New beginnings. (02/2025)

Upheavals and fresh starts in private life and history: On setting out, turning things around and looking ahead.

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  Dossier

  Rethinking parenthood.

  Text: Noëmi Kern / Having a child changes your life completely. Birth rates, however, have been falling for years. Is the pressure on parents simply too much? And could new models of the family help?

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  Dossier

  A second chance in a foreign land.

  Text: Céline Emch / Those who leave their home country must often start from scratch elsewhere. The hurdles are significant. A helping hand when launching into the unknown is therefore all the more important.

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  Dossier

  A turning point in midlife.

  Text: Barbara Spycher / A Harley Davidson and an affair with a younger woman — classic signs of a midlife crisis. What is seen as “typically male” actually has its origins in feminism.

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  Dossier

  The new me.

  Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / Trans people want those around them to be able to identify their true gender. Facial characteristics play an important role. Now, one Basel-based study is exploring whether it is possible to modify these characteristics without surgery.

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  Dossier

  Body rebooting.

  Text: Angelika Jacobs / Resolving to do more exercise is a good thing. Then we get stressed, bad weather puts us off or our workout gear needs a wash. A service offered by the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health aims to help people act on their good intentions. Time to try it for myself.

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  Dossier

  Development aid from Africa.

  Interview: Urs Hafner / Western Europe was successfully reconstructed after the devastation of World War II. This wouldn’t have been possible without raw materials from Africa, says historian Danelle van Zyl-Hermann.

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  Dossier

  Without violence.

  Text: Andreas Grote / In Switzerland, violence against women in partnerships is on the rise. Intervention programs aim to teach offenders different ways to resolve conflict in future.

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  Dossier

  Death is not the end.

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / Ancient Egyptian religion and culture were informed by the concepts of demise and renewal. Rituals provided stability and security in times of upheaval, for example at the end of life.

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  Research

  Do carbohydrates make you fat?

  Text: Eleonora Seelig / Don’t eat carbohydrates after 6 p.m., or cut them out altogether: A low-carb diet is considered a promising weight-loss solution. But do you really have to deny yourself pasta and bread if you want to reach your dream weight?

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    Portrait

    In search of a more sustainable chemistry.

    Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck /

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  In conversation

  “Coffee connects us with the whole world.”

  Interview: Christian Heuss / Janina Grabs explores ways to make global supply chains for coffee, cocoa and co. more sustainable. In this interview, she explains how certifications, minimum standards and other measures work in practice.

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  Research

  Understanding how politics works.

  Text: Daniel Höhmann, political scientist* / Daniel Höhmann has been interested in politics since his school days. However, he was less interested in active participation and more in looking at political processes. Today, his research focuses on the question of how women are represented in politics.

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  Research

  A diamond as a quantum sensor.

  Text: Andreas Lorenz-Meyer / With a high-precision quantum sensor, the Basel-based startup Qnami is opening up new insights into matter and computer chips — and therefore opportunities for the computers of the future.

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  Opinion

  Is old age something worth striving for, Stefan Felder?

  Text: Stefan Felder, health economist /

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  Opinion

  Is old age something worth striving for, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari?

  Text: Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, geriatrician /

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  In pictures

  Hidden water flow paths.

  Text: Noëmi Kern / Rain seeps into the ground and becomes part of the groundwater before reemerging from springs at different locations. Which subterranean pathways does the water follow? How long does it remain underground? And how does that affect its quality?

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    Research

    Linguistic detective work.

    Text: Noëmi Kern / Until now, the history of Old Albanian has remained a mystery. A project at the University of Basel aims to change that. The search for linguistic clues also offers insights into social and cultural developments.

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  Research

  Help in a technological no-man’s land.

  Text: Santina Russo / Neural implants improve the lives of many — until the manufacturers stop providing support for their own technology. A researcher in medical ethics from the University of Basel is investigating the previously underestimated phenomenon of “neuroabandonment.”

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  Research

  Chemistry between the stars.

  Text: Angelika Jacobs / Astrochemist Jutta Toscano studies how molecules react with one another in the coldest and darkest regions of space. Her aim: to better understand the nature of the universe.

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  Alumni

  Touchdown in life.

  Text: Céline Emch / Greg Starek combines scientific precision with a passion for sports. His path has taken him from biophysics at the University of Basel to the data department at the National Football League in the United States.

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  Alumni

  A leap from science to industry.

  Interview: Céline Emch / How does a nanoscientist end up in the insurance industry? Marco Krummenacher talks to us about how he launched his postresearch career.