There has been much media discussion about the lifestyles of young people, which sometimes involve long periods sitting on computers and other devices, with less physical activity than children used to do. Research shows how important it is for young people to get sufficient exercise. Studies in many different countries have tried answer the question of whether physical activity in childhood has a positive impact on health in later life. A large number of studies have found that this is indeed the case. Scientists thus believe it is essential to monitor and measure how much young people exercise and how that changes over time. 

A study at the University of Iceland is currently underway that looks at physical activity and fitness in Icelandic children and adolescents aged 7 to 17. The goal is to find out whether these things change as children grow older and what impact that has on mental and physical health. 

"Women experience the triple effect. Age, looks and being a woman," says Erla Sólveig Kristjánsdóttir, professor at the University of Iceland's Faculty of Business Administration, who is launching a study next year on gender-based ageism against women older than 50 in the labour market.

Erla says that women start to experience obstacles in the labour market after forty. They may not even get a response when the apply for work and are overlooked in promotions.

"I want to interview women who are older than 50 years old, and even 45 and older. I already have 12 women lined up who are interested without advertising at all. These women have university education, are 50 or older, and unemployed.

Experts in population genetics and evolutionary biology at the University of Iceland and their colleagues have determined which models are most suitable for evaluating reproduction and  growth of the Atlantic cod population. These findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal eLife. The research also significantly advances our understanding of genetic diversity in highly fecund organisms.

The scientists behind the article, which is entitled "Sweepstakes reproductive success via pervasive and recurrent selective sweeps," are Einar Árnason, professor emeritus in evolutionary biology and population genetics at UI, Katrín Halldórsdóttir, researcher at the UI Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, Jere Koskela, associate professor at the University of Warwick, and Bjarki Eldon, postdoctoral researcher at the Leibnitz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science in Berlin.