Faculty of Science

News Archive

Biology

It is worth revitalizing the river here

Fish are among the most endangered animals in Switzerland, mainly because of the obstructed waterways. A project by the Wyss Academy for Nature, the University of Bern and the aquatic research institute Eawag is helping to restore them to their natural state.

(Article only available in German)
March 11, 2025

Uni Aktuell

Biology

The two newly discovered fish species have a name

In a survey, the public had a say in the names of the two fish species discovered by researchers from the University of Bern. The names have now been finalised – the Barbatula species are called "fluvicola" and "ommata".

March 6, 2025

University of Bern

Biology

Two new fish species discovered in Swiss waters

The public can take part in a survey to decide on the names of two fish species discovered by Bárbara Calegari and her colleagues. In this interview, the biologist explains where they live and how to make the diversity of our waters visible.

January 28, 2025

Uni Aktuell

Biology

Microbes, algae and genetic engineering for more stable yields

Lorena Ramirez Gonzales is working to make maize and teff more drought-tolerant. In the interview, she explains how her work is helping to stabilize agriculture in arid regions and improve food security.

December 13, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Biology

Empathy and cooperation in rats

Rats release trapped companions, subsequently enabling them to collaborate for acquiring food. Experiments conducted at the University of Bern established this connection between obliging liberation behaviour and coordinated cooperation. These results may point towards a biological basis for empathy, presenting new perspectives on the evolutionary origins of compassionate behaviour.

December 11, 2024

University of Bern

Biology

With AI against hay fever

Paleoecology researchers at the University of Bern are contributing their knowledge to the development of a pollen monitor that uses artificial intelligence to improve the lives of allergy sufferers.

(Article only available in German)
July 29, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Biology

Female fish can influence the escape behaviour of their offspring via their eggs

Female cichlid fish can use the composition of their eggs to influence how quickly their offspring can flee in the event of danger. Researchers led by Barbara Taborsky from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern were able to show this for the first time using experiments with socially breeding cichlids.

(Article only available in German)
September 7, 2021

Uni Aktuell

Climate and Environment

Climat and Environment

Jet stream responsible for extreme weather

Extreme weather and climate events such as droughts and floods in Europe can be linked to shifts in the jet stream over the Atlantic. This has been demonstrated by a reconstruction of the jet stream over the Atlantic and Europe for the last 600 years by researchers at the University of Bern.

February 27, 2025

University of Bern

Climat and Environment

Travel back 1.2 million years with Antarctic ice

A team from twelve European research institutions has succeeded in retrieving ice cores in the Antarctic containing climate information from the past 1.2 million years and more. The University of Bern played an important role in this scientific breakthrough.

(Article only available in German)
January 9, 2025

Uni Aktuell

Climat and Environment

New endowed Professorship for Climate Impact and Public Health

With the support of Mobilière Cooperative, the University of Bern has been able to establish an endowed Professorship for Climate Impact and Public Health in the Built Environment. It is endowed with two million Swiss francs in total and is to investigate an important aspect of climate change which has so far only been insufficiently explored in Switzerland.

December 13, 2024

University of Bern

Climat and Environment

«Climate change will shift entire ecosystems»

Christoph Schwörer is investigating the future effects of climate change on vegetation in the Alpine region. To this end, he is looking deep into the past with the help of sediment cores and state-of-the-art DNA analysis methods.

(Article only available in German)
November 6, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Climat and Environment

Are we running out of chocolate?

Environmental economist Astrid Zabel explains the impact of the European Deforestation Regulation on the cultivation and consumption of goods.

October 21, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Climat and Environment

New climate strategy focuses on reduction and innovation

Instead of purchasing a large number of carbon offset certificates to achieve climate neutrality by 2025, the University of Bern is, in a participatory process, working on a long-term Climate Neutrality 2030 Roadmap, explains Vice-Rector Heike Mayer in the video.

