The SSHL ‘Think Tank’ team was recently nominated for the ‘Future Thinking’ category in the International School Awards 2020 in London.

And this week, our Think Tank team of students visited SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) to present their research report for the SLU Department of Ecology.

At the beginning of the term, SLU gave the Think Tank team the mission to investigate how they as Sweden ́s only university of agricultural sciences can grow their student population in the future.

After two and a half months of diligently working on this project, the students have now delivered their report and presented the result to SLU by the required deadline.

And, it was a massive success. The 13 students spent the morning presenting their research report to the heads of SLU Department of Ecology, several senior professors, as well as the head of SLU communications.

Clara Hawkins, teacher at SSHL and mentor for the project:

⎯ SLU is wildly impressed with the market analysis report, which they said was comparable to reports that they order from professional market research centers. They were particularly impressed with the quality of the research because it was evidence driven and well-sourced and cited.

Rise in sea level is an increasingly relevant issue and the ramifications of ignoring it are grave. Per scientific consensus, an estimated 1.5C increase in global temperature will increase global sea levels between 1.7 to 3.2 feet by 2100. “Even if we collectively manage to keep global temperatures from rising to 2°C, by 2050 at least 570 cities and some 800 million people will be exposed to rising seas and storm surges.” Sea level rise will not only displace people, cause entire nations to disappear, and destroy real estate but also damage integral infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports and mass transit. Therefore, it is extraordinarily important for governments to adapt and put forth measures now, to prevent and limit the extent of potential harm.

For reasons such as access to the sea and for fertile farmlands, numerous cities developed historically within coastal regions. A lot of these cities date back centuries and have previously dealt with floods; but, the magnitude of the current sea level rising is simply incomparable to what it might’ve been a century prior. “Coastal living is becoming a liability.” Previous methods of dealing with floods and rising sea levels are no longer sufficient and costs due to damage can rise into the trillions, discounting the moral blow that these disasters will have on the general populace. Therefore, some countries have stepped up to the challenge and created comprehensive, targeted solutions in order to face off with an impending situation that appears to be inevitable.

You're looking at the brand-new, first-ever close-up picture of a black hole.

The M87 galaxy is 53 million light years away. It is a galaxy surrounded by clouds of dust and gas and other matter, so no visible light telescope could see the black hole through all that junk. The gravity of a black hole is too intense for even light to escape, especially as black holes speed up.

The black hole in M87 is not the nearest black hole to Earth, or even the nearest supermassive black hole, but it has now become visible with the use of Event Horizon Telescope.

Main trends and future predictions for "School 2030":