News Archive

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.