Research

The sharing economy needs both heart and wallet

Both the heart and the wallet must be involved if collaborative consumption is to work. Certain operations have a more non-profit character, others are more commercial, and both types are equally important. This is the conclusion of a new thesis.

Agriculture: a guarantor for peace and freedom

Society must reconsider the role of agriculture. Major investment is required in innovation, not only to feed the world’s increasing population, but also to avoid more wars and crises, claims LiU researcher Per Frankelius in The Lancet.

New method opens the way for cutting tools with longer lifetime

Researchers at Linköping University have developed a theoretical model that enables simulations for showing what happens in hard cutting materials as they degrade. The model will enable manufacturing industry to save both time and money.

Why you lose hearing for a while after listening to loud sounds

When we listen to loud sounds, our hearing may be impaired for a short time. Researchers at LiU have discovered a mechanism that helps to explain how this happens.

Award to Eleni Stavrinidou for work with electronic plants

Eleni Stavrinidou, Laboratory of Organic Electronics, is to receive the 2019 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Prize for her research into electronic plants. It will be presented by the Swedish minister for higher education and research.

Wetlands to purify water in South African informal townships

Karin Tonderski of the Division of Biology has been awarded SEK three million over three years from Formas to contribute to the installation and evaluation of wetlands in South African informal townships.

Three new research grants from Horizon 2020 to LiU

Scientists Feng Gao and Daniel Aili, both at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, have been awarded research grants from the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. The amount involved is approximately EUR 600,000 for 2 years.

Cause and effect in the transformation of ecosystems

How can we distinguish between cause and effect when changes take place in a ecosystem? Can new methods give a more accurate picture of the interaction between society and the natural world? These are important questions for a new research programme.

Food industry waste becomes profitable biogas

Huge gains can be made by using waste from the food industry for biogas production, no matter whether the biogas is used in vehicles or to produce electricity and heat. This is the conclusion of researchers from the Biogas Research Center.

We’re poor at interpreting immigration facts

Our ability to analyse facts is clouded by our political views, according to a study on immigration and crime.

AI research needs major investment in infrastructure

“We have survived the AI winter: now we need suitable infrastructure to break the ice.” The words are those of Anders Ynnerman, professor at LiU who once again is standing on the barricades to unite the Swedish research community.

Paradigm shift to give superfast supercomputers

“In just a few years we’ll have supercomputers that work at exaflop speeds. We are witnessing a paradigm shift.” The words are those of Thomas Sterling, a grand old man in supercomputing and professor at Indiana University, visiting NSC and LiU.

New gel for liver cell culture on microchips

Scientists at LiU have developed a hydrogel, that have properties similar to the natural environment of cells in the body. It can be adapted to the requirements of difficult-to-culture cell types, and to produce organ-like structures on a microchip.

Theories describe dynamically disordered solid materials

Theoretical physicists at LiU have developed a computational method to calculate the transition from one phase to another in dynamically disordered solid materials. This is a class of materials that can be used in many eco-friendly applications.

Selling sex can be a self-injury behaviour among adolescents

Selling sex or putting oneself in other risky sexual situations can be a way for an adolescent to self-injure, comparable to cutting or burning oneself. This is according to a doctoral thesis from Linköping University.

Trucks can also manoeuvre autonomously

Oskar Ljungqvist, PhD student at the Division of Automatic Control at LiU, describes in his licentiate thesis the development of a system for motion planning and control, that enables trucks with trailers to move autonomously.

Learning transistor mimics the brain

A new transistor based on organic materials has been developed by scientists at LiU. It has the ability to learn, and is equipped with both short-term and long-term memory. The work is a major step to creating technology that mimics the human brain.

Sweden’s largest supercomputer brought online

The National Supercomputer Centre, NSC, celebrated its 30th birthday by bringing five supercomputers online, the largest, Tetralith, currently the most powerful in the Nordic region. It also deepens the collaboration between NSC, SMHI and MET Norway.

Butterflies thrive in grasslands surrounded by forest

For pollinating butterflies, it is more important to be close to forests than to agricultural fields. Results from a new study of 32,000 butterflies provide important knowledge about how to form the landscape to ensure the survival of butterflies.

Big cities feed on their hinterlands

Researchers at LiU call into question an influential theory of the self-reinforcing dynamics of urban growth.

Bringing 17th century technology to life

Shapes that we now may be able to make in 3D printers could be made by the most skilled 17th century craftsmen using lathes, chisels and knives, with the aid of ingenious machines.

Increase in mobile traffic requires higher energy efficiency in networks

In only a few year’s time, mobile networks will be required to transmit 100 times more data, which can give rise to a 100-fold increase in energy consumption. Emil Björnson has calculated how energy-efficient the networks can become.

Technology for augmented intelligence

Augmented intelligence is the first platform in the Vinnova-financed Visual Sweden, based at LiU’s Campus Norrköping. Two new laboratories constitute meeting places in which researchers can collaborate with participating companies.

Why do we accept being ushered in a certain direction?

Smoking areas and recycling are two examples where people’s behaviour is pushed in a particular direction. It’s called “nudging”. A doctoral thesis investigates why we accept being ushered, or nudged, towards a certain outcome – or why we don’t.