Swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

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Melting glaciers caused by global warming release largely unknown bacteria and viruses into the environment. These microorganisms could help us tackle some major global problems, from plastic pollution to antibiotic resistance. A research team from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) is looking for them for the first time in Swiss glaciers. 

We accompanied the team at work on the Rhône glacier, to see how meltwater is filtered with a device they specifically developed for this environment. Later, we visited their laboratory near Zurich to find out what happened with the material they collected on the glacier.

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to

What do you think about this week’s stories?

Switzerland’s controversial "burqa ban" along with new laws to combat child marriages, boost renewable energy and stop big banks from going bankrupt are all coming into force on January 1, 2025. Here’s a selection for you. 😷💍♻️🏦

What do you think about these changes? Let us know in the comments.
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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

An architect of parallel worlds, the Swiss-Brazilian artist Guerreiro do Divino Amor (Warrior of Divine Love, in Portuguese) has been chosen to represent Switzerland at the 2024 Venice Biennale of Arts.

We visited the pavilion earlier this year. Watch the video on our main channel to find out more.
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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Switzerland has introduced a new definition of rape.
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What has been the response to this changed? Watch this video to find out.

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode, SWI swissinfo.ch sat down with Claude Zellweger, Google’s in-house design guru. We discussed the role of designers in tech innovation, AI, and the future of education. He also shared his thoughts on the challenges facing the tech industry and how we can overcome them by putting people first.

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/910414/15499565

#siliconvalley #google #switzeland #technology #podcast

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch
Channel:

What do you think about this week’s stories from Switzerland?

In this video astrophysicists at the University of Bern explain, how they want to study the ice beneath the surface of comets, using a type of instrument usually used in airport security. The ice on comets could help answer questions about the formation of our solar system.

00:50 A new kind of space instrument based on terahertz spectroscopy
01:42 Distinguishing between amorphous and crystalline ice
02:32 Building the SUBICE instrument
03:47 Making SUBICE fit for space

Read more about the SUBICE project on our website:
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/why-do-two-swiss-researchers-want-to-find-ice-on-comets/84717866

#comets #spaceresearch #switzeland

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and

A Swiss tourism boss reveals how the industry reacted when a Netflix series attracted hoards of Asian visitors to a small lakeside village in canton Bern. #netflixseries #tourism #swiss #suisse #nature
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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch
Channel: http://www.youtube.com/swissinfovideos
Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=swissinfovideos

He is one of the most influential drummers of recent decades, known both as a skilled technician and a visionary. Jojo Mayer talks to us about technology, tradition – and the future of music.

Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:43 – Research and development in Zurich
2:18 – How does his generative machine work?
10:42 – Talk in Ascona about New York and Switzerland
17:49 – How can AI shape the future of music?
22:06 – Outro.

“Why are we still doing this?” Throughout his career, Jojo Mayer has repeatedly explored the boundaries of what is physically possible to play and has established himself as one of the most innovative drummers of his generation. His latest project sees him interact with digital technology on stage – the result is a live symbiotic loop with man and machine which blurs the

Can a computer read a drummer’s mind and play with him on stage? 🥁🤖⁠
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Jojo Mayer is one of the most influential drummers of recent decades and is now experimenting with a generative machine that can play with him on stage.⁠
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But how did it all start? Hit the "Notify me" button to watch the full interview when it goes live.

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch
Channel: http://www.youtube.com/swissinfovideos
Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=swissinfovideos

New lethal autonomous weapons are now becoming established in modern warfare.

In the latest episode of our Inside Geneva podcast, we discuss their use and their regulation. Tap on the video on our main channel to listen to the full episode.

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch
Channel: http://www.youtube.com/swissinfovideos
Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=swissinfovideos

Jehisson Santacruz is a Colombian artist who’s been living in exile in Switzerland since 2019. He fled his home country more than once because of death threats. As part of the Colombian diaspora, he was able to take part in the search for testimonies launched by the Truth Commission, that’s working to rebuild the national identity, giving a voice to the civil war’s victims.

