Society & culture - Sciencenorway.no

Survey: Muslims in Norway are more religious than Christians

More people who identify as Muslims in Norway say they believe in God compared to those who identify as Christians.

There are now more dictatorships than democracies in the world

There are now more people living under dictatorships than in democracies. At the same time, there are bright spots — several countries have moved away from authoritarian rule.

Exam answers from ChatGPT were only detected in 6 out of 10 cases

Researchers at the University of Agder have investigated how well ChatGPT can answer exam questions. Only 60 per cent of the answers were detected as robot texts.

Living with both parents after a break-up is becoming the norm

Roughly 56 per cent of Norwegian parents who have separated in the last two years choose this solution.

Boys don’t need to get as good grades as girls

Boys’ grades, on average, are lower than girls’. But researchers found some good reasons they don't need to be as concerned about good grades as the girls.

Divorces have doubled amongst the elderly

Amongst younger married couples, the proportion of divorces has decreased.

This is what a Norwegian boy looked like 8,000 years ago

The Stone Age boy has now been reconstructed using DNA analysis and modern forensic techniques.

What did children eat as sweets in the old days?

Viking children chewed on plants. During World War II, children were not given any sweets at all.

Over 55 and looking for a job? Here are one researcher's tips for succeeding

Researcher Anne Grethe Solberg has interviewed mature job seekers. She clearly sees what works and what doesn't work in getting a new job.

A gold coin that changes history: Oldest known reference to the Norse god Odin found in Denmark

Norwegian and Danish researchers have found the god Odin's name on a gold coin from the beginning of the 5th century. Norse mythology must therefore be dated 150 years earlier than before.

This is why we celebrate International Women's Day today

Why is it important to celebrate this day?

Record low fertility rates in Norway in 2022

The total fertility rate in Norway was measured at 1.41 children per woman in 2022. This is the lowest that has ever been measured.

Half of those who live in nursing homes are lonely

According to a new Norwegian study, nurses make the elderly less lonely. “When staffing is low, there is only time for the routines,” one nurse says.

Oil and gas produced an extreme profit for Norway last year

Increased export revenues from energy resulted in a trade balance surplus of roughly 162 million USD in 2022. This is a level that has never been observed before.

The supplier of display cases for the new Viking Age Museum is being sued by another museum. Then NASA got involved

Fragile objects are safe in the new displays, the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property (Statsbygg) and the National Museum assure us. The latter already uses display cases from this supplier.

Almost one in four Norwegian women have experienced rape during their lifetime

According to a new study, a total of 23 per cent of Norwegian women and 4 per cent of Norwegian men say they have been raped at least once.

The Vikings traveled a lot. How did they manage to talk to people?

How did they communicate without learning languages in school or having access to dictionaries?

Did pirates really fly the Jolly Roger?

ASK A RESEARCHER: We asked a professor who has researched pirates.

Zombie fungus controls ants like they’re puppets. Could it make the leap to humans like in ‘The Last of Us’?

In the popular TV series, a fungus has gained the ability to infect people.

Vikings tagged the great lion in Venice with runes

Hundreds or thousands of Norwegian and Swedish Vikings went to the Mediterranean for ‘summer jobs’ as mercenaries. They left behind graffiti.

Archaeologists surprised when 3,500 year old arrowheads made of shells melted out of the ice in the Norwegian mountains

Unique arrowheads made of freshwater pearl mussel have melted out of the ice in the mountains in Jotunheimen in Norway. Arrowheads like this have not been found anywhere else in the world, according to archaeologist.

How often do you need to use your clothes to be «sustainable»?

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: The functional unit for a winter coat is 100 days of use. But what does it mean?

Why are highly educated people taller?

The taller you are, the more likely it is that you are highly educated. But folks with less education are catching up, according to a new study.

The building of a new Museum of the Viking Age in Oslo has officially begun

Ola Borten Moe, Minister of Research and Higher Education in Norway, did the honours of putting the first shovel – or rather excavator – in the ground.

The Vikings likely brought horses and dogs with them on their voyages to England

“Very nice to get some archaeological flesh on that bone,” says Professor Jan Bill.

The art of making a living: How to survive as an artist

Not giving up is more important than being the best. That was the advice Marius Johnsen received as a young art student. A new book deals with artistic life in Norway today.

Refugees must participate in decision making that affect their own lives

OPINION: Many refugees from Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya reside in the Kyangwali refugee settlement in Western Uganda. In 2021, the population of Kyangwali was 125,039.

Researchers have discovered that there’s something not quite right with Norway's finest Baroque art from the 17th century

For a long time, the wrong person has been given the credit for much of the art.

Born late in the year? Then it's much more likely that you will pursue a vocational track

Norwegian researchers have found a strong correlation between our birth month and the educational choices we make.

The world's oldest rune stone was found sticking out of the ground. Here’s how researchers figured out how old it is

The stone could be up to 2,000 years old — and we know that because of a cremation.

Norway will spend over 300 million USD to build a research station in Antarctica

The government is considering spending over 300 million USD on a new research station in Antarctica. The old Troll station is 32 years old and will be demolished.

Parental leave gives better mental health, especially for mothers

For mothers, the effect lasts for a long time. For fathers, it is weaker and more short-lived.

Several thousand people have been found in bogs in Europe. What kind of stories are found in 12,000 years of remains?

Many of them ended their lives in horrible ways, but there are many reasons why someone might have ended up in a bog.

Researchers fear the US will not help Europe as they have in the past if a new war hits the continent

The US has so far accounted for 90 per cent of arms aid to Ukraine. Going forward, Europeans must prepare to manage without so much help from the USA, researchers say.

