SNORW-tag

This is how the ice age turned quick clay into a Norwegian problem

Norway, Sweden and parts of North America are the world's worst quick clay areas.

Seabed methane release follows the rhythm of the tides

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Methane is constantly being released from the seabed into the ocean. A recent study in the Arctic Ocean shows that this release follows pressure changes in the sea level related to daily lunar cycles.

Company plans to fully charge electric cars in 17.5 minutes

The technology company Beyonder has been given millions of euros in support from the EU to lead a European research project that will provide faster charging of electric cars, and take pressure off the power grid.

The benefits of probiotics could change the impact of dangerous bacteria in oceans

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Bacteria are everywhere. In a world hidden from our eyes, they are the major influencers in the environment and our body. Let’s dive deeper into bacteria roles and benefits.

Journey across the Polar Front

During the first two days in the Barents Sea, we completed our first crossing of the Polar Front, all the way from the warm, saline Atlantic waters in the south, to the cold and fresher Arctic waters in the north to map the location of the Polar Front.

If horses hadn’t made it out of North America, they probably wouldn’t exist today

Ancient horses similar to the ones we know today evolved in North America. From there they spread to Asia and Europe.

Why doesn’t all our air disappear into space?

ASK A RESEARCHER: The atmosphere may be leaking more than you think, but luckily we still have enough air down here.

Life at the seabed: studying bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrates across the polar front

It is said that we humans know more about the surface of the moon than the surface of our planet’s seafloor. If you knew how much we’re missing out! So much life and beauty can be found near the seabed.

In the footsteps of Nansen

Meet the tribe working on the RV «Kronprins Haakon».

The famous Jutulhogget canyon was created by a megaflood

The megaflood, which occured 10,400 years ago, must have been a disaster for the first people living in the area.

Serving up edible kelp to Michelin restaurants and supermarkets

An entrepreneurial company called Seaweed Solutions is now harvesting more than 100 tonnes of nutritious kelp from a seaweed farm off the coast of central Norway. The seaweed is being sold to food producers in Europe. “This industry will be big,” says an independent researcher.

Departure into the known unknown

We left port in Tromsø on May 14th. Finally, after 10 days in isolation and meeting other cruise participants only as small faces on a video screen, we were released onto Helmer Hanssen, our home for the next nine days.

First experience onboard the RV "Helmer Hanssen"

For the first time in my life I am going to experience Phytoplankton blooming in Arctic. The vessel is soon ready to take us on board, and we are currently sitting in isolation at beautiful Sommarøy. My thoughts now are on the journey. How will it be?

Let’s talk dirty

The seabed and the animals living there are collectively called, the benthos and it is one of the largest and most diverse habitats on the planet.

Now researchers know what’s underneath Jostedalsbreen, the largest glacier in continental Europe

Jostedalsbreen represents perhaps the largest unknown area in the region. Recently, geologists have mapped the glacier using georadar.

Nansen Legacy Q2 Scientific divers sample ice algae and zooplankton below sea ice

Spring, a biologically critical time window in the Arctic

During the Nansen Legacy cruises we work together with joint forces towards an improved holistic understanding of the marine systems in the Arctic and the Barents Sea.

Wolf packs don’t actually have alpha males and alpha females, the idea is based on a misunderstanding

The researcher who introduced this term tried to clear the confusion up two decades ago, but the myth still lives on.

The lonely Algae

From the last time we collected water, I took a drop to check under a microscope, to get an insight into what is hiding. But no, no universe here. Nothing that swam, floated or hovered. No signs of spring bloom. But then, suddenly, in one corner of this drop I found something. A solitary microalgae, alone in this vast drop universe.

Lost and (not always) found: The ups and downs of sediment trap deployments

Some days you win, some days you lose. Your car keys. A single sock out of your favorite pair. A 200-metre long rope worth hundreds of thousands of kroner in equipment and samples. No? Just us?

Tiny Arctic wildlife matters

Hello from another fine day from the largest research vessel in Norway - Kronprins Haakon. After having a delicious pizza lunch on board today, I came up to the 7th deck (yes that’s right, this boat has 10 decks), to write this blog in the conference room – a nice, cozy room with a great view. How is a girl from the south of India where winter is 20 degrees, surviving up here in the Arctic, you ask?

Five myths about the Big Bang

Where did the Big Bang happen, and what was going on around it? Two physicists take us through the most common misunderstandings of what the theory is about.

