Oil Spill Prophecies Advanced Mathematical Models Predict Where the Oil Goes

Autumn • 2011 norwegian research from ntnu and sintef B économique Return address: SINTEF Communication NO-7465 Trondheim Norway

An english edition of Gemini is published twice a year. The next edition is scheduled for spring 2012. Oil spill prophecies Advanced mathematical models predict where the oil goes. • 18 Photo: www.psdgraphics.com Photo:

SINTEF is the largest independent research institution in Scandinavia with scientists from more than 67 countries and offices in Houston, Texas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Hirtshals in Denmark. www.ntnu.no/gemini/english NTNU’s international network includes nearly 300 different cooperative or exchange agreements with institutions in 58 countries, from Albania to Zimbabwe. 100 skapende år

Research from NTNU helps ensure SINTEF’s applied research is at Rescue in DIGITAL medieval the cutting edge of international science, while SINTEF’s efforts help guarantee that NTNU’s research produces practical solutions for disasters CARE money industry and society. We must prepare for Can sensors help World’s smallest mint catastrophes • 8 the elderly? • 26 in Trondheim• 22 CONTENTS n NEWS 6 • The United States arms most Autumn 2011 dictatorships GEMINI is published by SINTEF and 6 • A water pulk from NTNU in Trondheim, Norway. Gemini is published twice a year in English. the rubbish dump Photo: Merethe Wagelund Circulation: 9 300. 7 • Gene therapy for ears 8 • Better rescue in major disasters Editor SINTEF: Åse Dragland Email: [email protected] 9 • Watch out – moose! Phone: +47 73 59 24 76 Reporters: 10 • Fighting oil spills with bubbles Svein Tønseth and Christina B. Winge Editor-in-chief SINTEF: 11 • Feed your genes Director of Communications Petter Haugan Postal address: Gemini, SINTEF, NO-7465 Trondheim Gene therapy for ears • 7 SINTEF is the largest independent research institution in Scandinavia with Shrimp shells may someday carry gene medicine to improve 2 100 employees. We solve our customers’ problems through research contracts in hearing. the following fields: Health, information and communications technology, marine activities, materials science and applied chemistry, petroleum and energy, technology management and building/construction. SINTEF intends in this way to act as a driving force in the process of restruc- FEATURES turing and developing Norwegian society. A flounder in fizzy water • 14 Ocean prophets • 18 Editor NTNU: Nina Tveter Email: [email protected] The archbishop’s mint • 22 Phone: +47 73 59 53 21 Reporters: Digital care • 26 Lisa Olstad and Synnøve Ressem Editor-in-chief NTNU: TOPIC: Dementia • 32 Information Director Christian Fossen Postal address: Gemini, NTNU Info, NO-7491 Trondheim

NTNU – the Norwegian University of Digital care • 26 Science and Technology in Trondheim represents academic eminence in technology and the natural sciences as well Sensors can alert us to low batteries in our phones or refriger- as in other academic disciplines ranging ator doors that are open. But can sensors help the elderly? from the social sciences, the arts, medicine, architecture to fine art. Cross-disciplinary cooperation results in innovative breakthroughs and creative solutions with far-reaching social and economic impact. NTNU has over 20 000 students and an academic staff of 2 500, of which one-third have permanent research appointments. The university awards approximately REGULAR FEATURES 3 300 degrees each year, of which one third are awarded to women. About 40 per 4 • News in brief cent of NTNU’s degrees are in technology. Under pressure 12 • Interlude Internet: www.ntnu.no/gemini/english This titanium tank is at the Print: Aktietrykkeriet Design/production: Tor Høyden and 40 • Beginnings Raymond Nilsson, SINTEF Communication same pressure as is found at Mads Nordtvedt and Kolbjørn Skarpnes, 42 • Vistas NTNU Information Division a depth of 300 metres under Cover photo: Geir Mogen 44 • News in brief Translation and English editing: the sea. Bacteria, single-celled Hugh Allen, Nancy Bazilchuk and Stewart Clark animals, mussels, corals and Subscriptions are free. Send an email to: [email protected] Lighting up the night sky • 42 finally a flounder will all take a

C ECOL turn inside. I D AB R E How do they get all those colours into fireworks? O L N

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P R R IN E TED MATT

2 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 3 ■ NEWS IN BRIEF NEWS IN BRIEF ■

FROM THE DIRECTORS´ CHAIRS Tasty medicine New ultrasonic method reveals Many of us have problems swallowing tablets strokes and cancers or capsules, particularly if they taste bad. The An NTNU/SINTEF research group believes that it has created worst is for children or the elderly. Morguefile Photo: ultrasonic images that are so clear that they make it easier to Researchers at NTNU have previously deve- identify strokes and different types of cancer. Until now, one loped the technology needed to manufacture cod of the main problems with ultrasonic imaging has been the Unni Steinsmo, SINTEF’s president – CEO liver oil and omega 3 as chewable tablets. Now, in amount of noise in the images, which is due to reverberation Torbjørn Digernes, NTNU’s rector cooperation with a pharmaceutical company, the or multiple echoes. The new way of creating ultrasonic researchers have taken this approach a step further. The idea is to images (SURF imaging) uses a transducer that transmits encapsulate bad-tasting medicine in a tasty and chewable “pillow” of two sets of sound waves rather than one: a low-frequency alginate and gelatine (biopolymers), from which the bad medicine taste wave-form that manipulates its high-frequency equivalent, can’t escape until the pill is safely in the patient’s stomach. The use of which in turn is used to create the actual image. Energetic twins different types of polymers allows researchers to control the speed of the medicine’s release. The first medicines produced using this approach are in a global society expected to be on the market in the next couple of years. Preemies at risk of mental difficulties Some of Europe's foremost research and technology communities are Corals changed by CO2 Low birth weight babies have an increased risk of found in Trondheim. As “twin” institutions, NTNU and SINTEF are rooted Norwegian corals have changed their appearance and structure over mental difficulties when they are adults, a study in central Norway, but our ambitions extend far beyond Norway’s borders, the last hundred years. That’s what scientists at the NTNU Museum of conducted at NTNU has shown. The study included Natural History and Archaeology found when they compared as we strive to be internationally outstanding. An important strategic tool normal birth weight children, children born at term specimens from the museum’s coral collection, which has been as- to achieve this goal is to strengthen each other through international but with a low birth weight, and premature babies with sembled over several generations. quite low birth weights. cooperation. Researchers think that the changes can be explained by a more Babies in the first group had less than a one-in-ten acidic ocean – which is due to an increase in the amount of CO2 being chance of suffering from mental disorders 20 years Look out for low-frequency vehicle noise Europe is making rapid absorbed by the ocean compared to past decades. later. The risk for children in the second group was one Billions of new If you often become tired when you are driving, the culprit may be noise, and in many progress towards in five, while among the premature babies the risk of cases, “audible” noise may be the most dangerous. The acoustic environment inside a establishing a European having a diagnosed mental disorder was one in three. citizens will join us car is often dominated by extremely low-frequency noise, and Truls Gjestland, a senior Research Area (ERA). Anxiety disorders and ADHD were the most common scientist at SINTEF, says that such sounds can be tiring. Even sounds made up of NTNU and SINTEF are around the “global diagnoses. Safer use of frequencies that are so low that they are not perceived directly by our ears (so-called deeply involved in “infrasound”) also tend to make us drowsy. Europe’s numerous dinner table”. research and innovation nanoparticles initiatives. It is our ambition to continue What sort of HSE knowledge do we really need to deal with the new Norway as a “green battery”? substances that are now found in everything from clothes to cosmetics with this involvement in the years to come by making substantial and electronics? Can nanomaterials damage the environment, or are these A government-appointed committee in Germany wants to make the country’s electricity contributions to the ERA, particularly in Horizon 2020, Joint Programming sources renewable by using the Norwegian hydropower network as a “battery.” invisible particles safer than we tend to believe? These are among the The Germans want Norway to pour electricity from hydropower into the grid in northern Eu- Initiatives, European Innovation Partnerships, the Strategic Energy questions that SINTEF scientist Andy Booth wants to answer. He has taken rope when winds are calm and wind turbines are still - and when electricity demands are low, to Technology Plan and the European Energy Research Alliance. the initiative to launch a new competence transfer project – SafeNano use a surplus of cheap wind power to pump water back into Norwegian hydro reservoirs again. Norway – on health, safety and environmental aspects of nanotechnology. In Norway, this would require the construction of what are called pump power stations. Sustainable energy is an area of special importance for NTNU and SINTEF. Traditionally, there has been little close cooperation between the disciplines These would have a turbine that can be used as a pump, which could also be reversed to pro- The Strategic Energy Technology Plan lays out ambitious goals for Europe. of HSE and nanotechnology, but the real need for such collaboration has duce electricity. Cedren, the Centre for the Environmental Design of Renewable Energy, one of recently become clear. eight Norwegian national research centres for environmentally friendly energy, is studying Sustainable energy is essential to human life. We need it to provide for what is needed to realize the large-scale development of these pump power stations. our fundamental needs, such as food, clothing, housing, shelter, transportation, health and recreation. The international community must collectively make substantial cuts in the current levels of greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, billions of new citizens will join us Nordic around the “global dinner table”. Providing sufficient clean energy to Thor Nielsen Photo: master’s degree ensure a peaceful and sustainable society for everybody in the future is one of the greatest challenges facing global society today. There will be in seafood Photo: photos.com Photo: an enormous demand for new knowledge, new technology, new solutions The Nordic Council of Ministers and innovations to meet this global challenge. has given its support to a new Commercialization of LedaFlow Nordic master’s programme in Together, NTNU and SINTEF are among Europe’s leading climate and Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies (KOGT) has just launched seafood quality, which will energy research communities. We play an active role in supplying the its LedaFlow multiphase simulator on the petroleum industry encompass production, processing and distribution. scientific and technological information and innovations that are essential market. The simulator is the result of an eight-year-long The programme is being to the global transformation process needed to achieve a sustainable collaboration with SINTEF, Total and ConocoPhillips, which developed by a consortium future. In all, more than 1200 researchers at NTNU and SINTEF are KOGT has further developed into a commercial product. LedaFlow offers significantly improved functionality, flexibility with participants from Iceland, engaged in work that will result in new knowledge, new technology and and accuracy in flow simulations. These improvements mean Sweden, Denmark and Norway. new solutions to realize our common vision: sufficient clean energy for a that the simulator can both reduce risks and improve the NTNU and the Norwegian sustainable and peaceful global society. operating performance of petroleum installations. LedaFlow University of Life Sciences are also provides improved resolution in modelling, offering the Norwegian representatives better, more accurate simulations of multiphase flow than to this group. Photo: photos.com Photo: existing products.

4 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 5 ■ NYHETER NYHETER ■ The United States arms most dicta torships Gene therapy for ears

