Nature, Numbers & Technology

Biology

2021.09.09

Fruit fly metabolism could pave the way for new obesity and diabetes drugs

The inner workings of fruit flies are more similar to those of humans than one might think. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered a hormone in these flies that can help us better understand…

TERRORISM

2021.09.06

From VHS tapes to YouTube: Terrorist recruitment since 9/11

Developments in technology have been profound since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. The growth of social media has facilitated the recruitment of members to extremist groups,…

algorithms

2021.07.06

Danish invention to make computer servers worldwide more climate friendly

An elegant new algorithm developed by Danish researchers can significantly reduce the resource consumption of the world's computer servers. Computer servers are as taxing on the climate as global air traffic combined,…

Innovation

2021.06.24

The University of Copenhagen has its first Chief Innovation Officer

Marius Sylvestersen is the University of Copenhagen’s first head of a newly established shared innovation centre.

Video report

2021.06.17

Researchers test virtual reality as a tool for promoting vaccination

234 random passersby got the opportunity to try a new virtual reality game, when researchers from the University of Copenhagen visited Fælledparken to test the efficiency of VR technology within health information.

artificial intelligence

2021.06.16

Algorithm reveals the mysterious foraging habits of narwhals

An algorithm can predict when narwhals hunt – a task once nearly impossible to gain insight into. Mathematicians and computer scientists at the University of Copenhagen, together with marine biologists in Greenland, hav…

Environment

2021.06.16

Bacteria used to clean diesel-polluted soil in Greenland

Diesel-polluted soil from now defunct military outposts in Greenland can be remediated using naturally occurring soil bacteria according to an extensive five-year experiment in Mestersvig, East Greenland, to which the…

climate

2021.06.09

Ancient air bubbles speak to a much warmer Antarctica during the ice-age than once believed

Twenty thousand-year-old air bubbles have revealed that Antarctic temperatures during the last ice age were markedly different than what the leading science once suggested. This is according to new research in which the…

archaeology

2021.06.07

10,000-year-old bones reveal earliest goat herders’ practices

To trace the domestication of the goat, an international team of researchers have analysed 10,000 year-old goat bones from two sites in the Zagros Mountains in present-day western Iran. Using ancient DNA and…

virtual reality

2021.05.31

What could possibly go wrong with virtual reality?

YouTube is a treasure trove of virtual reality fails: users tripping, colliding into walls and smacking inanimate and animate objects. By investigating these “VR Fails” on YouTube, researchers at the University of…

human-computer interaction

2021.05.14

Computers can now predict our preferences directly from our brain

A research team from the University of Copenhagen and University of Helsinki demonstrates it is possible to predict individual preferences based on how a person’s brain responses match up to others. This could…

genomics

2021.05.12

Differences between leopards are greater than between brown bears and polar bears

New research demonstrates that African and Asian leopards are more genetically differentiated from one another than polar bears and brown bears. Indeed, leopards are so different that they ought to be treated as two…

Big Data

2021.04.27

Big Brother isn’t always as clever as we think

New research questions the value of digital surveillance and big data. Sometimes traditional and less privacy-invasive data can predict human behaviour much more effectively.

Biology

2021.04.19

Beetles that pee themselves to death could be tomorrow’s pest control

Various beetle species have gobbled through grain stores and weakened food production worldwide since ancient times. Now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a better way of targeting and…

Geography

2021.04.12

Thawing permafrost cools Arctic currents: This might affect fish stocks

A new study by a University of Copenhagen researcher finds that thawing permafrost in Alaska causes colder water in smaller rivers and streams. This surprising consequence of climate change could affect the survival of…

Artificial intelligence

2021.04.07

Leading American researcher and DKK 350 million will take Danish artificial intelligence research to new heights

A new pioneer centre for artificial intelligence research is expected to open in Copenhagen at the end of 2021. Headed by world-leading American AI researcher, Serge Belongie, and with a good DKK 350 million to back it…

rewilding

2021.04.06

Letting nature manage itself may lead to the least costs - but EU subsidies remain an obstacle

Nature management through rewilding can be significantly more cost-effective than by traditional conservation measures. However, EU agricultural subsidies distort competition. This is the conclusion of an economic…

FORESTS

2021.03.25

New documentation: Old-growth forest carbon sinks overestimated

The claim that old-growth forests play a significant role in climate mitigation, based upon the argument that even the oldest forests keep sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, is being refuted by researchers at the…

Dinosaurs

2021.03.09

An epic walk: 15 million years needed for dinosaurs to get from South America to Greenland

For the first time, two researchers—one from the University of Copenhagen and the other from Columbia University—have accurately dated the arrival of the first herbivorous dinosaurs in East Greenland. Their results…

Technology

2021.03.08

How robotics will affect humanity and nature in the future

How will robotic technologies impact wildlife? Will self-driving cars create more or less urban noise? What will the relationship between humans and nature be like in the future? 170 experts weigh in on the global…

PLANT BIOLOGY

2021.03.04

Researchers discover how to control zinc content in plants: Could help the world’s malnourished

Over 2 billion people worldwide are malnourished due to zinc deficiency. Led by the University of Copenhagen, an international team of researchers has discovered how plants sense zinc and use this knowledge to enhance…

climate

2021.02.09

Arctic permafrost releases more CO2 than once believed

There may be greater CO2 emissions associated with thawing Arctic permafrost than ever imagined. An international team of researchers, including one from the University of Copenhagen, has discovered that soil bacteria…

evolution

2021.02.04

We’re more like primitive fishes than once believed

People traditionally think that lungs and limbs are key innovations that came with the vertebrate transition from water to land. But in fact, the genetic basis of air-breathing and limb movement was already established…

plant science

2021.01.28

Wood formation can now be followed in real-time - and possibly serve the climate and builders of tomorrow

A genetic engineering method makes it possible to observe how woody cell walls are built in plants. The new research in wood formation, conducted by the University of Copenhagen and others, opens up the possibility of…

VIRTUAL REALITY

2021.01.22

Virtual reality will help us in communicating the social benefits of vaccination

Professor Robert Böhm and Associate Professor Guido Makransky from the Department of Psychology have received funding for developing a virtual reality app to communicate herd immunity in vaccine advocacy.