Cluster: Science

Flooding eases in mountain areas

This content was published on Oct 11, 2011 But on the plains, the Aare river is still causing concern, especially in the Swiss capital Bern, where the river has risen by two metres, according to a police spokesman. Cantons Bern, Valais, Nidwalden and Obwalden were among those particularly hard hit by flooding. Several brooks and rivers in these places overflowed on Monday and…

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Cabinet ministers lauded for nuclear decision

This content was published on Oct 10, 2011 President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga, Environment Minister Doris Leuthard and Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf will be presented with the prize by industry foundation the Swiss Solar Agency in Berlin in December. Swiss Solar Agency director Gallus Cadonau said the decision to abandon the use of nuclear power was “extraordinary on…

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Winter makes early return to Swiss mountains

This content was published on Oct 9, 2011 Officials said trains between the prestigious resorts of Zermatt and St Moritz operate only with delays as power lines near Disentis were cut on Sunday morning. Trains between Chur and Arosa were also temporarily suspended after a tree had fallen on a power line. More than ten alpine mountain passes, including the Gotthard Pass, are…

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Highest wind turbine completed

This content was published on Sep 30, 2011 Energy minister Doris Leuthard attended the topping out celebration on Friday near the Gries dam, close to the border with Italy. “Canton Valais is making an important step towards a renewable future,” she said. The turbine, which cost SFr5.5 million ($6 million), is due to start generating power at the beginning of 2012. It will…

Climate solutions

Lake Constance bomb defused

This content was published on Sep 29, 2011 Specialists from the explosive ordnance disposal unit removed the detonator of the bomb which is lying on the bed of the lake near the village of Staad, close to the Austrian border. It will be removed on Friday, and destroyed at an army firing range. Although there had at no time been any danger to…

Educational zoos receive good marks

This content was published on Sep 22, 2011 In its latest report, the organisation noted an “upwards trend” in zoo animal care, picking out for particular praise large zoos and wild parks which end up being education centres for the protection of species. Successful models included the elephant enclosure and tropical wetland at Zurich Zoo, the ape house at Basel Zoo, the Dählhölzli…

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Police block Lake Constance bomb site

This content was published on Sep 15, 2011 For this reason they have blocked off the area near the lakeside town of Staad. A unit of the Swiss army’s explosive ordinance disposal team located the bomb on Thursday. It had originally been spotted by the divers in August. According to the St Gallen police, it is an aircraft bomb measuring 125 by 42…

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Weather Beaten

This content was published on Sep 2, 2011 More thunder followed, then a faceful of snow blasted through the partially open bedroom window in the Hoernli Hut. At 4:35 I went down to where breakfast should have been underway. Instead it was dark, the hut staff having decided it wasn’t worth getting up for. I stepped out the front door and snow slanted…

On top of the Alps

This content was published on Aug 30, 2011 Perched in the most unimaginably spectacular location, it is not far from the summit of the second highest peak in the Alps, the Dufourspitze, 4634m, which is part of the massive Monte Rosa complex. The hut is Italian, and maybe it’s on that side of the border by a meter or two. It’s perched exactly…

Swiss weather service issues storm alert

This content was published on Aug 26, 2011 MeteoSwiss says a cold front moving eastward from France is expected to hit Switzerland with gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour. It said most of the country would be hit by severe rainfall and even hail from Friday into Saturday. Most of the country has a storm warning of level four, the second highest…

Cluster: Science

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