China is often accused looking for a more long-term relationship,” Gene therapy may some- Sweden. Here, researchers attempted to use said de Soysa, who has now documented chitosan as a carrier to deliver drugs and genes of supporting totalitarian that the US arms far more African dicta- day in the future replace to the inner ear in guinea pigs. Chitosan was regimes in Africa. But Scanpix Photo: tors than China. the use of implants in deaf able to deliver drugs through the membrane And if that isn’t enough: The figures that covers the tiny gap between the middle the United States arms also show that Americans clearly prefer people. The carrier for this ear and inner ear. Chitosan was also able to far more African dictatorships, such as Equatorial Guinea gene medicine may be de- deliver genes to the hair cells. Whether or not and Djibouti, while the Chinese clearly the results from guinea pigs can be transferred dictatorships than prefer democratic regimes, as Zambia and rived from shrimp shells. to human ears remains uncertain. Namibia. “However, chitosan is non-toxic and is China does. MEDICINE BIOTECHNOLOGY • CHITOSAN not harmful to cells. Chitosan is therefore better STRATEGY VERSUS PROFIT • CONTACT : than other carriers and has characteristics that GLOBALIZATION POLITICS • ECONOMICS “I was very Sabina Strand, Department of Biotechnology, NTNU surprised by the findings. There is this PHONE: +47 926 02 516 EMAIL: [email protected] mean it could potentially be used with CONTACT : Indra de Soysa, NTNU Globalization Programme international image of China as the enemy, patients,” says Strand. PHONE : EMAIL: +47 994 20 213 [email protected] like the big bad wolf that sucks out Normal hearing depends on the presence of TIDY PACKAGES • the resources from its trading partners healthy hair cells in the inner ear. Gene therapy Chitosan is produced from The Chinese are about to change Africa. In without worrying about how people feel. has the potential to slow the loss of hair cells powdered shrimp shells. Acid removes salts, min- January, a survey conducted by the Financial People think that because China is a and promote the growth of hair cells that have erals and calcium carbonate. Strong alkalis and Times showed that over the last two years, dictatorship, the country will try to sell already been damaged. heat remove proteins. What remains is chitosan. China has lent more money to developing weapons to other dictatorships, and that In gene therapy, genetic material – DNA or Extremely small nanoparticles in the range countries than the World Bank. the US will do the opposite. But the USA RNA – is transported by a carrier to cells to of 50-200 nm (nanometres) are formed spon - Trade between China and Africa has in - looks to promote its strategic interests, provide instructions for and replace damaged taneously when the positively charged chitosan creased dramatically in the last ten years, and even if it means supporting dictatorial genes. The carrier must protect its genetic and negatively charged genes are mixed. Chito- in 2009 the Chinese were Africa's largest regimes, while China is primarily looking package and help it make its way through the san does a good job packaging up DNA and trading partner. In 1950 the trade volume to make money,” de Soysa says. membranes that protect cells and their sur- RNA’s relatively large molecules. between the two countries was USD 12 million. In De Soysa thinks that the fear of China's roundings. The carrier should also be able to TAILORED THERAPY • 2010 that figure had ballooned to USD 115 billion. entry into the world economy is partly due transport the genetic material right to the cells In the body, chitosan at- And while Barack Obama is struggling hard GUNS TO AFRICA: While the US uses arms to advance its strategic interests, the Chinese are most to its silencing of political protesters, that need help. taches itself to molecules, cells and membranes. to get the American economy back on track, interested in profits. such as Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. For the first time ever, chitosan nanoparti- When the nanoparticles have passed through a China's economy is growing strongly. Indra China's sale of arms to dictatorial regimes cles have been used as a carrier for gene ther - membrane, chitosan packages up the gene molde Soysa, a professor of political science and dictatorship like China will come to have such a along with Professor Paul Midford from NTNU, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, from 1990 apy in the ear. Chitosan is produced from ecules so they return to their normal size again. Chitosan also creates gaps between cells, which director of NTNU’s Globalization Programme, dominant position in the world’s economy. followed the export of weapons from China to 2008, also sparked anger from Western shrimp shells. facilitate the absorption of medicine. predicts that in 20 years, the Chinese economy Many think that the Chinese have no morals, and the United States to African dictatorships human rights activists who claimed that “Gene therapy may someday be an alterna tive Different forms of gene therapy require will be larger than the US economy. and that they do not care about worker protec - from 1989 to 2006, using figures from the China was undermining the development to using surgery to implant CI, cochlear nanoparticles with different properties. The tion, human rights and democratic conditions in Stockholm Institute for Peace Research. of democratic rights in Africa. implants, in the deaf and hard of hearing,” properties of nanoparticles are controlled by FOLLOW THE ARMS FLOW • “Journalists, academ- the country where they trade,” says de Soysa. “If a nation sells or gives away weapons to a says Sabina Strand, at NTNU’s Department of the way in which researchers tailor the chito- ics and politicians in the West express fear that a To determine if this was true, de Soysa, country, this is a sign that the countries are Anne Sliper Midling Biotechnology. san structure, its molecular size and 3D architecture. But whether or not researchers will BASIC RESEARCH PROMISING • Strand stud - find the perfect mix of medicines for our ears ies the use of chitosan in gene therapy, and and hair cells remains to be seen – and heard. A water pulk from the rubbish dump conducted this basic research, now ended, in cooperation with the Karolinska Institutet in Siv Ingrid Skau Ekra perts in Teamwork”, a collaborative problem- dump to see if his idea could be implemented. With a simple water pulk solving course that all master’s students at After fifteen minutes his water pulk was ready. or transporter, children in NTNU must take. “There are a lot of hoses and rebar lying Kildal got the idea for the water pulk when around after the earthquake. The rebar can ea- Haiti will have more time he was in Haiti and saw children carrying large sily be bent into a pole. So I used glue and Photo: Olav Fåsetbru Kildal for schooling. buckets of water on their heads every day, often some wooden blocks to attach the pole to the over long distances. Water buckets are given out by container. An old tire works well to protect the WATER DESIGN •CHILDREN •INTERNATIONAL AID aid organizations, and usually can hold 10-14 litres. container. The only downside is glue. But it is The daily weight causes great stress on young possible to make glue of local materials,” says CONTACT : Olav Fåsetbru Kildal bones, muscles and joints. According to several Kildal. PHONE: +47 928 29 585 EMAIL: [email protected] aid organizations, children in many developing Once Kildal and his fellow students got their WATER PULK: An aluminium rod is bent around the neck of the water container. The con- countries use so much time to transport water grades, however, they had to put their idea for tainer’s flat side is covered by a piece cut from a “We want poor people to be able to make our that it reduces their time for schooling. the water pulk on ice. larger container. A wooden block is glued to the water pulk out of materials that they have lying Pulling the water behind them would be “We don’t have enough resources to follow bottom where the other rod is attached through around,” says Olav Fåsetbru Kildal. much easier, Kildal thought. up on our work. We have planted the idea, and a hole. Bits of a rubber mat from a car are glued Kildal is an architecture student at NTNU now we'll see if anyone uses it,” says Kildal. around the container to prevent stones in the Science Photo Library/Scanpix Photo: and the brains behind the water pulk, which A TRIP TO THE DUMP • When Kildal was in Haiti HEALTHY HAIR CELLS: The cochlea in the inner ear contains highly sensitive sensory cells – hair cells – which road from making holes in the tank. move in conjunction with fluctuations in volume. If the hair cells are damaged, a person’s hearing is damaged. has now seen the light of day as a result of “Ex- at Eastertime, he took a trip to the garbage Anne Sanders Midling

6 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 7 n NEWS NEWS n Better rescue in major disasters Watch out – moose!

An vehicle-based computer the driver shifted his or her focus from safe in the road such as a moose or a traffic jam is driving to keeping an eye on the display. The detected, a warning is sent to motorists via the alert system that warns of researchers did not find any evidence that this platform. The display on the dashboard shows Photo: Morguefile moose on the road causes had happened. the driver a familiar road sign warning of a moose or a traffic jam, in addition to an arrow motorists to react quickly. Future Systems • Driver-support systems that shows how many metres it is to whatever are now included as an option in new cars and is blocking the road.” Roadside warning signs can be retrofitted in old, and SINTEF researcher The warning system is a part of the WiseCar just don’t have the same Lervåg has no doubt that warning systems project, which is working to create and evalu- that alert drivers to conditions in the road ate support systems for use in cars. Q-Free, effect. ahead will come to market soon. SINTEF, the Norwegian Public Roads Adminis- “The prototype we created is based on wire- tration, Triona, Norsk Navigasjon, P4, MapSo- DRIVER SUPPORT ALERT SYSTEM less communication and an information plat- lutions and Skandinavisk Teknologiutvikling ContaCt: Lone-Eirin Lervåg, SINTEF Technology and Society form for traffic (TRIP) developed by one of the are partners in the project. Phone: +47 932 27 719 partner companies, Triona. When an obstacle Åse Dragland E-POST: [email protected]

Every day, roughly 18 deer are hit by either vehic- les or trains, and each collision costs Norwe- gian taxpayers around NOK 200 000. Experience Photo: Scanpix over several years shows that motorists turn a BRIDGE: The EU project aims to develop technology for improving communication and coordinated actions. blind eye to road signs that warn of the danger of moose. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. course of four years, € 18 million will be put possibilities for communication via a wide into improving our ability to save lives and range of sensors, mobile telephones, satellites Simulated moose • As a part of the user- Forest fires and terror property when catastrophes occur. and the Internet. “It is paradoxical that we driven research project called WiseCar, SINTEF The subject of the EU’s BRIDGE project is seem to be unable to make use of all this when has created a prototype of a system that can attacks. Norway and the transnational and interagency cooperation in we need to. This is a constant problem that warn of moose and traffic jams in the roadway rest of the world must be the event of terror attacks, natural disasters reduces the efficiency of major rescue oper- ahead. Forty-nine subjects were invited to and industrial accidents. The project is being ations.” “drive” a stretch of road that took half-an-hour prepared for catastrophes. led by SINTEF and was launched in April 2011. in a car simulator. Researchers had pre-positio- Several partners and aspects • BRIDGE ned moose and traffic jams at various places in RESCUE SERVICES MAJOR DISASTERS Cooperation • BRIDGE aims to develop tech- has brought together 14 partners from seven the stretch. ContaCt: Jan Håvard Skjetne, SINTEF ICT nology for improving communication and co- different countries. In addition to technologi- “The drivers were only told that they would Phone: +47 934 09 191 ordinated actions so that emergency leaders cal research and development, the project will drive a real stretch of road. In addition, we put Email: [email protected] and agencies (police, fire and health services) examine European laws and regulations and a little pressure on them by offering them a will be better able to save lives and limit the how these affect cooperation and the man- reward if they managed to drive the stretch in a The recent terror attacks in Oslo and on the extent of damage by means of the appropriate agement of major disasters across agencies and given time,” says Lone-Eirin Lervåg at SINTEF. island of Utøya have shown that both individ- tools and equipment. The project will look in national boundaries. Ethical and social aspects All subjects drove past the usual warning uals and society at a whole must be prepared particular at how cooperation among different of the use of technology will also be central signs of moose in the road, without any of the for the unthinkable. Other recent events in- agencies and organizations can be made more topics of the project. In order to ensure that drivers responding. But during the trip, half clude the petroleum catastrophe in the Gulf of efficient at a national and transnational level. appropriate solutions emerge from the pro- the participants were warned of moose or traf- Mexico, the earthquakes and tsumani in Japan, BRIDGE will also examine how we can object, the emergency services will be involved fic jams via a small computer in the car. The and forest fires in Greece and Portugal. tain and use information as disasters develop, in the development and evaluation of the other half received no warning. in order to give us a better joint understanding solutions. Meeting the challenge • Large-scale multi- of the situation and thus enable us to make Three Norwegian partners are members of Lower speed, increased attention • The disciplinary rescue services are put into effect better decisions more rapidly. the project. SINTEF is project coordinator and group of drivers that was given a warning in in much the same way as they were 20 or 30 years is contributing design and technology de- the car immediately slowed down by 10 km/h ago. This contrasts with the state of affairs Paradox • Rescue efforts depend first and velopment. The regional acute medical compe- and maintained a steadily lower speed with in other areas such as medicine, where new foremost on the ability of large numbers of tence centre Helse Vest (RAKOS) at Stavanger increased awareness right up until they encount- methods of treatment are constantly being individuals to make difficult decisions rapid- University Hospital represents the emergency ered the moose or the traffic jam, where they developed, with important consequences for ly; decisions that need to be communicated services and users. The hospital will coordi- decelerated in a controlled way. The control public health. efficiently to others. Every aspect of technol- nate the needs of the rescue resources that will group, on the other hand, maintained the same Research and development projects concern- ogy development must therefore be based on deal with emergencies. Crisis Training AS in speed the whole time, was considerably more ing emergency services are urgently needed, the needs of the users of the systems involved. Elverum will develop technogy and methods surprised when they discovered a moose in the and the EU has met this challenge by financing Project manager Jan Håvard Skjetne of aimed at creating more realistic training exer- middle of the road, and had to brake suddenly. BRIDGE (Bridging resources and agencies in SINTEF ICT points out that we currently have cises for dealing with crisis situations. The researchers also tested whether the car- large-scale emergency management). In the access to large amounts of information and Åse Dragland based warning system was distracting, so that TOO AGGRESSIVE: Moose on the road are a traffic problem in Norway.

8 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 9 n NEWS NEWS n Fighting oil spills with bubbles Feed your genes

Curtains of air bubbles are otherwise we stimulate our genes to initiate the secretion of insulin is a defence mechanism The genes have spoken: activity that creates inflammation in the body.” in response to too much glucose in the blood, turning out to be a new your dinner plate should be This is not the kind of inflammation that and whether that glucose comes from sugar or method of fighting oil spills. you would experience as pain or an illness, but from non-sweet carbohydrates such as starches divided into three, and you instead it is as if you are battling a chronic light (potatoes, white bread, rice, etc.), doesn’t really flu-like condition. Your skin is slightly redder, matter.” OLSPILLS MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY should eat six times a day. your body stores more water, you feel warmer, Contact: Grim Eidnes, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry HEALTH DIET • GENES and you’re not on top mentally. Scientists call Change is quick • Johansen has some en-

PHONE: + 47 930 58 561 Photo: SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture Contact: Berit Johansen, Department of Biology, NTNU this metabolic inflammation. couraging words, however, for those of us who EMAIL: [email protected] Phone: +47 918 97 000 have been eating a high carbohydrate diet. E-POST: [email protected] The body›s arms race • Johansen argues “It took just six days to change the gene This was shown by recent trials carried out in that diet is the key to controlling our person- expression of each of the volunteers,” she says, winds of up to severe gale force in Skarnsundet If you could ask your genes to say what kinds al genetic susceptibility to disease. When we “so it’s easy to get started. But if you want to in the Trondheim Fjord. The area is notorious of foods are best for your health, they would consume too many carbohydrates and the reduce your likelihood of lifestyle disease, this for its strong tidal currents, which range from have a simple answer: one-third protein, one- body is triggered to react, the immune system new diet will have to be a permanent change.” zero to ten metres a second. third fat and one-third carbohydrates. mobilizes its strength, as if the body were Johansen stressed that researchers obvious- The newly developed bubble curtain is 12 m That’s what recent genetic research shows being invaded by bacteria or viruses. ly do not have all the answers to the relation- long and 1.5 m wide, and it takes the form of a is the best recipe to limit your risk of most life- “Genes respond immediately to what they ship between diet and food yet. But the trends large grating covered in perforated rubber air- style-related diseases. have to work with,” Johansen says. “The key in the findings, along with recent scientific lit- hoses that release bubbles generated by a com- lies in insulin’s secondary role in a number erature, make it clear that the recommenda- pressor. The grating is submerged to a depth Food affects gene expression • Re- of other mechanisms. A healthy diet is about tion should be for people to change their dietary of a couple of metres, where it releases a dense searchers Ingerid Arbo and Hans-Richard Bratt- eating specific kinds of foods so that we mini- habits. “wall” of bubbles. bakk at NTNU have fed slightly overweight mize the body’s need to secrete insulin. The Hege J. Tunstad As they rise to the surface, they drag the sur- people different diets, and studied the effect rounding water with them. When this water of this on gene expression. Gene expression reaches the surface it creates a horizontal sur- refers to the process where information from a face current that keeps the oil in place and pre- gene’s DNA sequence is translated into a sub- vents it from spreading further. This makes it stance, like a protein, that is used in a cell’s Photo: photos.com easier to control and collect the oil spill. The structure or function. technology has been developed by scientists EFFICIENT: The bubble curtain is an efficient way of closing off a vulnerable area to prevent an oil spill “We have found that a diet with 65 per cent from SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest research from entering it. carbohydrates, which often is what the aver- organization, with financial support from the age Norwegian eats in some meals, causes a Research Council of Norway and the oil indus- double the effect of the bubble curtain on the Statoil has been one of the project’s indus- number of classes of genes to work overtime,” try. current, we would have to increase the air by a trial partners. says Berit Johansen, a biology professor at factor of eight, so the limitation actually lies in “We haven’t received the final report NTNU. She supervises the project’s doctoral Calms the waves • Grim Eidnes, a SINTEF the compressor power available.” from the scientists, but we will consider students and has conducted research on gene senior scientist says: whether Statoil should support the next expression since the 1990s. “We already knew that the bubble curtain Ongoing development • So far, the scien- stage – commercialization – when we have “This affects not only the genes that cause works in still water, and that it actually has a tists can see obvious advantages in using the report,” Statoil scientist Cecilie Fjeld inflammation in the body, which was what we calming effect on waves. What we wanted to the bubble curtain instead of traditional oil Nygård said. “So far, it appears that the bubble originally wanted to study, but also genes as- test in this field trial was the maximum current booms: it is an efficient way of closing off a vul- curtain could act as a barrier in coastal areas sociated with the development of cardiovascu- strength that our equipment could deal with.” nerable area to prevent an oil spill from enter- that would prevent oil spills from spreading lar disease, some cancers, dementia, and type 2 Bark was used in the trial as a substitute ing it. It also enables us to limit the spread of a into or out of a fjord, for example.” Nygård diabetes – all the major lifestyle-related dis- for oil out of consideration for the environ- spill and improves our prospects of collecting points out that the bubble curtain will not eases,” she says. ment. The results were promising; while tra- the oil. Since the bubble curtain generator is replace, but rather complement, traditional oil ditional oilbooms manage to prevent oil spills actually submerged to a depth of a couple of booms. dietary advice and disease • These find- from spreading in currents of up to 40 – 50 cm metres, we can run a boat over it. This is an ob- SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture is the ings undercut most of the underpinnings per second (one knot), the bubble curtain could vious advantage during oil spill recovery oper- responsible project manager, while the Depart- for the diets you’ve heard will save you. It is control the spill at current speeds of around 70 ations. ment of Marine Environmental Technology only now that researchers are figuring out the cm per second, equivalent one and a half knots. Now, the SINTEF scientists want to further has been closely involved together with the relationship between diet, digestion and the According to Eidnes, this opens up new pros- develop the system for commercialization. University of California. The project has been effect on one’s health and immune system pects for dealing with oil spills in areas of “The first thing we need to do is make the financed by the Research Council of Norway – so they can now say not only what kinds of strong currents. system more flexible, and then increase its through its PETROMAKS programme, and by foods are healthiest, but why. “In principle, there are no limits on the capacity, for example by putting the air hoses Statoil and Eni Norge. NorLense, the oil con- “Both low-carb and high-carb diets are strength of the currents in which this equip- on a roll. The aim is to make the bubble curtain tingency planning association Nofo, and the wrong,” says Johansen. “But a low-carb diet is ment could operate,” Eidnes said. “The more air easy to transport, rig up and not least, to expand oil boom nanufacturer Nofi have also contri- closer to the right diet. A healthy diet shouldn’t BEST FOR YOUR HEALTH: Forget the food pyramid when you plan your meals – instead, the healthiest that the compressor can force out of the hoses, its capacity by making it sufficiently long,” buted to the project. be made up of more than one-third carbohydra- way to eat is to get one-third of your calories from carbohydrates, one-third from fats and one-third from protein. the stronger the current it can tackle. But to Eidnes said. Christina Benjaminsen tes (up to 40 per cent of calories) in each meal,

