Gemini News

Study: Seafood Ecolabels Alone Don’t Work

By Gemini News 2018-10-26 15:49:00

[By Grete Wolden] NTNU researchers wanted to see if labelling products and putting up signs in stores would encourage more consumers to buy sustainable seafood. The results showed that customers bought significantly more seafood generally – including options that were not sustainably harvested. You may have noticed a small blue and white fish logo on the packaging of fish products you buy in the store. This is the ecolabel of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which denotes wild-caught fish and seafood...

Norwegian Entrepreneurs Aim to End Ghost Fishing

By Gemini News 2018-10-12 17:32:07

A small device, developed in Norway, will now be used in the battle against environmentally-unfriendly ghost fishing caused by lost or forgotten fishing gear. Fishing nets have long lifetimes and can cause major damage to marine life if they are abandoned at sea. There are examples of lost nets that have continued to trap fish for periods of up to 30 years. Ghost fishing by lost or forgotten pots kills thousands of lobsters and crabs every year. However, it was...

Report: Geoengineering Won't Achieve Paris Accord's Goals

By Gemini News 2018-10-05 13:33:24

[By Steinar Brandslet] The countries of the world still need to cut their carbon dioxide emissions to reach the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. Relying on tree planting and alternative technological solutions such as geoengineering will not make enough of a difference. “We can’t rely on geoengineering to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” says Helene Muri, a researcher from NTNU’s Industrial Ecology Programme. She was also one of the lead authors of a recent article in Nature Communications that looked at...

Using New Technology to Find Shipwrecks

By Gemini News 2018-09-07 12:55:27

[By Idun Haugan] An estimated three million shipwrecks lie in seabed graveyards around the world – with as many as 1000 of them around Svalbard. Each of them has their own unique story — one that’s made much more accessible with new technology. Throughout the centuries ships have weathered wars, storms, icebergs, and pirates, to name a few. Many ships have been lost in the face of these forces and gone down with all hands. They lie on the bottom...

Wings at the Bow Could Smooth Passenger Ship's Ride

By Gemini News 2018-08-31 19:25:49

For more than 150 years it has been known that placing a wing - or a foil - may be favorable at the bow of a ship. It both reduces the ship's energy consumption and provides increased comfort for passengers on board, but no one has managed to exploit this knowledge in real life. Until now. In 2021, the shipping company Havila will launch a route between Bergen and Kirkenes, and will build four new environmentally friendly ships for the stretch. This opportunity...

Tracking CO2 from Trade

By Gemini News 2018-06-17 15:22:39

[By Nancy Bazilchuk] A new database gives researchers — and potentially policymakers — the ability to see how global trade affects environmental impacts. Trade is one of the most visible hallmarks of 21st century life. Cheap shipping and global supply chains mean that goods made in one country can easily be shipped for purchase or consumption halfway around the world. But if you are trying to assess — and limit — the environmental impacts of this trade, how can you possibly...

Researchers Deploy Jellyfish to Fight Micro-Plastic

By Gemini News 2018-05-23 13:53:00

In the innovative EU project GoJelly, researchers are working to solve the micro-plastic challenge by using nature itself. The project is led by the German Geomar Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research, but the Norwegian research institute SINTEF and NTNU (The Norwegian University of Science and Technology) are involved in the hunt for jellyfish with a talent for catching microplastics. GoJelly’s goal is to develop a so-called biofilter of the mucus produced by the jellyfish. The mucus can actually adsorb both...

Introducing "Smart Bolts"

By Gemini News 2018-05-07 20:04:00

[By Frøydis Angard Ulateig] In the future, intelligent wireless bolts in wind turbines or satellites may be able to let the operator know when something is wrong. This could reduce the risk of human injuries and save cost. A research team at NTNU in Gjøvik is working to create bolts that send an alert when something is not as it should be or when maintenance is needed. Each bolt must be able to contact a control center, which will receive messages from all intelligent...

Growing Concern over Plastic Pollution in Rivers and Lakes

By Gemini News 2018-04-20 12:46:00

[By Pernille Feilberg] Almost all research on plastic contamination in water systems focuses on oceans. But the biggest problem is plastic that ends up in freshwater ecosystems, according to an NTNU biologist. Concerned citizens read about all the plastic contaminants found in the ocean – from whole patches of plastic waste to dead whales with bellies full of plastic. “But it’s not the plastic in the oceans we should be worrying about the most,” says Martin Wagner, an associate professor at NTNU’s...

Herring Larvae Could Benefit from CO2 Emissions

By Gemini News 2018-03-30 20:33:00

[By Nancy Bazilchuk] One of the many downsides of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is what happens when some of that CO2 is absorbed by the oceans. As atmospheric CO2 levels increase from burning fossil fuels, this carbon dioxide is soaked up by seawater and makes the oceans more acidic. Increased acidity is bad news for coral reefs and creatures whose shells are made from calcium carbonate, but how does it affect the entire food web? Using an unusual long-term research...