Sweden

Modern timber construction continues to go from strength to strength, with the latest major development recently revealed for Sweden. Described as the world's largest wooden construction project, it will include 2,000 homes made from timber.

Swedish government-owned mining company LKAB has reported the largest deposit of rare earth metals ever discovered in Europe – more than a million tonnes of rare earth oxides, which will be invaluable in the race toward decarbonization.

In most hotels, if the temperature dropped to -5 °C inside the room, there would be complaints made to the front desk, but that's the whole point of Sweden's Icehotel. The annual attraction is now open and is defined by amazing ice sculpted art.

Normally, Sweden building its first new class of submarines in 30 years wouldn't be of as much interest, but Saab laying the keel of its first Blekinge-class boat as Sweden waits to join NATO signals a shift in the balance of power in the Baltic Sea.

Back in March, we reported on a remarkable new spherical treehouse-style hotel designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group that was to be covered in birdhouses. The one-of-a-kind getaway is now complete and has opened to visitors in Sweden.

BIG has produced a lot of out-of-the-box designs, but the firm's latest project is one of its most unusual. Looking like a large pinecone suspended among the trees, the Biosphere will offer a small treehouse-style hotel room covered in 350 birdhouses.

Work has been completed on one of the world's tallest timber towers. Reaching an impressive height of 75 m, the Sara Cultural Centre, by White Arkitekter, is also very sustainable and the firm expects it to become carbon negative after 50 years.

A milestone in decarbonization today as Sweden's SSAB made the world's very first "fossil-free" steel delivery, created with green hydrogen instead of coal and coke, to a customer, Volvo, where it will be used in electric trucks.

A large study tracking some four million patients has linked adult ADHD diagnosis with a higher risk of a range of other diseases, including nervous system, musculoskeletal, respiratory, gut and metabolic conditions. Only arthritis wasn't correlated.

Each December, the Icehotel is host to frozen bedrooms filled with amazing ice sculptures for a few months, before it all melts away into a puddle. This year's iteration contains a selection of icy artworks ranging from the abstract to the sublime.

While other truck companies look at fuel cells and electrics, Scania is experimenting with solarized plug-in hybrid trucks. The company believes its solar panel-decorated trailer will be able to deliver fuel savings between 5 and 20 percent.

In a first, perovskite and organic solar cells have been tested in space. Not only did they perform well, but they’re much thinner and lighter than the silicon cells currently used and were even able to absorb diffuse light reflected back from Earth.