The Swiss Connection – Details, episodes & analysis

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We trace how sex and gender shape drug development, from male-heavy mouse studies to the split results in Lecanemab’s Alzheimer’s trial. Experts explain why regulators should keep approvals moving while demanding smarter design, better reporting, and post-approval answers.

For more science stories, visit our website swisinfo.ch, and you can help other people to find our podcast by leaving us a five-star review.

Journalist: Jessica Davis Plüss
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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Alzheimer’s disease is more than age-related memory loss—it’s a serious brain disorder. In this episode of the Swiss Connection Science podcast, Swissinfo healthcare reporter Jessica Davis Pluess explores the science, hope, and controversy surrounding new Alzheimer’s drugs like Leqembi and Kisunla. With billions invested and global regulatory decisions diverging, what do these treatments mean for patients and healthcare systems? 

Visit SWI swissinfo.ch for more on this topic and a video on this story. Please come to SWI swissinfo.ch for more of our science stories from Switzerland.

Journalist: Jessica Davis Plüss
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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SWI swissinfo.ch's new podcast tells the story of the families affected by a private stem cell banking scandal with Switzerland at its heart.

Subscribe for free to our new podcast ‘Lost Cells’ wherever you get your podcasts. Episode one is released on February 18, 2025.

Listen to this new podcast in English // French // Spanish

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

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This episode takes listeners to the Rhone glacier in the Alps, which is rapidly melting and releasing ancient microorganisms. These microorganisms, which have been trapped in the ice for thousands of years, are now being studied by scientists from the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape (WSL).

Journalists Céline Stegmüller and Luigi Jorio join the researchers on the glacier to observe their methods of collecting and analyzing these microorganisms. The team, led by Beat Frey, uses custom-made equipment to filter meltwater and capture bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The goal is to understand the diversity and potential applications of these microorganisms, which could include producing antibiotics or degrading plastics.

Read more about this story or other science stories from Switzerland please visit www.swissinfo.ch/science.

Journalists: Luigi Jorio & Céline Stegmüller
Host: Jo Fahy
Audio editor: Michele Andina
Distribution and Marketing: Xin Zhang 

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

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Cities tend to get hotter than the countryside when a heatwave hits. What can be done about these urban heat traps? How can hot summers be made more tolerable for city dwellers? SWI swissinfo.ch asked an expert at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich.

If you are interested in reading about this story or other science stories from Switzerland please visit www.swissinfo.ch/science.

Jounalist: Luigi Jorio
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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This episode explores a groundbreaking Swiss innovation that could revolutionise the construction industry. Join us as we delve into Neustark's pioneering method of turning concrete waste into a carbon sink, permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Discover how this technology not only helps decarbonise the concrete industry but also increases the strength of concrete. We'll discuss the science behind the mineralisation process, the impact of Neustark's 22 operational plants in Switzerland and Germany, and their ambitious plans to scale up globally. Tune in to find out how Swiss ingenuity is paving the way for a more sustainable future in construction.

The video version of this episode and other science stories from Switzerland is available at www.swissinfo.ch/science.

Jounalist: Simon Bradley
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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Swiss students are propelling the future of space travel with innovative reusable rocket technology, putting Switzerland on the map in the global space race. SWI swissinfo.ch took a closer look at their projects in northern and western Switzerland.

Visit SWI swissinfo.ch for more on these exciting rocket projects and a video on this story. Please come to SWI swissinfo.ch for more of our science stories from Switzerland.

Jounalist: Christian Raaflaub
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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Using a new type of instrument, two astrophysicists from the University of Bern hope to get a little closer to unravelling the mystery of the solar system's origins. They believe the key to this lies in the ice that can occur in a dust layer on comets.

Please visit SWI swissinfo.ch for more information about this research and a video about ice on comets. Please come to SWI swissinfo.ch for more of our science stories from Switzerland.

Jounalist: Christian Raaflaub
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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Swissinfo talks to Herwig Schopper, former CERN director, the grandfather of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, who helped promote peace through a Middle Eastern science hub and has his qualms about the Nobel Prize. If Herwig Schopper has learned anything during his 100 years on Earth, it’s that breakthroughs only happen when we work together.

Please read here this interview and the full biography of Herwig Schopper,  and please come to Swissinfo.ch  for more of our science stories from Switzerland.


Jounalist: Zeno Zoccatelli
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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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.