UNI NOVA – Research Magazine of the University of Basel

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  Research

  Plant’s favorite bacteria to promote crop yield.

  Text: Santina Russo / To optimize their growth, plants shape the bacterial community on and around their roots. Finding out how they do so is key to develop new microbiological products for greater sustainability in agriculture.

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  Research

  A necessary burden.

  Text: Noëmi Kern / Sometimes, the word “ballast” has a negative connotation of “burden”. Yet, ballast was a crucial resource in global seafaring.

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  Research

  Molecules in full gallop.

  Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / An interdisciplinary team of scientists investigates how exactly individual biomolecules move around. One of the tricks the researchers use involves tiny pores that only allow one molecule to slip through at a time.

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  Research

  The ABCs of programming.

  Text: Samanta Siegfried / For almost 10 years, the PrimaLogo project has given Basel schoolchildren the chance to learn to program in primary school. The project simultaneously acts as continuing education for teachers.

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  Alumni

  Hooked on politics.

  Text: Marion Maurer / In his youth, An Lac Truong Dinh memorized the names of Switzerland’s parliament members. Today, the Basel alumnus works as a political advisor to Swiss Federal Council member Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.

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  Alumni

  “I wish we were braver as a Church.”

  Interview: AlumniBasel* / Priscilla Schwendimann came to Basel to study theology. Today, as a pastor in the Reformed Church, she advocates for joyful and empowering faith.

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  Research

  Democracy in the digital age.

  Text: Christian R. Ulbrich, legal scholar* / Christian R. Ulbrich combines his interest in computer technology with jurisprudence and examines the question of how digitalization influences political power relations.

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  Research

  Is there such a thing as “migraine weather”?

  Text: Athina Papadopoulou and Marcus D'Souza / Those plagued by headaches know it well. Yet, the medical literature does not have a consensus on the connection between weather and migraines. An overview.

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  In conversation

  “Peace is a controversial term these days.”

  Interview: Urs Hafner / Our world is again becoming dominated by war. It is especially during the hottest phases of conflicts that well-informed, level-headed discourse is most crucial, says Dana Landau of swisspeace.