Archive – Science

‘The car industry is digging its own grave’

This content was published on Mar 4, 2014 Despite being a world famous showcase for new models, Goeudevert feels it is time for the Geneva Motor Show to come up with a new image and a new identity. swissinfo.ch: The Motor Show is unique, according to its organisers and the industry. Switzerland, a country with no motor industry of its own, is neutral terrain…

Romansh digitisation project breaks new ground

This content was published on Feb 23, 2014 They are all to be found in the Rätoromanische Chrestomathie, regarded as a mine of information for historians and linguists. A collection of texts written between about 1560 and 1910 in all the varieties of Romansh, Switzerland’s fourth national language, it was published around the turn of the 20th century. A facsimile version in 15…

The infancy of the Swiss National Park

This content was published on Feb 21, 2014 The first national park anywhere in the Alps was founded in 1914 by conservationists concerned about increasing industrialisation in mountain regions. They set up a Swiss branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature and won approval from parliament to set aside an area in southeastern Switzerland. Similar reserves had already been established in…

Government supports organ transplant measures

This content was published on Feb 20, 2014 The number of people needing organs has been growing steadily over the past decade. Whereas there were 641 people on the waiting list at the end of 2003, the number had reached 1,274 by the end of 2013. The number of deceased organ donors in 2013 was 110, an almost 15% increase over 2012, a…

Ants build rafts to escape flood, protect queen

This content was published on Feb 20, 2014 During flooding, worker ants link bodies and protect the most vulnerable and valuable nest mate, the queen, by placing her in the centre of the raft, according to research released by scientific publisher PLOS ONE on Wednesday. When put in harm’s way, social animals are often able to work together to enhance the survival and…

ESA approves space telescope project

This content was published on Feb 20, 2014 The 1.5-metre-long telescope is to be placed into orbit at the end of 2017, 800 kilometres above the Earth. There, its job will be to help observe 500 particularly bright stars outside the Earth’s solar system, as well as any planets that may orbit them. The name of the project, CHEOPS, stands for “Characterizing Exoplanet…

Mobile academics – brain drain or circulation?

This content was published on Feb 17, 2014 When Meghali Randive arrived at the University of Zurich from India to take up her scholarship for German studies in 2008, she had a bit of a culture shock. “I did not realise how different Swiss German was to the High German I had learned in India,” she recalled. Six years on, and working towards…

‘Federal dealer’ on 20 years of heroin scheme

This content was published on Feb 14, 2014 It is for good reason that its transport involves extraordinary security measures. In 1994, when parliament and the Federal Health Office were still responsible for the procurement and delivery of heroin, it was actually stored for several months in an enormous bank vault directly next to the gold bars of the Swiss National Bank. “I…

Researchers shed light on accident 88 years ago

This content was published on Feb 13, 2014 On March 4, 1926, four young men failed to return from their ski tour on the Aletsch Glacier in the Bernese Alps. According to eyewitness accounts the group – three of whom were brothers – set off in the afternoon to Konkordiaplatz where three smaller glaciers converge to compose the Aletsch Glacier. This was the…

Next generation particle smasher is in the works

This content was published on Feb 6, 2014 The experiments run using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) since 2010 have been investigating dark matter, antimatter and the creation of the universe. In 2012 the Higgs Boson was observed by CERN – a particle confirming an important theory from the 1960s about why matter has mass. The current LHC will still be used by…

Archive – Science

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Archive – Science

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‘The car industry is digging its own grave’

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Romansh digitisation project breaks new ground

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The infancy of the Swiss National Park

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Government supports organ transplant measures

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Ants build rafts to escape flood, protect queen

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ESA approves space telescope project

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Mobile academics – brain drain or circulation?

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‘Federal dealer’ on 20 years of heroin scheme

More

Researchers shed light on accident 88 years ago

More

Next generation particle smasher is in the works

Popular Stories

Most Discussed