Iceland

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Scratch That: Iceland Just Misses Electing a European First

Women did not actually take a majority of parliament seats in Iceland's election

(Newser) - Update: After a recount, it was determined that Iceland actually did not elect the first-ever European parliament with a female majority Sunday. Initial results showed women won 33 of the 63 seats, but the recount showed the true number of wins for female candidates was 30, or 47.6% of...

Facility in Iceland Is Now Sucking CO2 From the Air

It's the world's biggest carbon capture plant

(Newser) - The world's biggest carbon capture plant is now sucking CO2 from the air in Iceland—and while the amounts involved are relatively tiny compared to the massive scale of the world's emissions problem, its builder says it is a step in the right direction. The plant, built on...

5 Fascinating Places You Aren&#39;t Allowed to See
5 Fascinating Places
You're Prohibited
From Visiting
in case you missed it
Aug 15, 2021 8:45 AM CDT

5 Fascinating Places You're Prohibited From Visiting

Business Insider rounds up unique, forbidden places around the world

(Newser) - You may be looking for a remote spot, far from people, for your next travel destination. But Business Insider wants to remind you that some far-off places are better left alone—particularly if you want to avoid charges or, worse, death. Five unique, forbidden places:

In Iceland, Shorter Workweek an 'Overwhelming Success'

Workers who put in 35-36 hours instead of 40 were happier, more productive, per 4-year experiment

(Newser) - Iceland always seems to fall near the top of most "happiest nations" lists, and this experimentation with a shorter workweek may have just cemented its spot. For four years, between 2015 and 2019, more than 1% of the nation's workforce (2,500 workers or so) from all types...

Hikers Have to Vamoose as Volcano Speaks Up

Iceland's latest eruption suggests a shift is underway

(Newser) - As volcanic eruptions go, the latest one in Iceland has been a relatively tame affair. Gentle lava flows have allowed hikers in Geldinga Valley to get up close and personal—and even roast hot dogs, as photos rounded up in the Atlantic show. Things changed Monday, however, when a new...

After More Than 40K Tiny Quakes, an Eruption

Volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula finally blew on Friday night

(Newser) - They knew it was coming. For weeks, residents in Iceland have been feeling the ground tremble as the island nation was pummeled by tens of thousands of tiny earthquakes , a phenomenon that scientists warned appeared to be a precursor to a volcanic eruption. On Friday night, that eruption took place...

This Is the Happiest Country in the World

It's not the US, which comes in at No. 14, per 'Forbes'

(Newser) - Saturday is marked as the International Day of Happiness , and in some parts of the world, that contentment factor is especially prevalent. Forbes reports on the 2021 World Happiness Report , the ninth installation, which calls the past year a year "like no other." The Gallup World Poll team...

After 17K Earthquakes, Iceland Expects Eruption

'It makes you feel very small and powerless against nature,' Reykjavik resident says

(Newser) - Small earthquakes are nothing new or surprising for Icelanders—but 17,000 of them in a week is enough to rattle them. Scientists say the swarm of quakes suggests Mount Keiler, 20 miles away from Reykjavik, could be about to erupt for the first time since the 12th century, the...

Think Fish Don&#39;t Stink? You May Have This Mutation
Why Some People Think
Rotten Fish Smells Great
NEW STUDY
Oct 9, 2020 12:30 PM CDT

Why Some People Think Rotten Fish Smells Great

They aren't crazy but may have a rare gene mutation

(Newser) - If you don't mind the smell of rotting fish, you might be one of the rare people to possess a just-discovered gene mutation that hints at just how different people's smell and taste senses can be. Researchers in Iceland set out to learn more about the variants that...

Looking to Raise a Family? These 10 Nations Are Tops

The US doesn't make the cut—in fact, it's got a dismal ranking

(Newser) - No one's able to go much of anywhere at the moment , but one day, when the pandemic is over, you may be on the hunt for the best place to settle down and have kids. Travel and family journalism website Asher & Lyric did the legwork for us, sifting...