September 18, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Climat and Environment

Solutions for people and nature in Kenya

The Wyss Academy for Nature works on four continents with local communities, politics, business and science to improve the precarious relationship between humans and nature. Three examples from Kenya show how such “living labs” work.

September 9, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Astronomy

Why Mars could be red

An international research team led by the University of Bern and Brown University in the US state of Rhode Island may have solved the mystery of the reddish color of Mars. The team identified the water-rich iron mineral ferrihydrite as the main culprit of the characteristic reddish Martian dust. This discovery could not only explain the planet's color, but also point to a wetter, potentially habitable Martian past.

February 25, 2025

University of Bern

Astronomy

New findings in the search for life on Mars

Researchers from the University of Bern, in collaboration with the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene in Algeria, have made significant progress in astrobiology. In a recently published study, they were able to detect fossil microorganisms in Messinian gypsum, which is found in Algeria, using the Bernese mass spectrometer LIMS. This shows that LIMS could also be used to search for traces of life in similar deposits on Mars in the future.

February 25, 2025

University of Bern

Astronomy

Rockfall hazard on Mars

A team led by Bern has used a neural network to identify 1,383 rockfall sites on Mars. More than half of these were previously unknown. The discovery is also relevant for future Mars missions.

(Article only available in German)
December 17, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Astronomy

The space telescope obeying a doctoral student

"It's really cool to have a space telescope observe what I tell it to observe!" So says doctoral student Jo Ann Egger, the youngest and first student member of the CHEOPS science team. How did she get there?

November 24, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Astronomy

Small precision miracle in orbit

A new small ESA satellite closes gaps in weather observation. Roland Albers explains how the University of Bern is contributing to more accurate weather forecasts with a microwave radiometer, the only instrument on board of the satellite.

(Article only available in German)
October 23, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Astronomy

NASA mission with Bernese participation

On October 14, 2024, NASA's Europa Clipper mission began its journey to Jupiter's moon Europa. The aim is to investigate if the icy moon currently has habitable conditions. Four researchers from Bern are part of the mission's scientific teams.

October 17, 2024

Uni Aktuell

Astronomy

New opportunity to explore the universe

A team including researchers from the Laboratory for High Energy Physics at the University of Bern has successfully measured the interaction rates of neutrinos at unprecedented energies using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.

July 16, 2024

Uni Aktuell

People

"As a woman, you're often alone but also highly visible"

Audrey Vorburger is a planetary scientist and a mother of three children. In the video, she talks about the search for life beyond Earth and her experiences in a male-dominated professional field.

March 14, 2025

Uni Aktuell

People

«I am like a molecular architect»

Eva Hevia is researching chemical compounds that combine metals and organic components. Her aim is to develop new molecules in a more sustainable manner. In the video, she talks about the challenges of her role as a professor.

February 28, 2025

Uni Aktuell

People

From the climbing wall to the lecture course

The European champion in lead climbing and Olympic participant maintains a balance between top athletic performance and intellectual inquisitiveness. How does he manage to combine his passion for climbing with a challenging course of study at the University of Bern? A glimpse into the everyday life of the athlete.

December 3, 2024

Uni Aktuell

People

Swiss Students Sports Award 2024

The annual Swiss Students Sports Award from Swiss University Sports took place on 25 October. Two students from the University of Bern were honoured for their sporting achievements in ‘Ski Orienteering’: Eliane Deininger is studying at the Faculty of Phil-nat. Faculty (Ski Orienteering / Master of Earth Sciences) and Nicola Müller at the Faculty of Medicine (Ski Orienteering / Master of Human Medicine). Congratulations!

Picture (from left to right): Peter Matti (Coordinator of top-class sport and studies at the University of Bern), Eliane Deininger, Nicola Müller, Reto Zimmermann (Head of University Sport Bern).

Unisport Bern

People

"Free access to research data is crucial‘’

As a data steward, Martin Wegmann supports researchers at the University of Bern in handling data. He emphasises that this is above all a service to society.

(Article only available in German)
October 7, 2024

Uni Aktuell

People

“Climate research in Bern is a brand”

Thomas Stocker is one of the figureheads of the University of Bern and a climate researcher of international renown. Among other things, he had a leading position on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Now, he is being given emeritus status. In this interview, he takes a look back at his career, tells us about an offer he once received from Cambridge and talks about orchids and racing bikes.

June 20, 2024

Uni Aktuell

People

The man with the instruments in space

Nicolas Thomas wants to understand Mars, comets and the icy moons of Jupiter. To do this, he builds instruments that fly through space on board space probes.

(Article only available in German)
May 3, 2022

Uni Aktuell

Society

World Food: Ukraine War as Momentum for Change?

Political scientist Lukas Fesenfeld is intensively engaged in the political feasibility of a transformative climate and food policy. Because Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine can drastically damage the food situation in the global South, Fesenfeld has initiated an appeal to politicians.

(Article only available in German)
April 7, 2022

Uni Aktuell

Society

“Large land deals have become a risk factor for pandemics”

“We see business as usual that continues to destroy rainforests and natural habitats.” So concludes the third and latest analytical report of the Land Matrix Initiative, an independent network that documents and monitors large-scale agricultural land deals around the globe. They warn that the land rush and its consequences have taken on “in part alarming” proportions – and that a potential post-Covid boom could further accelerate these developments. This would also increase the risk of new pandemics, says CDE scientist Markus Giger, one of the main authors of the report.

Uni Aktuell

Society

Researchers see poaching as the reason for the low lynx density in the canton of Valais

Compared to other regions of Switzerland such as the Jura and the northern Alps, the lynx population in the south-western Swiss Alps has an unexpectedly low density. To explain this, researchers led by Raphaël Arlettaz from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern have tested four hypotheses. They came to the conclusion that poaching is the main cause of the extremely low lynx density. This is supported by the discovery of a network of trap systems.

June 25, 2021
(Article only available in German and French)

Uni Aktuell

Society

Agriculture began in the Amazon 10'000 years ago

As a new study shows, more than 10,000 years ago, people in the southwest of the Amazon began growing manioc and squash, 8,000 years earlier than previously thought. The area is thus one of the early Holocene centres of plant domestication in the world. People also changed the landscape by creating thousands of so-called forest islands.

April 8, 2020

Uni Aktuell

Society

New inventory for social innovations in the Swiss mountain region

Swiss mountain regions are certainly innovative when it comes to finding solutions to specific challenges in peripheral areas. With a new online inventory of these "social innovations", the Institute of Geography and the Tourism Research Centre at the University of Bern, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), want to make the authorities and the population more aware of the innovative potential of mountain regions.

(Article only available in German and Franch)
March 10, 2020

Uni Aktuell

Society

Investments by the super-rich drive deforestation

Wealthy individuals are increasingly investing in agriculture. Their investments boost production of plant-based raw materials for human consumption, industrial uses, and animal fodder. The resulting capital flows directly contribute to deforestation in the global South, especially in the tropics. That is the conclusion of a new study by the University of Bern’s Centre for Development and Environment (CDE).

February 25, 2020

Uni Aktuell

Society

How major events are becoming more sustainable

More and more organisers of major events are declaring war on waste. Nevertheless, tonnes of rubbish are often left lying around. So is the sustainable event more illusion than vision? An event co-organised by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern showed that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there is still a lot that can be improved - if you tackle it properly.

(Article only available in German)
February 11, 2020

Uni Aktuell

Technology

AI cannot prevent misdiagnoses

Around one in ten diagnoses is wrong. In an extensive study, a research team led by Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and the University of Bern has investigated whether an AI-based diagnostic system could improve diagnostic quality. The result is surprising: despite high expectations, the system that was tested showed no measurable advantage over conventional diagnostic processes.

