These are the stories you read the most in 2019

Dear readers,

You do like to read stories from our archives. One day in 2019 for instance, you went crazy for this story on how Ouija bords really work. And you were very interested in what Vikings really looked like.

You also want to know where all the snot comes from, what men look for in a woman’s face and what our climate will look like in 2050. And you connect with a story from one of our owners, NTNU, about why you might have negative feelings after sex.

But enough about the older (though of course still highly relevant) stuff.

As we dive into a new year and decade, let's first take a look back at (drum roll) the top ten most read stories from the year of 2019:

1.

Your risk of a deadly cancer is linked to your blood type

People with different blood types have different risks of developing pancreatic cancer, Norwegian research shows.

2.

The mystery from pre-Viking days: Only the most powerful had these little pieces of gold

Was it a gold ticket to important meetings? Or proof that you were related to the Gods? A new gold foil figure was recently found in Vestfold.

3.

Your cat meows mostly for you

Cats don't often meow to other adult cats, but they quickly learn to use sounds to talk to humans.

4.

The long, harsh Fimbul winter is not a myth

Probably half of Norway and Sweden’s population died. Researchers now know more and more about the catastrophic year of 536.

5.

Why is the full story of the Viking Age and High Middle Ages emerging only now?

Written in the 1380s in Iceland, the Flateyarbók chronicling Norwegian history never made it to Norway. Some 600 years later a Norwegian king has finally received the book, in Norwegian. An English translation is also on the way.

6.

Why boys get poor grades

A Norwegian school researcher may have found an explanation.

7.

The forgotten extermination of Norwegians in the Soviet Union

A researcher travelled to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and collected accounts of the Norwegians who lived there. At least 27 of them were executed or died in prison camps in the 1930s and 1940s. Others died of starvation.

8.

Viking men were buried with cooking gear

What were gender roles like during Viking times? A Norwegian archaeologist thinks we often misinterpret the past based on our current cultural assumptions.

9.

Norwegian researchers find link between ALS and body weight

A Norwegian study shows that overweight and obese individuals have a lower risk for ALS than those who are of normal weight and underweight.

10.

Breathing can affect the cleansing of the brain

Breathing rhythms affect how well spinal fluid flows in and around the brain, a new study shows. Cerebrospinal fluid plays an important role in flushing metabolic waste products from the brain. The finding may have an impact on brain diseases such as Alzheimer's.