differences between neighbouring Viking societies.
Podcasts
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The phenomenon that converts all kinds of heat into electricity
A box the size of a refrigerator that supplies a home – and perhaps ten neighbouring houses – with electricity. That’s Ole Martin Løvvik’s dream at SINTEF.
Why is it so hard to bring clean cookers to Africa?
Despite decades of innovation, more than a billion people in sub-Saharan Africa still don’t have access to clean cooking. Low-tech, affordable cookers exist, yet firewood remains the go-to fuel. Why?
From running rats to brain maps: A Nobel odyssey
It’s been 10 years since Norwegian neuroscientists May-Britt and Edvard Moser won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with their former mentor and colleague John O’Keefe. Listen to the Mosers themselves tell the story of how they came to discover grid cells, the neurons that help form a GPS in the brain.
Why we get seasick – and how to avoid it
Everyone gets seasick, says researcher Toralf Sundin Hamstad at SINTEF, but there are tricks we can employ to avoid the worst of it.
Why are there traffic jams, and what can we do to avoid them?
No one likes sitting in a traffic jam. Research shows that the average Norwegian motorist is willing to fork out almost 100 kroner in order to spend one hour less in traffic. But traffic congestion can also be mitigated.
Don’t store food in plastic grocery bags!
The warning couldn’t be clearer. Standard plastic grocery bags are useful when we’re out shopping, but don’t use them to store food. So says research scientist Lisbet Sørensen at SINTEF.
We should be happy that we have so many bacteria in our bodies
Researcher Hanne Haslene-Hox at SINTEF claims that bacteria are much better than their reputation suggests. Each of us hosts as many as 38 million of them in our bodies.
The cathedral at the end of the world
Trondheim’s Nidaros Cathedral is full of secrets, messages from the past written in stone. One researcher is now decoding these missives, half hidden in a very special spot in and around the most sacred place in the church.
Strange bedfellows: Howard Hughes, the CIA and a lost Soviet sub
The American eccentric billionaire, Howard Hughes, wasn’t afraid to make expensive investments in new technologies. So when he announced in 1972 that he was going to build a giant ship to mine manganese nodules from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, few were surprised. But the ship had a very different – and top secret – mission.
When trees talk
We think of trees as silent sentinels, watching as the world goes by and the ages pass. But what if you could interview them about what they have seen?
When 1100 teachers defied Hitler — and won!
More than 80 years ago, Norwegian teachers refused to teach Nazi ideology to their students. They were tortured, imprisoned and starved. But they prevailed. The story of how they won — and why it still matters.
Tea bags — and more — on the tundra
Ever wonder how climate researchers know what they know? 63 Degrees North journeys to 69.5 degrees North to find the answer to that exact question.
Saving lives in Sierra Leone — one C-section at a time
Sierra Leone used to be the most dangerous place in the world to give birth. Without enough doctors to do C-sections, women and babies were dying. But what if you didn’t need a doctor?
Listening to Leviathans
Nineteenth-century Norwegian technology helped bring large whale populations to the brink of extinction. Can 21st-century technology help save them?
Running rats and healing hearts
We all know that exercise is good for us, but how much, how hard, how long? One exercise physiologist’s research journey and the answers he found.
3D printing – a revolution in manufacturing technology
In recent years, 3D printing has exploded in popularity, and may open a new era of faster and more climate-friendly manufacturing. But is it really the manufacturing method of the future?
Artificial intelligence has become the cardiologist’s “super-assistant”
If anything goes wrong with your heart, it is critical to get the right treatment quickly. Artificial intelligence can help with just this – and more lives can be saved.
Artificial intelligence – fairy tale or nightmare?
Some people are very anxious. Others are enthusiastic. But how intelligent is AI, really?
Making oxygen on the Moon
The Moon’s atmosphere is entirely devoid of oxygen. If humans want to stay there for extended periods, it will be of great benefit to make breathable oxygen there instead of having to transport it from Earth. But is this at all possible?
Wax, wood and CO2 — tools that can combat climate change
How scientists and engineers across the globe — and at NTNU — are harnessing unlikely materials to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU’s climate law is an important milestone. But it’s not enough.
Tremendous floods in Pakistan earlier this year forced 600,000 pregnant women to leave their homes for safer ground. It was just one in a series of nearly unthinkable happenings caused by climate change — and a clear message that humankind has to do more to stop it.
The Alchemists: Turning wild water into white coal
How Norwegian scientists and engineers harnessed the country’s wild waterfalls by developing super efficient turbines — and how advances in turbine technology being developed now may be the future in a zero-carbon world.
Want to save the planet? Cut coal use by 95 percent, oil by 60 percent by 2050, report says
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its third Working Group report on how humankind can mitigate the ecosystem and societal effects of climate change. Much can be done, but the challenges remain enormous, the report confirms.