Swiss Stories

Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich

Emmy Ball-Hennings

Society
She beguiled cabaret audiences as a singer and dancer and pushed the art scene in new directions. But outside the world of theatre, the German artist Emmy Hennings and her partner and eventual husband Hugo Ball lived in exile and grinding poverty. In February 1916 the couple opened the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich's Niederdorf district – Dada had arrived!
Barbara Piatti

by Barbara Piatti

Red Divico grapes

Swiss wine without pesticides

Science & Education
Switzerland's centre of excellence for agricultural research Agroscope has been creating new grape varieties for 50 years. Their goals are ambitious – particularly the targets for disease resistance. Several generations of resistant varieties have emerged, helping to gradually reduce the impact of diseases and the use of pesticides. Fungal diseases – a major concern for winegrowers Swiss winegrowers face considerable difficulties with fungal diseases, two of which are particularly entrenched in Switzerland: downy and powdery mildew. It is very hard to cultivate grapes without pesticides today – both in conventional and organic vineyards. To help avoid this, Agroscope's viticulture research team focuses its efforts on creating resistant grapevines.
Switzerland: cradle of the Winter Olympics

Switzerland: cradle of the Winter Olympics

History
In January 2020, Switzerland will host another Olympic Winter Games. Whereas the Winter Olympics of 1928 and 1948 took place in St Moritz, the 2020 games will put Olympic capital Lausanne in the spotlight.
Matthias Vauthier

by Matthias Vauthier

Lake Lucerne

Combating climate change with Swiss lakes

Environment
Switzerland’s lake surface waters contain vast amounts of thermal energy, collected from the sun and stored as heat. This can be extracted and used for heating. At the same time lake water can be used as a coolant.
SapoCycle makes new bars of soap out of used hotel soaps.

The miracle of soap

Environment
Today more than ever, we are all too aware how important it is to have proper hand hygiene. Disinfectant has been sold out for weeks. The tried and trusted method of cleaning with soap is therefore making a comeback. Soap truly works miracles against viruses and bacteria. Washing your hands regularly and thoroughly can greatly slow down the spread of a virus, such as the novel coronavirus. SapoCycle is a Swiss non-profit organisation, which not only works to improve levels of hygiene, but also makes an important contribution to environmental protection and social integration.
Eagle

Setting up wind turbines with the help of eagles

Environment
Thanks to biologists from the University of Bern, golden eagles are becoming invaluable co-workers in the development of wind farms in the Swiss Alps. The large birds are equipped with GPS tags to transmit data that can limit their risk of colliding with the future turbines.

by Lea Huszno

senseFly Drone © senseFly

Swiss drones are flying high

Economics
Swiss industry is at the forefront of unmanned aerial vehicles for commercial use. Here are some examples of highly innovative Swiss firms.