News

Here, we publish articles about the Centre and its activities, and interviews with our scholars about their time at CAS and the progress and results of their research.

Talk by Levi Bryant: A Critique of Object-oriented Philosophy

In this talk, philosopher Levi R. Bryant talks about the history of speculative realism and object-oriented ontology. He then moves into a brief discussion of Graham Harman’s object-oriented philosophy, and an alternative vision he would like to propose.

2017/2018: Molecular Chemistry, Medieval War and Computational Linguistics

The academic year of 2016/2017 is just about to come to an end, and CAS is looking forward to the next. In August, we will welcome three new research groups working on computational linguistics, molecular chemistry, and the Nordic “civil wars”. No doubt next year’s groups will be as versatile as their predecessors.

Humanities Can Help Improve Human Health

Karen Thornber argues that humanities can help improve human health and in particular can alert us to the need to tackle persistent stigmas against diseases.

Robert Macfarlane: – We are the Generation Anthropocene

April 6 2017 writer and scholar Robert Macfarlane gave the talk Deep Time, Thin Place And Thick Speech in the Anthropocene at Litteraturhuset in Oslo.

– Complex numbers make the world bigger

Their mathematics is already used outside the mathematical sphere, from calculating an asteroid’s position to measuring the size of an iceberg, but Berit Stensønes believes it is only the beginning of the developments and applications of these powerful tools.

Articulating the Anthropocene

We are Generation Anthropocene, according to Robert Macfarlane, who argues that our need for change seems to greatly exceed our capacity to make it happen.

Air Pollution: ‘I Haven’t Seen the Stars for Years’

Our second lunch-time seminar this semester was given by Associate Professor Bryan Tilt, who shared his research on perceptions of air pollution in rural and urban areas in China: – There is little research on whether one needs to have reached a certain economic level in order to worry about environmental issues.

Former CAS group leader wins the Fridtjof Nansen Award of Excellence

Former CAS group leader Professor Trond Helge Torsvik has been awarded this prestigious prize for his outstanding work in geophysics.

Vardø’s Rich Street Art Scene: Will the City Become an Ecomuseum?

In our first lunch-time seminar this spring, Professor Saphinaz-Amal Naguib took us to Vardø, Norway’s most north-easterly city, near the border with Russia. She introduced us to a rich street art scene that depicts the large-scale depopulation of this arctic city.