PFAS and their impact on plants and animals is a hot debate. Southeast Asia being the world’s largest textile producer, contributes greatly in water pollution through hazardous waste. PFAS are a group of persistent chemical compounds with destructive properties that affect our ecosystems. Studies show high concentrations of PFOA, a type of PFAS, coming from Bangladesh’s textile industry of which measured values exceed Europe’s limits.

The purpose of the project was to investigate how cress growth is affected by PFOA. This was achieved through cultivating cress plants on agarose gels prepared with different concentrations of the chemical.

During analysis, it was observed that cress had a delayed germination and grew significantly worse at high levels of PFOA in dependent cultivations.

One of the largest global contributors to rising sea levels is the water withdrawals, garnering a volume of 4 quadrillion liters annually, 72% of these withdrawals go directly to agricultural production. Therefore, this project aimed to examine the differences in water consumption in hydroponic- and traditional cultivations in order to determine if a transition into hydroponic cultivational methods could reduce the need for these withdrawals.

The study found that water savings as large as 55% could be made in hydroponic cultivation in comparison to traditional cultivation. It was concluded that water savings as large as 33% could be made without affecting the mass of the harvest in the hydroponic cultivation, which also produced 52% more mass per liter of water.

Satellites have become an essential part of our everyday modern life. Especially weather satellites as they provide a basis for weather forecasts from a unique perspective. However, did you know that anyone, anywhere, can receive images and data directly from weather satellites with low-cost equipment? The objectives of this study revolve around the UN’s Global Goals for sustainable development and how to introduce more accessible and democratic ways of conducting water and climate research. This study, therefore, examines if it is possible to conduct a scientific study with images directly from weather satellites. The study presents a novel way of receiving and analyzing sea surface temperature (SST) in the Baltic Sea region and its development during the fall of 2020.

Have you ever heard of thiamine deficiency? A high mortality among animals due to thiamine deficiency has recently been observed and the cause has been proposed to be phytoplankton. These are the main producers of thiamine out in open water and the share of thiamine auxotrophic phytoplankton, plankton who are unable to produce thiamine, is likely to affect the deficiency.

In this project it is examined how the concentration of phytoplankton in water from the Baltic Sea changes upon addition of thiamine. The results indicated a substantial share of thiamine auxotrophic phytoplankton when and where the samples were collected. With more knowledge about phytoplankton communities we would be able to improve the conditions for aquatic ecosystems.

One of mankind’s biggest threats is the ever growing water shortage. One way to solve this is cleaning seawater. Today 330 million people get their water from desalination plants, but conventional desalination is both expensive and energy demanding. Therefor I have developed a new way to desalinate seawater by utilizing water’s evaporative properties together with industrial waste heat, reducing the cost of cleaning 1000 liters of water to just 0.06€. Industries use 20% of freshwater around the globe so self sustaining factories through my invention would be a huge step towards securing the water supply in the future. I’m currently leading a full-scale pilot project in Sweden capable of cleaning 40.000 liters/day with a local smeltery.0

In this project surface engineered gold nanoparticles were developed to detect arsenic. A potential lifesaver.

This study investigated how the morphology of Zostera marina plants differ in regards to their leaf lengths and root

To increase the effect of environmentally-friendly efforts, a three-step strategy for raising climate awareness was deve