Archive – Science

Chemical reactions

This content was published on Feb 14, 2011 It all began with the textile industry, which made use of charming products such as sulphuric acid and caustic soda. In Switzerland attention soon turned to dyes, then medicines, herbicides, insecticides and fragrances.

Swiss push for “blue peace” in Middle East

This content was published on Feb 12, 2011 Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey on Thursday outlined a new initiative in the region that aims to encourage the sustainable cross-border management of scarce water resources. “In the future the main geopolitical resource in the Middle East will be water rather than oil,” she told reporters in Geneva. Calmy Rey presented the new report, entitled…

Flowers use pollen power against greedy bees

This content was published on Feb 11, 2011 This has led a team of ecologists from the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) to show – for the first time – that bees need to adapt physiologically to digest different types of pollen. The research has caused quite a buzz – it has been published in the British Ecological Society’s Functional Ecology journal,…

Swiss health system diagnoses more cancer

This content was published on Feb 7, 2011 Leading cancer specialist Giorgio Noseda tells swissinfo.ch the system helps diagnose cases early on, thereby increasing the numbers. But there is no single reason why Switzerland has higher cancer rates. Noseda, who heads the Swiss Institute for Research in Biomedicine, says one of the main challenges for the near future is to get a clearer picture…

Forests flourish but face challenges

This content was published on Feb 6, 2011 Olivier Schneider, forestry engineer and expert in forest policy and conservation at the Federal Environment Office, says the year will help raise awareness of the problems facing the world’s forests, such as deforestation. In Switzerland urbanisation and climate change are two particular challenges. swissinfo.ch: What does the UNInternational Year of Forests mean for the Swiss…

Leaders use “Twiplomacy” to connect with public

This content was published on Feb 4, 2011 More than half of the heads of G20 member states now have an official Twitter account, according to Matthias Lüfkens, associate director for digital media at the World Economic Forum (WEF) organisation. But Swiss cabinet ministers are yet to sign up. As he told swissinfo.ch, some like @BarackObama have 6.5 million followers, while others such…

Genome research could combat ant pest

This content was published on Feb 1, 2011 The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), a native of South America, lives in huge colonies and destroys useful native insects. Its sting is also very painful to human beings. It is estimated to cause $5 billion (SFr4.7 billion) worth of damage every year in the United States alone, including loss of crops and livestock.…

Upgrade of Cern particle accelerator postponed

This content was published on Feb 1, 2011 The Cern management announced on Monday that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – which among other things seeks to answer questions about the origins of the universe – will now run through to the end of 2012 with a short technical stop at the end of 2011. It had originally been planned to close it…

Geneva Motor Show

This content was published on Jan 27, 2011 The 81st Geneva International Motor Show focuses on functional, versatile, economical and ecological vehicles. A range of environmentally friendly technologies of the future will be on display in the Green Pavilion and the Green Test Drives.

Beznau or never

This content was published on Jan 24, 2011 Every year the plant is subject to a thorough overhaul. The Axpo company wants to keep Beznau 1 running until at least 2023 and to take it off the grid once Beznau 3 is operational. (Pictures: Thomas Kern, swissinfo.ch)

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