Switzerland: a Nature Park?

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Switzerland: a nature park? ...... 10 Tiny Swiss cube Selfies: a hundred Publish and in orbit ...... 40 years old ...... 44 perish ...... 46 What is good research?

Last November, the Sunday edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article entitled ‘Fast-food science’ in which the author complained that universities are publishing a torrent of uninteresting scientific results that are sometimes even contradictory. According to some newspaper columnists and internet commentators, Swiss researchers often produce nothing but hot air. To be sure, well-founded criticism of the science scene is needed. But the arguments of its critics are often shoddy. Here’s a selection of the more popular objections to scientific studies:

1) “We know that already”. This is a killer for almost all research results that are expressed in comprehensible terms. Anyone who says this hasn’t understood that science progresses thanks to researchers prov- ing or disproving existing knowledge.

2) “We don’t need to know that”. An erudite friend of my mother once made a derogatory remark about the Brockhaus encyclopaedia, complaining that “it’s got so many irrelevant entries”. Happy is he who knows so much he can judge what’s relevant among all extant encyclopaedia entries and research topics.

3) “Not even the scientists know for sure”. Researchers are never sure. If we expect this of them, then we’ve mistaken science for religious fervour. We only need to express mistrust when something is trumpeted as being the truth.

The Economist did a better job in two articles last October. Based partly on studies by John Ioannidis, they discussed what ails science today. For example, there are in fact too few ‘uninteresting’ studies that confirm existing knowledge. In this issue, we present an interview with John Ioannidis in which he summarises his arguments.

Finally, some news of our own. This is the hundredth issue of our Swiss research magazine Horizons. We are celebrating our birthday by launching an English edition in digital format and a tablet version in German, French and English. For more information, see www.snf.ch/ horizonte.

Valentin Amrhein, Editor Horizons – the Swiss magazine for scientific research No. 100, March 2014 horizons Contents 28 Hans Lozza Hans Sonja Sbilordo Sonja

Focus: Wildlife parks Biology and medicine

28 When the climate changes the mating game 10 Increases in the planet’s temperature may Switzerland: a nature park? lead to the emergence of new species. One hundred years ago scientists set the ball 30 Off target, too often rolling for the creation of a Swiss National Why is it that so much published research Park. More recently, and this time in the is actually flawed? 32 name of tourism, we’ve seen a host of natural Lynx, bears, wolves – and humans The wild animals of the Alps stand a parks pop up around the country. But they chance at survival, provided we can put up may also contribute to research. with them. 34 13 Wild pollen collectors Labels in life It’s not just the honey bee that’s threat- ened with extinction. The wild bee is too. 15 Rest and recreation in the lab 36 Lost knowledge 18 Medical studies are often left uncompleted Flushing out the river and remain unpublished.

20 37 Outside the fence Self-defence, one leaf at a time Treating bowel disease with light Evolution’s misappropriations

◂ Tree with deer: for many decades this pine tree was the symbol of the Park. This image is from a Swiss National Park hiking guide published in 1948. Picture: SNP Archives

◂◂ Not a human in sight: The Val da Stabelchod in the National Park. Photo: Alison Pouliot

4 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 38 42 In pictures 6 Microcosm Man in a skirt of words.

Debate 8

Keystone/Rue des Archives/RDA des Keystone/Rue Part-time science?

Questions and answers 23 Who dictates science communication, Mr Pappa, the marketing department?

Flurina Schneider, Institute of Geography, University of Bern of University Geography, of Institute Schneider, Flurina Portrait 24 Katharina Fromm, a chemist of substance. Environment and technology Culture and society Fieldwork 38 42 26 A question of sharing Swiss thinking Watch a parfumier at work! The regions of Crans Montana and Sierre During the Age of Enlightenment, the are dry, and water is in high demand. Swiss Confederacy played host to a think- tank for political theory. Interview 40 46 A small slice of Switzerland in space 44 According to John Ioannidis, science faces It’s been four years since a satellite built Playful poses, theatrical gestures a test of credibility. by students was put into orbit. Early private photography focused on friends celebrating physical proximity. 41 How does it work? Cloud secrets 45 49 Model for the thermoelectric effect The arms trade and international law Put a Li-ion in your batteries! Cosmic messengers found in Antarctica When Timothy translated Aristotle Fighting depression with self-esteem Access all areas 50 Martin Vetterli, President of the National Research Council, argues in favour of open data.

Inside the SNSF and SA 51 What is natural and what is artificial?

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 5 In pictures

6 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Microcosm Man in a skirt of words

The man crosses his hands over his chest in a gesture of humility. In harmony with himself and his surroundings, he is an analogy of the coming-together of the microcosm and the macrocosm, of man and the world. His senses represent the primary elements, his right and left eye the sun and the moon, his stomach the sea, his feet the earth. And above everything is God, who the German text here says created humankind as a meticulous compos- ite of the different elements of the universe. ‘Microcosm Man’ features in an anonymous southern German manuscript of the 15th century that comprises 16 plates, written in German and Latin. The mediaeval- ist Marcus Castelberg has made a commentated edition of them for his doctoral thesis. This collection of plates is the only one of its kind to survive, but Castelberg thinks that it is probably representative of a genre of literature that was widespread in the late Middle Ages. Rather like an encyclopaedia, it presents the conventional knowledge of the day, touching on astrological, medical and moral topics. These plates were probably made for representational purposes by laypeople with an interest in education, and were intended for a reading public of their peers. But why does the man have a beard, and why a skirt made up of words? This figure unites pictorial traditions of both Christianity and the ancient world. His head refers to the iconog- raphy of Christ and of St Christopher, while Castelberg believes that his skirt might allude to a garment from antiquity. uha

M. Castelberg and R. F. Fasching (eds.): Die «Süddeutsche Tafelsammlung». Edition der Handschrift. Washington, D.C., Library of Congress. Berlin and Boston, 2013.

M. Castelberg: Wissen und Weisheit. Untersuchungen zur spätmittelalterlichen «Süddeutschen Tafelsammlung» Washington, D.C., Library of Congress. Berlin and Boston, 2013. Picture: Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 7 Debate

Part-time (photomontage) Chételat Valérie science?

Many mid-level academic positions are only paid on a part-time basis. What are the pros and cons of part-time research? Is science at all possible on a part-time basis?

art-time work in the sciences is area, but at the same time they are gain- postdocs on a road to nowhere. At that usually linked to the debate about ing their first experience in teaching and phase of your career, part-time work is ac- equal opportunities. So it seems a administration. And for the other three to tually counter-productive. All your energies topic that ought to attract the most four months of the year they are free to do ought actually to be invested in improving Pinterest among female scientists. And as whatever it takes for them to advance in your scientific qualifications. To be sure, it it happens, I myself started out as a ‘part- their field. is possible to compensate for a brief, less time professor’ at the University of Ham- productive work phase by increasing your burg. For the two years that followed the productivity afterwards. But this ‘qualifi- birth of my first daughter, I handed over a cation phase’ of your career usually lasts quarter of my teaching commitments to a At that phase of your for ten to twelve years. So believing that it colleague. However, I soon noticed that all career, part-time work can simply be doubled is far removed from my other commitments – such as exams reality and will lead directly to academic and committee work – continued to be my is actually counter- failure. responsibility. So as it turned out, I actually productive. All your Posts for assistant professors with re- had little relief despite having given up 25% duced teaching commitments would be of my wages. energies ought actually the best solution in my opinion. But full- As we all know, part-time work is more to be invested in time assistant positions that could be com- intensive and more productive than the plemented by research phases (organised same number of hours in a full-time po- improving your scientific as sabbaticals or financed by scholarships) sition, so the institution in question prof- qualifications. would also raise the compatibility of career its from it. Universities have also long ac- and family. On the other hand, what’s not knowledged this, which is why younger Claudia Opitz-Belakhal suited to reconciling family and academic scholars at faculties of the humanities and commitments are the part-time employ- social sciences in Switzerland are mostly ment models for mid-level academics that employed only on a part-time basis. How- For postdocs, however, the parts just we often find at universities. They cause ever, the idea is not that they should take don’t add up, because this largely unpaid many academics to undertake research up other paid employment at the same research activity is done by those who al- projects or write books in so-called leisure time, but that they should use their free ready possess recognised academic qual- time – leaving their partners to change time for research – research that remains ifications. Furthermore, since Bologna, nappies and cook meals. You can well im- largely unpaid. This is justified by claiming postdocs may (and indeed must) take on agine who’s going to have a career under that the unpaid extra work will help these responsibility for examinations, and that those circumstances. young researchers to progress in their ca- demands a lot of their time. When research reers. For doctoral students, it can be a becomes a ‘leisure activity’, it often ends up Claudia Opitz-Belakhal is a professor of perfectly understandable thing to do. They falling by the wayside. And taking on such early-modern history at the University of Basel. still have much to learn in their research part-time work for family reasons, leads