He’s very passionate about the arts and traditions of Colombia and played the Colombian gaita, or kuisi, at the end of our interview.

If you want to know more about his story, visit our website www.swissinfo.ch

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more

In today’s episode of our Inside Geneva podcast we look at the Rwandan genocide, 30 years after the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis by Hutu militias.

Why couldn’t we stop it? And have we learned anything from it?

Listen to our podcast to find out:
🎧Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/the-rwandan-genocide-30-years-on-witnessing/id1506227169?i=1000652583204
🎧Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2wY5exnZrIFJtrb3hAnlnO
🎧YouTube:

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch

Yesterday, Swiss voters agreed to increase state pensions and maintain the retirement age at 65. 🗳️

Here are three key points to bear in mind about the votes:

👉Voter turnout was far above average, at 58%.
👉It was the first time a people’s initiative launched by trade unions won over Swiss voters.
👉Not a single canton voted in favour of raising the retirement age to 66.

Tap here to read our analysis piece about five key takeaways from the vote: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/five-key-takeaways-oasi-pension-swiss-switzerland/73301607

Exactly 16 years ago, the Swiss government joined the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and others in recognising Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.

February 27 became a joyous day for Kosovars in Switzerland but less so for Swiss-based Serbs.

Around 250,000 people of Kosovo origin live in Switzerland. The bond between Kosovo and Switzerland remains strong, encompassing political and economic ties, as well as deep-rooted historical and human connections.

🔗Tap here to read more about this complex yet powerful relationship. 👉 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/democracy/kosovo-in-switzerland-switzerland-in-kosovo/49049096

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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss

The International Court of Justice (the United Nations’ top court) is considering charges of genocide against Israel. The case was brought by South Africa.

Can that really work? Or will this high-profile case simply distract from other human rights violations?

Find out all about it in our Inside Geneva podcast 👇

🎧Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/a-look-into-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel/id1506227169?i=1000642605195
🎧Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/14sWmD8Bq1dkiHtnaSedoD

In this episode Imogen Foulkes is joined by New York Times contributor Nick Cumming-Bruce, Emma Farge of Reuters, and Dorian Burkhalter of Swissinfo, to look back at 2023 and the stories that made the news.

On Inside Geneva: part four of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Navi Pillay, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2008 to 2014.

Many people who are terminally ill would prefer to spend their last days at home. However, this is often not possible. "La Maison de Tara" in Geneva offers a cosy alternative to hospital. Round-the-clock care by volunteers, home cooked food and medical assistance on tap are all part of its charm. The volunteers say "it’s not a house of death but a house of love". swissinfo.ch visited the home to find out why.
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swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events.

For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch
Channel: http://www.youtube.com/swissinfovideos

Artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT generate remarkably human-like results. But how intelligent is it really? SWI swissinfo.ch visits Lab42, a new AI lab in Davos, which is deploying playful techniques to better understand the fundamentals of human intelligence.

In addition to the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering, Davos is home to several leading research institutes. The newest is Lab 42, which opened its doors in July 2022, an AI lab that aims to better understand the fundamentals of human intelligence. The experts working at the research institute in southeast Switzerland are convinced that decoding the human brain is the key to developing AI that can help humanity solve big issues like the climate crisis or finding cancer treatments.

In the last episode of our

When and where the next avalanche will happen is hard to predict. In a special cold laboratory in Davos, researchers simulate the effects of wind on fresh snow to better understand the mechanisms that trigger avalanches.

For centuries, avalanches have posed a threat to mountain farmers and their livestock. With the development of winter tourism, roads, railways and hydropower plants, the interest in avalanche research and protective measures has grown.

