Send us a Text Message.Pharmaceutical giant Novartis invested billions in Slovenia, helping turn the country into a global player in generic drug production. Now, as cheap Asian competitors increasingly dominate the market, Swiss drug companies see the tiny Balkan nation playing a key role in their shift to more complex, expensive medicines.Articles and videos on Switzerland's investment in Slovenia are available on swissinfo.ch. For other science stories from Switzerland please go to w...

Send us a Text Message. Forensic science is critical in the search for justice and the fight against impunity. Africa suffers from a dearth of forensic pathologists and Switzerland is helping to boost their numbers with training.  In Mexico, forensic scientists need support to help identify the tens of thousands of victims of Mexico's drugs war. The University Centre of Legal Medicine Lausanne-Geneva (CURML) is developing tools to find graves. Articles and videos on forensic training in...

Send us a Text Message. Over the past two years, experts have unearthed thousands of Roman military artefacts littering a hillside in southeast Switzerland. The first Roman battle site ever discovered in the Alpine country offers clues about what happened there over 2,000 years ago. The article related to this episode and the video interview is available on swissinfo.ch. For other science stories from Switzerland please go to www.swissinfo.ch/science. Journalist: Simon Bradley Host: Jo...

It’s 20 years since Concorde made its final commercial flight, ending the first era of supersonic travel. A Swiss start-up is part of a new generation of aviation pioneers trying to re-introduce high-speed travel using clean hydrogen. But the road ahead is long and expensive. The article related to this episode and the video interview is available on swissinfo.ch. For other science stories from Switzerland please go to www.swissinfo.ch/science. Video journalist: Julie Hunt Audio editor:...

Researchers in Zurich are using drones to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) in a technique combining robotics and genetics that could change our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity. The article related to this episode and the video interview is available on swissinfo.ch. For other science stories from Switzerland please go to www.swissinfo.ch/science. Jounalist: Zeno Zoccatelli Audio editor/video journalist: Michele Andina Distribution and Marketing: Xin Zhang SWI swissinfo.ch is a public...

Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva are taking the next steps towards creating a huge particle collider. With the Future Circular Collider (FCC), they want to search for new physics and answer fundamental questions about our universe. We visited the CERN sites to learn more about particle physics and their plans. The video version of this episode and other science stories from Switzerland is available at www.swissinfo.ch/science. Jounalist: Simon...

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...

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...

Solar irradiance provides heat and light for life. It waxes and wanes with the cycle of solar activity, which currently cannot be predicted accurately. Solar storms can have a great impact on technology. In February 2022, a solar storm destroyed 40 Starlink satellites from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Researchers in Davos are collaborating on several space experiments to find out more about solar physics. In 1904 the Prussian businessman Carl Dorno travelled to Davos with his daughter, who...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.

In this encore episode of The Swiss Connection, we visit Swiss century-old pen and pencil maker Caran d'Ache. Podcast host Susan Misicka takes a tour of the factory and feels a bit silly when Caran d’Ache President Carole Hubscher sees her hasty choice of writing instrument.

Swiss designers gave us the big-name Helvetica and Frutiger typefaces in the 20th century. Now a modern-day designer from Basel is collaborating on a new font that we might soon be seeing a lot more of.  Nina Stoessinger of Frere-Jones Type in Brooklyn talks about inspiration and challenges.

How soon will we start buying our groceries with Bitcoin? What kind of scams do we need to be aware of? And why is Switzerland so sweet on cryptocurrencies and blockchain? SWI finance correspondent Matt Allen gives host Susan Misicka an overview of what he's learned while covering this scene over the past several years.

A gorgeous location for a film festival: Locarno in southern Switzerland. The international event features about 200 films in 10 days. But what makes the Locarno Film Festival so special? In this episode, SWI culture editor Eduardo Simantob tells podcast host Susan Misicka why he loves it. 

Swiss architect Renata von Tscharner has devoted over two decades to improving the public spaces along the Charles River in Massachusetts. She even hopes to get people swimming in Boston's so-called "dirty water" on a regular basis. We met her at the Rhine River in her native Basel.

In this episode Susan Misicka introduces our sister podcast, Inside Geneva. Nuclear weapons were banned by international treaty at the start of 2021. But the treaty doesn’t apply to any of the nuclear powers, since none of them signed it. So are nukes really banned? Inside Geneva host Imogen Foulkes talks to Cordula Droege, Chief Legal Officer of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Beatrice Fihn of the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons, and Elaine Whyte Gomez, the...

The success of Swiss chocolate depends on cocoa beans harvested far away, often with the help of minors. In this episode we discuss whether it's OK for children to work, and how to figure out if kids helped make your candy bar.

 What does soil sound like, and what do those sounds mean? We find out from the world’s first scientist to use acoustics to research the soil and underground biodiversity. Also, we explore some of Zurich's greenspaces with a conservation biologist.