News Archive

Arctic Ocean acidification worse than previously expected

The Arctic Ocean will take up more CO2 over the 21st century than predicted by most climate models. This additional CO2 causes a distinctly stronger ocean acidification. These results were published in a study by climate scientists from the University of Bern and École normale supérieure in Paris. Ocean acidification threatens the life of calcifying organisms – such as mussels and "sea butterflies" – and can have serious consequences for the entire food chain.

CHEOPS space telescope ready for scientific operation

CHEOPS has reached its next milestone: Following extensive tests in Earth's orbit, some of which the mission team was forced to carry out from home due to the coronavirus crisis, the space telescope has been declared ready for science. CHEOPS stands for “CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite”, and has the purpose of investigating known exoplanets to determine, among other things, whether they have conditions that are hospitable to life.

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.

About the distribution of biodiversity on our planet

Large open-water fish predators such as tunas or sharks hunt for prey more intensively in the temperate zone than near the equator. With this result, a study headed by Marius Roesti of the University of Bern is challenging a long-standing explanation for the distribution of biodiversity on our planet.

CHEOPS first check-up

News from CHEOPS

Questioning theory can be worth it

Where few thought to look, the PlanetS co-funded telescope “SAINT-EX” is searching for new worlds. After a year of operation, the project has brought some exciting first results.

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.

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).

CHEOPS space telescope takes its first pictures

Next milestone in the commissioning of CHEOPS: After the successful opening of the space telescope cover on January 29, 2020, CHEOPS has now taken its first images of the sky. CHEOPS is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, led by the University of Bern, in collaboration with the University of Geneva.

Cover of CHEOPS Space Telescope Open

Decisive moment for the CHEOPS space telescope: The cover was opened as intended on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 7:38 am. CHEOPS is now being tested for precision and the first images are being produced. CHEOPS is a joint mission of ESA and Switzerland, led by the University of Bern, in collaboration with the University of Geneva.

The salt of the comet

Under the leadership of astrophysicist Kathrin Altwegg, Bernese researchers have found an explanation for why very little nitrogen could previously be accounted for in the nebulous covering of comets: the building block for life predominantly occurs in the form of ammonium salts, the occurrence of which could not previously be measured. The salts may be a further indication that comet impacts may have made life on Earth possible in the first place.

Interstellar journey of life’s building block phosphorus unveiled

Phosphorus, present in our DNA and cell membranes, is an essential element for life. But how it became available on the early Earth when life appeared here about 4 billion years ago is something of a mystery. For the first time, astronomers – among them researchers from the University of Bern – have now been able to show that molecules with phosphorus are formed in star-forming regions and probably came to Earth with comets.

CHEOPS Launch alert!

CHEOPS launched December 18. 2019

The space telescope CHEOPS began its journey into space on Wednesday, 18 December 2019 shortly before 10 a.m. CET. At 12:19 MEZ CHEOPS was placed in orbit at an altitude of 708 kilometres.

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.

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.