Society & culture - ScienceNordic

Did a King Haakon I actually exist?

All we know for certain is a name and the title of prince.

Bilde av en hånd som holder en gammel pilspiss. I bakgrunnen skimtes en snøfonn og masse steiner.

The oldest ice is disappearing: The Stone Age is emerging from the melting ice

'We have been at the edge of the ice. We have seen it happening. And we are witnesses to a rapidly changing archaeological landscape,' write the glacial archaeologists. Finds from the Viking Age are becoming scarce, while 6,000-year-old arrowheads are now emerging from the melting ice.

What would King Haakon and King Harald have been called in the Viking Age? One historian offers a suggestion

Giving kings epithets was a Norwegian custom for centuries.

Sally Rooney, Kneecap, and the fine line between activism and support for terrorism in Denmark

Why Irish voices like Sally Rooney and Kneecap are leading the conversation on Palestine

Parents are burdened with an invisible 'tax'

Parents contribute with two and a half times more resources to societal reproduction than non-parents

We don't know where any of Norway’s early kings were buried

All attempts to identify potential burial mounds were essentially given up many decades ago, one researcher says.

The struggle of parents who have children with school distress: "It becomes what our whole life is about"

Parents call in sick, lose their social networks and suffer financial hardship. A new Norwegian study has looked at how school absences affect parents' everyday lives.

Portrett av forsker Anniken Grønstad i blå bluse mot en mørk blågrønn bakgrunn.

Young employees and working from home: Can be just as good as being in the office, researcher says

"The discussion jumps a little too quickly to the conclusion that working from home is the problem," says researcher.

What is good lighting when the vision changes?

Is it just about being able to see? Or should we recognize that lightning can affect your mood and emotions and that might be just as important?

Young people imagine a dystopian future due to climate change

Rogue tidal waves. Killer heat waves. Prolonged drought. Unbreathable air. This is what young people imagine when writing climate sci-fi.

Ryttere på hester kjemper eller jager hverandre i et snødekt landskap med kraftig bevegelse og dramatisk stemning.

Historians disagree about how bloody the Norwegian civil wars were

King Magnus and King Sverre fought for the throne. But was this business as usual, or was it a war?

Norwegian students' skills: "I'm concerned, but not surprised," says professor

"The reason may be as simple as teachers no longer having textbooks," says the professor.

The history of pick & mix is actually quite short – and it started in Scandinavia

The United States has been fascinated by the Nordic custom that many take for granted.

Archaeologists’ most exciting finds: The stone circles were not made for sacrifices to the gods. They were traces of children at play

"Forget the burial cairns and burial mounds. Children’s cultural heritage is just as important," says archaeologist.

Archaeologists have opened a Viking Age ship burial. The most exciting discovery may lie beneath the ship

"It's remarkably well preserved," says archaeologist.

Personer sorterer og pakker bær ved bord i et stort, enkelt lokale med bøtter og kasser.

How did these Norwegian berries end up in Hull, Newcastle, and London 100 years ago?

A century ago, Norwegian bilberries were used for much more than squash and jam.

En figur i hvitt står ved en klippe mens to nakne skikkelser strekker seg oppover.

Why do we hear so little about demons in Christianity today?

The Bible is full of demons, but only in the newer part. What are demons, where did they come from, and why did they disappear again?

Nærbilde av en gyllen, glinsende kavring foran en uskarp tekstside.

This simple rusk reveals two stories about Norwegian polar history

Some people ate rusks, others baked them. Norwegian polar history has both its straight and its queer sides.

Arne Jor standing in front of a brick building

Jesus cast out demons, but we rarely hear about it today

"Jesus was a miracle worker and an exorcist," says Arne Jor, a parish priest in the Church of Norway.

Irene Baug sitter ved siden av et stort steinkors som ligger på bakken. I bakgrunnen ses trær og avfallshaugen til det gamle steinkvernsbruddet.

Seven magnificant medieval stone crosses emerged from a waste heap

"We were absolutely ecstatic," says the archaeologist.

Papirer og en mørk lommebok av skinn ligger på en stol sammen med to gamle, brune kondomer.

Two condoms from 1944 washed ashore from a shipwreck in northern Norway

971 German soldiers and sailors died when the Allies finally managed to sink Hitler’s pride and joy.

Participants perform yoga exercises on mats in a park in Lahore during International Yoga Day.

Many Pakistani men want gender equality, but it’s the mother-in-law who decides

A Norwegian social anthropologist has gained unique insight into a part of Pakistani society we rarely hear about.

En liten pistol i metall ligger over en trykt tekstside med gammelt papir.

First he was killed by a bullet, then he was blown to pieces. The SS chief’s pistol survived

Today, the pistol belonging to Wilhelm Rediess, the highest-ranking SS commander in Norway, is kept in a safe at Norway's Resistance Museum. It is too valuable to be put on display.