8 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 n academia today, it’s often only part- part-time positions in different projects, ty often being direct functions of time, the time jobs that receive financing. This is even at different institutions. In these cas- most important progress in science still the case at postdoc level, for example. es too, their office time at the individual comes from contemplation and creativity, What might seem convenient from a institutes is limited. 2) The digitisation of or the proverbial lightning bolt of inspi- Ifamily point of view seems more of a prob- academia promotes research and network- ration. Where and when this happens is lem for aspiring researchers who don’t yet ing outside the physical walls of institu- (thankfully) impossible to predict, but it have any children. Will their careers be tions – it is hardly noticeable any more certainly doesn’t stick to office hours, nor damaged by not being able to hold a 100% is it dependent on terms or percentages of post? The superficially negative aspects of employment. Part-time work enables you part-time work are obvious: there’s less Part-time work enables to switch off from everyday office life. It time for active research, for publishing and can offer new stimuli and clear your head for writing research applications, as well as you to switch off from for the creativity that is so necessary in the less time spent at the institute or at confer- everyday office life. It can sciences – whether it comes riding your ences. In other words, there’s less face-time bike, walking in the mountains or watch- with the boss when he or she is busy decid- offer new stimuli and clear ing the creativity of your own children. ing who to appoint to a full-time position. your head for the creativity Finally, today there is also the possi- While the first two aspects should not bility of job sharing at management lev- necessarily count against you if your re- that is so necessary in the el. This could be an optimum solution for search is of high quality (after all, quality sciences … many scientists planning their careers, is more important than quantity!), the last and at the same time could lead to a mas- aspect is often the most critical because its Christian Hauck and sive increase in the percentage of women impact is subtle and unnoticed by the de- Martin Hoelzle holding management positions at univer- cision-makers themselves. Regardless of sities – a percentage that still remains too whether these institute heads are well-dis- low at present. Regrettably, many of those posed towards the part-time model, they who is working part-time and who isn’t. in the top jobs at universities and research still see their part-time employees less of- 3) Most researchers will be aware that you institutes are still too inflexible to be able ten and therefore have less time to become don’t stop thinking about a project when to reconcile themselves to the job-sharing convinced of their abilities. you close your office door behind you. On models that are already established in the So generally speaking, does working the contrary, you often find the solution business world. Here too, a little more crea- part-time have to entail a negative impact to scientific problems not at your desk, but tivity would be welcome. on your academic career? We don’t think in the shower in the morning, in your lei- so, on the basis of the following three spe- sure time or while you’re cooking in the Christian Hauck and Martin Hoelzle both have cific issues in today’s scientific culture: evening. 50% jobs and share a professorship of geography 1) The scarcity of full-time posts means But even though flawless workmanship at the University of Fribourg. that postdocs working 100% often combine is still in demand, with results and quali-

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 9 Focus: Wildlife parks

A difference in horsepower: the Fuorn Pass in the Swiss National Park. On the left circa 1920 (photo: Hermann Langen), and on the right in 2012 (photo: Heinrich Haller). Some 800,000 vehicles fill the park's roads and air every year.

10 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Switzerland: a nature park? One hundred years ago the Swiss National Park was an international pioneer. Today it celebrates its centenary. Other nature parks have also recently been established, offering a more open environment. They nevertheless also offer a great opportunity for researchers.

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Switzerland boasts a dense network of wildlife parks. Unlike the Swiss National Park, whose reality disappears. “The process disappears primary purpose was to protect in the product”, as Karl Marx put it in one of his stirring phrases. He means that prod- nature from man, these wildlife ucts and goods on the open market acquire parks are focused mainly on the a life of their own: a ‘fetish character’ that masks the conditions of their production – sustainable management of nature in other words, the sweat and the time that from the bottom up. The federal working people have invested in making government heavily advertises them. In the case of wildlife parks, the actual living conditions of their inhabitants them under different labels. disappear in the ‘product’ that is marketed. By Urs Hafner Nothing but a promise Marx’s observation is especially apt for labelled products, despite the appearance of Labels in life informing consumers of their origins. But if the consumer decides to buy the product, here’s going out for a walk, and then then he or she has little choice but to be- there’s hiking. And where better to lieve the label, and this duplicates the illu- practise the more strenuous forms sion. Furthermore, nothing exists behind of perambulation than in a place the label of these parks except a promise. Tlabelled a ‘park of national significance’? And only the label serves to differentiate In such a park, like the Gantrisch Wildlife the park from other, otherwise similar re- Park that stretches between the cantons gions. The federal government hopes that of Bern and Fribourg, you won’t just saun- these regions will develop ecological forms ter over meadows and through woods. In of management on the basis of the labels a park of ‘national significance’, you’re they are given. If this is not the case after bound to have a more rarified experience. ten years, then the label will be taken away Nature will surely seem more natural than from the park in question. In contrast to elsewhere, the air airier, the milk milkier. the national parks, the regional parks place O brave new park that has such cows in it. a great emphasis on initiatives carried out The Gantrisch region got its label from on the spot. the Swiss federal authorities, and it does So when walking through the ‘labelled’ not wear it lightly. Just like the other twen- woodlands or when buying cheese with ty Swiss wildlife parks that are either al- that same label, consumers are only given ready in existence or are currently being a rudimentary feeling of doing something set up, Gantrisch fulfils certain conditions good for nature – nothing more. It is all according to its specific category. There are the more obvious that after a trip to the three ‘national parks’, seventeen ‘regional park they will continue with their normal wildlife parks’, a ‘wildlife experience park’, lives, which are probably otherwise pretty and they all have to be of ‘high natural and devoid of anything eco-friendly. In some landscape value’. In other words, they have circumstances, the air of sustainability im- to have lots of animals – and rare animals at parted by the label might even suggest to that. Their topography has to be beautiful consumers that they have done enough al- and unusual, and they have to have monu- ready, and confirm them in their otherwise ments and sites of significant cultural and non-sustainable lifestyles. historical interest. These have to offer an Is this too negative a view of things? untouched habitat for flora and fauna, and Shouldn’t we just be happy that there are a ‘wildlife experience’ to the general pub- at least a few oases of green on the map? lic. Above and beyond this, they must offer Should we hope that the parks might pre- environmentally friendly products and serve a few habitats from the plague of the services. And even if this all sounds rather residential estates? Should we bank on the Hardly any change here: in the space vague, it’s still specific enough to ensure scientists who the parks now allow to en- of ninety years, only the glacier in the that, for example, the urban area of greater gage with ecological concerns more intent- background has melted. The Macuner Zurich would never succeed in becoming a ly? Perhaps it is they who will ultimately Lake District has only been part of ‘park of national significance’. help us to achieve a state of affairs in which the National Park since 2000 (photos: Affixing labels to nature and sustaina- both ‘wildlife parks’ and their labels be- above by Hermann Langen, circa 1920, bility has something schizoid about it, for come superfluous. below by Ruedi Haller, 2008). they convey an illusion behind which the

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 13 14 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Focus: Wildlife parks

