Swiss Stories

Solarkiosk © Andreas Spiess, SOLARKIOSK AG / ZHdK

Can Swiss design save the planet?

Environment
Social design looks beyond the material nature of an object in order to tackle the major economic, environmental and societal challenges of today and tomorrow. The practice is taking off in Switzerland and changing the face of design.
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

petite vache en bois au bord du lac

The story behind Switzerland's iconic wooden toy cow

History

In Switzerland, the cow is an icon. Without them, there would be no milk, no cheese, no chocolate.
asteroid

Outer space: the Swiss women looking to the stars

Science & Education
Women took an interest in space long before the space agencies undertook to diversify their teams of astronauts. Three Swiss women with their feet firmly on the ground and their faces turned to the stars share what attracted them to the space sector.

by Geneviève Comby

Lotti Latrous © Jacques Kouao

Lotti Latrous

Society
Liselotte, or Lotti for short, chose to give up her life of ease and comfort and devote herself, body and soul, to AIDS patients. She has now spent two decades caring for women dying of AIDS-related illnesses and their children who are also infected with HIV. Her work has earned her the accolade 'Swiss woman of the year 2004'.
©️ Swiss Armed Forces Digital Media Centre, Nadine Strub

Haute cuisine in camouflage trousers: the Swiss Armed Forces culinary team

Society
The Swiss Armed Forces culinary team is repeatedly voted one of the best in its field, often far outdoing non-military culinary teams in international contests. How can that be? The answer lies in the militia system that has shaped Switzerland for centuries.

by Michael Senn

Saffron from Mund AOP

The Swiss AOP products you never knew existed

Economics
Switzerland boasts 23 different agricultural products that have been awarded the coveted AOP label, which denotes their protected designation of origin (also known internationally as PDO; actual labels in Switzerland show AOP: appellation d’origine protégée in French). Some are already well known, such as Gruyère and Raclette cheese, but others less so, such as saffron from Mund and spiny cardoons from the canton of Geneva.