Avaldsnes kirke i bakgrunnen, foran ser man muren til den gamle kongsgården fra middelalderen. Utgraving foregår. Til høyre på bildet ser man fjorden, og et skip i fjorden.

A previously unknown medieval royal estate suddenly appeared

"It wasn't what we were looking for, but it was absolutely incredible!"

"It's actually kind of crazy that a person could have chewed on this 6,000 years ago – and now I'm holding it"

A small brown lump is archaeologist Anette Sand-Eriksen’s favourite find. It still smells of pine needles 6,000 years later.

Aerial view of a multi-level motorway interchange with bridges, ramps and waterways.

How did the USA go from being a pioneer in road safety to having one of the world’s highest road traffic death rates?

Some states are among the deadliest places in the world when it comes to road safety. Why is that?

Nærbilde av en av hendene til jentene. Vi ser tydelige fingre, og spor etter rødt stoff rundt - det som en gang var røde ullvotter.

In a box in the basement lay four girls who died in the 1300s, still wearing red mittens on their hands

The discovery in the basement of the Museum of Cultural History shaped Marianne Vedeler’s entire career. It even went on to inspire a well-known work of literature, she says.

Dronefoto av innsjøen Tesse, med fjell i bakgrunnen. Det er is på deler av vannet, og deler av sjøbunnen er synlig.

Introduced fish into mountain lakes 7,000 years ago: "It was a form of simple fish farming"

People have always had the ability and capacity to influence and change their surroundings, says an archaeologist.

Overhead view of the excavated ship Sørenga 2 showing preserved keel and planks in the ground.

Knut Paasche was incredibly excited when he found something truly special from the Middle Ages

He initially had no idea what he had found on that day in the 1990s. It turned out to be a large medieval Nordic sailing ship. But it wasn't from Norway.

Blå hansker holder en liten metallgjenstand over en treflate.

The hunter missed, and the arrow disappeared. When it resurfaced, no one knew what it was

It is as good as new after spending many hundreds of years in the mountains, according to an archaeologist.

The mystery of Rakni's Mound

The largest burial mound in the Nordic countries may not actually be a burial mound after all. It might have been built for completely different reasons.

Norway's oldest known ship burial predates the Viking Age

The ship burial is older than the famous Oseberg and Gokstad Viking ships.

An older couple sit in a living room and chat while holding drinks beside a coffee table.

Norway wants more older people to live safely at home. This is what it will take

OPINION: Ageing in place is not achieved by leaving older people to cope alone.

Want to scroll less? Experts share their best advice

“If you can free yourself a little from your phone and physically put it away, I think you’ll experience less stress and fewer daily distractions,” says a researcher.

Erling Braut Haaland spreads his arms out on the football pitch, five other teammates are seen with their backs to him. In the background, a stadium full of spectators get can be seen.

5 reasons why football has become the biggest sport in the world

Of all the sports in the world – why is football the biggest?

USA at 250: For the first time, the word ‘happiness’ appeared in a legal text

How did people’s happiness become part of the Declaration of Independence?

Portrait photos of Tomas Myklebust and Liv Selland.

Tired? Here’s how you can get your energy back

“Scrolling has become a kind of acceptable break. But it's actually quite a significant cognitive load to deal with everything that's happening on your phone,” says psychologist Tomas Myklebust.

Experts explain: Here’s what Crown Princess Mette-Marit will have to go through after her lung transplant

The operation is just the start of a long treatment. It may be difficult for Mette-Marit to fulfil her role in the same way as she once did, says Danish lung expert.

People in Norway hunted whales 5,000 years ago

The sea became an important source of food for Norway's hunter-gatherer population after the Ice Age.

Excavation underway: Believed to be an important Viking clue

The remains of a large possible Viking settlement in Ireland are set to be investigated.

People working on a steep mountain hillside to prepare soil for planting.

Peru has a 'dugnad' too, and it’s a tradition that has been changing for centuries

OPINION: There is a tendency to treat Indigenous traditions as static, frozen in time. However, they are traditions in motion, just like the cultures they came from.

En plastkasse med glassbiter som er hentet opp fra havets dyp. Nederst til venstre er en bøyd glassarm.

The unique Porcelain Wreck: What the chandelier recovered from the seabed may have looked like

At a depth of 600 metres, archaeologists have discovered parts of elegant wine glasses and expensive chandeliers. But what did these luxury lighting fixtures actually look like?

Running up the hill – Climate change is forcing plants to move upwards

OPINION: Mountains are important recreational areas for us humans, where we can relax or challenge ourselves on bikes or skis. But mountains and their grasslands play a crucial role for nature in many other aspects.

Should the state pay for free weight loss drugs?

Society could benefit greatly if those struggling most with obesity lose weight. But who should have these expensive medications paid for by the public? Last year, only 330 of nearly 200,000 people who use weight loss drugs in Norway got this support.