10 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 11 ■ INTERLUDE

Vital channels These little tubes are in a laboratory at SINTEF Sealab. They provide an essential supply of oxygen to a tank of seawater in which little creatures swim freely. These zooplankton are called copepods, and are real vitamin ”bombs” for fish fry.

Photo: Unni Skoglund

12 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 13 Illustration: Line Halsnes Illustration:

It is all well and good to store CO2 under the seabed. But what if the CO2 starts to leak? A flounder in fizzy water

bed, 300 metres below the water's surface. been pumped into reservoirs underneath the CO2 STORAGE BIOLOGY • PRESSURE TANK And there, it is cold, quiet and dark. And sea. Instead of releasing the gas generated by TEXT: Anne Sliper Midling under high pressure. oil straight into the air, it is being stored deep CONTACT: Murat Van Ardelan, Faculty of Natural Sciences and To mimic this, scientists at NTNU and under the seabed. There are rock formations Technology, NTNU SINTEF have developed a large pressure vessel that can store CO2, and keep it away from the PHONE: +47 952 81 601 EMAIL: [email protected] made of titanium. Inside the tank is a box of atmosphere. The CO2, which is a fluid under bottom sediments from Trondheim Fjord. The pressure, moves around a little, hovering a bit, tank and its layer of bottom sediment will but does not resurface. irst, build a pressure tank. provide answers to what might happen if any It sounds both wonderful and terrifying. Then add some corals and a of the millions of tonnes of CO2 being pumped What happens if the rock suddenly fractures? flounder. into geologic formations under the seafloor Can the CO2 cause it to explode? Might there Add seawater and CO gas. 2 begin to seep out. suddenly be a huge explosion of CO2 in the Wait for about half a year. And this is where the ticking and the hissing North Sea, like a giant fountain? FThis is the recipe to find out what happens to come into play. Underneath the research boat, marine life if there is a CO2 leak from undersea down on the dock, there’s a hose in the ocean. It BULGING CRUST • Every year almost a million storage reservoirs. sucks up seawater, which enters the tank, circu- tonnes of CO2 are being pumped into a lates around, and then drains out again. geological formation under the seabed near the AN UNDERSEA EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR • Tick. Sleipner gas field, on the Norwegian continen- Tick. Psss. Tick. Tick. Psss. There's something GAS TO THE BOTTOM • But before we go any tal shelf. The same is happening at the Snøhvit ticking. And blowing. And ticking again. Just further: What is Statoil, Norway’s main oil gas field in northern Norway, and in the Sahara like the sound of someone on a respirator. company, doing out there in the North Sea? desert in Algeria. We are located on Trondheim waterfront, They’re doing much more than just pumping Even if the liquid CO2 does not escape, it can where the winter’s cold is creeping in through up the oil and natural gas that make Norway move. Statoil’s measurements from the Sahara our clothes. At the dock is NTNU’s research among the richest countries in the world. show that the Earth’s crust was actually lifted boat, Gunnerus, rocking in the waves. Inside, In fact, their efforts are the main reason one inch over six years. at the ocean laboratory in Brattøra, it is almost for the tank and the box with the bottom Tore Torp is a Statoil consultant working on as cold as outside. That should come as no sediment. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere CO2 storage and a self-appointed foster-father surprise, however, since the room we are in has threatens our global climate, and to help save a to the test pressure tank. He says that outside w been designed to reflect conditions on the sea- feverish planet, huge amounts of CO2 have of the Tordis field in the North Sea, so much

14 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 15 “We are now studying the worst possible scenario in the tank.”

Marine chemist Murat Van Ardelan

w water was pumped down for a test that the how the liquid CO2 moves. scientists monitor the liquid CO2, Statoil has rock at the bottom actually cracked. “We take a picture of the CO2, put the pic- still found it necessary to spend NOK 5 million “Much of the water came up as a nice, small tures on top of each other, and look for changes. to finance the pressure tank, because there fountain, like you might see in a park. We We create environment maps around all the remain unanswered questions. For example, learned a lot from that, and it can’t happen installations, and our goal is always to prove what happens if the liquid CO2 escapes The pressure tank is made of now, because the rock above the liquid is at that the liquid stays there,” says Berger. through small holes in the seabed? That might titanium and has a diameter of least 1000 metres thick. At Snøhvit, CO2 is He believes it is important to remember that be something that would not appear on any about one metre. Into the tank being stored 2400 metres below the seabed. We CO2 is also a gas that is produced by life itself. seismic scan, but that would just seep out will go bacteria, single-celled also monitor the liquid, mostly by the use of “It’s really not a toxic gas, per se, but is poi - with a constant little hissing sound. organisms, mussels, coral – and seismic tools,” says Torp. Seismic monitoring sonous if you are exposed to too much of it. finally, a flounder. Photo: Merethe Wagelund is when sound waves are reflected back to an There is natural leakage from the Earth, from A SIGNATURE ON THE OCEAN FLOOR • One of instrument, which then makes an image that volcanoes and also from under the sea, for the many researchers working on this issue is can be compared to a kind of sound X-ray. example. The Aegean Sea naturally contains more a marine chemist at NTNU named Murat Van CO2 than other areas, so the marine life there is Ardelan. He believes that it is far more difficult NOT JUST FROM OIL AND GAS • Bjørn Berger, unique compared to other places,” says Berger. to detect small leaks than large ones. a Statoil adviser, said scientists can always see But even if reservoir rocks stay intact, and “With small leaks, the fluid will first dissolve in the water. With large leaks, the liquid can rise up to the seabed and bubble – like bubbles chemical processes, then bacteria, then single- in a bottle of mineral water. To detect small celled organisms, mussels and finally cold- leaks, we have to look for how CO2 changes water corals. But the last creature that will be

Photo: Corbis Photo: marine chemistry and the creatures living at the subjected to testing in the tank is a flounder bottom of the sea. Maybe CO2 has a special from which blood samples will be taken while signature when it escapes to the ocean floor? it is inside the tank. ses about work with the tank, and are in the first CO2 STORAGE UNDER THE SEA Perhaps some bacteria will bloom with an in- But because the pressure in the tank simu- graduating class from NTNU’s “Environmental crease in CO2, while others die?” says Van Ardelan. lates life at 300 metres beneath the sea, the fish Toxicology and Chemistry” programme. It is they Together with three master's students from will explode if it is removed directly from the who have conducted most of the experiments. • Since 1996, the Norwegian oil and gas NTNU, he has conducted two tests in the tank tank. Because of this problem, the tank was built The three students begin to empty the tank company Statoil has been storing CO2 to facilitate the search for changes. with kind of pressure lock where researchers of water, and then will remove the box contai- under the sea, after an suggestion from “Undersea storage is the most realistic solu- using a robot arm can pick up the fish inside ning the sediment. Murat Van Ardelan rattles NTNU and SINTEF scientists. Between tion we have right now to reduce the amount the tank, put it into the lock, gradually lower off a lot of unintelligible names of what all the 13 to 14 million tonnes of CO2 have been stored underneath the Sleipner gas field. of CO2 in the atmosphere. Critics say that even the pressure, and then test the fish. bacteria are called, and what function they serve. if undersea storage does reduce the problem in “This has only been attempted in an open Small bacteria can change the basic features of Another 4 million tonnes have been stored in the Sahara, while 1 million tonnes have the atmosphere, there is a risk that part of the glass tank to date. This is the first time this the ecosystem, he says. been injected at the Snøhvit gas field. problem will just be shifted to local zones research has been conducted under pressure, “Although geophysicists say that the cap- where marine animals, plankton and fish are and over a longer period,” Torp says. rock can’t be cracked, we do not know that • According to CO GeoNet, which is the living. I do not think it will, but we are now for certain. There could be leaks from old oil 2 European network for the geological studying the worst possible scenario in the THE ONLY THING WE KNOW FOR CERTAIN • Tick. drilling holes or existing cracks. What will storage of CO , the capture and storage of Tick. Psss. Tick. Tick. Psss. happens to seawater chemistry and marine 2 tank,” says Ardelan. CO can contribute substantially to slowing It is time to stop the ticking of the tank. life if there is a leak? The only thing we know 2 Psss! Small leaks can be harder to detect than large ones. For this reason, researchers are studying human-induced climate change by 2050. whether CO gas can change the chemistry of the sediment and water, and the composition of marine AT LAST, THE FLOUNDER • The planned se- Kathrine Sundeng, Nina Gjøsund and Gøril for certain is that CO2 will acidify the ocean,” 2 ■ life on the sea bottom – in other words, whether CO2 puts a special signature on the seabed. quence of studies in the tank is to start with Aasen Slindre have all written their master’s the- says Ardelan.

16 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 17 computer models measurement data “Can you help us?” asks Lehr. “We need to find “One challenge we face is to estimate the out what’s going on under the sea in the Gulf.” amount of oil flowing out from the borehole,” text: Åse Dragland “We can,” answers Reed. says an email from Bill Lehr dated 26 April - a contact: Mark Reed, SINTEF Materials and chemistry “Can you start immediately?” week after the explosion. Ocean tel: +47 982 43 471 email: [email protected] “No problem, we can handle it.” “It was about this time when journalists Twenty-four hours after the call, the Norwe- and officials in the United States began to pril 22, 2010: gian researchers have started to download data understand the seriousness and extent of the It’s been two days since the dis- about the currents and winds in the Gulf of disaster,” said Reed. “We now know that the aster alarm has gone off in the Gulf Mexico, and the computer models have been discharge of oil was less than predicted. You prophets of Mexico. News of the Deepwater cranked up, even though the scientists still don’t see so much oil on the beaches - but at Horizon oil rig explosion fills the know very little about the kind or the amount the same time, we believe it can hide in the televisionA and newspaper reports. Huge of oil that is being spilled into the Gulf. ground.” amounts of oil are spewing into the ocean from “But why did they contact SINTEF?” I ask.“Couldn’t the uncapped oil well. Experts are stunned and The only model in the world • It’s been BP use experts who were closer?” paralysed by the news. over a year since the accident. “We were contacted by BP and NOAA be- These scientists can predict the direction On this spring day, SINTEF scientist Mark BP shares have long since risen on the US cause we have the only model in the world that Reed, who has “marine environmental techno- Stock Exchange, the deep water drilling ban in can tell us both what is happening down in the an oil spill will take, or if salmon lice will infect logy” as his trademark – is on the way out the the Gulf has been lifted, and the explosion in ocean and what is happening on the surface,” door to a meeting. He is delayed by the shrill the Gulf of Mexico has gone down in history, says Reed. His gaze is quiet for a few seconds a neighbouring fish farm. chattering of his phone, and has turned around when Mark Reed welcomes me with a warm before shifting over to look the turquoise on the doorstep. Bill Lehr from the American handshake. colour that illuminates his computer screen: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- Inside the office, he shows me a little of the “Here you can see: The surface water in the tion (NOAA), is on the line. The two have chat- huge volume of email exchanges that went on Gulf of Mexico is at 30 oC - the bottom water ted jovially before about other joint projects. between Norwegian researchers and US auth- is at 4 degrees. When 60 oC oil bubbled out of Now the situation is much more high pressure: orities in April last year. the seabed on April 20, it took more than two w

SINTEF scientists Mark Reed and Dag Slagstad work to predict how the ocean’s currents will move. Photo: Thor Nielsen

