Switzerland

January 12, 2017

Residents of Oberwil-Lieli are divided over whether their town should continue to shut out refugees and pay a fine instead.

Make American-built roller coasters great again!

November 25, 2016

US companies used to dominate the steel roller coaster market. No longer.

Swiss region tries to favor local job candidates — creating new problems for the EU

Agence France-Presse

September 26, 2016

The southern Swiss canton of Ticino voted to block access to jobs in their region to foreign residents, despite Switzerland's association with the European Union and its open markets requirement.

A muralist is painting weeds to represent the margins of society

Science, Tech & Environment

August 31, 2016

"I don’t paint dainty little grandmotherly botanical illustrations."

In physics, failure brings almost as much excitement as success

Science Friday

August 27, 2016

Scientists have used the Standard Model of particle physics since the 1970s. The model has explained and predicted many properties of our universe. But scientists know other particles exist that will fill in the gaps in our current understanding. Finding them is one of the great challenges of this century.

Swiss voters reject a plan to give everyone a guaranteed basic income

May 23, 2016

Updated

06/06/2016 - 3:00pm

The plan would have given every adult citizen $2,600 per month. For free. Voters questioned how exactly it would be paid for and implemented.

Lifestyle & Belief

How a particular type of cheese captured the minds — and tongues — of fans

Science Friday

March 03, 2016

Bleu Mont Dairy’s bandaged cheddar cheese has developed a cult-like following around the country. Here's how it's made.

Man attempts to cross the Alps wearing prosthetic hooves

February 25, 2016

Artists sometimes come up with the darnedest ideas. Thomas Thwaites is a case in point. Thwaites is a 34-year-old artist from London who decided he wanted to experience what it's like to live life as an animal.

That picturesque barn in the Swiss countryside might be a former Army bunker

January 11, 2016

How would you like to stay the night in a former military bunker in Switzerland? With the threat of foreign invasion relatively unlikely in the modern peaceful era of Europe, thousands of military bunkers and fortresses in Switzerland have been decommissioned and over the years put to commercial use — as everything from hotels to cheese factories.

$2750 a month for every adult, guaranteed? Switzerland's considering it

October 14, 2013

Adults in Switzerland could be in for a windfall, under a proposal set for a national referendum. The government would provide every adult $2,750 a month, every month, in what's known as a "basic income." One economist says it's not as whacky as it may seem to us.

Swiss voters reject a plan to give everyone a guaranteed basic income

May 23, 2016

Updated

06/06/2016 - 3:00pm

The plan would have given every adult citizen $2,600 per month. For free. Voters questioned how exactly it would be paid for and implemented.

Health & Medicine

Historical photos circulating depict women medical pioneers

Science, Tech & Environment

July 15, 2013

A photo of three pioneering women doctors has been circulating in social media -- but they're not wearing white lab coats. They're wearing culturally significant dress and they represent the first women doctors from their countries, back in the 1800s.

The future of agriculture may be too small to see. Think microbes

July 02, 2014

Climate change is going to throw a host of new problems at agriculture. Now some researchers say one of the solutions to these problems is microbes. In particular, fungi.

Should we use art or science to explore the origins of the universe?

Studio 360

December 26, 2015

Thousands of scientists and engineers are hard at work at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, trying to discover the origins of the universe. Lately, however, a few teams of artists have joined them in their work.

The life and work of surrealist genius, H.R.Giger

May 13, 2014

Surrealist artist H.R. Giger has died after a fall in his home. Giger was an inspiration to a generation of artists, writers and movie-makers. He was the guy who drew the face-sucking space parasite, Alien.

Politics

As gun control debate rages, Switzerland offers interesting correlation -- but is it real?

January 31, 2013

Switzerland is often held up by gun rights advocates as a model of what the United States could be with the right gun laws. But many in Switzerland say, not so fast. They point to already tightened restrictions and a, crucially, a healthcare safety net that lets fewer people go witout treatment.

Politics

The Swiss crackdown on 'mass' immigration angers many of its European neighbors

February 10, 2014

A Swiss vote to bring back strict immigration quotas for Europeans is drawing criticism from France, Germany, and others in the European Union. But it is being praised by nationalist parties in Europe, too.

Update: Tent-living UN intern 'comes clean,' planned stunt to publicize intern conditions

August 13, 2015

Updated

08/14/2015 - 11:00am

David Hyde, an unpaid intern at the UN offices in Geneva, Switzerland found a creative way to bypass the city's high cost of living. Instead of renting, he pitched a tent on Lake Geneva.

Ubiquitous Maggi seasoning reminds people the world over of home