Archive – Science

Animal of the year is a bee

This content was published on Jan 5, 2010 Eucera nigrescens, whose German name translates as long-horned bee, is described by Pro Natura as a “furry pollen taxi”. It plays a vital role in pollinating the Ophrys holosericea orchid. The orchid, named in German after the bumble bee, fools the insect by imitating the shape and smell of the female. The male bee comes…

Tracking scammers, hackers and phishers

This content was published on Jan 4, 2010 Swiss government officials are confronted every day with the reality of illegal Web use, including hardcore pornography, racism, the spread of harmful computer viruses and the misuse of personal data. In October hackers targeted the foreign ministry. More recently there have been reports of attacks on Swiss websites featuring postings by people defending Islam, following…

Bringing ET out of the realm of sci-fi

This content was published on Jan 3, 2010 Stéphane Udry, a professor in the astronomy department of Geneva University, tells swissinfo.ch why he thinks we are not alone – and why he believes any extraterrestrials out there are benevolent. An avid reader of science fiction, Udry was attracted to astrophysics because it is not purely theoretical. His PhD in Geneva was on the…

Geographer Oliver Strebler with helmet and had torch

Exploring the inside of a melting glacier

This content was published on Dec 30, 2009

Caritas calls to halve poverty by 2020

This content was published on Dec 29, 2009 The organisation estimates that in Switzerland 700,000-900,000 people, around a tenth of the population, are in need of social welfare. The charter launched in the Swiss capital Bern on Tuesday outlines several avenues for action including better identification and documentation of poverty cases, improved access to training regardless of age and more job creation. Caritas…

Darwin, the Big Bang and the moon

This content was published on Dec 28, 2009 2009 also saw two important anniversaries for Darwin and the moon, as well as the uncovering of a red lake and rather surprising revelations about sex. Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) announced their groundbreaking results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on November 23. “This is great news – the start…

“Lothar has made the forests more stable”

This content was published on Dec 24, 2009 Forester Jakob Zaugg told swissinfo.ch he still has vivid memories of the storm that took its toll of countless woods in Switzerland. “Trees flew with their roots like arrows 80 metres into the air and then fell to the ground. I’d never seen anything like that before.” Zaugg, who has been self-employed in the special…

Nuclear power plant wins unlimited licence

This content was published on Dec 22, 2009 The operators of the plant outside the capital Bern said they welcomed the move because it finally puts all five nuclear power stations in Switzerland on par with each other. The Mühleberg facility became operational in 1972 and had a licence that was due to run out by the end of 2012. An application has…

Earth-shaking energy project cleared in court

This content was published on Dec 21, 2009 The criminal court of Basel City said on Monday that Markus Häring, director of Geothermal Explorers which was in charge of the project, had acted in accordance with the state of scientific knowledge at the time, and had not downplayed the possible risks. The prosecutor had called for an 18 months suspended prison sentence while…

“Siberia of Switzerland” freezes again

This content was published on Dec 20, 2009 The drop, which occurred on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, made La Brévine the coldest place in the country so far this year. Many parts of Switzerland saw the mercury fall to between minus ten and minus 20 degrees. In Buchs, canton Aargau, temperatures fell to -14.9 degrees. It was -14.4 at the Zurich…

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