18 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 19 w hours before anything came to the surface. predicts the future too. But where Mark and Why?” He answers himself: his group have focused on oil spills, produced “We could follow the oil the whole way

“Because the oil was quickly diluted by water discharges and predicting the risk related Ill: SINTEF water, the temperature dropped and the dens- to offshore drilling, Dag’s group concentrates ity was greater.” on ocean currents. and keep track of every kilo.” Reed and his colleagues calculated that the “So we can ‘drop’ different things in the buoyancy of the oil decreased at about 1100 ocean, and determine where they end up Senior Research Scientist Mark Reed metres up. From there, only oil and gas bubbles – anything from sediment and pollutants to continued to the surface. The gas dissolved in biomass and salmon lice,” he says, chuckling. water, and did not surface, and because of turb- For many years Slagstad and his team of ulent weather, the oil droplets were broken 5-6 researchers at SINTEF Fisheries and Aqua- down. The largest drops, about 1 cm in dia- culture have used computational models to meter, came to the surface quickly. The littler make predictions about climate effects and ones had little buoyancy and never came to the ecosystems. Based on atmospheric data from surface. The oil that did surface showed up two the Max Planck Institute in Germany, they kilometres from the source. can predict that pH values are dropping in the “We could see all this with our computer Barents Sea, for example. As a result of more model. We could follow the oil the whole way CO2 being dissolved in the ocean, some types and keep track of every kilo. That’s the real an- of shell-bearing marine animals will have a On April 20, 2011, oil poured from a damaged swer,” says Reed. tough time ahead. well under the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in The US government also knew that the “But as we get more high-resolution models the Gulf of Mexico. This is what the hot oil flow Norwegian community had a great deal of ex- and can zero in more closely on individual lo- looked like in SINTEF’s computer model. perience from previous work: From oil spills cations, we have had some interest from other outside of Kuwait after the Gulf War, from an parties -- including the aquaculture industry,” oil leak at the Statfjord field in 2007, and from says Slagstad. process – they see computer models as no- two shipwrecks on the Norwegian coast, the thing more than giant computer programs that Server at Fedje and the Full City, outside of Lan- Will the threat float by? • The resear- can show ocean circulation. gesund. chers are now focused on the Norwegian coast, “When I arrived at SINTEF in 1992 I started from Stadt all the way up to Troms, and are at with software I had with me from the US,” Reed Creating a virtual ocean • One floor work on an extensive project for coastal co- says. “As time went on, we added various mod- below Mark Reed and his colleagues, Dag Slag- unt-ies. Slagstad shows on his computer how ules, and our field of work accelerated. Today stad is bent over his keyboard. Slagstad works coastal areas are divided into grids, and that we have twelve people who work with this. One When disaster struck in the Gulf of Mexico, SINTEF was contacted with SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, and the model areas can vary from a close-up of of the modules focuses on oil blowouts in deep by the oil company BP. The US Government estimates that approx.

only a few hundred metres – to an overview water. Another simulates the response from 5 million barrels of oil were discharged from the deep sea floor.” Photo: AP that covers an area of twenty kilometres. mechanical oil recovery and dispersion by “What does the aquaculture industry want to know?” means of chemicals. The more measurements

Ill: SINTEF “How salmon lice and viruses spread. Will and numbers we feed in, the better the results currents and wind, for example, cause the lice are that come out.” be to cover only limited areas, where the sensor New projects and big sales • Research an accident to happen. They must have prepared- Smøla Frøya from a neighbouring fish farm to harm my in- “Yes - measurements are extremely impor- network could be deployed to measure specific in the field of predicting the future moves at a ness plans ready, and must conduct monthly stallation?” tant,” Slagstad adds. “Making forecasts - calcu- events. lightning fast pace. Recently, the groups where exercises to keep themselves in readiness. Slagstad picks up a colourful map of the lating will happen in the future -- must be con- SINTEF is continuing to build its expertise Reed and Slagstad work were awarded a new “After the accident in the Gulf, sales have Hitra Trøndelag coast. Here, fish farms around the stantly corrected with new measurement data. in this area. In a group project called Ocean Space EU project in Paris. With colleagues in Tromsø, flourished - especially in England. Our buyers islands of Hitra and Frøya have been plotted on In this way, our models are continually adjus- Surveillance (OSS), the two internal modelling who have expertise in biological modelling, come from both pure companies as well as con- the map with large white dots. In a simulation, ted to reflect reality.” communities have joined forces with ICT re- the Trondheim groups will use their models sulting firms hired to help oil companies with one of the farms is contaminated, shown by a searchers to develop small, inexpensive sensors to make predictions about the Arctic of the planning. Well-known oil companies, such as red dot, and on the screen, we see how the col- Measurement data are key • And there- that should be able to make these kinds of future, when it is warmer, and how that will Statoil, Eni, Total and BP, which are working in our spreads with ocean currents. Suddenly a in lies the challenge. Some areas can provide measurements at some time in the future. affect transportation systems and the arctic South America and Africa, have also obtained fish farm to the east is “invaded”, and it does good measurement data. Others locations “The Norwegian Meteorological Institute environment. permission to use our program.” not look good for fish farm number two, right have astonishingly little information -- like the has a model that predicts ocean currents and In another project (called Symbioses), “But aren’t you afraid of becoming unemployed?” across the sound. Barents Sea. How can we say anything about waves 72 hours ahead. Here, we can reach a which will run until 2016, a number of oil com- Reed laughs. “Hardly. First, we have to con- biomass or oil spills in a giant ocean like this? resolution of 4 km, and soon we will be able panies and research institutions as well as stantly work to make the model better. Second, The simulation shows the release of salmon lice Giant computer programs • from Smøla and Frøya. The white spots include It is not so For some years, the Norwegian research and to get down to 800 m. The goal is to use the SINTEF and its two computational modelling we are sitting on skills they have to have. The several fish farms, and simulate the lice that are easy to understand what computer models industry communities believed that wireless weather warnings to simulate the movement teams will study the effects of oil spills in the people who buy our models use them once released from the fish farms in this area. Other actually are, and what happens when resear- sensor networks could solve the problem of of currents with even higher resolution if spe- Barents Sea. a month, perhaps. We ‘live’ with the models facilities located between the islands of Hitra and chers feed numbers and measurement data inadequate monitoring of the environment cial situations occur in connection with events In addition, licences for the Norwegian model almost daily, and are always able to provide the mainland could be infected by the lice in two on weather and wind into their computers. and marine resources in the North. But at the such as a jellyfish invasion, oil spills or toxic simulator called OSCAR are being sold the world useful decision support when an accident to four days. But the two researchers demystify the whole same time, they concluded that the goal had to algal blooms,” says Slagstad. over. Oil companies cannot just sit and wait for happens.” n

20 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 21 Photo: Ole Morten Melgård Ole Morten Photo: The archbish p’s mint

it was found, and is now a part of the Arch- The medieval coin workshop found in Trondheim is the world’s best preserved. bishop’s Palace. But it is only recently that historians and metallurgists at NTNU have Now scientists have reconstructed the entire coin-making process. estimated the extent of coin production at the workshop, and documented how the Arch- bishop’s coins were actually minted.

HISTORY ARCHAEOLOGY • NUMISMATICS A MICRO-WORKSHOP • “This was certainly both the world’s northernmost and smallest TEXT: Lisa Olstad coin workshop. In European terms, its produc- CONTACT: Jon Anders Risvaag, NTNU Museum of Natural tion was microscopic: probably only about History and Archaeology 60 000 coins a year,” says Risvaag. PHONE: +47 924 66 092 EMAIL: [email protected] That may sound like more than just a little,

Photo: Nina Tveter/NTNU Info Tveter/NTNU Nina Photo: but by the 1500s in Europe, coin production edieval Trondheim, early 1500s: was essentially an industry: There were huge A mint master and his apprentice workshops with hundreds of employees, have been up since the break of which spewed out millions of coins each year. dawn. As the day drew to its The Archbishop of Nidaros, on the other Metallurgist Otto end, they sat at a bench in the hand, was not allowed to have more than one Lohne shows the Mworkshop, ready to strike coins. markings on the coin master and one apprentice, the King had They have already analysed the chemical decided. archbishop's coin, composition of the silver items to be melted The estimate of 60 000 coins was based on called “hvid”. down and made into the coins. They have two things: One was how many different made the right coin alloy: 30 per cent silver kinds of imprints have been found stamped and 70 per cent copper. They have cast rods, on different coins, and how many coins could hammered them flat, cut them in pieces, and be embossed with the top and bottom made the pieces round. embossing dies before these would have to be Then, after they were weighed, adjusted replaced. Risvaag has done these calculations. and dipped in an acid bath to make them The second was based on what two men shiny, the coins were ready for striking with could produce in one year – if long workdays the Archbishop’s own dies. are factored in, but weekend days are not. For these were Archbishop Gaute Ivarsson’s Metallurgists made this calculation based on A model of the coin workshop at the Archbishop's Palace, as it must have been around the year 1500. coins, which King Hans of Denmark, Norway how long the complicated manufacturing and Sweden had given him the right to mint. process necessarily had to take. The bishop was a man of great political and THE PALACE IN FLAMES • Trondheim, 18 August The most sensational and unexpected dis- “The fun is that each of our different ecclesiastical power. He led the Norwegian 1983: Dense smoke rose against the morning coveries were the mints – three separate approaches resulted in the same estimate,” Council of the Realm, and was an expert in sky. The Archbishop’s Palace – a cluster of workshops on top of each other in the layers of says Risvaag. increasing the Church’s holdings in the country. unique buildings from the Middle Ages – was soil. The best preserved lay at the bottom, What neither the archbishop, coin master in flames! The Fire Department managed to which turned out to have belonged to Arch- THE ARCHBISHOP’S MEANS OF PAYMENT • But nor apprentice could know was that in only rescue the 800-year-old stone buildings, but bishop Gaute Ivarsson. There was a large intact if 60 000 coins a year amounted to almost a few years the walls and benches would be two storehouses from the 1700s were lost – and workshop from the early 1500s, with a checker- nothing, even in little Norway, what was the demolished and the fine tile floor would with them irreplaceable cultural treasures. board-patterned tile floor in red and yellow, point of minting them? be covered with mud – while another bishop But nothing is so bad that some good a hearth, metal pieces, pieces of coins and “The archbishop received the bulk of his in- will have built a new workshop on the cannot come out of it. For archaeologists, the finished coins. come from the renting of farmlands and tithes. remnants of the old. fire was a golden opportunity to explore the “It was a unique discovery and is a world- But minting itself was actually profitable,” says They also could not know that there would medieval city of Trondheim, called Nidaros. class attraction, in line with the Viking ships,” Risvaag. “There was some income to be had be a third coin workshop atop the previous Between 1991 and 1995 almost 5000 cubic metres says numismatist Jon Anders Risvaag. “No from collecting old coins, which were purchased two -- and that more than 500 years later, the of soil were turned over, and the number of other country can boast such an authentic at a compulsory rate that was actually lower surface of the ground would lie several metres finds was greater than anyone could have coin workshop from the Middle Ages.” than the silver content in them was worth. higher than their own workshop floor. imagined, totalling roughly 63 000 objects. The workshop is located there still, just as Moreover, most fines to the church were paid in w

22 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 23 ”A unique discovery and a HOW COINS WERE MADE world-class attraction.” Numismatist Jon Anders Risvaag

