The Swiss Connection – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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For artist and researcher Şerife (Sherry) Wong the popular image of visionary geniuses who change the world from their garages is an illusion. “We are idealising the myth of the inventor, the American dream of the man who, from nothing, becomes super rich and changes the world for the better, but...for whom?” asks Wong, who studies the social implications of emerging technologies. She is also an affiliate research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

You can find more written content about this story on SWI swissinfo.ch: 

in English 

in Italian (original) 

in German 

Journalist: Sara Ibrahim

Host: Jo Fahy 

Audio editor / Video journalist: Michele Andina 

Distribution and Marketing: Xin Zhang

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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In this episode, we talk to Stanford University professor Fred Turner, who’s been studying the impact of new media technologies on American culture for decades. Turner is also among those most vocal in denouncing the injustices faced by people living and working in Silicon Valley.

You can find more written content about this story on SWI swissinfo.ch: 

in English 

in Italian (original) 

in German 

Journalist: Sara Ibrahim

Host: Jo Fahy 

Audio editor / Video journalist: Michele Andina 

Distribution and Marketing: Xin Zhang

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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 service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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 Bradley
Audio editor/video journalist: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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 "Exploring Science in Davos" series, we hear from the team at Lab42 about how they plan to develop human-level AI. Gamers participate in their research. Lab42 works as a hub, creating competitions and platforms where talented individuals and experts from all over the world bring their ideas to solve problems and exercises together in a playful way.


This podcast is an audio version of the SWI swissinfo.ch video series with the same title.  Find out more about science research in Switzerland on www.swissinfo.ch/science
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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.

Hosted by: Jo Fahy
Journalist: Sara Ibrahim
Journalist/Sound: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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 national avalanche warning service.

Researchers at the SLF study how snow is built up and how it changes under various conditions, how avalanches occur and how they move over the terrain. In this episode of "Exploring Science in Davos" we take you inside the institute’s cold chambers.

Hosted by: Jo Fahy
Journalist: Sara Ibrahim
Journalist/Sound: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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 was suffering from tuberculosis. In those days the Alpine town was a health resort for tuberculosis patients. As an amateur meteorologist, he began to build scientific instruments with the aim of investigating how the climate influenced our health. This was the birth of the Physical Meteorological Observatory Davos (PMOD).

In the early 1970s, the observatory also became home to an international calibration centre for radiation measurements, the World Radiation Center (WRC). The radiometers developed there are used by weather stations all over the world, not only on the ground but also in space. For instance, two instruments are on board the Solar Orbiter, a Sun-observing satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA).

To make more accurate predictions about climate change, researchers in Davos need to better understand solar cycles, which last about 11 years. Why is there a lot of activity in some cycles and very little in others? Understanding these mechanisms also helps predict solar flares, which can interfere with technologies such as electricity grids, navigation and communications.

In this episode of our Science in Davos series, PMOD/WRC director Louise Harra gives us an insight into the research with the Solar Orbiter instruments.

Hosted by: Jo Fahy
Journalist: Sara Ibrahim
Journalist/Sound: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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 estimates suggesting there could be up to four billion sufferers by 2050. While the reasons for this are not yet fully understood, experts believe several factors can contribute significantly to developing chronic diseases. Today we are exposed to many pollutants, such as chemical substances in our diet or cosmetics, worsening air pollution and microplastics.

Thanks to the proximity to allergy patients and the ability to analyse various biosamples, Davos has become an ideal location for research and experiments in this field.

As they pursue their exploration of the scientific side of the resort, Sara Ibrahim and Michele Andina visit the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), where around 50 biologists, biochemists and physicians are working to understand what's causing allergic diseases and find preventive and curative treatments.

This podcast is an audio version of the SWI swissinfo.ch video series with the same title.  Find out more about science research in Switzerland on www.swissinfo.ch/science

Hosted by: Jo Fahy
Journalist: Sara Ibrahim
Journalist/Sound: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

Send us a text

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 devices, such as "smart" implants that measure bone healing in patients.

Some of ARI’s work depends on tests with live animals to ensure that studies are not affected by any hidden issues that would prevent the translation of a concept or implant to patient treatments. ARI recently set up a barn for so-called “specific-pathogen-free” (SPF) sheep. For sheep to be deemed SPF, they are separated from conventional sheep and kept in a purpose-built stable. However, the goal is to gradually reduce the dependence on, and even someday completely forgo, animal tests. Several projects at the ARI are aimed at achieving this.

Hosted by: Jo Fahy
Journalist: Sara Ibrahim
Journalist/Sound: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.

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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.

Hosted by: Jo Fahy
Journalist: Sara Ibrahim
Journalist/Sound: Michele Andina

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland.