Before it becomes an addiction, smoking is a choice. Smoking costs Switzerland around CHF 10 billion a year. Tobacco taxes, which raise around CHF 2 billion a year are used to pay disability welfare. The annual healthcare costs related to tobacco in Switzerland are around CHF 1.7 billion, more than CHF 200 per resident. However, […]
Archives for 2019
Geneva Motor Show 2019 – the list of absent car makers
Car technology is transforming. So is the way people find out about new cars. Buyers are increasingly preferring the internet to find out about new models. In addition, presenting at car shows is expensive. Jaguar Land Rover, the maker of the Jaguar I-Pace, 2019’s Car of the Year, seems to have recognised these shifts and […]
The new 1,000 Swiss franc note has arrived
The new 1000 Swiss franc note has arrived. The new 1,000 franc bill is the fifth new note to be released in Switzerland’s ninth paper currency update. New notes already releases include the 50, 20, 10 and 200 franc notes. With the decommissioning of the old note we bid farewell to Jacob Burckhardt, a Swiss historian of […]
Poor air quality in two thirds of Swiss classrooms
A recent study by Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) estimates that the air quality in two thirds of Swiss classrooms is inadequate. The main problem is the build up of CO2. High CO2 concentration affects the concentration of those in the room. It can also provoke head aches and lethargy. The study, which […]
How a young computer scientist at CERN changed the world 30 years ago
Thirty years ago, in March 1989, a young computer expert working at CERN came up with a proposal for an internet-based hypertext system to link and access information across different computers. In the interview below, Tim Berners-Lee describes how his early requests to experiment with his idea were ignored. CERN was set up for physics […]
Brexit deal with Switzerland now signed
On 25 February, representatives of Switzerland and the United Kingdom signed an agreement preserving the rights already acquired by citizens residing in the other’s territory after the UK leaves the EU. Any rights already acquired by a citizen of either country under current EU rules will be preserved for life. The agreement was signed by […]
Switzerland comes third globally for higher education
Switzerland trails only the US and UK in this year’s QS World University Ranking. UK-based QS, which ranks 1,200 universities across 78 countries, placed Switzerland’s two federal universities, ETHZ (7th) and EPFL (22nd), in the global top 50 in 2019. ETHZ was ranked in the top 10 across 22 domains, ranking first in biosciences. Both […]
Second hottest February south of Swiss Alps since records began
February 2019 was unusually hot in Switzerland. According to Swiss Meteo, the region south of the Alps experienced the second highest average February temperature since records began in 1864. The average monthly temperature at the 3,580 metre measurement point on the peak Jungfraujoch was 5 degrees higher than the norm between 1981 and 2010. The […]
Question of the week: what dangers would free unlimited clean energy bring?
Some believe nuclear fusion, which extracts fuel from water, might be less than two decades away. This would eventually provide a low cost (near free) means for us to make and do more faster without adding to human-induced climate change. But with unlimited energy, wouldn’t we consume the earth faster and create new problems? For […]
FILM: JUSQU’ICI TOUT VA BIEN – great French comedy
1 March 2019. By Neptune JUSQU’ICI TOUT VA BIEN *** (vo French) When they want to, the French can make great comedies, full of innovative ideas, often politically incorrect, with social connotations and above all hilarious. This is one of them. Directed by the French/Algerian Mohamed Hamidi and produced by the famous French/Arab comedian Jamel […]