Rest and recreation in the lab

One hundred years ago, the tanding on the summit of the Piz on creating a national park. And it was Quatterval or wandering through thanks the ‘vandalism of the Matterhorn’, Swiss National Park was the Val Mingèr in the National Park, as people called it, that the Federal Council set up by natural scientists you will hardly imagine that you’re proved willing to be drawn into the project who turned it into their Sright in the middle of a laboratory. But it that would create one. was indeed a ‘natural or open-air labora- own, open-air lab. Today, tory’ that the founders of the Park had in The illusion of protection such parks make up one mind a hundred years ago: ‘a magnificent An ambitious research programme was endeavour to return the land to the wild’. set up by the scientists involved, with the seventh of Switzerland’s total The Swiss National Park was placed under botanist Carl Schröter and the zoologist surface area – offering great ‘complete protection’ in the name of sci- Friedrich Zschokke leading the way. “The opportunities to researchers. ence and has remained unique to this day. Swiss Society for Natural Sciences is to The aim was to allow the primordial na- carry out a comprehensive monographic By Marcel Falk ture of the Alps to reconstitute itself and “be treatment of the whole spectrum of nature given as a gift to the future” – all the while in the park”. It was to include a “complete under continual scientific observation. location catalogue of all living things” and “This experimental arrangement made the would document the topographical, hydro- Swiss National Park the global prototype of logical, geological and climatological con- a scientific wildlife park”, writes the his- ditions and human influences. Particular torian Patrick Kupper in his book Creating attention was to be paid to the settlement wilderness – a transnational history of the Swiss and forest history of the area. National Park. Other national parks, on the The National Park was both an innova- other hand – such as those in the USA – are tive and radical concept, says Kupper. The primarily intended for nature conservation idea of linking conservation with a scien- and human recreation. tific focus had a major international impact. However, it proved difficult to imple- Reproducible and universally valid ment consistently. As Kupper points out, “The outdoor field sciences came under “the Park Commission failed to live up to increasing pressure at the start of the 20th its own expectations in its efforts to realise century because they were not meeting the its ambitious plans”. The amount of money standards set by laboratory sciences”, says available was far less than was needed, and Kupper. As a result, an idea was born: cre- the idea of completely cordoning off the ating a laboratory on a 1:1 scale that would Park proved illusory. What’s more, upcom- allow for reproducible, universally valid re- ing researchers did not find it sufficiently sults. By completely shielding it from the attractive. “Nature takes a lot of time over influence of human beings and from civili- its own experiments. So the investigations sation in all its forms, the natural scientists had to be conducted over very long peri- of the day wanted to be able to watch na- ods to allow the researchers to collect data. ture at work. According to current theories, There was no promise of prestige in that”, all traces of humankind would gradually be says Kupper. swept away and nature would return to its One particularly persistent person was intrinsic equilibrium. Balthasar Stüssi. He began to make vege- In order to be able to set up their coun- tation surveys in 1939, but it wasn’t until tryside lab, the scientists who initiated 1970, three years before his retirement, that the Park needed plenty of good luck and he was able to publish a large monograph a tenacious spirit. Their way was paved in on the Alp la Schera. During this time, he the political arena by a symbolically dis- remained a senior assistant at the Univer- astrous project: the plan to build a rail- sity of Zurich and the National Park be- way up the Matterhorn, which set off a came a practical research site for several storm of protest. “The Matterhorn project renowned researchers. It was there, for ex- showed that nothing was safe from tech- ample, that the botanist Josias Braun-Blan- nology any more, not even the highest quet developed some of the main founda- mountain peaks”, says Kupper. The Federal tions of modern ecology (which he called Council requested an assessment from the ‘phytosociology’). Research carried out at Swiss Society for Natural Sciences (now the Park increased considerably after the Iconic casualty: for decades this known as the Swiss Academy of Scienc- SNSF was founded. Hans Leibundgut pro- pine tree was the symbol of the es). The Society was well prepared, since it moted a form of close-to-nature woodland National Park. Its remains still lie had recently founded the Swiss Commis- management that was based on his re- on the picnic area in the Val Mingèr sion for Nature Conservation. Led by the search on primeval forests, including the (photos: above by Hermann Langen, enterprising natural scientist Paul Sarasin, National Park. The well-known geologist 1920, below by Fredy Wyder, 2012). the Commission had already set its sights Rudolf Trümpy also did research there.

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“The studies carried out by leading au- tion Act came into force in 2007, new parks thorities and specialists brought good re- have been springing up everywhere. Nine- sults, but it ran aground somewhat in the teen are either already up and running or second half of the 20th century”, says Thom- currently being set up. This means that as Scheurer, the Secretary of the Research one seventh of Switzerland’s surface area Commission of the National Park. The lead- is now reserved for parks. Most of them are ing researchers concentrated primarily on ‘regional wildlife parks’, such as in the Gan- their own specialist fields, and there was trisch region in the Alpine foothills of the Progressive erosion: the rocky even a drop in the number of research pro- cantons of Bern and Fribourg. No special peaks of the Grass da Val dal Botsch jects in the 1970s. That was when the Re- conservation regulations apply to them. (photos: above by Hermann Langen, search Commission decided that research According to Kupper, the distribution 1920, below by Ruedi Haller, 2013). in the National Park should be reorgan- of parks across the country is down to po- ised. Since 1989 it has insisted on increased litical considerations. Parks were not se- monitoring in the Park and on consolidat- lected according to greatest natural value, ing interdisciplinary research, especially but were opened in areas where the parks in the social sciences and humanities. The seemed to offer opportunities for local de- aim was to achieve an ‘all-round under- velopment. The ‘park’ label is granted for standing’ of the Park. There was even the ten years and allows the promotion of tour- creation of a geographical information sys- ism and the sale of local products; areas tem to serve as a central resource. ‘with a high nature and landscape value’ need just apply to the federal authorities. The name says it all Legislators hope that by assigning special value to local nature and landscapes, those The founders of the Swiss National Park “This experimental areas will benefit from better conservation originally spoke of wanting to create a arrangement made than in the rest of Switzerland. ‘reservation’. But the concept did not get “Founding so many parks offers a unique much support among the general public. This the Swiss National opportunity to researchers”, says Astrid was why from 1910 onwards the founders Park the global Wallner from the Park Research Group of increasingly used the term ‘national park’. the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. They also took their cue from the USA. It was prototype of a We can now investigate many questions a fortunate decision, as it was well suited to scientific wildlife relevant to establishing a sustainable so- the wave of nationalisation that came in the ciety, such as: how can the population wake of the First World War. Once again in park” develop a sense of responsibility towards the early 21st century there was a reshuffle, Patrick Kupper, its natural and cultural resources? Do the yet whilst environmentalists and researchers Historian parks protect their biodiversity better than wanted ‘protected areas’, politicians instead other regions? What type of regional gov- created the categories of ‘national park’, ernance is successful? “Comparisons be- ‘regional wildlife park’ and ‘nature adventure It could be said, then, that this approach tween the parks themselves, and between park’, emphasising the goals of regional is an attempt once and for all to fulfil the the parks and other regions, can show us development and recreation. mf comprehensive specifications set out by which strategies really work”, says Wallner. the Park’s founding fathers. However, this It still remains to be seen whether re- goal has yet to be attained, says Scheurer. searchers will make use of this opportuni- Monitoring programmes have proliferat- ty. But Wallner has noticed that researched – there are just under 50 today – but ap- ers like to situate their projects in the Literature plications for comprehensive research into parks, and that those anchored there tend ecosystems have been rejected on several to be better funded. “The ‘park’ label seems P. Kupper, trans. G. Weiss: Creating occasions. “The future will show wheth- attractive to researchers” says Astrid Wall- wilderness – A transnational history of the er today’s programmes are sufficient to ner. This is important, because it’s not the Swiss National Park. New York: Berghahn, achieve an integrated, overall view”, says intention of politicians simply to impose 2012. Scheurer. scientific research on the parks. “And yet how can the parks be proven to have devel- H. Haller, A. Eisenhut, R. Haller (eds.): Atlas Undisturbed benchmarks oped sustainably if no one is monitoring des Schweizerischen Nationalparks – die Kupper believes that research in the Na- them?” asks Wallner. So can the wildlife ersten 100 Jahre. Bern: Haupt-Verlag, 2013. tional Park has increased in significance parks now be described as laboratories of since the 1990s. After the 1992 Earth Sum- sustainable development? She doesn’t like B. Baur, T. Scheurer (eds.): Wissen schaffen – mit in Rio de Janeiro, biodiversity became the term, preferring to say: “They’re model 100 Jahre Forschung im Schweizerischen a central topic in ecology. If they were to regions”. Nationalpark. Bern: Haupt-Verlag, in press. evaluate the influence of humans, scientists would need benchmarks that were as A. Wallner, P. Messerli: Parkforschung untouched and well-documented as possi- Further information Schweiz – ein Themenkatalog, ble. It was at this time too that the manage- Koordinationsstelle Parkforschung Schweiz. ment of the National Park was placed on a Congress: ‘How much protection does nature Bern 2012. scientific footing. Problems with increas- need?’ 25 and 26 September 2014 in Lausanne, ing numbers of vehicles, tourists or wild kongress14.scnat.ch animals were now tackled in collaboration with researchers. Jubilee website, 100 years of the National Park: This reorientation of research in the Na- www.nationalpark.ch/go/jubilaeum/ tional Park opened up completely new per- spectives. And for some time now, the Park has no longer been alone. Since the revised Swiss Nature and Cultural Heritage Protec-

