Archive – Science

X-ray specialist wins Latsis Prize

This content was published on Oct 28, 2008 Pfeiffer, who heads a research group at the Paul Scherrer Institute in canton Aargau and is also an assistant professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, won the SFr100,000 ($86,000) prize for demonstrating the practicality of a high-resolution technique known as dark-field x-ray imaging. The technology developed by Pfeiffer, 35, and other Swiss-based…

Sexually fickle queens benefit society

This content was published on Oct 23, 2008 The discovery that interaction between genes is stronger than previously thought explains why queen ants mating with multiple partners results in the optimal balance in a colony between queens and workers. “We found two things. The first is that differentiation between queens and workers is not due only to environmental factors. Genetics is also involved,”…

R&D spending makes strong gains

This content was published on Oct 21, 2008 A statement released on Tuesday by management consultants Booz & Company said surveyed companies allocated 7.9 per cent of total sales for R&D expenditures, up from 7.3 per cent over the previous year. Basel-based pharmaceutical firm Roche led Switzerland’s strong performance, placing 8th and increasing spending by 16 per cent to $6.9 billion. Rival Novartis…

HIV rebounds rapidly without drugs

This content was published on Oct 21, 2008 Antiretroviral medication suppressed HIV so well that no traces of it appeared in laboratory tests, researchers said. But scientists Beda Joos and Huldrych Guenthard found that the virus that causes Aids resurfaced with astounding rapidity as soon as patients stopped taking the drugs. That led them to two debateable theories about the virus’s ability to…

“Zoogler” revolution gains momentum

This content was published on Oct 20, 2008 The number of Zooglers, as Zurich staff are known, has doubled in the past year to more than 400 to make it Google’s biggest engineering hub outside the United States. Expansion resulted in a move to larger premises earlier this year. The new custom-made premises on the site of a former brewery – complete with…

Swiss boldly go forward in space policy

This content was published on Oct 20, 2008 The country is a founding member of the 40-year-old European Space Agency (Esa). Last week the Swiss government revised its policies to help ensure that the Swiss remain key players within the agency and in space. For years Switzerland has had a galaxy of policies in place, in areas such as research and technology and…

Wasp stings don’t cause infertility

This content was published on Oct 19, 2008 The findings are reassuring, however. Men who have an allergic reaction to wasp stings should be at no higher risk of becoming infertile than those who do not, said a statement issued on Sunday by Bern University Hospital. The question arose because there is a protein in sperm whose structure is very similar to one…

Atom smasher will be in business by spring

This content was published on Oct 17, 2008 The problems, caused by a single bad electrical connection, will be fixed over the winter and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be back in operation next spring, Cern spokesman James Gillies said on Friday. But damage to insulation and other parts around 29 of the magnets will most likely require that they be brought…

Swiss appointed to top European research job

This content was published on Oct 14, 2008 Imboden, president of the national research council of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), will head the established science policy-making platform for three years. More than 40 European research organisations are represented in EuroHORCs. The organisation is a key partner to the European Union concerning research policy. According to the SNSF, the appointment of non-EU…

Fusion will be cracked “within 30 years”

This content was published on Oct 13, 2008 On Monday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Organisation (ITER) signed a cooperation agreement at the opening of an IAEA fusion energy conference, held in Geneva. “ITER is one of the most important scientific projects in the world,” said IAEA’s director general, Yuri Sokolov. ITER, or “the way” in Latin,…

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