w silver, so that could be used as the raw material other metal work. Perhaps the archbishop stamped out, much like when you make flat ANALYSIS: Chemical analysis was conducted in small bowls, called cupels, made of bone ash. with which to make coins. These payments made silver bars here that he used for trade,” cookies. But by using a microscope that shows A sample of material containing silver was weighed and melted together with lead in the cupel. were often in the form of small pieces that suggests the historian. the microstructure of the metal, researchers could not be used for larger purposes. And last have now seen that the coins must have been Warm air oxidizes lead, but not silver, and at 900 °C, the molten lead oxide will remove the oxide but not least, the right to actually mint coins CELEBRATING A MILLENNIUM • In a wardrobe cast in the form of a rod. from any other metals. Lead oxides and impurities enter the porous bone ash, so that only pure reinforced the importance of the archbishop’s at NTNU's Department of Materials Science “We could also see that the rod could not silver remains. When this is weighed, it is possible to calculate the silver content of the original political power and rank in society.” and Engineering, metallurgists Otto Lohne and have been cast in an iron form, but was cast object. Many cupels were found in the Archbishop’s Palace coin workshop. But the most important factor, Risvaag be - Pål Ulseth have some unusual garments. They either in soapstone or in sand,” explains Lohne. lieves, was it was convenient for the archbishop were made for Trondheim’s thousand-year The metallurgists have tested both metal to have a marketable form of payment when anniversary in 1997. This was, in fact, when the two pieces from the workshop and alloys they THE MELT: Materials containing copper and silver were melted in crucibles in a ratio of 30 per dealing with foreigners and farmers. “The right to metallurgists were asked if they had anything have created themselves, to figure out how the cent silver and the remainder copper, in accordance with the law. The hearth could have been mint coins that the archbishop had received professional to contribute to the celebration, process worked. They have also tested all the covered with charcoal, because bits of carbon have been found in the hammered rods. from the king stated exactly what the silver something that could be interesting to watch. production steps in their own laboratory. content and weight had to be for Norwegian Lohne thought immediately of coins, One of the results of the research was that currency. So the Hanseatic League and the Dutch because he knew that Trondheim played an the exhibition around the old yard had to be traders in Bergen knew exactly what a Norwegian important role in the early production and use changed. Not all of the text was accurate after hvid or penny or shilling was worth,” Risvaag said. of coins in the realm, and he had also been the metallurgists became involved, and not all This theory is strengthened by the fact that involved with the chemical testing of coins the objects were in the right place or were there has not been a single archbishop’s coin from the archbishop’s workshop. He and his described correctly. Otto Lohne is a metallurgist and works at found in the city’s medieval site from before colleague Ulseth had done research on how “To find the original bits and pieces and NTNU. He and colleage Pål Ulseth have the 1550s. the money was made (see separate article), and put them together into a coherent process has reconstructed the entire time consuming “Not one coin! The entire old town is as if it had no objection to wearing medieval clothes never been done before us. But we had the process of minting medieval coins. was vacuumed clean of coins, while there have to show the public how coins were minted in advantage of the archaeologists’ previous CASTING: Researchers are uncertain whether the coin metal was cast in sand or stone moulds. been plenty of the archbishop’s coins found in the Archbishop’s Palace. work,” says Lohne. They believe most of the casting was done in sand, since stone moulds were not found the work- churches in rural areas, and some in Denmark But the two researchers have only recently 2 and Sweden. This leads me to believe that managed to reconstruct the whole process, NIDAROS FIRST AND LAST • Norway’s coin previously believed, but at the Archbishop’s Melgård Ole Morten Foto: shop. The metal was cast as rectangular or round bars with a cross-sectional area of about 30 mm . Nidaros was mainly the production site for from A to Z. Previously it was believed, for history began in 995 when King Olav Tryggva- Palace in Nidaros. Almost all Norwegian coins money that was to be used elsewhere. It also example, that the metal that was melted for son minted the first Norwegian pennies with from the early 1500s until the Reformation in 1537 FORMING: The rods were heated up and then flattened on an anvil. appears that the workshop was used for coins was spread out on a plate and then his name. Ever since then, the right to mint were struck in the three small workshops here. They were then cut into squares with a large pair of scissors. coins has belonged to the king. In 1222, the The right to mint coins was, in principle, archbishops were entitled to mint coins in the the king’s and coins were marked with his The corners were cut, and coin pieces were weighed and adjusted. king's name, “as long as they were God and the name. But the last three Archbishops of They were then hammered flat before they were probably put in kingdom’s friends.” Nidaros, Gaute Ivarsson, Erik Valkendorf and a stack in a kind of vice and hammered round in what were called This privilege was withdrawn in 1281, after a Olav Engelbrektsson, also marked coins with blanks (forms). Afterwards, they were heated until they were malleable. conflict between the archbishop and the king. "archbishop" and their own symbols. There was a period when the king minted “We do not quite know whether the king at coins in Oslo, but between 1387 and 1483 there any time gave his blessing to this, or whether “WHITEWASHING”: The coin blanks were black and ugly, and were were definitely no coins minted in Norway. the archbishops were so strong that they did therefore “whitewashed” in a warm, acidic solution. The copper The archbishops were eager to regain the exactly what they themselves wanted. We are and copper oxide on the surface were thus dissolved. And when the right to mint coins, and in 1483 an agreement fairly confident that the king was not other - minter hammered on the blank, pure silver was spread out over the between King Hans and the Norwegian Coun- wise specifically concerned with the Norwegian surface in an even layer. This is the origin of the phrase “bright as a cil of the Realm stated that coins could be mint- coins. At that time, the big production was in newly minted penny”. ed in Bergen, Oslo and Nidaros, in accordance Denmark,” says Risvaag. with the ancient privilege accorded to the Ni- Out in the world, both historians and me- daros Cathedral. tallurgists are following the research about the EMBOSSING: The coin blank was put between two engraved dies But a review of Norwegian coins and dies small coin workshop in the far north with great and embossed with a sharp hammer blow. The top die was hand that have been identified from the period interest. The Royal Norwegian Society for Sci- held. The bottom die was a cone-shaped piece of iron attached to an suggests that coins were probably not minted ences and Letters has published an English- anvil on the end of a piece of wood. The top die wore out first and in Oslo at the time, nor were many minted language book about the work called The Mint had to be replaced before the bottom die. A numismatist can use the A coin workshop in the mid 1500s, as is shown in the Swedish-Italian archbishop Olaus Magnus’s in Bergen. Coins that were marked Moneta in the Nidaros Archbishop´s Palace. Coin production differences in the times between when the top and bottom die were great work, “History of the Nordic peoples” (1555). ■ Norwei were not made in Oslo, as scientists under Archbishop Gaute Ivarsson (1475-1510). replaced to follow and date a series of coins for a long time. Archaeology History and NTNU Museum of Natural Sampson and Linn Eikje, Bruce Photo:

24 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 25 Digital care

If a car tilts, a sensor beeps, and our mobile phones alert us when the battery gets too low. But who gets notified if grandma falls? Or who checks her blood pressure daily?

AMBIENT ASSISTED TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIES rectorate of Health can sort this out. “The doc- plex to be used, or they may not be adapted to tor could have a simple form, so he can say to the needs of the elderly, and user groups have text: Åse Dragland me – just like renewing a certificate: ‘Now you little experience with the technology. Conse- contact: Randi Reinertsen, SINTEF Technology and Society have reached the point, Mrs Heiberg, where you quently, some countries are now conducting tel: +47 930 08 498 email: [email protected] should consider signing the consent form so pilot projects to fill this gap. that we can use surveillance technology on England is running one of the largest pilot am doing very well and managing nicely at you.’ That’s not really such a big issue, is it?” projects in Europe. No less than 2500 patients the moment with my security alarm and are involved in an effort that has attracted inter- telephone”, says 91-year old Ellen Owesen Not enough caregivers • But health-moni- national attention. Denmark has also chosen in Trondheim. Like many others of her age, toring technology is a big issue – an issue that to focus on the issue and has allocated NOK she enjoys living alone. Her home is built is quite difficult and ill-defined, in fact. For one 3 billion to pilot projects and trials. Ito universal lifespan standards. It’s easy for her thing, the elderly and health care authorities Last year the Norwegian government put to get out with her wheeled walker, and during welcome the use of these technologies. But forward a committee to assess the country’s the bright summer days she often takes a stroll other issues remain: organizing the discipline, needs. No funds have been allocated in the down to the local grocery store. addressing ethical issues and choosing the state budget, however. After a long period on And 75-year old Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg, technologies that will be used. hold, researchers, industry stakeholders and former professor, doctor, State Secretary at the The backdrop for this debate is familiar to communities will initiate a number of pilot Ministry of Social Affairs and President of the all: across Europe, the demographic trend is for projects with funding from the Regional Re- Norwegian Red Cross, is certain that many el- the number of elderly to increase. At the same search Fund. The approach will enable the derly people would prefer to live at home for as time, there will be no corresponding growth in parties to put together a larger main project. long as possible, if they could only have a little the workforce. Even though more than half of day-to-day help and someone to keep an eye on all newly educated people in Norway work in Like an angel • In the autumn of 2010, NRK, them. Speaking for herself, she says she is an the health care system today, that still won’t be the Norwegian national broadcasting compa- 91-year old Ellen Owesen lives enthusiastic fan of technology. enough to meet this growing demand. ny, came to London’s Newham borough, where alone and normally feels safe “If I fall on the bathroom floor and can’t get The health care sector therefore needs bet- television cameras captured retiree William and secure. However, she may be up, I want someone to be notified. And I’d rather ter and more effective approaches to this chal- Flemming, who is in poor health and is depen- in need of ‘invisible assistance’ have a GPS or sensor around my neck than to lenge, and ambient assisted technology has dent on help in his own home. in the future. get lost when my memory goes,” she says. been launched as the best of them. “Would you like a crossword puzzle?” asks She knows that to use this technology, you his wife as she helps her husband to sit. have to get informed consent from the indivi- Pilot projects • Technological solutions The couple’s townhouse apartment in east

dual concerned, but believes the Norwegian Di- abound. The challenge is that they are too com- London is full of technical equipment, in- w Photo: Geir Mogen w

26 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 27

Greater security at home Kitchen: This is how a comprehensive security system ■ The cooker is automatically using smart house sensors might look like: ■ turned off and an alarm sent ■ if it overheats.

“Ambient assisted technology is meant ■ A sensor on the refrigerator ■ which sends an alert if the ■ door is not opened after a to provide security, social contact, ■ given interval.

Front door: ■ An automatic medication ■ Other rooms: ■ dispenser with built-in stimulation and activity” ■ Fire alert sent directly from ■ A sensor that alerts care ■ reminder if the medication ■ the smoke detector to the fire ■ personnel/next of kin if someone ■ is not taken. ■ services and care personnel/- ■ leaves the flat during the night. Research Director Randi Eidsmo Reinertsen ■ next of kin. ■ An “everything off” button ■ ■ Automatic temperature control. ■ programmed to switch off the ■ lights, cooker and TV when the ■ ■ resident goes out.

w cluding instruments that measure William’s Research as a bridge • Ambient assisted implementation. blood pressure and oxygen levels every day. technology is meant to provide security, social Klara Borgen of the Municipality of Trond- The patient or his relatives make the measu- contact, stimulation and activity, says research heim is in charge of the “Health and Welfare rements. This information is then sent to a director Randi Eidsmo Reinertsen of SINTEF. Technology” project. She says that the muni- team of nurses and assistants who determine Here, health researchers and ICT scientists cipality has seen the Scottish pilot project in- whether his changes in weight and heart rate have built cross-disciplinary expertise, and are volving warning systems, and now is running

are serious or normal: “His blood pressure has now working closely on several projects that a similar model. Toilet and bathroom: fallen slightly – is he drinking enough water?” examine how ambient assisted technology can “We want to develop a new phone system – ■ Water detector with asks the woman who staffs the phone while be used to address challenges. with one health service telephone that would ■ built in-alarm that checking patient records with colleagues. “We have to determine what it will take for include today’s different help lines, such as ■ sends an alert in ■ “They check me every day and it feels reas- older people to stay at home longer. Technol- emergency services, central security and emer- ■ the event of ■ suring. If I feel strange, and my blood pressure ogies that will prevent falls or warn us if they gency phones. When it comes to GPS, we will ■ overflow. is high, I know why,” William says. happen are important, and we have to ensure initially test how the system works in creating The leaders of the project claim that he has that patients receive the right kinds and doses peace of mind for the elderly who live alone. We ■ A sensor which become more independent than ever. He says of medications. Older people will need sensors don’t want to rush into this, but are trying to ■ sends an alert in ■ the event of a fall or he has not needed to go to the health care that can monitor vital life functions and detect think holistically in terms of health-monito- ■ if a visit to the toilet centre for at least 6 months. changes in their overall health over time, and ring technology -- and have started to identify ■ takes an unusually Out in the garden, William’s wife tidies up they can use social media to facilitate contact what has been done and what the status is in ■ long time. her rose hedges. She talks about how her days with family and health care workers.” the community,” she says. have changed for the better, and that she now Reinertsen is concerned that researchers The work of researcher Tone Øderud on the has a social life. Previously, she was tied to her must try to reduce the gap between the pro- “Social media for the aging population” project home, because she had to care for her sick hus- ducers and the municipalities (the users) who expands this picture further, with the intro- Living room: band: must choose solutions. Aids must be so sim- duction of Web-based technology and commu- ■ The possibility of a videophone “Before, I could not leave him,” she said. ple that the elderly can master them and use nication tools: ■ and remote-controlled “This has changed my life -- it’s like having a them early on. This allows for a smooth transi- “Physical activity and social contact length- ■ calendar/planner with alarm ■ reminder. friend or angel who looks after him.” tion up to the day when they really need the en the time that the elderly can function well. The Norwegian TV reporter turns the micro- equipment. Social media provides opportunities to interact ■ Easy-to-use, universal remote phone to the project manager and asks the socially. Perhaps the elderly will have a screen ■ TV controls and decoder. question we are all wondering about: “But GPS, social media and a health phone • on the TV where they can maintain contact with Bedroom: don’t the elderly miss close human contact The ability to alert others is important when their children and grandchildren in another ■ A sensor which sends an alert Windows: with the health care staff? Aren’t we losing you live alone and your health is frail. Seated city? With customization and adaptation, they ■ if the resident is out of bed ■ Sensors which send out an something with this?” just beyond Reinertsen is health researcher could both talk to them and see them.” ■ during the night for longer ■ ■ alert if windows remain “There is actually more contact now than Kristine Holbø. Holbø studies how the best ■ than a given interval. ■ open for too long when it is Contact Centres • before, when they met with nurses and other GPS models can be developed into a new In order to monitor a ■ cold outside. health care personnel perhaps every third and positive aid for the elderly and those with person’s health, vital signs have to be taken. ■ A light which comes on ■ automatically when the or fourth month,” replies the female project dementia, but also examines questions re- Much as William in England sends his vital ■ Automatically controlled ■ resident gets out of bed. manager. “Daily and weekly contact makes garding the responsibilities related to the use signs in to a central phone centre, Bærum and ■ blinds to prevent over- ■ heating. them feel safer.” of this technology, along with its practical Trondheim municipalities are working in col- Graphics: Ivar Gaasø/VG w

28 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 29 w laboration with researchers and ICT companies municipality is interested, but doesn’t have to establish contact centres to monitor chron- the ‘building block’ that is needed to ensure ically ill patients at home. that the information will come to them, they For nearly four years, SINTEF researcher Jarl can get it from UniversAAL. That’s how the sys- Reitan been responsible for the “COPD pro- tem is supposed to work,” he says. ject”, which monitors chronic COPD patients The International UniversAAL system must at home. Until now, home helpers measured be viewed in the context of how municipali- vital signs and submitted the information to ties are now trying to standardize their ICT a “COPD central” office at St. Olav’s Hospital. approaches. Recently, the ten largest munici- Now it appears that Trondheim can take over palities in Norway have organized themselves this function with its own contact centre. The into a group called K10. This group could be a “Health and Welfare Watch” project will estab- driver in developing a common architecture lish a 24-hour service which also draws on that can reach and serve everyone. specialist expertise from the hospital. In Oslo, Reitan’s colleague Dag Ausen and the muni- What do municipalities think? • But how cipality of Bærum are working with a similar do local authorities and the army of health project, where the contact centre also will be workers who put these new technologies into able to monitor alarms from a security system practice meet these challenges? Aashild Wil- in the home. lersrud, strategic advisor to the Norwegian The measurements will be made by the eld- Association of Local and Regional Authorities erly themselves or by their families, and com- (KS), says that lack of skills is a key issue. KS municated to the contact centre via a mobile recently conducted a survey in which about 200 Photo: Thor Nielsen phone. But there are other ways under develop- municipalities responded to questions about ment in which the measurements can be made: Social media offer opportunities for contact and interaction. Kristin Holbø of SINTEF is assisting the introduction of new technologies. ICT researcher Ingrid Svagård has been involved Astrid Næsgaard. “The study confirms a general lack of expert- with the development of a specific sensor belt ise in this area. In addition, staff lack informa- that communicates with a mobile phone. “Pat- tion about what health-monitoring techno- ients must have it on all day, and it is not suita- logy is and what it can do,” she says. Willersrud ble for COPD patients who only need to make thinks it is clear that Norway’s institutes of one measurement per day,” she says. higher learning have a task ahead of them, and Photo: Thor Nielsen