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Flushing out the river For more than a decade, artificial flooding has been used to revitalise the Spöl, a mountain stream in the Swiss National Park. Although this renaturation project has been a success, the same method is not employed in other mountain streams. By Simon Koechlin

he Spöl is actually quite wretched to the Spöl be flushed with a large amount of look at. The broad bed of the biggest water from the Livigno Dam two or three waterway in the Swiss National Park times a year, from 2000 onwards. offers only a trickle of water. It’s not Twhat one would expect of a healthy, rush- Increased biodiversity ing mountain stream. But since 1970 the Christopher Robinson and Michael Döring Engadine Power Plants (EKW) have been from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquat- using the Spöl to produce electricity, which ic Science and Technology (Eawag), along is why the river has to make do with just with other researchers, have since been 12% of its original volume of water. Never- investigating how the biodiversity of the theless, in contrast to other Alpine streams Spöl has changed as a result of this artifi- that have been similarly tamed, the Spöl cial flooding. It brings a dynamism to its is home to a wide range of bustling, living otherwise monotonous, measured flow, creatures such as are typical in a river en- flushing fine sediments downriver. This vironment. helps to prevent the river bed from solid- This is thanks to a long-term research ifying, says Döring, and its positive effect project that stretches back into the last on the ecological community of life in the millennium. Using the Spöl to generate river quickly became visible. The Spöl’s power took away its momentum, so it was high concentration of freshwater shrimps no longer able to transport pebbles and had been relatively atypical for a mountain sediment downstream. The riverbed so- stream in the region, but there was a signif- lidified, pools formed, and instead of the icant reduction in just the first three years. Spöl being home to creatures specific to a Instead, those aquatic life forms that are mountain stream, more mundane organ- more typical of this environment became isms established themselves. Some types more frequent – such as mayflies, stoneflies of algae and moss even spread to excess. and caddis flies. In the 1990s the Research Commission of The new flow regime also had a positive the National Park – a body supported by the effect on larger species. Brown trout – the Swiss Academy of Sciences – had the idea only type of fish naturally occurring in the of using artificial flooding to improve the Spöl – are now making spawning pits with ecology of the Spöl. “The result was a pro- their tails in the gravelly riverbed. Flush- The Stabelchod cabin in the National cess of rapprochement between business ing out the riverbed means this can now Park: in the 19th century it sheltered and environmental protection that took happen more often again. The researchers livestock out to pasture during cold several years”, says Thomas Scheurer, the have ascertained that the number of trout spells (photos: above by Hermann manager of the Research Commission. In spawning pits has risen fivefold since the Langen, 1920, below by Heinrich the end, it was agreed with the EKW that beginning of the project. “We can’t return Haller, 2013).

18 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 19 20 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Focus: Wildlife parks

The Val Cluozza and the river which bears its name: the valley contains some of the wildest scenery in the National Park (photos: above by Her- mann Langen, 1920, below by Stefan Imfeld, 2008). to a natural state with this method. But as a that of the Spöl. The Spöl flows down to the whole, the species composition in the Spöl valley relatively untouched by tributaries, is once again getting close to that of the whereas below the Trift glacier the wa- natural rivers in the region”, says Döring. ters branch out into the meadowlands in a The artificial flooding is organised so manner that is different both in the com- that the EKW suffers no loss of production. plexity of its outflow and in its dynamics”, The volume of water necessary for flushing says Döring. So it first has to be clarified out the river is ‘saved up’ throughout the what kind of residual water-flow system year by means of a slight reduction in the might be the most suited to maintain the daily outflow. “It’s a win-win situation”, Trift meadows, or at least their most im- says Jachen Gaudenz of the EKW. The new portant functions. system actually means the company is losing less water than before, because the Eco-catastrophe? EKW already had to perform a maintain- Last March, the Spöl project team had a ance flush regularly in order to clear out- taste of the risks involved when you inter- lets of mud and dirt. And for the National vene in nature. While the water level was Park, the adopted solution is “a good ap- low, large amounts of sediment from the proach”, as research director Ruedi Haller Livigno reservoir found their way into the confirms. “We regret the fact that the Spöl Spöl, and some four kilometres of the river is no longer a natural waterway. But the were covered in sludge. Thousands of trout flooding has recreated near-natural con- and innumerable micro-organisms per- ditions – and the project has also yielded ished in the mud. The media even spoke of much general information about such re- an eco-catastrophe. But in the meantime naturation concepts”. it has become clear that the biodiversity of the Spöl has recovered amazingly quick- International showcase ly. In early December, the task force set up Indeed, the Spöl is now regarded as a after the mishap declared that the species showpiece project for the renaturation of composition was close to its state before mountain streams. “Several rivers in other the incident, especially in the lower part of countries are being flooded artificially, -ac the river. cording to a similar principle”, says Döring. The accident may also have a posi- These include the Snowy River in Australia tive side. “Such events also occur in other and the Colorado in the USA. In Switzer- stretches of residual water”, says Haller. land, however, there are hardly any compa- But because the diversity of species in the rable projects – even though many Alpine stream in question is usually unknown streams are dammed. Thomas Scheurer be- before such contamination takes place, its lieves that this is mostly on account of con- consequences remain unclear. “Thanks to cession agreements, which regulate down our many years of monitoring the river, we to the smallest detail how much water an can now assess the effects quickly and pre- operating company can use from a reser- cisely, and thereby make a contribution to voir, and at which time. If a more dynamic improving an unsatisfactory situation in regime were to be introduced for the resid- the management of residual water flows”. ual water flow, as in the case of the Spöl, then these concessions would have to be changed – “and that would mean massive legal expenses that the power plant operators would rather avoid”. All the same, an Eawag spin-off company founded by Döring is currently collab- orating with the Oberhasli Hydroelectric Power Company (KWO) to see if a dynamic residual water-flow system might be possible at the outlet of the Trift glacier. The KWO is considering creating an artificial lake there. “The situation is different from

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 21 Focus:Cartoon Wildlife parks

Outside the fence Even grasshoppers can influence the climate, as experiments in the National Park have proven. By Ori Schipper

hese results call to mind the med- hoofed animals. But the amount of grass itation exercises of pantheists and consumed clearly does not relate directly Zen Buddhists: everything is con- to carbon dioxide emissions. Risch conjec- nected. The bacteria and roots in tures that the plant-eaters actually have Tthe ground, the grass, the weeds, the grass- “The connections are a more indirect impact on life in the soil. hoppers, the marmots, the mountain goats more complicated than She is not just thinking of the nutrient and the deer – not only do they all have an intake that is provided through animal impact on each other, but they also influ- we thought” dung, as she also suspects that when grass ence the carbon balance and, ultimately, Anita Risch, grows, it provides more shade for the soil. our climate. This in turn influences the moisture in the Anita Risch and her team of researchers Biologist ground, and with it the activity of bacteria from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, in the soil. Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) could “The connections are more complicated well get a headache from all these compli- time of wire netting to keep out mice. And than we thought”, says Risch. Her team’s cated interrelationships – but at least they right on the inside there is a mosquito net image of a grasshopper that nibbles on a have the fresh, Alpine air of the Swiss Na- that keeps out insects. leaf, thereby influencing soil respiration tional Park to clear their heads, for they Risch and her colleagues wanted to and in turn our very climate, is just as apt carry out their experiments at some 2000 know how the community of organisms a description of chaos theory as the more metres above sea level. on the meadow – the different grasses and famous concept of the butterfly that flaps Since it was founded a hundred years weeds and the bacteria that live in the its wings and causes a hurricane. It is a ser- ago, the National Park has been a constant ground around their roots – react to the ab- endipitous source of satisfaction. object of research. But scientists long re- sence of specific plant-eaters. The answers stricted themselves to observing how na- to this are also important for climate pol- ture develops in the absence of human icy, because almost a third of the world’s influence. The approach that Risch’s group carbon is stored in the soil of grasslands, takes is instead a kind of compromise be- and soil respiration releases considerable tween this doctrine of non-intervention amounts of carbon dioxide. and the acknowledgement that controlled experiments can generate more detailed More carbon dioxide knowledge. “Our hypothesis was that excluding Literature: “Our first experiments were on a piece plant-eaters would slow down the nutri- of meadow about the size of a shopping ent cycle and that microbial activity in A.C. Risch, A.G. Haynes, M.D. Busse et al. basket”, says Risch. In their most recent the soil – and thus its carbon dioxide emis- (2013): ‘The response of soil CO2 fluxes experiment, the researchers have set up sions – would be reduced”, says Risch. But to progressively excluding vertebrate electric fences around different plots of their results present a more complex pic- and invertebrate herbivores depends on 63m2, just after the snow has melted, for ture. The surfaces from which plant-eaters ecosystem type’. Ecosystems 16: 1193–1202. five consecutive years. These keep out were excluded actually released more car- hoofed animals – deer and goats – while bon dioxide. The highest emissions came A.G. Haynes, M. Schütz, N. Buchmann et al. inside these plots other, smaller patches from surfaces that were inaccessible to (2014): ‘Linkages between grazing history are marked out with open-air ‘cages’ nest- deer and mountain hares. and herbivore exclusion on decomposition ing one inside the other. A close-meshed Astonishingly, insects – grasshoppers, rates in mineral soils of subalpine fence keeps out the marmots and moun- butterflies and crickets – consume rough- grasslands’. Plant and Soil 374: 579–591. tain hares, inside this is another ‘cage’, this ly the same amount of plant material as DOI 10.1007/s11104-013-1905-8.

