Denmark’s eight universities – DTU, University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School, Aalborg University, University of Southern Denmark and Roskilde University – have joined forces on a unique new project on the green transition in food. .
An interdisciplinary facility based at Aarhus University called the START Center for Sustainable Agricultural Food Systems will be established to strengthen collaboration in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
“It is unusual that all eight Danish universities have joined forces to form a common front at an interdisciplinary level. Agriculture and the food of the future is a priority in Danish research, ”says Christine Nellemann from the DTU Food Institute.
Nellemann is the first chairman of START. The position is reassigned every six months to a representative from one of the eight universities.
An international perspective
“The research collaboration in START will, in collaboration with business, politicians and international partners, create a strong foundation for innovations that will have a decisive effect on our climate and environment and ensure long-term solutions in the food area,” says Eskild Holm Nielsen. the dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Aarhus University.
“The goal is for Denmark to be a European living laboratory that can demonstrate the planned transition of European food systems,” she said.
Denmark’s Pioneer Center for Artificial Intelligence opens
The new Pioneer Center for Artificial Intelligence, where research will focus on AI solutions to “society’s biggest challenges”, has opened at the University of Copenhagen Observatory. It is Denmark’s largest research center to date for artificial intelligence, which brings together partners from Aalborg University, Aarhus University, DTU, the IT University of Copenhagen and the University of Copenhagen. Its aim is to drive Denmark to the forefront of the global AI science race. Projects will seek to benefit the health and biotech industries, energy and infrastructure as well as climate and biodiversity.
Can a poisonous sea snail replace morphine?
Poison from the sea snail species Conus magus has an analgesic effect on humans such as morphine, but with fewer side effects. It is currently available for the treatment of back injuries or cancer, but is expensive and cumbersome to administer. Now a new study from the University of Copenhagen has identified another sea snail, Conus rolani – found in the Pacific Ocean around the Philippines – whose venom acts as an even more potent painkiller in mice, but which has none of the addictive properties of morphine. It is hoped that this could pave the way for alternative painkillers in the future.
Air passengers will pay into the green-fuel fund
A number of meetings between DTU, Copenhagen Airports, Danish Industry and SAS have been launched with the aim of developing the technology behind green aviation fuels in line with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksberg’s promise that all Danish domestic flights must be green by 2025. To establish an R&D fund of DKK 750 million, Copenhagen Airports deducts a small contribution from each passenger. According to DTU, the biggest challenge is to push down the price of green fuels so that they can compete with fossil fuels, as the current green technology is neither “mature nor scalable”.
Young DTU students become pioneers in 3D printing
In their attempt to emulate a new American 3D printing method called Volumetric additive preparation, two DTU students have built an even more efficient printer that can print 3D elements in minutes instead of hours. Instead of adding layers upon layers as in traditional 3D printing, a UV-sensitive photopolymer blend is used to form all geometries in their entire volume at once – just like the way dental castings are formed. Although faster, it is still unclear whether the printer delivers the same, or even higher, geometric precision than other methods.
Eelgrass planting scheme pays off
Since 1900, up to 90 percent of Denmark’s eelgrass beds have been found on coastlines and lost in fjords. Fish and other animals depend on the habitat created by the eelgrass, while the grass itself captures and stores carbon. The University of Southern Denmark has now succeeded in re-establishing the sea beds in Horsens Fjord by planting eelgrass shoots. After two years, the density of new growth is 70 times greater.
Super-sensitive MRI scanner tested at Aarhus University
Research is underway into a new MRI scanning method that is 10,000 times more sensitive than current techniques at Aarhus University. The new method may be able to identify kidney disease earlier in diabetic patients, which may lead to better treatment options.
Bjarke Ingels Group will build a brain-shaped neuroscience center
Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University are world-renowned for their diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases. Now a new facility called the Danish Neuroscience Center, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, is in the process of integrating psychiatry with neuroscience under the same roof. The 250 million kroner, 19,000 sqm large building will be financed by the Salling Foundation and completed in 2026. It will house about 500 brain researchers with an emphasis on neurology and psychiatry. The architecture is inspired by the folds of the brain that act as a “network space that creates new connections, contexts and common understanding”.
Keyhole bypass surgery may become the norm
Over the past four months, surgeons at Rigshospitalet have performed 15 coronary bypass surgeries through an incision between the ribs, rather than sawing up the sternum. It is a more demanding procedure for surgeons, but reduces recovery pain, need for rehabilitation, risk of infection and hospitalization time.
A massive Copenhagen health survey shows a decline in mental health
On virtually all parameters of well-being, health and illness, citizens with a short education in Health Profile 2021 – a large health survey of the population in the Capital Region – perform worse than citizens with a long education. Other observations: Since 2017, poor mental health has been increasing – especially among women in the age group 16-25. Every fourth woman aged 16-25 is lonely and half feel stressed. Meanwhile, the number of daily smokers has dropped from 16 percent in 2017 to 13 percent in 2021.
Ice age plants adapted to CO2 levels
By studying 800,000-year-old air bubbles trapped in ice, climate scientists from the University of Copenhagen have found that prehistoric plant life increased their oxygen production in response to rising carbon levels in the atmosphere. The mechanism does not prevent global warming, but dampens the rising trend. The new knowledge will inform future climate models.
Old volcanic eruptions can revolutionize climate models
Ice drilling in Antarctica and Greenland has revealed the traces of giant volcanic eruptions during the last ice age. About 69 of them are larger than the Tambora eruption in Indonesia in 1815 – the largest eruption recorded in recent times. Tambora released so much sulfuric acid into the stratosphere that it blocked the sun, causing global temperatures to drop for 5-10 years, as well as tsunamis, droughts, famines and at least 80,000 deaths. Physicists from the University of Copenhagen hope that the effects of volcanism can shed light on the climatic reaction when the radiation balance in the atmosphere changes – be it via increased CO2 levels or a blanket of sulfur particles.
Discovery of tectonic plates will help predict future earthquakes
The motion of the earth’s tectonic plates, which shift around the earth’s liquid core, is what triggers earthquakes. But researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that earthquakes in themselves cause tectonic plates to behave differently in their after-effects. The results necessitate a reconsideration of the models used to assess the statistical risk of future earthquakes in ‘hotspots’.
Source: The Nordic Page