Archive – Science

Tougher law passed on human research

This content was published on Sep 14, 2011 The law stipulates that anyone involved in a research project must have given their written consent after having been sufficiently informed about the project. People who are mentally unable to make decisions and children should be involved as much as possible in the consent process. Researchers will have to answer for damages related to their…

In a far country…

This content was published on Sep 14, 2011 An exhibition curated by Nicole Aeby and Silvia Luckner features photos by Jashim Salam from Bangladesh, Juan Manuel Barrero Bueno from Columbia and Eman Mohammed from Palestine, showing the ordinary lives of people in those countries – which are not so ordinary at all.

Planet hunters chalk up successes

This content was published on Sep 13, 2011 A team led by Swiss astronomers has recently discovered more than 50 exoplanets – planets orbiting stars outside the solar system. Their findings were presented at a conference in the United States on Monday. Of these, 16 are “super-Earths” – planets with a mass higher than that of Earth, but considerably less than that of…

Humans and Neanderthals rarely mated, study finds

This content was published on Sep 13, 2011 A recent Swiss study showed that two to three per cent of the human genome can be traced to the Neanderthals. With that in mind, researchers wanted to figure out exactly where, when and how often Homo Sapiens interbred with Neanderthals. Model calculations using simulated French and Chinese DNA samples showed that successful pairings –…

Spread of the Asian tiger mosquito feared

This content was published on Sep 10, 2011 The mosquito is already firmly established in Ticino, in the south of the country, and authorities and experts have this summer stepped up their battle against it. The Aargau sighting – first flagged up in the media on September 4 – has been found to be that of a “cousin” mosquito, the Aedes japonicus, said Anne-Gabrielle Wust…

Two-million-year-old bones show human links

This content was published on Sep 9, 2011 Peter Schmid from Zurich University’s anthropology department led the first excavation team to work on the site in Malapa, north of Johannesburg. Schmid said the well-preserved set of fossils shows a part-human, part-ape species – named Australopithecus sebida – which had hands similar to humans, sophisticated ankles that helped in movement and a surprisingly tiny…

Swiss Muslims deal with 9/11

This content was published on Sep 9, 2011 Muslims suddenly found themselves being regarded with suspicion as potential terrorists in many countries and their religion denigrated. Like most people who saw the attacks on television, Swiss citizen Nezhda Drissi remembers the day well. “My first reaction was that Muslims are incapable of doing something as terrible as that,” she told swissinfo.ch. Drissi, who…

Bear family to stay united

This content was published on Sep 8, 2011 They will remain in the place where they were born, sharing the bear park not only with their mother, Björk, as they have done up to now, but also with their father, Finn, who for nearly two years now has been divided from them by a high wire fence. The announcement by zoo director Bernd…

A third of Swiss feel stressed at work

This content was published on Sep 6, 2011 The report by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) says the causes are mainly time pressure, unclear instructions, social discrimination – such as harassment – and working in what is supposed to be free time. Additional factors are long work hours and the obligation to comply with ideas that they don’t support. “On the…

Swiss nuclear future could hinge on thorium

This content was published on Sep 1, 2011 A new generation of reactors could be fuelled by thorium, seen by its supporters as safer and producing less of a waste problem. The disaster at the Japanese nuclear plant at Fukushima earlier this year prompted heart-searching in Switzerland and the government announced in May that it planned to phase out all nuclear power generation…

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Archive – Science

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Tougher law passed on human research

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In a far country…

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Planet hunters chalk up successes

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Humans and Neanderthals rarely mated, study finds

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Spread of the Asian tiger mosquito feared

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Two-million-year-old bones show human links

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Swiss Muslims deal with 9/11

More

Bear family to stay united

More

A third of Swiss feel stressed at work

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Swiss nuclear future could hinge on thorium

Popular Stories

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