Nature, Numbers & Technology

Plastic Pollution

2025.03.21

Core samples from Greenland's seabed provide first historical overview of plastic pollution

By coring the seabed at 850 m water depth in Disko Bay off Greenland's west coast, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have obtained the first historical record of plastic pollution in Greenland. The new data…

green transition

2025.03.18

Popular cooking cheese made with peas yields same taste and texture

A significant amount of the milk used in a popular cooking cheese can be substituted with plants, all while maintaining its taste and texture. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have demonstrated this by…

Trees

2025.03.14

What Denmark can learn from Malawi: Trees can benefit health, local economies and climate

Denmark's Green Tripartite Agreement aims to plant trees in an effort to restore nature and reduce agricultural land. However, a new study from Malawi shows that trees can do more than just capture CO₂ – they can also…

Diet

2025.03.04

New Research: Strong Link Between Western Diet During Pregnancy and ADHD

New research from Denmark reveals that a mother’s diet during pregnancy—characterised by a Western dietary pattern high in fat and sugar and low in fresh ingredients—may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders…

FOOD

2025.02.27

VAT adjustments could save 170,000 lives a year in Europe

170,000 deaths a year could be avoided if European countries were to increase value-added tax (VAT) rates on meat and dairy products, while reducing them on fruits and vegetables. Such changes would also reduce Europe’s…

Wetlands

2025.02.11

Twenty years on, biodiversity struggles to take root in restored wetlands

While the restoration of natural areas is high on political agendas, a comprehensive new study from the University of Copenhagen shows that – after more than two decades – biodiversity growth has stalled in restored…

Research

2025.01.29

AI creates new winners and losers in the labour market

Demand for professional skills has changed significantly since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, according to a new international study.

Award

2025.01.23

Eske Willerslev found the past in two grams of soil. His finding gives us a window into the future

As a student, Professor Eske Willerslev had an idea: He wanted to extract DNA directly from the soil. This has led to major scientific breakthroughs and an entire new research field, eDNA, for which he now receives one…

archaeology

2025.01.16

Volcanic eruption caused Neolithic people to sacrifice unique "sun stones"

4,900 years ago, a Neolithic people on the Danish island Bornholm sacrificed hundreds of stones engraved with sun and field motifs. Archaeologists and climate scientists from the University of Copenhagen can now show…

Antarctica:

2025.01.09

Historic Drilling Campaign Reaches more than 1.2-Million-Year-Old Ice

It is expected that the 2,800 meter deep ice core drilling down to the bedrock under the Antarctic ice sheet for the first time will reveal crucial details about the earth's climate and the history of the atmosphere mor…

Computer Science

2024.12.13

Coming soon – offline speech recognition on your phone

More than one in four people currently integrate speech recognition into their daily lives. A new algorithm developed by a University of Copenhagen researcher and his international colleagues makes it possible to…

FOOD

2024.12.13

How chemical reactions deplete nutrients in plant-based drinks

A University of Copenhagen study of plant-based drinks reveals a common issue: they are lacking in proteins and essential amino acids compared to cow’s milk. The explanation lies in their extensive processing, causing…

Glacier flood

2024.12.11

One of world's largest glacier floods triggered in Greenland

For the first time, scientists have observed the release of a massive glacial lake outburst in East Greenland, where more than 3,000 billion liters of meltwater were unleashed in just weeks. This rare, natural flooding…

FOOD

2024.11.20

Researchers eliminate the gritty mouth feel: How to make it easier to eat fiber-rich foods

Fiber is something that most of us get far too little of. To change that, we need to actually enjoy eating it. Food researchers from the University of Copenhagen have now invented a "disguise" that solves the problem of…

Gut bacteria

2024.11.13

Children's gut bacteria may hold the key to diarrhea treatment

Diarrhea claims the lives of 500,000 children each year in low- and middle-income countries. Now, Danish and Ethiopian researchers have linked chronic diarrhea to a specific pattern of gut bacteria, a discovery that…

citizen science

2024.10.28

High school students promoted to real researchers

Besides helping to collect samples or spot butterflies for research projects — non-professionals can now conduct actual laboratory work alongside professional researchers. Together with Danish high schools, the…

Biodiversity

2024.10.23

AI can now be our eyes and ears in the forest and beneath the waves

Animal sounds combined with artificial intelligence (AI) can revolutionize biodiversity monitoring both on land and in aquatic settings according to researchers from the University of Copenhagen. By analyzing wildlife…

Microbiome

2024.10.15

‘Vegetarian’ salmon might lead the way to better health for humans and fish

Plant-based salmon feed aims to make salmon production more sustainable. This can result in better fish for dinner, and knowledge about gut bacteria can also impact more sustainable feed for other farm animals.

Animals

2024.10.15

Seven New Frog Species Discovered in Madagascar: Sounds Like Something from Star Trek

An international team of researchers have discovered seven new species of tree frogs that make otherworldly calls in the rainforests of Madagascar. Their strange, high-pitched whistling calls sound more like sound…

Astrophysics

2024.10.11

"Islands" of Regularity Discovered in the Famously Chaotic Three-Body Problem

When three massive objects meet in space, they influence each other through gravity in ways that evolve unpredictably. In a word: Chaos. That is the conventional understanding. Now, a researcher from the University of…

quantum

2024.10.03

Quantum researchers come up with a recipe that could accelerate drug development

University of Copenhagen mathematicians have developed a recipe for upgrading quantum computers to simulate complex quantum systems, such as molecules. Their discovery brings us closer to being able to predict how new…

Self-monitoring

2024.09.26

Long-COVID sufferers are conserving strength with a "hack" of their fitness tech

When people suffering from the long-term effects of COVID-19 faced more questions than answers from doctors, they began collecting data on themselves using fitness watches to better understand their disease. University…

CANCER

2024.09.26

AI could predict breast cancer risk via ‘zombie cells’

Research from the University of Copenhagen shows that new AI technology is better at predicting the risk of breast cancer than current clinical benchmarks.

2024.09.25

Do you feel eco-guilt or eco-shame? Emotions reveal how much we care about the environment

Green choices related to everyday climate, environment and sustainability decisions are influenced by shame and guilt according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. And the way one feels hinges upon one’s…

environment

2024.09.11

How toxic are they? Researchers investigate the environmental consequences of new biotechnological pesticides

Biotechnological pesticides are a promising alternative to traditional chemical pesticides. But we have limited knowledge of how toxic they are to other organisms in the environment beyond regulatory assessments. A new…