Press releases

Construction of the main railway lines in Sweden included a large-scale garden project. Parks and kitchen gardens were built around the new stations, and long hedges were planted along the railways. A new dissertation from the University of Gothenburg describes how this came to be and explains why almost all of these cultivated areas are […]

Modern DNA technology in combination with archaeological findings show that herrings from the Baltic Sea were traded large distances already in the 9th century. Herring fishing was early conducted at a considerable scale, and DNA analyses show that populations may have been overfished in the 13th century. These conclusions are presented in a scientific study, […]

Do many Swedes obtain antibiotics without a prescription, and what drives their behaviour when this happens? The answers are important when it comes to dealing with antibiotic resistance, which is a serious challenge for the entire healthcare sector. Practical philosophers and political scientists at the University of Gothenburg have carried out a large study examining […]

With sanctions becoming an increasingly important tool in ostracising autocratic regimes from western markets, the need for effective enforcement of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies is increasing. The global AML regime will be the backbone in detecting evasion of sanctions. This regime has, however, been widely criticised as ineffective. In this brief, Giancarlo Spagnolo and Theo Nyreröd discusses issues with the current AML regime and propose a reward scheme for whistleblowers to enable asset seizures. A powerful feature of their proposal is that it does not rely on the effectiveness of the AML regime.

Ukraine is currently receiving substantial inflows of foreign aid from western donors to help the country withstand the Russian aggression. The foreign aid flows partly reflect altruistic motives from the donor side, but also donor’s domestic strategic foreign policy objectives as the war is seen as part of a battle over the future world order. In this brief, Anders Olofsgård, discuss the academic literature that has analysed the existence and consequences of strategic motivations behind aid flows more generally, and draw some preliminary insights for the case of Ukraine.

Soon, chat bots will be able to laugh at your jokes. They also know when you’re going to laugh – even before you are aware of this.  This has been shown in a new thesis that investigated the gaze patterns linked to laughter.   ‘Dialogue system’ refers to technologies such as chat bots or conversation […]

Comfort women is the term used for the systematic sexual exploitation of women and girls that took place under the Japanese Empire 1932–1945. It has been estimated that the system comprised anything from 20 000 to 400 000 women at some 2 000 different “comfort stations” and this is described today as either slavery or prostitution. 80 years […]

Human history and cultural heritage in various places are often well researched and documented. A new anthology edited by three Swedish researchers explores what ties these places together – footpaths. “They are unobtrusive remains, but with a very significant cultural footprint,” says Daniel Svensson, historian at Malmö University. Pathways lead us forward as we walk […]

County administrative boards and the Swedish Forest Agency use species sightings reported by the public to make various environmental decisions. This is done largely on the basis of trust between a few actors who determine which sightings can be used as a basis for decisions. This is shown by researchers at the University of Gothenburg […]

Montale in northern Italy can have been one of the earliest centres in Europe for production of wool during the Bronze Age. Production may also have been on an industrial scale. Archaeologist Serena Sabatini has drawn this conclusion after having analysed archaeological finds in the form of textile tools and teeth from sheep and goats. […]