Science&Tech Extraordinary animals discovered in Mekong river basin Posted on 1 week ago A colour-changing fish, a fat thumb bat, and a venomous snake. These animals are three of the 380 new plant and animal species discovered by scientists in Southeast Asia in 2021 and 2022. The plants and animals live in the Mekong river basin. It involves 290 plants, 19 fish, 24 amphibians, 46 reptiles and one mammal, according to a new … Continue Reading
Science&Tech What’s behind the unexpected high Saudi Arabia standing in science? Posted on 3 weeks ago Particularly handsome of Saudi Arabia: in the ranking of leading scientific countries, based on cited articles, it has nestled above such recognized academic strongholds as the Netherlands and Switzerland. Remarkable, because academic freedom, like other freedoms, is not really held in high esteem. The position is therefore not based on own merit. Saudi Arabia is paying foreign scholars a substantial … Continue Reading
Science&Tech Mystery of excess mortality yet unsolved with two suspects drop out off the list Posted on May 1, 2023 There has been excess mortality in Switzerland for several years. A research is being carried out into the reasons for excess mortality. The most recent data (until June 2022) from the Swiss Statistical Office (the BfS) now shows that although it has not been proven exactly what caused the excess mortality, it is in any case not due to Covid-19 … Continue Reading
Science&Tech Ethereum cuts energy consumption by 99.99 percent Posted on May 1, 2023 Ethereum’s energy consumption has dropped by as much as 99.99 percent, according to The New Scientist website. This happened after the update called ”the Merge”. With this update, a new system called “proof of stake“ has been applied, which has replaced the previous “proof of work”. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has published extensive data on Ethereum’s energy … Continue Reading
Science&Tech ARM is planing to produce physical CPUs Posted on April 24, 2023 ARM wants to show what the company is capable of with a new chip. According to insiders, it is the company’s most advanced attempt to bake chips on its own to date. ARM will enlist the help of manufacturing partners for the project. Recently, we already reported that the company had made a deal with Intel to have its own … Continue Reading
Science&Tech Experts calling for stricter AI rules Posted on April 18, 2023 For the second time in a short time, experts are calling for stricter rules for artificial intelligence (AI). What are they afraid of and what is going on at the moment? What’s going on? A group of 50 AI experts and institutions wants European politicians to come up with additional rules for ‘general purpose AI’ or GPAI. That vague term … Continue Reading
Science&Tech 98 percent of Swiss population have CoV2 antibodies Posted on April 11, 2023 Seroprevalence data (this is the percentage of people with antibodies) from Corona Immunitas (June/July 2022) show that more than 98% of the Swiss population has antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Due to the immunity situation, the currently predominant virus variants and the expected low virus circulation in spring/summer 2023, it can be assumed that people without risk factors have a very low … Continue Reading
Science&Tech Swiss lynxes exported to Italy in effort to boost population Posted on March 30, 2023 In early March, two lynxes were moved from the Swiss Jura to Italy to strengthen the population there. Both lynxes will be monitored by radio collars after their release. On March 2, 2023, the canton of Jura reported the capture of two lynxes in the District of Delémont. The two females had been caught in their deer prey and the … Continue Reading
Science&Tech Sun-Ways comes up with an idea to use spare railway space to harvest energy Posted on March 28, 2023 The Swiss company Sun-Ways is going to install solar panels in the space between train tracks. A great idea: throughout Europe there are railway lines everywhere and by placing the solar panels there, the landscape is not affected. Installation is carried out mechanically in just a few hours using a special train. As the train travels, it installs the solar … Continue Reading
Science&Tech Intel Co-founder Gordon Moore dies, survived by his empirical law Posted on March 27, 2023 Intel Co-founder Gordon Moore died on Friday at the age of 94. The American is best known for Moore’s law, his prediction about the computing power of computer chips. Moore predicted in 1965 that the number of transistors on a chip would double each year. Ten years later, he adjusted his forecast and foresaw a doubling every two years. Moore’s … Continue Reading