February 3, 2025

University of Bern

Technology

"We are looking for creative and innovative students"

With the Master in Precision Engineering, the University of Bern and the Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH are jointly offering a completely new degree programme in the field of precision engineering from the autumn semester of 2022. Director of Studies Jürgen Burger tells us what students can expect.

(Article only available in German)
March 15, 2022

Uni Aktuell

Technology

Bernese particle detector travels to the USA by ship

A prototype detector developed and built at the University of Bern has arrived at the US research laboratory Fermilab after a 6-week journey by lorry and ship. The "ArgonCube" is being tested there for use in a ground-breaking experiment to investigate neutrinos. Bern physics professor Michele Weber explains how he followed the transport.

(Article only available in German)
August 6, 2021

Uni Aktuell

Technology

Scientists detect signatures of life remotely

It could be a milestone on the path to detecting life on other planets: Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bern and of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS detect a key molecular property of all living organisms from a helicopter flying several kilometers above ground. The measurement technology could also open up opportunities for remote sensing of the Earth.

June 18, 2021

Uni Aktuell

Technology

Fuel cells for hydrogen vehicles are becoming longer lasting

An international research team led by the University of Bern has succeeded in developing an electrocatalyst for hydrogen fuel cells which, in contrast to the catalysts commonly used today, does not require a carbon carrier and is therefore much more stable. The new process is industrially applicable and can be used to further optimize fuel cell powered vehicles without CO₂ emissions.

August 24, 2020

Uni Aktuell

Physics and Mathematics

High-precision physics experiment provides evidence of new particles

The US research laboratory "Fermilab" has published the eagerly awaited results of the experimental measurement of the so-called anomalous magnetic dipole moment of the muon. As members of the "Muon g-2 Theory Initiative", researchers from the University of Bern have calculated the same physical quantity theoretically in parallel based on the standard model. The deviation of the experimental measurement from the theoretical calculation could indicate the existence of new particles.

(Article only available in German)
April 7, 2021

Uni Aktuell

Physics and Mathematics

A mathematical model for predicting stress reactions

Ein internationales Team unter der Leitung von Barbara Taborsky vom Institut für Ökologie und Evolution der Universität Bern hat erstmals ein mathematisches Modell entwickelt, das unter Berücksichtigung von Umweltfaktoren vorhersagt, wie Lebewesen auf Stress reagieren.

(Article only available in German)
December 3, 2020

Uni Aktuell

Physics and Mathematics

Tracking down the mystery of matter

Researchers from the University of Bern, PSI, and ETH Zurich, together with international partners, have demonstrated in an elaborate experiment at PSI that the electric dipole moment of the neutron is significantly smaller than previously assumed. It has thus become less likely that the existence of matter in the universe can be explained by this dipole moment.

February 28, 2020

Uni Aktuell

University Bern

New WSS research center for molecular quantum systems

The University of Basel and the University of Bern are setting up a new research center to enable the construction of superconducting quantum units. The Werner Siemens Foundation is supporting the project with a total of CHF 15 million over the next eleven years.

March 4, 2025

University of Bern

Award Ceremony, Faculty of Science 2025

On 19. February 2025, the graduation ceremony 2025 of the Faculty of Science took place. Once again, we congratulate all graduates as well as the award winners. We wish you every success in your future endeavours.

February 19, 2025

University of Bern

University Bern

University of Bern is “ambitious” when it comes to sustainability

Together with three other universities, the University of Bern is ranked in the highest occupied category in the WWF’s 2024 sustainability rating of Swiss universities.

November 13, 2024

Uni Aktuell

University Bern

Bernese Researchers on Highly Cited Researchers 2020 List

Researchers at the University of Bern are among the most cited scientists in the world. The annual list of Highly Cited Researchers includes researchers whose work ranks in the top 1% of cited scientific publications in their respective fields. In 2020, researchers from Bern from various fields such as medicine, epidemiology, biology, environment/ ecology or Cross-Field have been recognized on the list.

