News Archive

Paleoecology researchers at the University of Bern are contributing their knowledge to the development of a pollen monitor that uses artificial intelligence to improve the lives of allergy sufferers.

(Article only available in German)
July 29, 2024

How many species does the Botanical Garden of the University of Bern (BOGA) attract with its diversity of plants and structures? In order to obtain as accurate a picture as possible of the biodiversity on its grounds, BOGA, together with around 20 experts, has counted the animals, fungi and wild plants on its grounds for the second time. As a result, the preliminary number of wild species has risen to around 1,400. On 4 and 5 September 2021, BOGA will turn biodiversity into an experience for visitors with a 24-hour theme day.

(Article only available in German)
September 1, 2021

Biodiversity in Swiss cities is surprisingly high. But the densification of urban areas is putting it under pressure. How can we design urban areas to be close to nature? Experts will explore this question in a series of lectures at the Botanical Garden of the University of Bern.

(Article only available in German)
May 19, 2021

Ein Team der Universität Bern und des Wasserforschungsinstituts Eawag beschreibt sieben endemische Felchenarten der Berner Oberländer Seen – vier davon wurden vorher noch nicht wissenschaftlich beschrieben, zwei erst in den letzten Jahren als eigenständige Arten erkannt. Eine Felchenvielfalt wie in Thuner- und Brienzersee gibt es in der Schweiz sonst höchstens noch im Vierwaldstättersee.

(Article only available in German)
November 12, 2020

Environmental economist Astrid Zabel explains the impact of the European Deforestation Regulation on the cultivation and consumption of goods.

October 21, 2024

The Wyss Academy for Nature works on four continents with local communities, politics, business and science to improve the precarious relationship between humans and nature. Three examples from Kenya show how such “living labs” work.

September 9, 2024

Ecosystems use different strategies to protect themselves from the negative effects of heat extremes. A study by the University of Bern shows: The full extent of the ecological impact only becomes apparent after the end of a heat extreme.

August 12, 2024

Researchers from the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern have studied the impact of mining in Madagascar and concluded that the effects of the largest mine are much greater than previously thought.

July 1, 2024

On October 14, 2024, NASA's Europa Clipper mission began its journey to Jupiter's moon Europa. The aim is to investigate if the icy moon currently has habitable conditions. Four researchers from Bern are part of the mission's scientific teams.

October 17, 2024

A new network of Swiss research institutions teams up with NASA to accelerate the exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

July 12, 2024

With the help of the CHEOPS space telescope, an international team including researchers from the Universities of Bern and Geneva as well as the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, was able to detect the deformation of an exoplanet for the first time. Due to strong tidal forces, the appearance of the planet WASP-103b resembles a rugby ball rather than a sphere.

January 11, 2022

While studying two exoplanets in a bright nearby star system, the CHEOPS satellite has unexpectedly spotted the system’s third known planet crossing the face of the star. This transit reveals exciting details about a rare planet “with no known equivalent”, as the scientific team led by the Universities of Geneva and Bern, and members of the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS, point out.

June 28, 2021

As a data steward, Martin Wegmann supports researchers at the University of Bern in handling data. He emphasises that this is above all a service to society.

(Article only available in German)
October 7, 2024

Nicolas Thomas wants to understand Mars, comets and the icy moons of Jupiter. To do this, he builds instruments that fly through space on board space probes.

(Article only available in German)
May 3, 2022

As a child, Kevin Heng wanted to become an astronaut. Today, he is the director of the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) and has recently discovered new mathematical solutions that help solve a century-old problem in astronomy. In this interview, the astrophysicist talks about his career and what motivates him.

August 30, 2021

The instruments were developed to search for signs of life on other planets. But now they will also be used to distinguish healthy nerve cells from brain tumor cells. A conversation with astrophysicist Brice-Olivier Demory and Raphael Sznitman, an expert in machine learning and artificial intelligence, about their BrainPol project.

May 12, 2021

Political scientist Lukas Fesenfeld is intensively engaged in the political feasibility of a transformative climate and food policy. Because Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine can drastically damage the food situation in the global South, Fesenfeld has initiated an appeal to politicians.

(Article only available in German)
April 7, 2022

Compared to other regions of Switzerland such as the Jura and the northern Alps, the lynx population in the south-western Swiss Alps has an unexpectedly low density. To explain this, researchers led by Raphaël Arlettaz from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern have tested four hypotheses. They came to the conclusion that poaching is the main cause of the extremely low lynx density. This is supported by the discovery of a network of trap systems.

June 25, 2021
(Article only available in German and French)

Swiss mountain regions are certainly innovative when it comes to finding solutions to specific challenges in peripheral areas. With a new online inventory of these "social innovations", the Institute of Geography and the Tourism Research Centre at the University of Bern, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), want to make the authorities and the population more aware of the innovative potential of mountain regions.

(Article only available in German and Franch)
March 10, 2020

More and more organisers of major events are declaring war on waste. Nevertheless, tonnes of rubbish are often left lying around. So is the sustainable event more illusion than vision? An event co-organised by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern showed that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there is still a lot that can be improved - if you tackle it properly.

(Article only available in German)
February 11, 2020

With the Master in Precision Engineering, the University of Bern and the Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH are jointly offering a completely new degree programme in the field of precision engineering from the autumn semester of 2022. Director of Studies Jürgen Burger tells us what students can expect.

(Article only available in German)
March 15, 2022

It could be a milestone on the path to detecting life on other planets: Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bern and of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS detect a key molecular property of all living organisms from a helicopter flying several kilometers above ground. The measurement technology could also open up opportunities for remote sensing of the Earth.

June 18, 2021

The US research laboratory "Fermilab" has published the eagerly awaited results of the experimental measurement of the so-called anomalous magnetic dipole moment of the muon. As members of the "Muon g-2 Theory Initiative", researchers from the University of Bern have calculated the same physical quantity theoretically in parallel based on the standard model. The deviation of the experimental measurement from the theoretical calculation could indicate the existence of new particles.

(Article only available in German)
April 7, 2021

Researchers from the University of Bern, PSI, and ETH Zurich, together with international partners, have demonstrated in an elaborate experiment at PSI that the electric dipole moment of the neutron is significantly smaller than previously assumed. It has thus become less likely that the existence of matter in the universe can be explained by this dipole moment.

February 28, 2020

Researchers at the University of Bern are among the most cited scientists in the world. The annual list of Highly Cited Researchers includes researchers whose work ranks in the top 1% of cited scientific publications in their respective fields. In 2020, researchers from Bern from various fields such as medicine, epidemiology, biology, environment/ ecology or Cross-Field have been recognized on the list.

November 18, 2020

When two researchers – one Israeli, the other Palestinian - met at a conference, they bonded over a mutual interest in a parasite and realized that science can indeed cross borders. This ethos is at the heart of the summer school they went on to found, the Middle Eastern Biology of Parasitism (MeBoP), which is hosted by the University of Bern.