University of Iceland

This is, this is, you know, the next act.

You need to, you need to slay the dragon." And I think it was that with Chris's advice, I said, "Look, the University of Iceland want me to swim around Iceland."

Well, hang on.

Hang on.

And then the Icelandic...

Wh- who are they? What was the authority again, the organization?

Yeah, so the University of Iceland just sort of said, "Look, you know, if someone can swim around Iceland, we can track eDNA samples, environmental DNA samples." It just means you can pick up what's been in the ocean.

Is it a whale, a seal-

Look, you know, if we ever need some lunatic to swim around a country to do something, to raise awareness for ocean conservation, for amazing charities, to, to pioneer our understanding of sports science, I know a guy." [laughs] And I'd just go, "Hold my beer." So mo- more recently it was, uh, it was Iceland actually.

So the University of Iceland said, "We wanna track, uh, eDNA samples." eDNA samples are just environmental DNA samples.

It means that anything in the water leaves behind a sample, whether it's a whale, a, a seal, a, a Ross Edgley.

And if you take these samples, you can track biodiversity around the entire coast.

My guest today is Margaret Ann Thors, a writer based in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Originally from Fairfield County, Connecticut, she holds a BA, MA, and MFA from Columbia University and teaches at the University of Iceland.

In 2025, she earned her PhD with an emphasis on literature after 9-11.

Her creative writing has been published in Glamour, Creative Nonfiction, Storycord, and other outlets.

Yeah, so I did drive my car yesterday.

I went to a thing hosted by the Canadian Embassy at the University of Iceland yesterday.

Why were you always

invited but not me or Sinti?

Google told me that Grilla was Icelandic for Bugatti.

To quote Terry Gunnell, the head of the Folkloristics Department at the University of Iceland, ahem, you don't mess with Grilla.

Short, but to the point.

Some poems depict her as a troll, others an ogress or a giantess, which is problematic because those are very different pages in the Monster Manual and require their own strategies.

In a month she dies.

This case, reported in a 2011 study by the biologist Michael Naum and colleagues from the University of Virginia and the University of Iceland, is an example of terminal lucidity, an unexpected return of cognitive function in patients with severe dementia or other brain damage that occurs shortly before death.

As a neuroscientist, my first thoughts when encountering reports like this are that they can't possibly be real.

The main reason is that by the time patients with severe dementia die, their brains are catastrophically damaged.

Before entering national politics, she had a long career in business and industry, including senior roles at Curies and as chair of the Federation of Icelandic Industries.

She holds a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Iceland and has served on numerous boards in Icelandic business, education and pension funds.

She will be giving some introductory remarks and then we will go on stage for a moderated discussion where we will be joined by Jöns Helgeson, who is a member of the Althingi as well from the Independence Party.

He has been in the Althingi since 2024, his extensive experience in Iceland's fisheries and agriculture sectors, having served as CEO of Fiske Middun Laksar and in management in Kaldvik.