The media almost never write about age discrimination

Older workers are very rarely mentioned in the press. To the extent that they do appear, they are most often about happy outcomes. Very few articles are about negative events or bad attitudes towards the elderly.

A mystery solved: Who killed the Swedish king Charles XII?

For centuries experts have debated who killed the Swedish King Charles XII. A new Finnish study in which the researchers shot at artificial skulls completely refutes the idea that he was killed by his own war-weary soldiers.

Why do Russians trust Putin about Ukraine, but not the Covid-vaccine?

Putin may have succeeded in getting a good number of Russians to believe the story of Nazis in Ukraine and the West. But the Kremlin leadership never got control of the narrative about the coronavirus in Russia.

Most people now live in a country where women have fewer than two children

"Virtually every country in the world has experienced a fall in fertility in recent decades," demographics researcher Øystein Kravdal said to sciencenorway.no.

Negotiations over Ukraine at this moment will probably lead to more war in the long term, says law expert

Russia will never let go of the Crimean peninsula, as has been demanded by Ukraine as part of a negotiated peace, experts believe. Given this, there is a great deal of disagreement over whether negotiations should still take place.

World’s oldest rune stone found in Norway, archaeologists believe

The find was kept secret by researchers for more than a year.

The inner parts of the Oslofjord contains some of the most exciting traces of Stone Age people in Europe

Archaeologists are now seeing how a landscape of fjords, straits and islands attracted people in the Stone Age. Few other places in Europe lend themselves as well to studying the lives and disappearances of the Stone Age people.

Do older people get more distracted by the technology in new cars?

In 2022, every third person killed in traffic accidents in Norway was aged 65 or older. Researcher believes this could be the start of a trend that will increase in the coming years.

Child welfare caseworkers ignored violence against mothers

According to a new study, the support system helps women who are exposed to violence, but not to the same extent in cases of break-ups where both children and violence are involved.

Now we know who the Vikings had children with

DNA evidence from Norway points above all to Britain and Ireland rather than people from the north-east. But a lot of this hereditary material has mysteriously almost disappeared after the Viking Age.

40-tonne steel rigs will protect the Viking ships during the building of a new Viking Age museum in Oslo

The Viking ships have remained in the same place since they were first put on display. Now they are being moved, with comprehensive security measures in place to ensure they are not damaged.

Therapists detect few cases of intimate partner violence

A new study finds that therapists in the Norwegian Family Services rarely detect physical intimate partner violence.

What happens when an economic bubble bursts?

“The moment the market realizes that there will be no more optimists, then the bubble bursts,” says the economics professor.

Norwegians over the age of 60 have become significantly richer in the last 10 years

Transitioning to a retirement pension usually means a decrease in income. Even so, Norwegian elderly continue to expand their wealth.

Here’s what Norwegian archaeologists discovered in 2022

5,000-year-old rock art. The remains of a 1,600-year-old house. A shipwreck at the bottom of a lake. A Viking grave, a Viking sword and a Viking silver treasure. These are among the top finds from Norway in the year gone by.

Study: One in three young people open up about difficult experiences online

Sharing on social media gets a lot of negative attention. But most young people who have shared something they felt was difficult experience support.

Insurance is a foundation of modern society

When modern insurance arrived in the 18th century, houses and buildings suddenly became collateral for loans. This laid a foundation for modern society, says economics professor Knut Sogner.

Most read 2022: Ancestors without cavities, Viking swords in random backyards and glacial archaeological finds

Here’s the 2022 top-ten most read list from sciencenorway.no.

Buying and selling credit is worth thousands of times as much as the ‘real’ economy

Credit is about ‘time’, ‘trust’ and ‘faith’, economic historians say.

More and more children have shared residency after their parents break-up

As many as 43 per cent of the children now live alternately with one or the other parent after a break-up.

The culture of sleeping: Some slept in rose-painted beds, others barely had time to sleep

In his new book, cultural historian Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen takes us back to a time when decorative beds were a status symbol, and having to share a bed with random relatives was quite normal.

Norwegian parliamentary politicians laughed when they quoted from the Bible

The Bible has been used as a political guiding principle in three Norwegian parliamentary debates, twice for real and once for fun.

The world's most modern Viking ship can parallel park

You probably haven’t heard of electric Viking ships before. Old meets new in ‘Saga Farmann’ — and the Vikings would probably approve, being the innovators that they were.

Why do we drink coffee in the morning?

In the past, people drank beer and spirits for breakfast.

The social gift system is suitable for psychopaths according to researcher

Consider this before accepting an expensive gift.

Norway gives limited permission to Russian research project

Norway will allow Russia to carry out parts of a research expedition, but not in the territorial waters of Svalbard.

Viking grave discovered in the middle of Norway's capital Oslo

A grave with the remains of a shield and a cape buckle were uncovered during the construction of a new house this autumn. It is the first Viking grave rich in artefacts that archaeologists have excavated in Oslo.

Is Russia a greater or lesser threat to Norway than before?

The Ukraine war has weakened Russia's military presence in the north, but increased the importance of the country's nuclear weapons.

No gifts, no society: “It's strange how little people know about why we give each other gifts.”

“The exchange of gifts is the glue that holds society together,” one researcher says.

The three fears every leader has to know: Why appealing to fear is essential in a crisis

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Knowing how to appeal to apocalyptic fear, political fear, and private fear will help a leader name reality in a credible manner and assess which fear to prioritize at a given time.

The typical person who loves buying Christmas gifts is an extroverted, self-confident Christian woman who's bad at planning

Who actually enjoys buying Christmas presents?