Today’s big topic: The chemicals are everywhere: Not a single soil sample from Denmark is clean
What’s happening?
In the fall of 2025, 30,000 students got their hands in the soil in forests near cities, in urban areas, in fields, and in schoolyards. It has contributed to groundbreaking research.
Cornelius Saltby Levin Egerup and Carl Sønderby Falck showed up in the fall of 2025 with a shovel, a logbook, and test tubes and helped carry out the largest and most comprehensive measurement ever of the health of Denmark’s near-urban soil. The boys aren’t scientists – on ordinary days they’re in 8.L at Nordsjællands Gymnasium and Primary School – but the results are striking all the same.
Along with 30,000 other public-school students in 97 of the country’s 98 municipalities, they dug samples in forests, cities, schoolyards, and fields in their local areas. Now the first results from the mass experiment, organized by the national science education center Astra, have been released. They suggest that there is, quite literally, not a single spot in Denmark untouched by industrial chemicals.
Samples were taken nationwide at depths of 10 and 40 centimeters and then sent for analysis to researchers at Aarhus University, Aalborg University, and the Technical University of Denmark. Taken together, the mass experiment amounts to the most extensive single mapping to date of soil pollution in and around Danish cities.
»One of the most widespread is flame retardants. They’re in electronics and clothing, and we find them pretty much everywhere«, says Professor of agroecology at Aarhus University Mogens Humlekrog Greve.
Why it matters!
Professor of environmental medicine at the University of Southern Denmark, Philippe Grandjean is especially focused on PFAS contamination because most other industrial chemicals do eventually break down, even if it can take a long time.
»PFAS we leave for our descendants to deal with. It’s unethical. We’ve been too careless and haven’t thought things through«, says Philippe Grandjean.
Asked what the latest conclusions are about the harmful effects of PFAS in the body, he lists them:
»It’s the smartest thing ever developed for wrecking the next generation’s health. It hits men’s sperm quality, leading to chromosome errors. Women share PFAS with the fetus and through breast milk. The fetus and the newborn are far more vulnerable to chemical exposure than adults. They risk being born prematurely and with low birth weight. As they grow up, it can lead to a poorly functioning immune system, higher levels of obesity, more fragile bones, a higher risk of osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and various cancers«.
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In other news
– »It’s a battle underway«: Economist warns amid supermarkets’ price war
Rising food prices have for some time been a major issue in Denmark. At Coop, which runs 365discount, chain director Michael Tilsted says he is pleased to be able to meet Danes’ wish for cheaper groceries. But according to Morten Bruun Pedersen, chief economist at the Danish Consumer Council, Forbrugerrådet Tænk, the steep price cuts should be taken with a grain of salt. With the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz, it is not unlikely that the low prices may prove short-lived. »We likely face a future where prices will begin to rise over the longer term«, he says. And that may be why supermarkets right now are making a major push to bring more customers into their stores. With the new measures, there are plenty of chances to save when you’re standing in front of the refrigerated case, but Morten Bruun Pedersen nonetheless warns that only a fraction of goods will actually get cheaper, and that consumers should watch for prices rising elsewhere.
– An invasive species has taken over the university
An invasive species has taken over the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. In the seemingly endless hallways, students from law, medicine, and other traditional academic disciplines trudge along with their Fjällräven backpacks in tow. But outside a laboratory at the Faculty of Engineering, a striking sight makes students and staff slow down and widen their eyes. Behind a glass wall, nearly 50 conscripts –in boots and camouflage uniforms, with large military rucksacks – have settled in in front of soldering irons, solder, and measuring equipment. A thin ribbon of smoke rises as they solder components onto a small circuit board that will become a tiny microcomputer. »People looked when we arrived at the university, too. We were walking in full uniform, in two ranks«, says Paprika Gjerulff, who is serving in the military’s new specialized unit of conscripts being trained in drones. After years of groundwork, cooperation among educational institutions, the armed forces, and the defense industry is reaching a scale where it is truly being noticed. It is happening at the urging of the broad political majority behind the defense agreement, which, under the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine, wants to strengthen Denmark’s security. But in the process, a number of small and large challenges are also becoming clearer. Ahead of the first day of instruction for the drone conscripts, the University of Southern Denmark sent out an internal notice that there may henceforth be uniformed personnel on campus because the university’s engineers will help the armed forces with the more technological parts of the training.
– Novo-aktien stiger efter regnskab med opjustering
After 15 minutes of trading, the stock is up more than 7 percent. The earnings report did show a decline in sales when adjusted for one-off events. But Novo Nordisk also nudged up its sales outlook slightly, as the company now expects somewhat stronger sales of its GLP-1 products. In the first three months of the year, the drugmaker posted revenue of 96.8 billion kroner, an increase of 24 percent measured in DKK. Alongside the earnings report, Novo Nordisk raised its guidance for all of 2026. The company now expects adjusted sales, measured in constant exchange rates, to decline between 4 and 12 percent. That is an increase of one percentage point at both ends of the range. In the earnings report, Novo Nordisk highlighted the launch of the Wegovy pill, which reached the U.S. market at the beginning of the year. »Wegovy is performing strongly, and combined with continued growth in our International Operations, it leads us to raise our outlook for 2026 for both adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit«, says Mike Doustdar, head of International Operations at Novo Nordisk.
Talk of town: Are there really people walking around feeding wolves treats?
A week ago, a pony was found dead near a property outside Egtved in Jutland. A wolf was most likely involved. It was the second time in a matter of weeks that the owners had lost a pony that way.
Is anyone really going around feeding wolves treats? If so, who’s behind it? And why do it when authorities have, for years, advised against feeding wolves?
Those questions are flashing after Aarhus University released a new memo reviewing 13 encounters between wolves and people around Oksbøl since last December and offering a cautious guess as to why wolves have suddenly become so interested in following people.
»I can’t think of any other explanation than that people have fed wolves. The wolf is a wild animal that is, by nature, wary of humans. If it’s fed, it very quickly learns to associate humans with food and will seek them out. It takes three minutes to teach a wolf to beg at the table for the rest of its life«, says one of the country’s leading wolf experts, Peter Sunde, a professor at Aarhus University’s Department of Ecoscience and one of the memo’s authors.
At the same time, based on the memo, the agency SGAV assesses that there are grounds to expand the possibility of managing the wolf population, which in Denmark is estimated at about 50 individuals. Private citizens can now apply for permission to regulate – that is, kill – wolves under certain conditions in certain zones in the area around Oksbøl in southern Jutland.
Another option is to capture the wolf and fit it with a GPS collar so its movements can be tracked. When it comes too close to areas where people are, authorities could respond.
»Then you can start a systematic hazing campaign against the wolf . Basically harass it as much as possible. It’s typically done with soft guns and pellets that don’t kill. You seek out the wolf, and if it gets a few pellets in the rear, it learns that it’s an unpleasant experience to go near people«, Peter Sunde says.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.