Dozens Hold Funeral for a 'Symbolic' Death

Iceland bids farewell to its first glacier lost to climate change

(Newser) - It was a funeral for ice. With poetry, moments of silence, and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Icelandic officials, activists, and others bade goodbye to what once was a glacier, the AP reports. Icelandic geologist Oddur Sigurðsson pronounced the Okjokull glacier extinct about a...

Plaque Honors Melted Glacier
Plaque Honors  Melted Glacier
Aug 18, 2019 9:52 AM CDT

Plaque Honors Melted Glacier

Ceremony in Iceland to include a warning about climate change

(Newser) - With a bronze plaque, a ceremony, and a warning that more will follow, Iceland on Sunday is marking the loss of its first glacier to climate change. Researchers from Iceland and the US, as well as the nation's prime minister and Mary Robinson, former UN Human Rights Commissioner and...

Iceland Trying to Undo What the Vikings Did

The reforestation effort is a slow-moving one

(Newser) - That Iceland is the most lightly forested country in all of Europe is the doing of man, not nature—long-since-deceased man. The AFP reports more than 25% of the island was covered in trees, mostly birch, when the Vikings reached its shores in the late 800s. A century later, only...

How a Music Video Is Screwing Up Iceland

The pop star's new video was shot there

(Newser) - A large sign warns motorists that Iceland's Fjadrárgljúfur canyon is closed to visitors but drivers keep on coming down the narrow gravel road. A ranger at a roadblock has to explain why no one can pass: The vulnerable landscape cannot sustain more visitors. Blame Justin Bieber, the...

They Were Taking In a Glacier. Then the Waves Came at Them

A glacier calving led to a seemingly close call in Iceland

(Newser) - That moment when "wow" turns to "eek": Tourists who had been led to the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier in Iceland's Vatnajökull National Park on Sunday got a bit of a scare when they witnessed a calving: a natural process in which a chunk of ice breaks...

Airline to Passengers: Sorry, We Don't Exist Anymore

Passengers on 2 continents stranded as WOW Air abruptly folds

(Newser) - It's not the kind of update passengers want to get from their airline: "WOW Air has ceased operation." The Icelandic budget airline did indeed cease operations on Thursday, stranding passengers across two continents, per the AP . In a statement on its website , the airline, which had earlier...

Top 10 Happiest Nations
Top 10 Happiest Nations
Mar 21, 2019 10:52 AM CDT

Top 10 Happiest Nations

Finland tops World Happiness Report for 2nd year, while US slips

(Newser) - America has fallen in the UN's World Happiness Report , released annually since 2012. The US sits in 19th place, down one spot from 2018 and five spots from 2017, reports US News & World Report . Ryan Cooper at the Week argues there's much to learn from Finland, which...

She Posed for a Pic on an Iceberg. Then It Began to Float Away

77-year-old Judith Streng was rescued by a boat captain in Iceland

(Newser) - "My grandmother almost got lost at sea in Iceland today lmaoooo" isn't a tweet you typically see on Twitter, but one young lady felt compelled to share the photos of her grandma drifting away into the ocean while perched on a throne-shaped iceberg. The Washington Post reports on...

Iceland Toasts 30 Years Since End of an Odd Ban

March 1 is National Beer Day

(Newser) - Thirty years ago, a sobering dry spell in Iceland's history came to an end. On Friday, the country celebrates the anniversary of the lifting of a decades-long ban on beer with—what else?—a nationwide Beer Day. The drink was outlawed in Iceland for 74 years, while all other...

30 Years After They Vanished on the Mountain, &#39;Closure&#39;
30 Years After They
Vanished on the
Mountain, 'Closure'
in case you missed it
Dec 15, 2018 4:00 PM CST

30 Years After They Vanished on the Mountain, 'Closure'

Steve Aisthorpe grateful that 2 friends who disappeared in Himalayas in 1988 have been found

(Newser) - The bodies of those who succumb to the Himalayan mountains likely stay on the slopes forever—it's often too difficult, dangerous, and costly to retrieve them. That fact didn't stop Steve Aisthorpe of Scotland from his recent mission on the Nepal-Tibet border: to get "closure" on the...

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