The hunt for the hidden life in water

Life on board a research vessel has its own and unique rhythm. Time operates a little differently here, both because days are a bit intense with sample collection and analysis, but also because the ship simply has its own time zone.

Excitement onboard the RV "Kronprins Haakon"

Why do animals hibernate?

ASK A RESEARCHER: All kinds of animals go into hibernation. Some hibernate all winter, while others "turn off" their bodies for just a few hours.

Ice Age algae bloom on Andøya

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Algae blooms are not only due to modern pollution. Scientists at Tromsø University Museum have discovered that, when most of Fennoscandia was covered by ice, a large algae population thrived in a small ice-free refugia just north of the Lofoten.

Svalbard's special northern lights

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Svalbard's unique geographical position gives the opportunity to observe both the green night time aurora and the redder daytime aurora. But what is the difference?

65 536 shades of grey can help us understand our geological past

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: When medicine met geology - detecting the invisible traces of volcanic eruptions with CT scans.

Who rules the Arctic seas?

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: It's not the polar bear...

Almost 40 glaciers on Svalbard have woken up

After many years of "sleep", these glaciers are now advancing at full speed.

The "missing link" that triggered the ice ages

Melting icebergs from Antarctica are the key, according to a new study.

The sea along Norway’s coast has gotten darker. That’s bad news for fish, seagrass and kelp

At the same time, large numbers of moon jellyfish and helmet jellyfish have taken over many Norwegian fjords.

Researchers may have discovered where dreams come from

Brain cells that receive sensory stimuli while we’re awake may be activated by memories when we sleep.

Study finds signs of ancient megafloods on Mars – pure speculation, says professor in Norway

Based on images from the Mars rover Curiosity, researchers believe floods of unimaginable magnitude once washed over Mars. “They’re trying to justify a lot of things that you can’t really know based on a few pebbles”, says professor at the University of Oslo.

Record high levels of CO2 and methane in the atmosphere over Norway in 2019

For the 19th year in a row, record high levels of CO2 and methane were measured in the atmosphere over Norway, according to new numbers.

Why does the avocado have such huge seeds?Meet the plants that have lost their enormous partners

What kind of animal is actually capable of spreading a huge avocado seed? And why does the tree Maclura pomifera make huge fruits that no one wants to eat? These are plants that are still waiting for ‘friends’ that will never return.

The French man who forgot about fruit shows us how the language we speak is pre-coded in our brains

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: A dog is not an apple. And this is perhaps why one man after a stroke no longer knew what an apple was.

Why are the ashes of one of Norway's most important scientists in an unmarked grave?

Victor Moritz Goldschmidt was arrested and about to be sent to Auschwitz on the prisoner ship Donau. But at the last minute, he was pulled from the queue.

Scientists are seeing ice age beginnings for very first time

Some fantastic 3D images have emerged from the bottom of the North Sea, making it possible to document the beginning of the ice ages 2.6 million years ago.

The rodents are back: Surprising amounts of mice in Eastern Norway

The phenomenon of rodent population explosions had stopped appearing in Norwegian nature. Until around the year 2000, when they for some reason returned. This summer, enormous amounts of mice have taken over Eastern Norway.

Svalbard provides clues about Earth’s largest mass extinction

In a new study, Norwegian researchers have gotten closer to understanding what happened during the greatest mass extinction of life on Earth. The element phosphorus may have played an important role.

Researchers get a hint about how the brain matures

What really happens in the brain when a baby suddenly starts to smile? Or when a toddler from one day to the next becomes interested in playing with other children? Norwegian researchers believe they’ve discovered a clue from creatures that are completely different from us.

When a several-hundred-metre-high tsunami hit Northern Norway

Scientists know more and more about the giant meteorite that crashed into the sea between Finnmark and Svalbard millions of years ago. And about the huge wave that washed over northern Norway.

Historic amount of flooding in Europe during the last 30 years

Europe is now experiencing more frequent and greater floods compared to the last 500 years, according to a pan-European study that included Norway.

Geologists want people to help them hunt for meteor craters

Just two have been found on land in Norway so far. The world tally is 191, a number which keeps increasing. Geologists now want Norwegians to hunt for more craters.

These measures can slow lice infestations on farmed salmon

A study of nearly 50 million salmon over six years shows that cleaner fish can delay lice infestations at salmon farms — if there are enough of the cleaner fish. As a result, fish farms could reduce the number of delousing procedures.

