Regulatory scrutiny of neonicotinoid pesticides has been on the rise due to conce s about their effects on European honeybees. (Keystone) From his headquarters in Basel, the agri-tech chief executive discusses bees, pesticides and takeovers with Clive Cookson. Bees brought me to Basel. Erik Fyrwald,...

A drone equipped with a camera developed by the Swiss start-up Gamaya is able to check the state of crops automatically (swissinfo.ch) Drones, milking robots, driverless vehicles, intelligent sensors, bio-surveillance, data-sharing – the Swiss economics ministry is calling for farmers to embrace a “...

With nearby North Korea stepping up missile launches and nuclear tests, people in Japan are preparing for the worst by building private nuclear shelters using Swiss technology. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) Switzerland itself has one of the densest networks of nuclear bunkers in the world, with a "bunkers for ...

A hiker is confronted with a closed trail near an area affected by a rock slide in canton Valais, Switzerland (Keystone) How are Swiss mountain trails kept safe in an era of landslides like the one that struck the town of Bondo last week, killing eight hikers? Requirements for Switzerland’s 65,000-k...

Geneva residents were given free rein to express themselves on 3,000 blank hoardings across the city in January (Keystone) A group of Geneva residents has launched a people’s initiative to ban commercial billboards from the city centre. While an important source of revenue for cities, the campaigner...

Rudolf Strahm believes that the welfare state has come to the limits of its acceptance in Switzerland (Keystone) Rudolf Strahm is one of Switzerland’s most reputed economists. Here, he shares his opinion of Pension Reform 2020, which will come to vote on September 24. swissinfo.ch: The old-age pensi...

A sea of golden five-centime coins - and a lot of media hype (Stefan Bohrer / Flickr) A year after the nationwide vote, hardly anyone is talking about the controversial topic of unconditional basic income for all in Switzerland. Not so in other parts of the world. The Swiss initiative's backers see ...

Lady Gaga, Leonardo DiCaprio and Donald Trump - Marco Grob has taken pictures of them all. But what does it take to produce iconic photographs? To answer this and other questions, the star photographer has set up the first Inte ational Photo Festival in Olten. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) Bo in Olten, Grob st...

Every dozen years or so, crowds flock to the Unspu en Festival that features the best of Swiss traditions: alpho music, Schwingen wrestling, flag throwing and a feat of strength to see who can throw an 83.5kg stone the furthest. The festivalexte al link take place over ten days from August 26 in the...

The village of Bondo was sitting next to a ticking time bomb (Reuters) The mountain that sent four million cubic metres of rock through a Swiss village on Wednesday was known to be unstable. A section of the mountain moved 30 centimetres over the course of three years, but it was impossible to deter...

This content was published on August 26, 2017 11:00 AMAug 26, 2017 - 11:00Dogs, dinosaurs, elephants and people - all could use a dip to cool down when the thermometer rises. Swiss rivers are a magnet in summer. Clean water and natural beauty make splashing in them a pleasure but this was not always...

Daniel Neuenschwander oversees the launching of rockets taking satellites into space. The 42-year-old is the first Swiss director at the European Space Agency, ESA. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) Since the foundation of the European Space Agency, ESA over 40 years ago, Switzerland has collaborated on developing...

Here's a selection of the stories we will be bringing you in the upcoming week. (swissinfo.ch) Monday Traditional Alpine farming has changed little over the centuries, as we report on Sunday. A day later we look at how the digital revolution is entering Swiss agriculture. (Keystone) Tuesday Excellen...

Father and son walk the bull Claudio to his stable. (swissinfo.ch) There’s nothing very romantic about it, though it has a charm all its own; the days are long and the work strenuous. Yet every summer, thousands of Swiss farmers trek up to the ‘Alp’ (the high pasture) with their herds. Among them is...

Chinese trains are on track to be a major force in the European market, says Cui Jun, a Swiss-based railway expert and consultant. She tells swissinfo.ch about cultural differences, accusations that China stole Swiss technology, and why Chinese high-speed trains will never be sold to Switzerland. Cu...

Geneva resident Vijay Raju is putting his foot down regarding discarded cigarette ends (Keystone) Geneva could become the cleanest city in the world, resident Vijay Raju argues, if smokers would dispose of their butts properly. After studying the problem for months, he provides some fascinating obse...

Interior Minister Alain Berset talks pension reforms with swissinfo.ch's editor-in-chief Larissa M. Bieler (swissinfo.ch) Will Interior Minister Alain Berset be able to convince voters to back reforms of the old-age pension scheme? Interviewed by swissinfo.ch at the recent Congress of the Swiss Abro...

Zug is taking the lead in attracting fintech start-ups to Switzerland (Keystone) Switzerland has attracted another cryptocurrency start-up to its ranks, in the shape of Breadwallet, as it strives to become one of the hottest global centres of the financial technology (fintech) revolution. “Switzerla...

Berset's speech was applauded by the nearly 400 participants of the Swiss Abroad Congress. (Adrian Moser/ASO-OSE) Interior Minister Alain Berset has highlighted the experience and expertise of Swiss citizens living around the world and pointed out the truth behind Swiss clichés. “Switzerland doesn’t...

The deadly culprit: the mosquito (Keystone) The first new malaria drug to emerge for 20 years is begi ing clinical trials in nine countries across Africa and Asia. KAF156 could be "a game changer", its developers say, at a time when the malaria parasite is evolving resistance to existing treatments....