22 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Questions and answers

“You have to be able to explain the benefits of a university, otherwise you’ll have problems”

The University of Bern is merging its science communication and marketing departments. This will help the University to maintain Chételat Valérie a coherent image, says Christoph Pappa, Head of the General Secretariat.

Horizons: Dr. Pappa, the University of Bern is being reorganised. The measures being taken include a merger of its communication and marketing departments, just as recently happened at the University of Does communicating scientific truths serve Basel. Why merge them? to improve the image of the University in “Do you really think we Dr. Pappa: Quite simply, because our com- today’s competitive world of education? wouldn’t publish results if we munication in a broad sense was too dis- We won’t just be looking at scientific re- thought they might damage parate, being spread over the whole uni- sults through ‘marketing glasses’. That versity. The alumni division was in one would be impossible, not least because we the image of the University?” place, PR was in another, and ‘events’ were would come up against internal opposition somewhere else again. Every faculty had its from our professors. We are aiming for a own voice. There were too many frictional coherent, distinctive image, coordinated We presented the merger in the University losses and there was too little coordination. wording and a better use of our resources. Senate. A few responded to it, but positively. This merger should now change all that – Do you really think we wouldn’t publish re- You see, in our age of competition among though it is not yet clear what shape the sults if we thought they might damage the educational institutions, of increasing ri- final, definitive organisation will take. image of the University? valries and ever scarcer resources, you have to be able to explain to people the benefits Are the goals of marketing and communi- Do your researchers ever come across such of a university. Otherwise, sooner or later cation compatible in the strict sense – can results? you’ll have problems. they both serve science communication? Not to my knowledge. You mean can they communicate scientific So would you like to have an even bigger knowledge? How do you differentiate between science marketing department? communication and marketing? Our prime concern is to invest our money Exactly. Science communication is aimed at the sci- in teaching and research. There will only be Whether in a narrow or a broad sense, entific community and the general public. a small-scale expansion of our marketing ‘communication’ does not have goals of its For the latter, the communication depart- department. Even in comparison to that of own; its goals are those of the University. ment works in close collaboration with the a smaller university, such as Lausanne for With this in mind, marketing and commu- scientists. This will still be the case in the example, it’s still going to be a modest en- nication aim in the same direction: they new organisation. Marketing has the task terprise. Interview by uha show people what the university is doing. of strengthening the University’s relations That’s the case at all universities. The com- with its stakeholders. Christoph Pappa has a doctorate in law and is the munication departments of the University Secretary General of the University of Bern. of St Gallen, of ETH Zurich and of EPFL even When you announced the merger, did you have the explicit task of cultivating the have any negative response, perhaps from brand of their respective institution. anxious scientists?

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 23 Portrait Valérie Chételat Valérie

A chemist of substance

At the University of Fribourg, Katharina Fromm’s infectious enthusiasm for her subject inspires her students. As a researcher, she and her team are developing high-performance batteries and improved coatings for implants. By Daniela Kuhn

t’s a sunny winter’s day, half past twelve itation’ in Geneva. She was then awarded in the afternoon. Katharina Fromm, a an SNSF professorship at the University of professor of chemistry, has just arrived Basel. The University of Fribourg is official- in Bern to take part in her monthly meet- ly bilingual, though she actually employs Iing as a member of the Research Council three languages there, because the Mas- of the Swiss National Science Foundation ter’s degree is taught in English. (SNSF). She’s bought a pretzel and orange Fromm’s research team is currently juice at the station, and places them on the composed of twelve doctoral students and table in front of her. But she hardly seems post-doctoral researchers. They are study- to need an energy boost. As she talks about ing so-called oxide materials – substances her life in Fribourg, where she has taught that occur in batteries, for example. Their and researched since 2006, she’s both alert aim is to improve existing batteries and and at ease at the same time. to develop new ones. “The energy turna- Eight years is the longest Fromm has round is a challenge for the storage and ever lived in a single place. She was born production of energy”, she says. Ideally, in the Saarland in Germany, but grew up one day we should be able to power most in different places, all depending on where cars with high-performance batteries. She her father’s job took them. They first went always tells her students: “We’re creating to France, then back to Germany. When she substances that no one has made before was twelve they then went to the USA for now, and that don’t exist anywhere else!” a year, where she attended a French school Fromm’s enthusiasm is infectious. because it taught maths at the same level as in Europe. After returning to Germa- Resistant bacteria ny she took her school-leaving exams in Fromm and her team combine organic and French at the European School in Karlsru- inorganic substances in their other re- he. “If you set off into the world at the right search field, too: developing new implant age”, she says, “then you learn to leave with coatings. Today, people want to remain both a heavy heart and a smile” – for she active even into old age, so an increasing knew she would always find new friends number of body parts are being replaced. wherever she went. All the same, she’s re- “The problem with that is the growing really happy that some of those friendships sistance of increasing numbers of bacteria have in fact lasted to the present day. that cause implant infections and create She decided to study chemistry because biofilms”. Together with her team, she is it unites both theory and practice. “I like to working with industry to research new work with my hands as well as my head”, antimicrobial surfaces that destroy the she says. She studied in Karlsruhe and bacteria. But it’s not that the current mar- Strasbourg, combining the natural scienc- ket has been driving her research – on the es with languages, and earned her ‘habil- contrary, she and her team have actually

24 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 “We’re creating substances that no one has made before now, and that don’t exist anywhere else!”

opened up this new field as a result of their headed by women, and only one of these systematic, fundamental research. has a full-time, permanent position. What Fromm doesn’t mention is just Fromm is not just active in the Swiss how respected she is, and how highly re- National Science Foundation, but also in garded. In September 2013 she was made the Chemistry Platform of the Swiss Acad- a Fellow of the American Chemical Socie- emy of Sciences, the Swiss Society for Crys- ty, the biggest of its kind. This honour was tallography and the Swiss Study Founda- created in 2009, and Fromm is the first Eu- tion. Her administrative work in Fribourg ropean and only the third non-American also takes up much of her time. Writing up to be awarded it. When asked about it, she projects means spending especially long says: “I was surprised, since I’m one of the evenings in the office. And if something younger recipients. I gladly accept it as an occurs to her at four in the morning, then incentive to carry on with my work”. she gets up and sends an e-mail: “The life of a researcher never lets go of you”. But Unpretentious and committed with her husband, who is also a chemist, Her modesty finds a corollary in her un- she says she can also talk about everything pretentious yet committed manner when under the sun. teaching her subject – such as when she They live just a few minutes’ walk from stands before a hundred kids at Fribourg’s the University in the suburb of Pérolles, ‘Children’s University’, explaining the the- where they enjoy a small-town, homely ory and practice of chemistry in straight- environment. At the fish counter in the forward language for half an hour. Aged 8 local shop she spots one of her students – to 12, these children are the ones most open and in the department store she meets an- to the ‘conjuring tricks’ that take place in other, who asks her about test data. Fromm the laboratory. Fromm also makes sure recently returned to Fribourg after a long that the media in Fribourg report on her trip. And when she arrived back it struck subject: “We encounter some 80 chemical her once again: life is good here. elements in our daily lives. I try to make people aware of it”. She gets annoyed if she sees products whose packaging claims that they’re free of chemicals: “There’s no such thing as ‘chemical free’!” During the day, her students have her full attention. It’s this contact with them that is the most important to her: “In the Katharina Fromm end, the people who count are the ones you educate and mould”. She feels especially Katharina Fromm was born in St. Ingbert close to her team. As a woman supervisor, in Germany in 1969. Since 2009 she has she is above all a role model for the young been a full professor in the Department of women around her. Up to the time they all Chemistry at the University of Fribourg and a take their doctorate, the women are not member of the Research Council of the Swiss outnumbered by the men, but this changes National Science Foundation. After complet- afterwards. In the Department of Chemis- ing her chemistry studies in Karlsruhe and try at the University of Fribourg, only two Strasbourg, she was awarded an SNSF out of eleven research groups are currently professorship at the University of Basel.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 25 Fieldwork

