Discovery zone

A new international research project called CODSPA has just begun. The project aims to study how stress affects cod reproduction during spawning season. Researchers from Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands are working together on this important study. What is CODSPA? CODSPA stands for Cod Spawning Project. It will run from 2025 to 2028 and […]

Hver er ilmur jólanna? Fyrir marga íslendinga er algjörlega nauðsynlegt að fá í bland við hangikjöt, jólatré og smákökuilm smá lykt af kæstri skötu. Kæst skata er víða borðuð á Íslandi á Þorláksmessu  23. desember, til að draga úr sterkri skötulyktinni er of soðið jólahangikjötið eftir skötuveisluna. Sumir eru þó viðkvæmir fyrir lyktinni og sjóða […]

What is the aroma of Christmas? For many Icelanders Christmas smells like a mix of smoked lamb meat, Christmas tree, cookies and a little bit of fermented skate, called Skata. In Iceland Skata is traditionally eaten on the day before Christmas, Þorláksmessa (23. December; celebrating St. Þorlákur). Skata has a very strong smell because of […]

Last June I applied for a networking and training event with no expectations at all. Little did I know what a fantastic journey lay ahead of me and all the beautiful people I would get to meet. But let us start at the beginning…  In late 2023 two associations for Polar Early Career Scientist, UK […]

Lake Mývatn has been studied by people for decades, but projects really picked up when the Mývatn research station was founded 50 years ago. With Árni Einarsson as the head of the research station, scientists came together and many projects have been spearheaded through the years. Especially long-term monitoring in collaboration with the University of […]

Vitor asked us a great question if we knew about any books on Icelandic aquatic fauna that would help someone understand the importance of fish research. So we compiled a list! (With a thank you to Bjarni Kristófer Kristjánsson who kindly sent us his recommendations).    Most of these books are in Icelandic but we […]

While research on Arctic charr (“bleikja”) in Thingvallavatn has been going on for decades (and the earliest studies even going back to the early 1900s!), a lot of knowledge on their behaviour is unknown. This is because getting information on fish behaviour in their natural environment is very hard. It is way easier to get […]

Translated into Icelandic by Inga Birna Pálsdóttir. Í dag fögnum við öllu því fólki sem kennir okkur og börnunum okkar á náttúruna sem við búum í. Það er einstök gjöf að hafa einhvern í lífi sínu sem eyðir tíma með þér í náttúrunni og vekur áhuga þinn á henni. Hjá mér var það afi minn […]