November 18, 2020

Uni Aktuell

University Bern

Wyss Academy for Nature founded at the University of Bern

With the Wyss Academy for Nature, a globally leading research and implementation center in the field of nature and people is being set up at the University of Bern. The entrepreneur and patron, Hansjörg Wyss, the President of the Government of the Canton of Bern, Christoph Ammann, and the Rector of the University of Bern, Christian Leumann, ceremoniously signed the contract today. Over the next 10 years, 200 million francs are going to be invested.

December 13, 2019

Uni Aktuell

University Bern

Summer school takes science diplomacy to new level

When two researchers – one Israeli, the other Palestinian - met at a conference, they bonded over a mutual interest in a parasite and realized that science can indeed cross borders. This ethos is at the heart of the summer school they went on to found, the Middle Eastern Biology of Parasitism (MeBoP), which is hosted by the University of Bern.

Uni Aktuell

University Bern

Wyss Academy for Nature and canton present implementation programme

Der Hub Bern der Wyss Academy for Nature ermittelt in 15 Projekten im Kanton Bern Ansätze und Lösungen für die dringendsten Probleme an der Schnittstelle zwischen Klima, Biodiversität und Landnutzung. An einem Medienanlass beim Hochmoor Lörmoos zeigten Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der Wyss Academy for Nature und des Kantons, wie neue Erkenntnisse möglichst rasch in konkretes Handeln übergehen sollen. In den nächsten zehn Jahren werden im Kanton Bern 30 Millionen Franken investiert.

(Article only available in German and Franch)
September 21, 2021

Uni Aktuell

Faculty of Science

Mathematics, Statistics and Informatics

Physics and Astronomy

Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacy

Biology

Geosciences

Centers of Competence

News Archive

Archive

Biology

It is worth revitalizing the river here

The two newly discovered fish species have a name

Two new fish species discovered in Swiss waters

Microbes, algae and genetic engineering for more stable yields

Empathy and cooperation in rats

With AI against hay fever

Female fish can influence the escape behaviour of their offspring via their eggs

Climate and Environment

Jet stream responsible for extreme weather

Travel back 1.2 million years with Antarctic ice

New endowed Professorship for Climate Impact and Public Health

«Climate change will shift entire ecosystems»

Are we running out of chocolate?

New climate strategy focuses on reduction and innovation

Solutions for people and nature in Kenya

Astronomy

Why Mars could be red

New findings in the search for life on Mars

Rockfall hazard on Mars

The space telescope obeying a doctoral student

Small precision miracle in orbit

NASA mission with Bernese participation

New opportunity to explore the universe

People

"As a woman, you're often alone but also highly visible"

«I am like a molecular architect»

From the climbing wall to the lecture course

Swiss Students Sports Award 2024

"Free access to research data is crucial‘’

“Climate research in Bern is a brand”

The man with the instruments in space

Society

World Food: Ukraine War as Momentum for Change?

“Large land deals have become a risk factor for pandemics”

Researchers see poaching as the reason for the low lynx density in the canton of Valais

Agriculture began in the Amazon 10'000 years ago

New inventory for social innovations in the Swiss mountain region

Investments by the super-rich drive deforestation

How major events are becoming more sustainable

Technology

AI cannot prevent misdiagnoses

"We are looking for creative and innovative students"

Bernese particle detector travels to the USA by ship

Scientists detect signatures of life remotely

Fuel cells for hydrogen vehicles are becoming longer lasting

Physics and Mathematics

High-precision physics experiment provides evidence of new particles

A mathematical model for predicting stress reactions

Tracking down the mystery of matter

University Bern

New WSS research center for molecular quantum systems

Award Ceremony, Faculty of Science 2025

University of Bern is “ambitious” when it comes to sustainability

Bernese Researchers on Highly Cited Researchers 2020 List

Wyss Academy for Nature founded at the University of Bern

Summer school takes science diplomacy to new level

Wyss Academy for Nature and canton present implementation programme