What’s the smell of trust? The ‘creativity researcher’ Claus Noppeney investigates how new luxury perfumes are developed. He has been observing scent designers who create concepts called ‘Rage’, ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Trust’.

erfumes never really interested me. I ‘Trust’ – but he failed to arrive at the agreed did not imagine that I would ever re- time. “Just popped to the main station” search the production of scents. To- he texted us. A little later he arrived at the day, however, I’m pretty much part agency with a pile of fashion and lifestyle Pof the scenery at perfume industry events. magazines that he had just bought. Now I visit trendy scent-concept stores in Los the first stage of work began. He flicked Angeles, and our research is discussed in through a torrent of pictures at breakneck well-known perfume blogs. Together with speed, jotting down notes here and there, my colleague Nada Endrissat, I’m working making copies, cutting out, scanning, on an ethnography of scent design. trawling through Google’s image archives How did this come about? Four years ago, using ever new search terms, and reach- I had a visit from a group of former fellow ing into the bookshelves beside his desk – students from my time at the University of always looking for yet more pictures. St. Gallen (HSG), where I studied economics In the meantime, we had set ourselves and management. They were hunting for up as observers. At the start, I felt invasive business projects, and I told them about a when I set up my tripod, drew out the ca- designer of ‘emotion-based’ scents in Zu- ble and pointed my camera at the design- rich who had just entered the niche market er. I was worried that our presence would of high-class perfumes. ‘Rage’ and ‘Eupho- disturb his work. But soon our arrange- ria’ were the scent names of his luxury uni- ment became completely normal. I was sex brands. Later, at a party, my friends told impressed with the endurance that the me excitedly about a visit they had made to designer showed when skimming through his agency, and of the pictures and scents thousands of images, creating ever new ar- to be experienced there. rangements and collages on his worktop, That hooked me, and thus the idea only to jettison them all again. came about for ‘Wissensduft’: ‘the scent His picture compilations were dominat- of knowledge’. Together, my research col- ed by pastel colours. The embrace of two league and I followed the creation of the lovers – a young man, his head resting on scents ‘Trust’ and ‘Reencounter’, starting the breast of his older partner – was intend- with the conceptual work in the Zurich de- ed to represent the topic of trust and a sense sign agency, then moving on to its olfacto- of security. The images chosen showed vine ry implementation by parfumiers in Berlin leaves and wood fibres and were intended and New York and finally through to the to point towards how the future perfume last stage, the branding of the product. was going to smell. Our first meeting was set up so that we The topic was initially abstract, but could observe how our Zurich designer was gradually grew more and more tangible. going to draft the concept for the scent By digitally manipulating the images, he

26 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Multisensorial: the collages created by the agency bestow character upon a fragrance (above). Claus Noppeney (in the red sweater) is a Professor at Berne University of the Arts. Here he gets to watch parfumiers at work. Photos: Claus Noppeney, Nada Endrissat

finally came up with three emotionally charged, passionate, interrelated compo- sitions. Despite this digital process, it was actually his hands-on work with the material that was important. What was striking was how calm and continual the flow of work was, despite the innumerable phone calls, e-mails and meetings. The interrup- tions seemed just to flow into the creative process. Luxury brands work with images, photos, associative texts and colours in order to guide the development of a scent. The affective, emotional and visual content of the concept images created by the designer are used as orientation points both by the parfumiers and by the advertising agency at the final stage when the product is branded. Here they decide on the name of the product, the design of the packaging and bottle, plus the campaign that will be set in motion to promote the scent. Meanwhile, I often wear the scent whose development we observed at first hand. Time and again, I am surprised by how others react to my new fragrant aura. As recorded by Susanne Leuenberger

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 27 Biology and medicine

When the climate changes the mating game

Global warming might lead not just to the loss of species, but also to the creation of new ones. By Simone Nägeli

ometimes a corner of a shelf can male. The temperature was increased slow- suffice to research into evolution. ly at a rate of 0.2 Celsius per week, meaning Oliver Martin’s research group is that the beetles had to adapt to an increase investigating the red flour beetle – of five degrees over six further generations. Stribolium castaneum. It is smaller than a During this continual increase in tem- grain of rice, which is why whole popu- perature, the polygamous female beetles lations of them can fit into a single cubic produced less offspring than monogamous meter filled with different containers (see beetles. “Over several generations, polyga- photo). The researchers of the Institute mous beetles were more sensitive in their of Integrative Biology (IBZ) at ETH Zurich reaction to warming”, says Martin. This is are observing the beetle’s development so probably because the polygamous females as to gain insights into the mechanisms adapted their organism to a more intensive of how species arise and develop. With mating activity during their mini-evolu- climate change in mind, their research is tionary process. But when the researchers also focussed on the future – because the then simulated global warming, these fe- flour beetles allow them to investigate the males had fewer resources to help them impact of global warming on the develop- adapt to the higher temperatures. “This ment of biodiversity. shows that in the long term, polygamous Oliver Martin and his doctoral student species might adapt less well to rising tem- Vera Gräzer have now proven that rising peratures than do monogamous species”, temperatures do not just threaten biodiver- believes Martin. sity, but can also fundamentally alter evolutionary processes. In their experiments Polygamous systems they have compared the reproductive But in polygamous systems, the pressure success of female flour beetles at higher of sexual selection is greater than for mo- temperatures when living either monoga- nogamous beetles. Sexual selection is an mously with only a single male partner, or important driver of evolution because it is polygamously with several partners. They through the choice of partner that individ- discovered that polygamous female beetles uals are selected to reproduce and are able at first produced more offspring than mo- to have their characteristics inherited by nogamous females. future generations. Does this increase in “Then we wanted to find out whether sexual selection perhaps lead to the cre- polygamous populations fare better in the ation of new species? As a matter of fact, long term than those with a monogamous during these experiments with increasing mating strategy”, says Martin. His group temperatures, polygamous beetle popu- bred more than 35 generations of both com- lations became genetically more distant pletely polygamous and monogamous bee- from each other than was the case with tles. They kept individual females isolated monogamous populations. When flour with either a male harem or just a single beetles from different polygamous popu-

28 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Postcoital blues: below, two flour beetles before, during and after mating, and far left, the experimental design in the laboratory. Photos: Sonja Sbilordo and Vera Gräzer (far left)

lations mated, this only rarely resulted in offspring. This is an initial step towards a species splitting up and the concomitant creation of new species. Caution is advised So does this now mean that global warm- “Over several gener ing could contribute not just to the loss of species, but also to the creation of new ations, polygamous ones? “That is perfectly possible” says beetles were more Martin. But at the same time he advises caution, given the results indicating a di- sensitive in their minished adaptability among polygamous reactio n to warming”. beetle populations. If new species emerged Oliver Martin, from polygamous populations, these might The flour beetle as a model for evolution well be less adaptable, and so would in the Biologist end decline quickly and disappear. The flour beetle, tribolium castaneum, is a But Martin does not want to weigh up pest that is common in temperate climate the greater potential for forming new spe- zones and that feeds off human food stocks. cies against the diminished adaptability For several reasons it is ideally suited as a among polygamous flour beetle popula- model organism for scientists. Its genetic tions. “Our results allow neither for a whol- make-up was completely decoded in 2008. ly positive nor a wholly negative interpre- This beetle reproduces very quickly, with tation with regard to climate change”, he one female laying up to a thousand eggs. says. Instead, what they have really shown Because it only needs very little space, is that global warming could change the numerous populations of the beetle can development of a species. It doesn’t just be kept in a small area. There is one more compel a species to adapt, but also influ- reason why the flour beetle is suitable for ences its sexual selection and thereby its studies of evolution: it is very undemanding. adaptability. The combination of these It can survive in a packet of flour and consequences of global warming shows reproduce there without having to take in that the situation is more complex than so water. It makes excellent sense to test the far imagined. “We must keep this in mind effects of the anticipated global warming when drawing up prognoses for the devel- on such a robust species, says the biologist opment of biodiversity”, says Martin. Oliver Martin from ETH Zurich. “If we find that it has an effect on this species, then we can assume that there will also be an effect on more sensitive species, possibly even of much greater magnitude”.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 29 Biology and medicine

