Category: Environment & nature

Mathias Osvath, associate professor of cognitive zoology In his studies, he has repeatedly demonstrated the advanced learning processes and social behaviour of ravens.

Even ravens plan their everyday lives

Our knowledge about the brain is still astoundingly full of question marks. We have yet to learn how memory and many functions of the brain are constructed, both in humans and in animals. The brain and its abilities have been studied in crows, among other animals. Historically, this type of...

Anders Brodin, Professor of Theoretical Ecology Photo: Peter Frodin

Opportunism reveals the true intelligence of titmice

Is smartness linked to the size of the brain? Larger organisms usually have larger brains, but are they really more advanced? Is a wood pigeon smarter than a chaffinch? Through the ages, birds have been associated with both stupidity, as in “birdbrain”, and wisdom, as in “wise as an owl”....

Does the world’s tiniest GPS go in a brain of an insect?

How can insects with their tiny brains navigate over large distances? Do they have a built-in GPS in the form of a magnetic sense? Eric Warrant, Professor of Sensory Biology at Lund University, studies the ability of small insects to navigate with the help of the Earth’s magnetic field. Eric...

Digital solutions to minimize food waste

Food waste is a major challenge for society. In Sweden alone, we throw away 1.2 million tons of food every year, most of which is unnecessary. What can we do to reduce it? What is the role of packaging? Can digitalization contribute to reducing food waste? What trends do researchers...

The challenge of sharing sustainably

Opinion by Matthias Lehner, postdoc at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University. Airbnb is a hugely successful American company that has managed to make us invite strangers into our own private homes. I visited New Zealand last winter and stayed with an old lady in her...

Informal and marginalised areas can no longer be ignored

Due to rapid urbanisation, the slum population in India is expected to increase to 104 million by 2017, around 10 percent of the projected population. The term ”slums” refers to settlements unfit for human habitation, which often develop in areas prone to hazards such as floods and landslides. At the...

Is it too cheap to fly?

The distance between Lund and Bangkok is roughly 8 593 kilometres. Quite far, in other words. This does not stop Thailand being one of the most popular international holiday destinations for Swedes, along with the USA and Mediterranean countries. Air travel to destinations both near and far has become increasingly...

Back to school to conduct research on sustainability

“Sustainability is a long-term issue. A journey, rather than a goal. You can always take steps along the way – but the work is never done. It is about continuous improvement”, says Erik Lindroth, Environment Director at Tetra Pak and now also new doctoral student at the School of Economics...

The consumer of the future in a sustainable food culture

Opinion by Marcus Klasson, consumer researcher at School of Economics and Management. Food fuels humanity, but in today’s Western society, food is so much more. Food and the culture associated with food, is about lifestyle and status, economy and livelihood, individuals’ origins and, of course, about health. What we eat...