The belt, which measures your heart rate, Photo: Werner Juvik must address this issue, both in degree pro- temperature and activity, is headed to the Uni- grammes and continuing education. ted States, where six housebound chronic heart “Fortunately, I know that Sør-Trøndelag disease patients will test it in a 30-day pro- University College is working on this, and that gramme with daily monitoring. The patients Bergen University College will offer continuing will also measure their weight, take their blood education in the autumn,” she says. pressure and report subjective symptoms. Experienced users • This article began

Rehabilitation and medicine • Techno- Photo: Thor Nielsen with Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg’s input on con- logical aids do not need to be attached to any A sensor belt, developed by SINTEF, can meas- The security alarm is worn as an armband with sent arrangements for the elderly regarding When a patient goes for a walk she can take her GPS with her. A camera hung around ure heart rate, temperature and activity. The a bar code attached which can be scanned when one person but can be installed in the physical health-monitoring technology. So where does her neck also ensures that she can have photos of what she experiences. belt is in communication with a mobile phone. medication is administered. environment of the elderly. this issue stand now? We called Ivar Leveraas “I don’t want to trip over carpet edges and from the Hagen Committee, which was appoin- fall indoors,” says Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg. mounted on walls and doors that will be able medical carts that can prevent errors. Now, in care providers, relatives, lawyers and insurance tions. Some building blocks will enable you ted by the government with a mandate to re- “A broken bone means rehabilitation, long to detect movement and turn on the lights in conjunction with the municipalities of Trond- companies. This in turn requires a common to connect to sensors (like the GPS on a smart- view “Innovation in Health Care”. But Leveraas recovery and isolation. That means that poor a room. There will also be systems with voice heim and Bærum and several pharmaceutical technical platform. phone) while others may allow you to share does not have good news: The Data Protect- lighting is to be avoided.” support to tell the inhabitants if the bolt on a companies, SINTEF is considering a system This work is being undertaken in an EU 7th your information with services such as Face- ion Agency has strict requirements, so sign- Bærum, SINTEF and Abilia, a company that door has been opened.” that would automatically dispence medicine to Framework Programme called UniversAAL, book, Google and Microsoft,” says Marius Mi- ing some forms at your general practitioner’s works with health and safety aids, are also And how about providing the right medi- the elderly at home who cannot handle the which stands for “UNIVERsal open platform kalsen at SINTEF ICT. office is probably not enough. thinking along these lines. As a result, they are cation at the right time? Ever-increasing task themselves. and reference Specification for Ambient Assist- “If a small Norwegian company wants to However, there is one piece of good news in the process of putting together a safety kit demands on municipal home care services ed Living”, and where SINTEF is the lead instit- create a product and use GPS information to in this jungle of obstacles: When Norwegian with cognitive aids and warning systems. make it important to find simple, effective Universal building blocks • If ambient ution out of 17 partners. The goal is to produce track people with dementia, the developer can health-monitoring technology is ready some- “The city’s case can be lent out and the con- solutions that ensure that medicines are pro- assisted technology is going to work, it must an open system of services to design and share start from scratch and create everything on his time around 2020, the 70- and 80-year-olds in tents should be easily installed in the homes of perly managed. SINTEF has been involved and not only take into account just one user, but a health-monitoring technology. own, or he can use building blocks from Uni- the target group will consist of experienced the elderly,” says Terje Myhre of Abilia. “There is evaluating helping nursing homes with network of players who need to communicate “To use a Lego metaphor, UniversAAL will versAAL. When the solution is complete, the Facebook and iPhone users. They will absol- will be alarms in the event of a fall, and sensors the use of electronic medicine cabinets and with each other: users, municipalities, health provide building blocks, tools and instruc- company may offer it to the municipality. If the utely not be afraid to use this technology. n

30 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 31 ■ TOPIC: DEMENTIA Into the mist

About 40 million people worldwide have dementia, and many more will continue to be diagnosed in the future. How should society meet Inger Anne Ree Hunderi (1942–2009) was diagnosed with dementia at age 55 and painted throughout much of the course of her disease. This image was made shortly after the diagnosis this challenge? was made. (From “Into the Home of the Mist” by Inger Anne Ree Hunderi and Ola Hunderi.) By Synnøve Ressem

32 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 33 ■ TOPIC: DEMENTIA

THE FACTS: Every year, 9 000 Norwegians are diagnosed well with the disease for many years. Some In addition to biological material, there are the diseases that we cannot cure. It must be people put an emphasis on expression, joy MRI images of the brains of Nord-Trøndelag re- treated with other approaches and requires with dementia. Sixty per cent of them have Alzheimer's dis- and positive interactions in a more deliberate sidents, and a whole host of other information that doctors change their attitudes and give way than before their diagnosis. Some about their health-related conditions. more of themselves,” says Holmen. ease. Many older people are never assessed for dementia, concede that their intellectual abilities are HUNT (the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study) has not what they once were, but at the same time been undertaken in three separate surveys over DEMENTIA AND DEPRESSION • One of the so the real numbers may actually be higher. The Norwegian can say that they have never thrived as much eleven years. The first was conducted in individuals working with the dementia data- health care system has relatively limited numbers of geria- before they became ill. Much depends on how 1984–1986. Some of the participants in that first base is Eystein Stordal – who is also one of the individual handles the disease, and how Developing countries survey have now reached an age where they are Norway’s few specialists in geriatric psychiatry. tric specialists. At the same time, the ageing population and the world relates to dementia,” says Kjersti at risk of developing dementia. This means He believes that the database is a valuable Wogn-Henriksen. that it is possible to find detailed health data source of new knowledge about the causes the need for physicians with knowledge about dementia and Wogn-Henriksen is a psychologist at Industrialized countries for people who develop dementia fully 20 to 30 and risk factors for dementia, and believes that Molde Hospital, and has extensive experience years before they show signs of the disease. many disorders may predispose an individual complex age-related illnesses will increase dramatically in working with dementia patients. She is now “We are now in the process of building to dementia. the coming years. Dementia generally cannot be cured. working on a PhD at NTNU, which addresses a database where we assemble all of the “We already suspect that some of these dementia patients’ self-understanding and information we have about participants illnesses are different types of what we call insight into their own illness. GLOOMY FORECASTS who have received a diagnosis of dementia,” lifestyle diseases,” says Stordal. ementia is increasing dramatically perhaps we should start rethinking every as- The study has a clear patient's perspective says Jostein Holmen, a professor at NTNU's For his part, Stordal will use health data around the globe and could soon be pect of care for those with dementia. Should and will highlight what it means to live with The graph shows the Department of Public Health and General from HUNT to conduct research on dementia the most widespread and serious we consider dementia a disability that is due dementia: expected increase in the Practice and until recently, director of HUNT. and depression. disease afflicting the global popula- to an illness, in line with other chronic disea- How do patients understand and experi- “This dementia database makes it possible “During the early stages of dementia, tion. At the same time, researchers ses and disabilities, which would give patients ence their own illness? How do they try to worldwide number of those to compare all of the health-related informa- the clinical picture is quite complex, and is Dare racing to better understand the disease and rights to individual treatment, appropriate live with the disease? What types of coping tion and material that we have for these pati- challenging to diagnose. Often we have to with dementia. Today, about find more effective drugs and treatments. aids and special arrangements? strategies do they choose? ents. It can show whether there was anything address several diseases that occur at the same “If we can delay onset by just five years, the The psychologist has closely followed a 40 million people are diagno- special about them before they developed de- time – there may be a mix of problems, inclu- number of people with dementia may be cut in A DREADED DIAGNOSIS • “Dementia is an un- group of people with dementia over the sed with dementia, but that mentia. This is unique and can be a goldmine ding cognitive impairment, and psychological past four years, and has studied how they for researchers. We are not aware of any data- and physical symptoms,” he says. half, based on figures from the Karolinska In- wanted and dreaded diagnosis for which we number could rise to 120 stitute in Sweden. The prevalence of dementia should have the greatest respect. It means a have grown and changed with respect to the base like it in the world,” says Holmen. The main problems that are present in increases significantly after the age of 80. change in one’s overall life, as well as changes disease. million by 2050. The trend is Currently, the database includes people who geriatric disease are dementia and depression, Many people will not live long enough to in everyday life – at first gradually, but eventu- have been assessed and have been diagnosed both of which occur at high rates and share MOST PEOPLE KNOW • “I see that there are increasing, as the population very similar symptoms. This means that the develop the disease,” says Ingvild Saltvedt, ally radically. It can be a daunting and some- by a specialist in the last 15 years. The Health who teaches and conducts research on times lonely life. But it is not as grim as it is large individual differences. But most people gets older. Accordingly, the and Memory project involves collecting data symptoms are easy to misinterpret. ”This is dementia at NTNU's Faculty of Medicine. often portrayed. Many people live a long time seem to understand and accept that they have largest and most dramatic from people who have been referred for unfortunate for several reasons. Dementia In the meantime, people with dementia re- with moderate cognitive changes, or find cre- dementia. The challenge is to acknowledge assessment at the memory clinic, and patients cannot be cured, but depression can be quire considerable help and nursing care. But ative solutions to everyday challenges, and live that you have the disease and comprehend increase in dementia is found with dementia in every nursing home in treated. We have both effective drugs and other what that means, while at the same time, in developing countries, as Nord-Trøndelag. Linking the results from treatments for depression,” Stordal says. within certain limits, to create as rich a life as these studies to data from HUNT provides He adds that some brain studies of chronic possible. Even though an individual may have lifespans increase. unprecedented opportunities to identify early problems related to dementia in some areas, Source: Alzheimer’s Disease International risk factors, different types of dementia, and that person can also be competent in other additional symptoms of dementia, such as areas. An increasing number are happy to go psychosis, depression and agitation.

Photo: Scanpix Denmark Photo: hiking. One person loves fiction and enjoys nursing homes, we see that women want to The broad survey also provides valuable in-

reading, although she immediately forgets what join around a table and enjoy each other’s formation about the prevalence of dementia, photos.com Photo: she has read. Most say they manage to take company. The men keep more to themselves. medication use, functional status, quality of one day at a time; they don’t get obsessed Women always have some little hobby that life and physical illness among nursing home about the future, and are good at emphasizing they can occupy themselves with, while it may residents in Nord-Trøndelag. the positive. Some say they experience a be more difficult to motivate men. The project has been undertaken in cooper- phenomenon we see in others with serious The difference may be because men, to a ation with the Norwegian Centre for Research, diseases: they are reminded of what is much greater degree than women, place Education and Service Development Centre, important in life,” says Wogn-Henriksen. emphasis on the ability to perform, to be self- Ageing and Health, among others. In the next She adds that the people who are the hap- assertive and independent,” she notes. round, Holmen wants to include the elderly piest are those who are active and adaptable, living at home. The purpose is clear: have something with which to occupy them- FINDINGS FROM THE FREEZER • But why and “We know that the number of elderly will A FRIGHTENING DIAGNOSIS selves, and have managed to come to terms how is the brain damaged in dementia – what increase, and we must prepare ourselves for it. with new ways of existing in the world. They goes so terribly wrong? So far, virtually every We need to gather as much information as pos- RESEARCH DREAM Dementia is a catchall term for many brain diseases, the most are not passive victims of their disease, but new discovery related to the disease has led to sible, and ensure that we create the capacity to show a great willingness to learn and an more questions than answers. address this situation in health personnel at Dementia cannot currently be common of which are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, ability to adapt. And it's not just a matter of an A huge warehouse at the HUNT Biobank in all levels – especially in doctors,” says Holmen. frontotemporal dementia and Lewy Body dementia. The largest individual taking steps to live with dementia, Levanger is jam-packed with freezers holding In his opinion, modern medicine is cured, but an intense research group is comprised of those with Alzheimer's disease (60 %). The but also relationship-based coping, where blood samples and DNA material from thou- unilaterally focused on curing people, and race is underway to develop interactions with one’s spouse, family or sands of residents of the county of Nord- is too unconcerned with relieving pain and drugs that can prevent and second largest group is vascular dementia, caused by poor blood professionals are important. Trøndelag, north of Trondheim. This material providing care. flow due to blood clots in the brain or widespread atherosclerosis. The study also shows that there are gender is used in medical research in many areas. “We forget that providing care and relief delay its development and differences: Perhaps there are secrets frozen here that from pain is the original humanistic tradition reduce symptoms. Source: Wikipedia “It appears that women are more likely to could solve some of the many mysteries in medical science, and was prominent until adapt to and cope with their new lives. In surrounding dementia? the Second World War. Alzheimer's is among