Off target, too often Why are most published research results incorrect? We look at a few reasons currently being discussed, along with some possible solutions. By Valentin Amrhein

30 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 he or she wanted to find. All the same, done, because the methods of the original everything would be simpler to interpret studies are often not described in suffi- properly if there was also disclosure of the cient detail. Nor does academia show much many trials in which nothing surprising interest in repeating the trials of others. was found. The significance of single pos- However, journals such as PLOS ONE are itive results would then dwindle away in now bucking the trend, by openly declar- the face of many negative results. However, ing that they do not look for studies offer- negative results mostly disappear into desk ing big surprises. They only want to publish drawers because uninteresting studies, by the results of experiments that have been definition, are just not news worthy. This is carried out impeccably; similarly they the reason why so many positive findings also offer column inches for repeat exper- seem far more certain than they really are. iments. Then there is our own delight in a good story. Scientific papers are almost always Not punishment but reward constructed as a narrative that leads di- We should aim for a different state of affairs rectly from the very first idea, via the de- in future. Researchers should be praised, velopment of the hypothesis and data col- not punished, when their work leads them lection, to the desired results. After all, even along less straightforward paths or when cience obviously functions well. Our the peer reviewers of a scientific journal they disclose their own errors and failures. drugs are effective, the Higgs-Boson want to read a convincing tale. So it’s easy Even the best researchers make mistakes, has been discovered, climate change to imagine the great temptation to adjust and in order for others to build on their ex- is real, and light is still quicker than an original hypothesis to fit the eventual perience, this should be discussed without Sanything else. The fact that none of this is findings. Put figuratively, the problem with any notion of sanction. And it’s not just the 100% certain isn’t a fundamental criticism retrospectively adjusting a hypothesis is pharmaceutical industry that should dis- of research in itself, because the empirical rather like an archer shooting blind at a close its data records to the public; scien- sciences regard all knowledge as provision- plain wooden wall, then painting the target tists at our universities should also open up al. Truth is only an ideal goal, and the path around the arrow. It’s a bullseye! – hypoth- their figures and methods of evaluation. to it is paved with an increasing number of esis proven. All too often, the rational for falsely new studies that take considerable delight claiming correctness is that, at worst, a in contradicting each other. This might be Pressure from all sides flawed study will be rejected by a journal. normal in scientific debate, but is it also These problems have long been known, It can then be submitted to the next jour- behind the often-discussed loss of scientif- but current developments are clearly do- nal at no cost. One solution to this is offered ic credibility? If so, then researchers must ing little to change things. For example, by the ‘open science’ journal model, such find better ways of explaining to the gen- Daniele Fanelli of the University of Edin- as employed by F1000Research, in which eral public why scientists are satisfied with burgh analysed 4,600 papers from across papers are first published and only then almost never reaching the whole truth. the disciplines and found that the number peer-reviewed. This might sound like it As it happens, scientists are often way of negative studies – those that did not find makes publishing easy, but in fact, it plac- off target. Too often. In 2005 John Ioannidis the desired result but were published all es higher demands on researchers, because wrote in PLoS Medicine that most published the same – went from 30% in 1990 to 14% articles remain on the journal’s website research results are actually wrong. The in 2007. Funding bodies and employers are even if they are rejected, along with the high error ratio is often caused by faulty presumably putting so much pressure on peer reviews carried out on them. In addi- developments in the scientific system. The researchers that they are publishing more tion, peer reviewers will invest more effort simple statistical considerations under- and more, and all the while making their knowing that their assessments – along pinning his claim were recently declared stories ‘better’. This desire for impressive with their names – will be made public. to be exemplary by The Economist magazine stories is also becoming a dominant fea- At the same time, authors will scrutinise (see bibliography below). ture in science. But it means that scientists their studies in greater detail before enter- Of course, there are obvious explana- are throwing caution to the winds. Those ing into a scientific discussion with peer tions for many a wrong result, such as small, unexciting steps are actually impor- reviewers in a public forum. faulty trials or inaccurate evaluations or tant, but they are being ignored, along with interpretations of data. In other cases, data self-criticism. may have been treated selectively so as to Likewise, we also know a range of op- match a researcher’s preconceived opin- tions to correct the system. To prevent the ions. But it’s also interesting that almost metaphorical painting of targets around everyone is at fault for the same reason, arrows, or at least to make the whole pro- whether they’re researchers, institute di- cess more transparent, we could publish rectors, newspaper sellers or editors of sci- the objectives and hypotheses of studies be- Bibliography: entific journals. They all want results that fore data is collected (as is already common astonish. They want to feature people who practice in certain branches of the medical ‘How science goes wrong’ and ‘Trouble at the hunt for the improbable, and actually end sciences). Alongside this, negative results lab’, 19 October 2013, The Economist. up finding it. should be given a higher status. In the field of medicine, many studies are simply not J.P.A. Ioannidis (2005). ‘Why most published Enemy of the truth being published, almost certainly because research findings are false’. PLoS Medicine 2: Chance is a great enemy of truth. If some- of their negative or unfavourable results. e124. one spends many hours studying things Basic work should also be afforded a that aren’t true, then sheer probability higher status in research – such as check- D. Fanelli (2012). ‘Negative results are means he or she will eventually uncov- ing extant knowledge by reproducing disappearing from most disciplines and er some data or another to confirm what third-party studies. This is easier said than countries’. Scientometrics 90: 891–904.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 31 Lynx, bears, wolves – and humans In ecological terms, the prospects are rosy for lynx, bears and wolves in the Alpine region. But humans remain a risk factor. This is why nature conservation research into large predators is expanding into the social sciences. By Hansjakob Baumgartner

32 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Biology and medicine

oday is a golden age for large predators – at least in the Alps, where the living conditions for lynx, bears and wolves are better than ever. The Tforest habitat is intact and is expanding. There is also prey in abundance, as the populations of deer, chamois and ibex are at record highs. results show that older people who are ori- lynx and wolves to such an extent that In the mid-19th century, things were ented more towards traditional values and they can no longer viably be hunted. The different. Deforestation had reduced the have a somewhat lower level of education organisations devoted to conservation wooded areas in the Alps to half of what tend to be less tolerant of large predators have changed their tune in this regard; un- they are today. Ibex and antlered deer had than younger people with an academic til now they had rigorously excluded the been eradicated, and roe deer were a rari- background who are more open to new ide- possibility of hunting large predators. Fur- ty. Only the chamois were able to survive, as. But the biggest impact on acceptance thermore, reasonable measures to protect after a fashion. The weapons used by hunt- is the degree to which people are directly livestock are to be expanded. ers were continually improving, and this affected. The majority of the general popu- helped them to finish off the three large lation is by and large well disposed to lynx, Old animosities predators. There was even general approv- bears and wolves – except those living in But how is this agreement to be imple- al for this state of affairs. This included no the same areas as these species. Opinions mented? How low, for example, must the less a figure than the natural scientist Frie- are most negative among hunters and roe deer population drop before lynx can be drich von Tschudi, the author of the stand- those involved in small animal husbandry. shot? And if the stocks of certain game are ard work Das Thierleben der Alpenwelt (‘Ani- To be sure, sheep farmers have sound depleted, could this really be traced back to mal life in the Alps’), published in 1853, He reasons for bearing a grudge against a predator, or could there be other reasons? saw nothing wrong in man ridding himself wolves, for without them, their lives would And to what extent can one reduce the of “the resolute enemies of his person and be easier. Hunters aren’t wrong when they population of lynx without endangering it his cultural attainments”. say that the presence of lynx makes hunt- altogether? Such questions still offer much Today, lynx, bears and wolves are pro- ing more difficult. And it’s not at all unjus- potential for conflict. tected by national laws and international tified to be afraid of bears when they dis- When there are disputes about preda- agreements. There is a consensus that bi- play no shyness towards people, but prowl tors, it is often not factual differences that odiversity is a precious commodity that about in residential areas as was the case of are the biggest hurdle, but problems be- must be maintained – including those spe- the bear M13 in Val Poschiavo in early 2013. tween people. These are often caused by old cies that as predators play a key role at the Ultimately, however, these disputes animosities that need not have anything to top of the food chain. about large predators come down to politi- do with the actual object of conflict. The bi- And yet these large predators are still be- cal conflicts of interest. In order for all three ologist Manuela von Arx from the research ing hunted down. Poaching is the biggest species to be able to survive in sustainable programme Kora (‘Carnivore ecology and factor in the mortality rate of the Swiss numbers, these conflicts have to be either wildlife management’) has taken a closer lynx; in Italy, the wolf expert Luigi Boitani resolved, or reduced to a point from which look at these issues, analysing the nature estimates that 15-20% of wolves die every they can no longer escalate. And this can’t of communication between hunters and year at the hands of humans; and the re- happen without compromises. conservationists when they discuss large settlement of bears in Lower Austria that predators. She has ascertained that the two began in the 1990s foundered most proba- Authorised culling interest groups have learned to relate quite bly because of illegal killings. In Switzerland, one step further was re- well to one another on a national level, not cently taken in this direction. In 2012 the least thanks to the discussions that took Keeping a watchful eye WWF, Pro Natura, the Hunters’ Associa- place for the above-mentioned policy paper. Humans therefore remain a risk factor for tion and the Sheep Breeders’ Association In actual fact, nature conservationists and large predators. We have also become a new drew up a joint policy paper. It recognises hunters share many common concerns. field of research for nature conservation- that the return of the large predators is a Communication on a regional level is ists. There is even competence centre for natural process and not the result of them more difficult. In Simmental in the can- this: the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, being furtively released into the wild (as ton of Bern, for example, where the lynx Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). In is sometimes claimed in the case of the caused a stir in the late 1990s and where one of its latest studies, 72 European publi- wolf). The preservation of these animals several wolves have settled temporarily, cations were analysed to ascertain people’s as part of our native fauna is thus funda- the mutual mistrust is deeply rooted. “But personal acceptance of large predators. The mentally affirmed. On the other hand, the much can be achieved through intensive controlled shooting of these animals is no direct contact and a shift in communica- longer altogether excluded, as long as the tion, away from arguments and accusa- population of the species in question is tions and instead towards dialogue and Leap to freedom: the male lynx Vino not endangered. participation based on mutual respect and after reintroduction in Tössstock, Such interventions in the predatory revealing common values”. And von Arx is canton of Zurich (March 2001), wear- population will be possible, for example, convinced that “behind seemingly incom- ing a tracking device. Photo: Keystone/ if the loss of working animals exceeds an patible attitudes you can always find com- Arno Balzarini acceptable level, or if deer are depleted by patible interests”.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 33 Biology and medicine