The origins of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF date back to 1936, when a small group of researchers moved into a snow lab on the Weissfluhjoch summit above Davos. Today the institute monitors the conditions of avalanches throughout Switzerland, investigates the effects of climate change on snow cover and operates

The small city of Davos in southeastern Switzerland, located at an altitude of 1,560m above sea level in the Swiss Alps, attracted tuberculosis patients back in the 1800s and 1900s after scientists discovered that clean mountain air had a positive effect on their health. However, with the development of antibiotics, the sanatoriums eventually lost their purpose. Today that same clean Davos air, marked by the absence of tree pollen, such as birch, oak or alder, minimal air pollution and extremely low amounts of indoor dust mites – presumably because of the cooler and dryer climate – is a draw for asthma and allergy patients seeking treatment in the town’s clinics.

Allergic diseases have become more prevalent in recent decades. They now affect more than one billion people worldwide, with

Before 1960, broken bones were treated simply by using plaster casts or traction. Then 13 Swiss surgeons began rethinking fracture treatment: they standardised instruments, screws and nails, scientifically evaluated every operation, and started training surgeons. On their tour of Davos’s scientific communities, Sara and Michele go behind the scenes to see what new technologies are currently being developed.

The AO Foundation in Davos has been a leader in research into the healing of bone fractures for decades. Today, more than 100 scientists and PhD students from all over the globe work at the AO Research Institute Davos (ARI), which is focused on pre-clinical research. They study biomechanics and the biology of bones, discs and cartilage, and work on new surgical techniques, tools and

The Swiss town of Davos is famous for mountain slopes, winter sports and the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. But did you know that it also attracts scientists and doctors from all over the world? In this six-part video series, SWI swissinfo.ch journalists Sara Ibrahim and Michele Andina take you on a journey to discover five of Davos’s research institutes.

In this first episode, they take you to the AO Davos Courses, a two-week training congress for surgeons learning to treat bone fractures. In hands-on workshops and online live surgeries, experts explain how to master everything from trauma surgery to prosthetics and joint replacement. Participants then practise 3-D models with drills and screws.

This podcast is an audio version of the SWI swissinfo.ch video series with

Construction workers got a surprise recently while laying a pipeline underneath Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland. On the lake floor they found the traces of a prehistoric village! This finally confirmed a long-standing theory among archaeologists, who believed that people had lived in the area thousands of years ago.

But why were the traces of their home so deep within the lake? Across Switzerland there are about 500 pile dwelling sites, but these are normally found along the shorelines of lakes. And how do archaeologists manage to unravel prehistoric findings underwater? On this episode of The Swiss Connection (#) podcast, we take a boat ride to get to the bottom of this mystery. While onboard, we meet a team of international experts and learn about an unusual technique using

In this second part of our two-part series on assisted suicide, SWI reporter Kaoru Uda tells host Susan Misicka what it was like to accompany two Japanese patients who came to Switzerland to die.

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SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern Switzerland. It publishes independent news and information in 10 languages about Switzerland for a global audience.

Every year, over 1,000 seriously ill people end their lives in Switzerland with the help of suicide assistants. 
 
 Assisted suicide is legal in several countries, including Switzerland, Canada and the Netherlands. A handful of other countries – like Germany and Colombia – are working out the legal and practical details.

Some people even travel great distances to die in Switzerland because assisted suicide is illegal where they live. For example, a 104-year-old Australian man made the trip in 2018.

One of the people who helped him was Erika Preisig, a Swiss doctor and the founder of Life Circle, which operates in Basel in the northern part of the country. She’s passionate in her belief that people should have the right to die. She’s even been charged with — and later acquitted of —

Now that Switzerland has approved marriage for all, host Susan Misicka talks with some couples who explain why it’s important to them. We also hear from opponents of Swiss legislation granting same-sex couples the right to marry.

Please sign up for our Free newsletter on Swiss Democracy.  

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern Switzerland. It publishes independent news and information in 10 languages about Switzerland for a global audience.