34 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 35 ■ TOPIC: DEMENTIA

depression and Alzheimer’s dementia show Everyone has two alleles, one of which is inhe- destroying the brain. changes in the same brain area. rited from his or her mother and the other The proteins clump together and create in- from his or her father. All combinations are soluble tangles, which first create errors in the NEW DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS • Sigrid Botne possible. The APOEε4 allele increases the risk biochemical signal transmission between Sando is a senior consultant at St. Olav's of developing Alzheimer's disease, with the nerve cells and subsequently lead to cell death. Hospital, and a postdoctoral fellow at NTNU's risk even higher if you have inherited APOEε4 Researchers at NTNU's Department of Department of Neuroscience. Her area of alleles from both parents. However, it is not Physics are conducting on-going experiments research specialization is dementia in general, necessary or sufficient to not have the APOEε4 that should help clarify the processes that take specifically Alzheimer's disease. allele to develop Alzheimer’s disease. place in the brain. In cooperation with Linkö- In connection with her doctoral work in 2008, Sando’s investigation of this genetic risk ping University, Professor Mikael Lindgren has Photo: City of Bergen / Bernt A. Tungodden A. / Bernt City of Bergen Photo: “Alzheimer's Disease in Central Norway: Genetic factor is the largest ever conducted in the developed custom-designed molecules, called and Educational Aspects,” a biobank was esta- Nordic countries. She found that the risk of de- probes, which can be sent into the brain blished of blood samples from 600 Trøndelag- veloping Alzheimer's disease increases by a through the blood stream and literally light up area residents with dementia and about as factor of 4.3 if you have one of the risk-related what goes on inside there. A previous article in many healthy, older residents from the same alleles. Gemini about Lindgren’s work, called Light in region. The project is called Tronderbrain. If an individual has inherited a double dose the Darkness, was published in September 2008. Sando and her research group used the ma- of the ε4 allele, i.e. from both parents, that per- In short, the mission for the probe is to rec- terial to study a well-known genetic risk factor son is about 13 times more likely to develop ognize the special structures of proteins that for Alzheimer's disease, APOEε4. the disease as individuals without the variant destroy brain cells in Alzheimer's dementia. APOE is a gene carried by everyone, and at all. This is consistent with findings in simi- The proteins are associated with various comes in several variations, called alleles. The lar populations elsewhere in the world. stages of the destruction process. When the most common variants are called ε2, ε3 and ε4. probe enters the brain, it will look for the EDUCATION HELPS • In her doctoral thesis, different proteins and attach to them. Sando also examined the Tronderbrain The probe’s journey towards its goal can material to see how education and schooling be followed using a laser light. Once it has related to the development of Alzheimer’s attached itself to the protein that it has been disease. International studies have shown that looking for, the laser light changes colour. Photo: Wikipedia Photo: the risk of Alzheimer’s is higher in populations The different colours tell researchers which GARDEN FOR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING with little education. Sando also found that proteins are found in the brain, so they can there was a correlation between the risk of determine how advanced the disease is. A sensory garden for those with dementia has been designed and adapted specifically for this patient Alzheimer’s and the number of years in school. “We have made great strides since the last group’s needs. The garden is often linked to a day-care centre or nursing home, and aids residents by The more education – the lower the risk. time you wrote about the project,” Lindgren “In other words, it looks like it is good to tells Gemini. “When we last spoke, we had stimulating all their senses. The Norwegian National Centre for Ageing and Health has established use the brain, just like muscles. One explan- managed to make just two probes, but now eight test gardens across the country. ation is that education/use of the brain may we have 15. This means that we can find 15 contribute to the formation of new synapses different protein structures. We have also (connections between nerve cells), so that the succeeded in making fluorescent probes and He explains that the hippocampus acts other and blend together. This is seen in the show that the thickness of grey matter in the brain has ‘more to go on’ when the disease magnetic probes. This means that the probes as an information centre, which receives hippocampus and the adjacent paracampus. brain increases in those who meditate. The strikes. Other studies have also shown that can be imaged using MRI, which provides information from sensory inputs and sends Something goes wrong in the network that change can be seen after a short time. Even physical activity reduces risk with respect to completely new opportunities.” it further around the brain, where it is stored connects the different brain areas and the vari- after eight weeks, it has been demonstrated Alzheimer’s disease,” says Sando. Lindgren hopes that the probes and the as memories. ous “file drawers” with each other. The pro- that parts of the brain are thickened in those She is now a postdoctoral researcher, technology behind them can be used as a “We can imagine that the brain is like a blem causes the network to collapse like a who have begun to meditate. working again with the collection of material diagnostic tool for different stages of filing cabinet, which has separate drawers for house of cards, but why? In order to store new It has also been shown that the thickness from Trondheim-area patients who have mild Alzheimer’s. Then it may be possible to pictures, taste, smell and hearing – all the memories the brain must reorganize itself. Is increases relatively more in the elderly than in cognitive impairment and patients with early- detect the disease at an early stage. elements we need to form a complete memory this the process in adults that can cause some- younger individuals. DISCOVERER stage Alzheimer’s disease, as well as from heal- “We are much closer to a tool that can be of an experience,” Witter says. one to develop dementia? This is one of the The age-related reduction in the thickness Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), thy, same-aged control subjects. Both blood used on humans. Currently, we have experi- All of the file drawers are related to each questions that Witter hopes to answer. of grey matter is less in those who meditate, in and cerebrospinal fluid from patients and mented with mice,” he says. other, he explains. The memory of an image some parts of the brain. The parts of the brain a German physician, control subjects have been collected. can be turned on and awakened by the percep- MEDITATION AND GREY MATTER • Dementia where these changes take place are central in psychiatrist, neurologist and “The main purpose of the project is to look CONFUSION IN THE ARCHIVE • Lindgren is tion of a voice, a melody or a smell. If we pull research takes many different approaches, and the development of dementia. at biological markers for Alzheimer’s disease. planning to work with Menno Witter, a out a tray for smells and think of the memory new discoveries add new pieces to the puzzle. “That means it is possible to assume that neuropathologist, was the Biological markers (biomarkers) can be used professor of neuroanatomy and a scientist at of the scent of a rose, it may be associated with For example, a recent study from the Univer- meditation can reduce or stop dementia, but it first to identify the symptoms in diagnosis, in developing a prognosis and to NTNU’s Centre for the Biology of Memory, other impressions that were stored at the same sity of Tromsø suggests that there may be a has not been proven that it really does so. But assess the efficacy of drug therapy. When we about possible applications for the probes. time, which would call up the memory of a cer- connection between dental health and the the findings are interesting and may point in and the histological findings have more effective treatments for Alzheimer’s The centre collaborates with researchers tain garden party, for example. development of dementia. Other theories that direction,” says Holen. of what is now known as disease, it will be important to be able to make around the world to understand the brain “To recall the memory of this interview, it have not come farther than the thinking stage. Alzheimer’s disease. He the correct diagnosis at an early stage of the region called the hippocampus, which is may be enough for you to simply hear the For example, there is some speculation as to THE IMPORTANCE OF OLFACTION • PhD disease so that treatment can be started as involved in memory and learning. Several sound of my voice. But to remember the whole whether meditation can have a preventive candidate Grete Kjelvik at the Department of observed the disease in a early as possible,” said Sando. types of dementia begin in this area. thing, you have to call up a great deal of infor- effect on dementia. Circulation and Medical Imaging studies how patient in 1901. When she The collection of biological material will Understanding what is going on in a healthy mation about the details: how did I look, what “It has not been possible to find any olfactory stimulation affects activation extend until 2014, but the analysis of the brain is a prerequisite for understanding did I wear, what did the room look like, how direct evidence that meditation provides a patterns in the brain. The method she uses is died five years later, Alzhei- material is likely to continue beyond that date. pathological conditions. Witter’s project we were positioned in the room and so on,” dampening or braking effect on the develop- called functional MRI (fMRI), and her study mer examined her brain and concerns the changes taking place at the very Witter says. ment of dementia,” says Are Holen. He is a includes patients recruited from the geriatric THE RACE TO FIND ANSWERS • Researchers beginning of the long process leading to One of the earliest symptoms of Alzheim- professor of psychiatry at NTNU and founder outpatient clinic at St. Olavs Hospital, as well found distinctive changes. have also identified two proteins, amyloid Alzheimer’s disease, and understanding how er’s is the inability to store new memories, and of the Acem organization for meditation. as healthy elderly control subjects. and tau, which are involved in the process of the memory network works. that similar memories interfere with each However, there are numerous studies that In an fMRI investigation, the brain is ima-

36 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 37 ■ TOPIC: DEMENTIA

ged while the subject is inside the MRI ma- people learn more about the illness. In the past on his wife’s care until late in the disease. the burden of care is even greater. There is chine and is performing a task – in this case, a there have been efforts to educate the public, When his wife finally got a place in a nursing much to suggest that affected families reach task related to the sense of olfaction. both by officials and by private individuals. care facility, he moved into the same room. far, often too far, in trying to offer care, and that “In this way, we can see where there is A leader in this area is Ola Hunderi, a “It was a win-win situation for both us and they look for nursing home places too late,” activity in the brain while the subject smells physics professor at NTNU. the health professionals,” he says. “For Inger she says. “This is unfortunate for several something,” explains Kjelvik. “Seeing a loved one slowly melt away from you Anne, it made the move less dramatic, and she reasons. First, because there are long waiting Kjelvik is examining the fMRI images that is not easy. It weighs you down with a grief that is felt safer having me there. Despite the circum- lists and it is hard to get a place. This increases are generated from the patient groups while impossible to describe. She’s still here! " stances it helped to normalize my life. I could the wear on the caregiver, who is already ex- they use their sense of smell, to see if there are The quotation is taken from ”Into the Home do my work and could do things more freely, hausted. And patients with more advanced Science Photo Library/Scanpix Photo: differences from the healthy control group. of the Mist”, the book Hunderi has written without fear of what might happen at home. I cases of the disease find it harder to adjust to “There are areas in the temporal parts of the about life with his wife Inger Anne, who as a was assured that she was in good hands. And the new surroundings.” brain that are activated by olfactory stimula- 55-year-old was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. the nursing staff got welcome relief.” tion, and the degenerative process in Alzhei- Here he describes candidly the insidious Hunderi is upset that most media stories GENDER AND CARE • The study shows inter- mer’s disease is thought to start in the symptoms at the start and her slow evolution about caring for those with dementia are hor- esting gender differences in what affects the structures of the temporal lobe. A number of into becoming fully dependent on others. ror stories and descriptions of abject misery. “I burden of care among relatives. international studies have shown that Alzhei- “All her ability to communicate and move was witness to an impressive effort that gave “It seems that men put most emphasis mer's is associated with hyposmia, an impaired was gone. The last form of contact was me an insight I never will forget,” he says on the need for breaks, with time for them- sense of smell. In this way, the link between ol- through her eyes. In rare and brief glimpses, about the experience. selves. It means a lot to them that their partner faction and memory is very interesting,” says I was convinced that there was someone in can be left alone for a number of hours, or that Kjelvik. there. No one can know how the patient PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESSURES • Inger Anne he gets help, and a break from having to pro- experiences this phase. I speculate that Hunderi had what is called early onset Alzhei- vide care. But uninvited help is experienced INTO THE MIST • Not so very long ago, demen- dementia may not be the worst end of life ... mer’s. Its symptoms are similar to the more paradoxically as a burden. The men in the sur- tia was surrounded by taboos and shame, and Maybe it is worse to die of cancer with common version of Alzheimer’s, which occurs vey want to ask for help themselves, and want CELL KILLERS was something you would rather not talk about. excruciating physical pain,” Hunderi says. in the elderly, but the disease can sometimes have control over the situation. Even if friends The taboos are still there, but are lessening as The resourceful professor was able to take progress much faster. and family pull away, this has little impact on Two proteins, amyloid and tau, work together in Alzheimer’s disease Early onset Alzheimer’s represents a the burden of care for men,” says Nordtug. to destroy the brain. The proteins clump together and create insolu- relatively small category of dementia-related She finds that the picture is quite different diseases. Yet it is this variation that we hear for women. Women find it difficult that family, ble tangles. This creates errors in the biochemical signal transmis- and read most about. It may be because friends and neighbours keep their distance. sion between nerve cells, and subsequently leads to cell death. resourceful individuals like Hunderi stand This type of withdrawal is common. It may be up and share their personal experiences. He due to the fact that dementia carries a stigma, travels far and wide to give talks and is always but also due to the fact that close friends and and will reduce patient access to human Oslo University Hospital and the Department willing when someone wants him as a speaker. family simply do not know how to cope, what contact and care. of Computer Science at the University of Oslo. Photo: Geir Mogen/NTNU DMF Photo: In his book he makes it clear that it is not to say and how they can be of help. One of the most difficult discussions only the patient who is affected by a diagnosis “Women talk a lot about the loss of having centres on equipping people with dementia SOMEONE WHO CARES • Psychologist Kjersti of dementia. Life also changes radically for any someone to discuss things with, to hug, share with tracking tools such as GPS. Sceptics frame Wogn-Henriksen is a strong advocate in ar- partners. feelings with, to do things with. They want a the discussion around ethical issues, and are guing that society must open up and become That fact is important, because more than response to their emotional reactions and see concerned about privacy, among other issues. more inclusive and generous to people with half of all elderly patients with dementia live at this as positive,” says Nordtug. Supporters believe that it is more important dementia. This would make it easier both for home, and that figure is expected to rise. Most “The women’s approach is to ask ‘How do that GPS can give people with dementia those who are ill as well as their relatives. people want to live at home as long as possible. you do that?’ They are out there, finding out greater security and a better quality of life, Experience suggests that quality of life This aspect of dementia care is largely what works well and what doesn’t, reflecting on because they will be able to move more freely. increases with the degree of openness. unexplored, and there is little literature on the why things work and are constantly evaluating SINTEF is involved in several projects rela- “Those who are able to talk openly about subject. the situation. They have a wait-and-see attitude, ted to technological aids for people with de- what it is like, gain more space in which to live Bente Nordtug is a nurse specializing in de- and try to fend for themselves as long as mentia. One of them relates to social media. and move. But it is not always easy in a society mentia disorders who defended her PhD in June possible. It is common for women to wait longer The project has as its starting point the fact that values the ability to be quick and dynamic 2011 at NTNU’s Department of Neuroscience. than men in similar situations to seek a place that social media are playing an increasingly and intellectually productive,” says Wogn-Hen- She studies the burden of care for the one part- in a nursing home or care facility,” she says. important role in modern society. Social media riksen. “The opposite approach is to try to keep ner when the other partner gets dementia and It would seem that Nordtug’s findings re- are important venues for social contact and the illness hidden and struggle to live life the continues to live at home. As far as she knows, flect traditional gender role patterns: women communication. This creates new opportun- same as before. For these people, the feeling of no one has done similar studies in Norway. react emotionally, men are more rational. This ities for how we interact socially. powerlessness must be great, and I fear they Nordtug has come up with several sobering may be one explanation for why men seem to Older people with dementia are groups live a lonely life.” findings – among other things, that 60 per cent get help more quickly from the system of care that traditionally have not used computers The psychologist hopes that her PhD thesis WHY THINGS GO WRONG of the people who live with individuals with when they ask for it. and social media. By customizing and adapting will help to shake up some old prejudices and dementia have a high incidence of psychiatric Nordtug believes that the strengths and the technology, it may also be possible for this provide a more nuanced view of dementia as NTNU's Centre for the Biology of Memory is working to understand symptoms. weaknesses of the gender differences she has group to use social media. more than just an assemblage of deficiencies. the hippocampus, the region of the brain that is involved in memory “If they had been examined by a psychia- found should be exploited in a positive way: A project called Alma’s House is designed to “There is a real need to change attitudes, trist, they would have been given one or more “The conclusion is that family members who examine how assistive technology and well- based on knowledge and understanding and a and learning. All types of dementia start in this area. One of the diagnoses,” Nordtug says. provide care are an important group to educate being technology can be integrated into a larger willingness to see the individuals behind the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s is the inability to store new Her investigation includes different stages and support, and that this should also be em- holistic programme of care for people with de- dementia. And we have to have a different of the dementia process. She has found that phasized in the training of health care workers.” mentia. This research is being conducted in col- perspective on care. What is forgotten is memories, and a problem with similar memories interfering with the impact is relatively modest at first, but laboration with the municipalities of Drammen, uninteresting. What is important is what is each other and blending together. This occurs in the hippocampus increases rapidly as the disease worsens. The TECHNOLOGY FOR DEMENTIA • Many Bærum and Oslo, along with Livework Nordic AS. remembered, what is still perceived as less self-reliant the ill person is, the greater believe that new technologies will give people A pilot project will be launched in 2011 in meaningful, and if there is someone who and the adjacent paracampus. the impact. with dementia a better life. Others are afraid partnership with the City of Oslo, SINTEF, the cares,” she says. “To have dementia is not the “In cases where the dementia is aggressive, that technology could be used as a crutch National Centre for Ageing and Health, the same as ceasing to live as a human being.” ■

38 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 39 ■ BEGINNINGS

SPORTS SCIENCE

DOCTORAL WORK – David McGhie: Friction and shock absorption in artificial turf – what are the most important factors in the choice of artificial turf and soccer/football boots? SUPERVISOR: Professor Gertjan Ettema, Department of Human Movement Science, NTNU.

