A Swiss study released yesterday shows the health risks of living near a highway. The study by the Bern based Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine (ISPM) found that young children living less than 100m from a highway are at a substantially higher risk of leukaemia. Traffic emissions contain known carcinogens, such as benzene and […]
The Chinese city with the same life expectancy as Switzerland
For many, modern China evokes images of smog. A study published in the Lancet last week, shows that despite the negative health impacts of this pollution, life expectancy in China has shot up hugely since 1990. So much so that some provinces are close to global life expectancy leaders Switzerland and Japan. Nationally, China’s average […]
Have you ever seen 6,000 tons of rock fall off the side of a mountain?
Late last week around 6,000 tons of rock fell off the side of a mountain in the commune of Evolène in the Swiss canton of Valais. According to SRF, the canton’s geologist Raphael Mayoraz had been expecting the rock to fall for some time and had taken the required precautions to ensure no one was […]
Stunning time-lapse video of Swiss Alps
This video on Vimeo by One Lidless Eye takes you on a journey through some of the most dramatic landscapes in the Swiss Alps. It takes in northern Lugano, Ticino, and Zermatt in the canton of Valais, ending with the breath-taking Matterhorn. Bern hyperlapsed – visit Bern in 2 minutes (Le News 12.10.15) This year […]
Why Swiss rejected Daylight saving
At 3am this Sunday morning, Swiss time moves back one hour, giving Swiss residents an extra hour to sleep or party. Until fairly recently however, there was no Daylight Savings Time (DST) in Switzerland. In 1978 Swiss voters rejected plans to move to the current system of DST when 52.1% voted against it in a […]
How many solar panels does it take to power a whole town?
Earlier this month the town of Payerne switched on Switzerland’s largest solar installation on the La Bouverie industrial zone next to the township. It will produce an impressive 6,600 mega watts of electricity per year. A hot bed of solar innovation, Payerne is also home to the 100%-solar-powered round-the-world aircraft Solar Impulse, which recently flew […]
Concerns raised about Switzerland’s oldest nuclear reactor
The Beznau I reactor at the Swiss Bezenau nuclear power plant in Döttingen in the Canton of Aargau appears to be in worse shape than some had imagined. The reactor which sits on a man made island on the Aar river is currently on a rest period. It went into operation in 1969 and is […]
Swiss are world’s train travel champions
According to LITRA, the Swiss covered more distance by train than anyone else in the world in 2014. An average Swiss resident covered 2,288 km by train, more than twice the distance of an average Brit (1,056 km). Even the French with their world-class high-speed TGV train network were well behind the Swiss with only […]
Do you work for a good business or a bad one? Here’s what to look for.
What is good business? What is an ethical company? Some people struggle to answer this question. Others have well defined views and examples of what good business looks like. They can also describe bad businesses they think exploit human weakness or damage the environment. The School of Life, founded by Zurich-born Alain de Botton, a […]
Switzerland bans Volkswagen sales
On Friday the Swiss Federal Roads Office (OFROU) issued a ban on the sale of certain models of Volkswagen cars in Switzerland. The ban covers all unsold cars that might have devices that can fool emissions tests. According to OFROU calculations, as many 180,000 vehicles might be affected. The ban includes Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and […]
