Climate change is already deeply changing the way of life of mountain communities, be they in the Alps or the Himalayas. Do we understand what is happening and what can we do? Over 170 million people eke out a modest living at over 3,000 metres in vast and isolated tracts of the Himalayas. A further […]
Assessment – to grade or not to grade?
Further to recent reforms in the English National curriculum, parents may want to ask about new systems of assessment. There are fundamentally two different schools of measuring a child’s progress and Great Britain may be about to make a leap from one to another. To grade or not to grade, this has been the question […]
CERN agrees open access to research with American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS), and CERN have agreed that all CERN-authored articles published in the APS journal collection are to be Open Access. CERN Director General Rolf Heuer called the agreement “A very important step towards global Open Access for a global discipline”. Thanks to agreement, articles will be available free of charge for […]
Japan’s collaboration with International Academy of Sports Science and Technology in Lausanne in the fight against doping
Hideki NIWA, the Japanese State Minister of Education and Sports last week visited the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology in Lausanne to discuss further collaboration in the fight against doping; improved governance of sport administration; and the management of emerging technologies in sport.
Special educational needs in Switzerland? Help is at hand across the Geneva region
For parents who have just discovered their child has learning differences or special educational needs, the key first step to coping successfully with the situation is to gather information. Knowledge empowers parents and prevents frustration. As soon as a problem is suspected, parents should arrange an assessment with a doctor, specialist or psychologist. The next […]
Solving Switzerland’s bike theft problem
According to Le Matin Dimanche in 2013 over 40,000 bicycles were stolen in Switzerland of which fewer than 500 were recovered. The costs are enormous. Insurers pay out around CHF 60 million in claims a year, a cost that is ultimately borne by policy holders via premiums. In Geneva, Bern and Zurich, Le Matin Dimanche put GPS trackable chips […]
Apple’s U2 iTunes stunt has polarised opinion
Le News went to Swiss iTunes and found U2’s new album “Songs of Innocence” there for free. Yes free! This is Apple’s latest marketing stunt. Millions of U2 fans were happy to find it. Macrumours.com reported that the album had been downloaded over 2 million times by users just three days after being made available. Many others however have […]
Travel from your couch with a drone
You can now travel around Switzerland – and neighbouring France and Italy – via a recently established site, TravelByDrone.com, that allows you to visit a town, prepare a hike, or plan a boat trip or skiing holiday, by first viewing the area from the air. The site currently comprises over 3,500 quality drone videos by […]
US-Swiss relations – doomed to repeat history?
Book review: Switzerland: A democracy under pressure By Stefanie Frey et al. Verlag Merker im Effingerhof, CHF 59.00 Swiss–United States relations have been strained in recent years by disagreements on several issues, most recently banking secrecy, security and privacy issues. Does the US have good reason to criticize Switzerland, or do US politicians not understand […]
Le Livre sur les Quais has record attendance
MORGES Le livre sur les quais bookfair in Morges had a record breaking year. Over 40,000 people came to this annual literary festival, but this year more people participated in discussions, interviews, readings and film screenings; all the literary cruises were full; and more than 25,000 books were sold, far more than in previous years. […]