Your blood is a power meal for mosquitoes

ASK A RESEARCHER: Mosquitos love human blood, but can they live without it? And what does a mosquito eat when it can’t get blood?

Here’s how you can make your own compost

Linda Jolly has been practicing organic gardening for 50 years. She explains how to make your own soil from garden and food waste.

What is soil, anyway?

Did you know that the soil in fields is made up mostly of rock, while planting soil from the garden centre is almost pure moss?

Small additives can make old antibiotics work again

Norwegian researchers have created several promising additives for old antibiotics. But even if they were to reach the market, they would only be a short-term solution. “We can never win the battle against bacteria,” says professor Dag Berild.

The hunt for a shell with a left-hand twist

One summer long ago, two children found a naked hermit crab. They wanted to save it. But it would prove to be difficult. Decades later, sciencenorway.no is trying to figure out why the crab was in such dire straits.

New research supports Thor Heyerdahl's theory on South Americans in the Pacific

There was contact between Polynesia and America long before the arrival of Europeans, a large new DNA study shows. One Norwegian researcher says the new findings are solid.

World food production depends on phosphorus. Are we about to run out?

For the past decade, scientists have warned that phosphorus reserves are running low. Are we heading towards a crisis?

Moose lower body temperature and heart rate in winter

Using surgically implanted sensors, researchers have for the first time been able to measure precisely what happens in the body of the moose during the changing seasons. Their body temperature and pulse are at their lowest in early spring - when conditions are the toughest.

Oceans are at their deepest in 250 million years

And they have hardly been deeper in the last 400 million years than now.

Chinese and Norwegian scientists have drilled an almost 600-meter deep hole into the Tibetan Plateau. This gives them a window into the past.

Among their findings is that ice age cycles suddenly became stronger just over 600,000 years ago. Researchers were also struck by how little plant life has changed over the past 1.7 million years.

Data on how Norwegians move around allow for a finetuned model of calculating the spread of coronavirus

But how accurate are these calculations, and what exactly can they be used for?

A new solar cycle may be underway

A new solar cycle has probably begun. It may peak in just a few years.

Emil Korsmo’s goal was to beat back weeds. But the wall charts he made of the bothersome plants were beautiful and popular

Weeds are no longer just plants we want to get rid of. Many people are concerned about biodiversity, while others have become increasingly captivated by harvesting wild plants to eat.

What happens to a species when it becomes more important to reproduce than to survive?

Researchers fiddled with how seed beetles were allowed to mate. The experiment showed that when the competition between the males becomes too strong, their offspring end up with more mutations.

Discovered new species on Svalbard: Britney was an arctic plesiosaur with a tiny head and enormous eyes

Researchers have learned more about an ancient, nearly headless family of prehistoric animals.

Norway's first onshore sea urchin farm up and running

Sea urchin farming could give Norway a new export commodity for gourmet restaurants in Europe and Asia, and help to save the kelp forests on Norway’s coastal seabed.

From the laboratory to the gallery: Microscopic images of our cells as art

The researchers' goal is to create artifical cells that can for instance knock out a type of cancer or neutralize harmful substances in the body. Now they are sharing their images of how life's tiny building blocks behave under the microscope.

Do birds like modern architecture?

Birds need hiding places, and some like to build nests in our buildings. So how are birds dealing with all the flat roofs and clean lines in modern construction?

You will never fly to far-away holiday destinations by electric plane

There are physical limitations that we can never overcome, one physicist says.

RNA: Scientists have discovered a new layer in the genetic code of life

Our cells contain a previously unknown layer of information. This layer facilitates a whole new level of regulation that might make us more adaptable. Or sick, when the system fails. Welcome to the new world of epitranscriptomics.

Smartphones still need to be charged daily. So what's happened to the battery revolution we've been promised?

The media often portray laboratory results as market-ready products, one battery researcher says.

The Kongsberg mines are famous for their beautiful native silver. Researcher now claims they may also be full of gold.

In the 1600s, promising gold discoveries were made in Kongsberg's silver mines. Now a researcher has looked into the gold finds from 350 years ago.

Bacteria lady: She’s terrified of bacteria – and their greatest champion

Jessica Lönn-Stensrud was holding her new-born daughter in her arms when she heard that three infants had died in an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant intestinal bacteria at a maternity ward in Sweden. Fear hit her like a punch to the stomach. Ten years later, she has become the micro-organisms’ noble defender.

As many as 200,000 coral reefs off Norway