Nikola Veisberga

Where do birds live when we take away so many trees to shape our cities and landscapes? Sure, we've all seen those little birdhouses in parks, with tiny birds flitting in and out. They're great, but not all birds use boxes. Larger birds need open nests in trees. Latvia's ancient forests and unique e…

If the numbers on your plane's navigation screen start acting up, don't panic – cockpits are built with backups for the backups. But ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, planes in Europe's skies haven't been the same. More and more GPS disruptions cause planes to divert – particularly in the Baltic Se…

As someone who grew up in a small town surrounded by the forest, I am used to seeing paw prints in the mud or snow and wildlife wandering through the streets. I've seen foxes and deer, once even a bear cub wandering through the garden. Now Latvia is reconsidering its bear population and may cap the …

Last week, while working on protecting the Baltic Sea underwater infrastructure, Polish deep-sea divers discovered something unusual on the seabed in the Gulf of Gdańsk: more than 100 kilogrammes of cocaine worth an estimated €14.5 million. The joint operation with Europol, the DEA, and Poland's bor…

In a bold effort to secure the future of its language, Estonia recently shared nearly four billion words of linguistic data with Meta, aiming to integrate the Estonian language into AI models. This move is designed to improve chatbots, voice assistants, and translation tools, ensuring seamless digit…

In September, we recommended a movie about a little cat who makes unlikely acquaintances and friendships during an unexpected journey, caused by a sudden flood. The movie's journey continues, as the Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis' film Flow (Straume in Latvian) has been nominated for Best Animate…

The Port of Riga, in partnership with Ukrainian investors, is set to build the Baltic region’s first renewable fuel plant, which will produce hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The facility, expected to be finished in the next 20 months and aligned with EU Green D…

Until very recently, the “Latvian girl”, a painting by one of Latvia’s most prominent artists, Jānis Roberts Tillbergs (1880-1972), was considered lost after it was brought to Germany in 1942. As it turns out, the Schloss Gottorf museum in Schleswig in northern Germany was holding onto it. The “Latv…

The already rare and protected black stork (Ciconia nigra) population is on a steady decline in the Baltic states and Poland. Unlike its more sociable relative, the white stork, the black stork thrives in remote, undisturbed mixed forests. The reason for the population decline is largely due to huma…

From tackling infectious diseases in trenches to treating soldiers wounded in war, military medicine equips and trains medical units to respond swiftly to battlefield injuries and mass casualty events, minimising loss of life and enhancing operational effectiveness. As geopolitical tensions have ris…

In 1944, 80 years ago and a year before the end of World War II, the Red Army invaded the Baltic States - again. Fearing Soviet repression and remembering their previous occupation of 1940-1941, which went down in history as the ”Terrible Year”, around 300,000 people were forced to flee westward. Wh…

In 2022, a Latvian housewife living in a small village near Lielvārde military airfield, about an hour's drive south-east of Riga, was tending her garden when she noticed a black car pull into her driveway. A young man got out, but by the time she reached the gate, the car was gone. Left behind was …

Is mandatory military service for men and women the solution for Europe's military unpreparedness and troop shortage? As a somewhat controversial form of gender equality, politicians in Latvia have proposed to conscript women for mandatory military service. Similarly, Finland and Denmark have also b…

Why is it difficult for AI language tools to learn Latvian? ChatGPT explains: ”There is not enough data and text in Latvian. The Latvian language has a complex grammar and language structure – nine conjugations, different genders, and figures – with multiple dialects and regional differences. It is …

In another step forward for gender equality in Latvian politics, Baiba Braže has just been appointed as the minister of foreign affairs, becoming the second woman to ever hold this position. She works alongside Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, who was appointed in September last year, completing a first…

It is time to save the toads! Wondering why? As warm spring weather is on the rise, so is toad migration. A journey that often involves crossing busy roads, leading to a high amount of toad casualties. To preserve the toads’ historic migration routes, Latvia’s Nature Conservation Agency (DAP) has la…