Arachnophobia

Alien spiders are invading Europe: no sign though of huge, furry monsters goose-stepping across the countryside. It’s not quite as scary, but tiny eight-legged beasts are moving in from abroad. No D-Day to speak of, but a slow process that has been taking place for over a century. According to Wolfgang Nentwig and his [...]

Swiss army knife overdose

You will need big pockets and big hands for this one: a Swiss Army knife that weighs nearly 1.4 kilograms has been inducted into the 2008 edition of Guinness World Records for “most functions on a penknife.” It has 87 tools and at least 115 uses. Developed by Wenger, the beast has a dozen or [...]

Getting down and dirty underwater

Here’s some news that will make men sit up and take notice: researchers have pinpointed an “oral sex” gene that makes females suck up sperm through their mouths. The gene was found in the cichlid fish, where the males have evolved a way to lure females close so that they can squirt sperm into their [...]

Anything to stop the Germans

A 70-year old German seeking Swiss citizenship has been told to go back to school to learn his native tongue according to Zurich’s Tages Anzeiger newspaper. The town of Dielsdorf ordered Ulrich Kring – who has lived in Switzerland his entire life but is only now applying for citizenship – to take a German [...]

Welcome to the dark side…

Chocoholics rejoice and make your’s a dark one: researchers at Zurich University have published results from a study that show that dark chocolate doesn’t just taste good or boost your morale. It can also be beneficial for blood flow. Forty grammes of chocolate with at least 70 per cent cocoa content have measurable effects [...]

Swiss witch could be rehabilitated

The last witch to be executed in Europe, Anna Göldi (or Göldin) could be rehabilitated. Members of canton Glarus‘ parliament have voted the measure despite the local government’s opposition to the move after lobbying by Swiss journalist Walter Hauser. Göldi was decapitated in 1782 after being sentenced for poisoning her employer’s child, although the heart [...]

Assisted suicide hits the road

Another twist in the assisted suicide plot: still unable to rent premises where foreigners could come to die of their own free will, the Zurich-based Dignitas association is now resorting to vehicles. Swiss television has reported at least two recent cases of Germans travelling to Switzerland to end their lives with Dignitas’ [...]

The dream of Piccard-us

Swiss adventurer, shrink and family man Bertrand Piccard has finally presented a model of his solar plane after four years of research. Solar Impulse is supposed to travel around the world day and night using the sun as its only power source. Piccard, who along with co-pilot Brian Jones, was the first to make [...]

Food, glorious food

Foodies have been gathering in the Swiss town of Bulle for the past five days. Their aim was to sample as much quality and innovative produce from all over the country, including the usual suspects – wine, cheese and chocolate – presented at the eighth Salon des Goûts et Terroirs. One [...]

Fiat boss crunches Ferrari

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has survived a car crash in canton Solothurn unscathed, but the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano he was driving is a write-off. The former head of Swiss firms SGS and Lonza rear-ended another car on the A1 motorway according to reports in the Blick tabloid and the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper. Local [...]