I hope that the final results could say something about how the various kinds of artificial turf behave with respect to different kinds of boots. Is artificial turf better than we think?

David McGhie, a PhD candidate in its tests on. This is a standard model, which this: the test person runs over the force plate approximately 1700 ball pens scattered all over has a few round cleats and is designed for in two different tests, one in which he runs the country. Norway is focusing heavily on the Department of Human Movement natural grass. For comparison, I have chosen straight ahead and the second where he grassroots football. From 2008 to 2011, the goal Science and the Centre for Sports one type of boot with a lot of short cleats and changes direction during the run. I measure a has been to build 100 new courts and 300 ball one with a few oblong cleats. Only the former few inches below where the impact actually pens per year. We have almost 400 000 active Facilities and Technology, talks to is specifically designed for artificial turf. takes place. This can be an important factor, football players in approximately 25 000 teams journalist Synnøve Ressem: which has rarely been considered in previous – and worldwide, there are millions. Everyone The core of the problem is that basically all of research, but is something that I want to look will benefit from objective studies of football Artificial turf has been accused of causing the research on the topic, as well as all official at and take into account. The measurements boots and grass surfaces. more football injuries than natural grass tests by FIFA, are performed mechanically. are made before, during and after the impact. on football pitches. The criticism of artificial This is very practical and reproducible. But it is I will also conduct mechanical tests for The results may also have economic signifi- turf focuses on its poor shock absorption a simplification of the interaction that actual- comparison. I hope that the final results cance. Constructing a new artificial turf pitch ability and greater friction, which affect ly takes place between the surface and athlete. can say something about how the various from the ground up involves digging, per- speed and motion and easily lead to twisting The research lacks tests with real people. My artificial turf systems behave in interaction haps blasting, construction of the bearing injuries in the knee and ankles. This is study is different. It will include variables that with different boots, and how different and levelling layers, electrical installations based on the players’ subjective perceptions are similar to the mechanical tests, but I will surfaces and boots affect the forces and administration in addition to the playing – research shows that there is actually no use real football players. The subjects have acting on the body while playing football surface itself. The costs could easily reach difference in the overall injury rate between been selected from all playing levels, from – specifically, friction and shock absorption. NOK 5 million, and that is without including the two types of surfaces. elite athletes to recreational players, and were the costs of heating the turf. I have been an chosen according to criteria that make the The majority of my doctoral work will focus active soccer player since primary school and In my project, I am investigating friction and groups as physically uniform as possible. on the playing surface. I believe that the re- now play with NTNUI, the university’s sports shock absorption characteristics of various sults will be of immediate use and that at the association. I am interested in sports re - artificial turf systems. I have three different The measurement method was one of the individual level, players will be able to use the search in general and think I'm lucky to kinds of artificial turf, of which two are inten- greatest challenges in the project. The artificial information to choose a boot model that best make a contribution. There are many who ded for elite competition and one intended turf is attached to a force plate, which records fits the surface. have feelings and beliefs about artificial turf, for recreational players. The boots I have test- the reaction force. That is the signal used to both among players and among the general ed to start with are the same kind that the calculate the measurement of friction and Norway has about 700 large football pitches public. One of my goals is to bring objectivity shock absorption. The way it works is like and 170 small ones. In addition, we have to the debate. ■

Illustration: Line Halsnes Illustration: international football federation FIFA bases

40 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 41 ■ VISTAS Explosive chemistry in the night s ky How can you cram trickling sprays of gold and a rotating flaming wheel into a little tiny tube – and much later, set it loose to explode in the sky? CHEMISTRY PYROTECHNICS TEXT: Lars Kristian R. Schjønhaug and Steffen Bugge ILLUSTRATION: www.doghouse.no CONTACT: The Explosive Pyrogroup, www.eksplosiv.ntnu.no SOURCE: Andreas Helle, Seter Engeland Pyroteknikk

Around about a thousand years ago, the Chinese knew how to mix saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal to create a big bang. Black powder was first put to religious use in the East, but was later also used by the military – primarily in Europe. The same basic principles apply today as they did a thousand years ago. But in modern times, chemistry and manufacturing have advanced the technology, enabling the addition of metals, inorganic salts, binders and pyrotechnical chemicals called chlorine donors. The colours from fireworks come from burning salts. Normal sodium chloride will give a yellowish-orange colour, while barium, strontium and copper salts turn fireworks green, red and blue. The colours are often accompanied by a big bang. The combustion of packed powder leads to the very rapid development of combustion gases. If the fireworks are designed so that it is difficult for hot gases to escape, the pressure inside the casing increases. As the gases build up sufficient force to break out of their casing, a tremendous change in pressure is created, and a huge amount of energy is released in the form of a teeth-rattling boom. Other types of fireworks are designed to direct combustion gases in certain directions. This kind of design is used in rockets, where gases blow out of a nozzle and drive the rocket into the air. The use of energy-rich additives results in rapid and violent reactions that spray colours up into the sky. Less energy-rich substances create the appearance of colours that stream and flow down the night time sky. Professional pyrotechnicians currently use air bombs and fireworks batteries in preference to traditional rockets. These are fired electroni- cally from a safe distance, with precision and in a way that is safe for both people and the surroundings. The firing sequences can also be programmed in advance enabling colours and the sounds of explosions to harmonize with the components of complex pieces of music.

42 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 43 ■ NEWS IN BRIEF NEWS IN BRIEF ■ Soft fruits from the Arctic

The Atlantberry project aims to lay the foundations for commercial

soft fruit production in tunnels on Iceland, Greenland and the Manu Sistiaga Photo: Photo: SINTEF Byggforsk Photo: Faroes. The project is being carried out in collaboration with Njøs Næringsutvikling, SINTEF, Sognabær AS and Nora AS. The first Icelandic raspberries arrived on the market this summer. The joker among the three producer countries is Greenland, which lies much further north than the other areas, and where the scientists are not quite sure whether production will be successful.

No more frozen hands and feet Now we know: women do get colder than men, and this has resulted in a newly developed Where can georadar be used? sleepingbag aimed at female outdoor enthusiasts. The Norwegian company Helsport AS In her doctoral thesis, Anna Lalagüe of SINTEF asked for a scientific study of freezing female bodies before it started to develop its latest has studied potential applications of georadar. She product. Both a literature study and laboratory tests carried out by SINTEF confirmed tested the radar in a number of projects, and what had been a myth; that women’s hands and feet get colder than men’s. While the documented and evaluated the results in the course ladies felt cold and uncomfortable at ten degrees below zero, men slept like logs. But of contracts for the public sector and the industry. why? Muscule tissue is what generates heat, and women have more fat and less muscle In cases of frostheave and on particularly difficult than men. In women, the ratio of body surface area to volume is also greater than in men. stretches of road, this type of radar is capable of The result was a sleepingbag designed to accommodate the female length and body shape, with extra insulation around the shoulders and for the feet. providing a continuous profile that enables more suitable types of asphalt to be used when the road is being reconstructed. The radar can also decide whether or not a winter road needs to be salted. During rehabilitation operations, we need to know what lies below the

surface before digging begins; up-to-date site maps AS Helsport Photo: may not be available, but radar can provide answers. And when flat roofs leak or are losing heat, georadar can scan them and identify the sources of leakages. Limits Turbines that can handle sand THE TRONDHEIM ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS: Elizabeth Higson is an undergraduate who How to prevent gigacatches works primarily with photography and film. She often explores feelings about the limitations Turbines that get abraded and worn out by sand particles are of the body and our way of thinking about it. Her work doesn’t necessarily focus on the body a big problem at hydropower stations. Researchers at NTNU’s Two SINTEF scientists, Eduardo Grimaldo and itself, but instead on society’s response to it, and thus one’s own understanding and re- Hydropower Laboratory have now designed a turbine that is Manu Sistiaga, have developed a prototype lationship to it. Her work, “Woman in a yellow bathing cap” was inspired by John Cheever's particularly resistant to this kind of wear. The impeller is midwater trawl whose codend automatically clos- short story “The swimmer”. screwed together instead of being welded, which prevents es when it is sufficiently full. It then partially se- tensions and differences from occurring when the steel parates from the main part of the trawl, allowing warms up during use. the rest of the fish to escape back into the sea be- Additionally, the turbine’s surface is coated with tungsten fore the net is hauled on board. The idea is to avoid Meditation carbide, which makes it more durable in contact with sand. excessively large hauls so as not to end up with and BA47 The turbine has been tested on a large scale in Peru, at a handling or safety problems due to overproduction BA47 is the name of a hydropower station that has major sand problems. The new of fish on board. The new system has just been specific area of the brain in turbine proved to be superior to normal turbines both in terms tested in the Syltefjord in Finnmark, northern the right and left prefrontal of its efficiency and resistance to wear. NTNU will now comm- Norway, with promising results. ercialize the new turbine via the turbine manufacturer Dynavec. areas of the brain’s cerebral cortex. Brain researchers at NTNU have discovered that Space award Acem meditation, in which In 2007 and 2008, air quality in the the practitioner thinks International Space Station ISS was about a simple sound but very successfully monitored by the with free, relaxed attention, ANITA gas measurement system. Atle can activate this part of

Photo: Geir Mogen/SINTEF Photo: Honne, the SINTEF scientist behind the brain. It then sends this analytical system, has recently impulses elsewhere in the been awarded the prestigious SAE brain to trigger a relaxation Wright Brothers Medal. Since 1927, response. this award has been given to scientists who have made Researchers are now important contributions to all aspects of aviation or space studying whether other technology. ANITA is calibrated to quantify 33 potential forms of mediation activate trace gases by means of optical measurements. BA47 as well, or whether Honne received the bronze medal at the SAE Aerotech this response is specific to

Photo: Dynavec Photo: Conference in Toulouse in October 2011. the Acem method.

44 gemini • autumn 2011 gemini • autumn 2011 45 ■ NEWS IN BRIEF

Electronic receipts Mobile phones fight dictatorships NEW BUSINESS: More than 400 kilometres of paper receipts are printed Human rights violations are far fewer in countries with access to mobile every day in Norwegian shops, which takes time, money and materials. phones and the Internet than in countries where television, radio and landline The newly established company dSAFE AS has developed a system for telephones dominate the media landscape. That’s what was shown in an NTNU producing electronic receipts that can be used with existing checkout survey of 137 countries, where researchers examined 26 years of information Think systems. When a customer has registered for electronic receipts, the sys- from 1980 to 2006. tem will not print out a paper receipt when they swipe their credit or debit In television-dominated countries, authorities can feed people propaganda, card. But the customer can later call up the receipt whenever he or she while in countries where the Internet and mobile telephones dominate, the likes via the Internet or from a mobile phone. dSAFE grew out of the NTNU opposite is true: these communication channels give witnesses a way to tell the A sustainable planet demands new technology Entrepreneur School and the university’s computer science community. world what they have seen. Better diagnoses We invent it of heart defects Millions to fitness research Congenital heart defects occur each Four minutes of hard exercise three times a week is all it takes to significantly improve cardio- year in about 600 vascular fitness, a research group at NTNU has found, among many other findings. In December 2011, the group was awarded a grant of NOK 4 million annually from the Kristian newborns in Norway. Gerhard Jebsen Foundation and is now known as the “K.G. Jebsen Centre of Exercise in Medicine.” A new ultrasound The centre's goal is to investigate the relationship between fitness and future heart health, and method developed at to analyse the interaction between genetic inheritance and physical activity. NTNU will make it easier to diagnose these problems. The method provides better images of blood flow in the pulmonary veins in the new- born and can be an important complement to today's ultrasound.

Mould found not guilty Mould has often been used to explain why moisture in a house can make people ill. But the relationship between moisture damage and asthma involves much more than mould and mould spores. That’s among the findings from doctoral thesis work from SINTEF/NTNU, where 400 houses were examined. Surprisingly, there turned out to be no connection between trace concentrations of mould in a child’s bedroom and asthma or allergy in that child. The researcher concluded that one should look for other components in indoor air if health problems arise. Photo: photos.com Photo: Photo: photos.com Photo: Technology for a better society 46 gemini • autumn 2011