It’s not just honey bees that pollinate wild and cultivated plants. Wild bees are just as important. But their numbers are dwindling drastically. By Simon Koechlin Wild pollen collectors

ee mortality is being talked about muscles to make the plants vibrate so that everywhere. It’s mostly beekeep- the pollen is shaken onto their bodies. ers who are the focus of discussion, However, the number of specialised since they are losing more honey wild bees is diminishing in both Switzer- Bbee populations every winter. But it’s often land and Europe as a whole. “Roughly half forgotten that insects living in the wild, of the 750 or so species of wild bees found such as wild bees and hover flies, are also in Central Europe is endangered today”, important for pollinating wild and culti- says Müller. On the one hand, the range of vated plants. blossoms has declined markedly, and on “Wild pollinators are just as important the other hand there’s now a scarcity of so- as honey bees”, says wild bee expert Andre- called small structures – deadwood, piles as Müller from ETH Zurich. This has been of rocks and stretches of ground with little proven by a large-scale study that was re- vegetation, all of which are needed by wild cently published that investigated the con- bees for their nesting areas. nection between pollinating insects and the productivity of 40 widely cultivated Weakened ecosystems plants. The more wild pollinators they had, According to Müller, Switzerland has not the higher the yield of the plants. In the yet seen any significant losses in produc- case of just 16 of these cultivated plants, on tion on account of this decline in pollina- the other hand, the yield was greater when tors. But many farmers today are already there were lots of honey bees. buying commercially bred wild bees in or- However, Müller insists that one should der to improve the pollination of their fruit not make the mistake of putting a greater crops. Furthermore, a lack of pollinators emphasis on protecting wild bees than on can lead to an impoverishment of our eco- traditional beekeeping. Because it’s also systems. Researchers have established that been proven that pollination and fruit there is a correlation between the decline yield are highest when cultures are visited in wild pollinators and the decline in the by many different pollinators, both hon- flowering plants that they pollinate. ey bees and wild bees. This is because the In order to maintain the present variety species complement each other. Some, for of wild bees, Müller says that something ur- example, prefer to fly out very early in the gently needs to be done. “Any and all meas- morning, while others even venture out ures are useful that provide for a greater during bad weather. range of blossoms and small structures”, “Many specialised species of wild bees he says. A decisive role is played by efforts pollinate plants that don’t attract hon- undertaken by farmers, such as setting up ey bees”, says Müller. Alfafa, for example, ecological compensation areas that are in- which is an important forage crop, hurls tended to be more bee-friendly. But private its pollen at the pollinator using a kind of citizens can help too: “Whoever leaves the explosion mechanism. Honey bees don’t golf course behind and instead affords na- Literature: like that at all. Blueberries are also depend- ture a little space in the garden will soon be ent on specialist bees. They rely on several able to observe wild bees”. Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences wild bees and bumblebees using their wing (2014): ‘Bienen und andere Bestäuber: Bedeutung für Landwirtschaft und Biodiversität’. Swiss Academies Factsheets 9 (2). www.akademien-schweiz.ch/factsheets

Lucas A. Garibali et al. (2013): ‘Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance’. Science 339: 1608–1611.

34 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Golden crown: a female wild bee with her head covered in pollen. Photo: Keystone/Science Photo Library/US Geological Survey

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 35 Biology and medicine Lost knowledge

Clinical studies are often broken off, unfinished. This is a waste of financial and human resources, and means that valuable knowledge is being left by the wayside. By Roland Fischer

Almost finished: unfortunately most incomplete medical studies are never published.Photo: Adrian Moser

t used to be easy to acquire medical then they often get stuck halfway because of how far they progressed. knowledge: doctors learnt on the job of problems in recruiting patients. And as What is also interesting is that the re- over many years of tending to the sick. if this was not enough, over 60% of the dis- searchers found a considerable difference Today, however, medicine has become continued studies leave no trace behind. in the number of cancelled studies, de- Ione of the most complex scientific fields In other words, nothing is ever published. pending on whether they were initiated – and one of the most expensive, too. The The researchers heading up the survey are by academics or industry. Studies set up by methods employed to make the most ob- Matthias Briel from the University of Basel the healthcare industry performed better – jective assessment of successful treat- and Erik von Elm from the University Hos- perhaps because they were planned more ments have become ever subtler in recent pital of Lausanne. They do not just find this carefully and coped better with problems decades. They now occupy a whole range of annoying; they actually find it “unethical” that arose. The number of discontinued specialists, from the doctors engaged in re- too, because “it means available evidence is RCTs that were initiated by academic research to regulatory authorities and ethics lost”. searchers is an astonishing 40%. Here, says commissions. Briel, lessons could be learnt from industry. The gold standard is the randomised, Every patient counts And it’s not just about the greater financial controlled trial (RCT). Yet when properly Half-finished RCTs are of little value to resources that industry has at its disposal. carried out, such studies require considera- individual researchers because their lack Tried and tested structures and proce- ble logistical efforts and financial resourc- of adequate patient numbers means they dures, managed professionally, could help es. This is also the reason why many a study offer neither spectacular results nor solid university researchers to navigate through is broken off before it has been completed. statistics. And this in turn means they are rough patches in their studies. Briel men- That is troubling, because the resources in- hardly going to get into an important jour- tions the Clinical Trial Units (CTUs) as an vested are then wasted. Experts have long nal. But their results could still be useful important step forward. CTUs are centres known about this problem, but until now, for the scientific community, as medical of competence that are being set up at not much was known about the extent of it information is increasingly being gained many university hospitals. According to nor the reasons for it. from meta-analyses that pool a multitude Briel, research funding organisations could In a major study, experts from Switzer- of RCTs. This places value in every single also offer additional help in overcoming land have now ascertained that of all the patient whose case has been studied. Briel the threat of discontinuation. For example, RCTs that are given a green light from eth- and his colleagues are therefore advocating they could budget for a financial reserve ics commissions, nearly 30% do not make for the effective use of clinical study reg- to be drawn upon with a minimum of red it to the end. Once they are cleared to pro- isters. Even better, they say, would be the tape, were a study to hit unforeseen prob- ceed, almost all the studies do start up – but compulsory publication of RCTs, regardless lems.

36 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Self-defence, one leaf at a time Evolution’s misappropriations hen a plant suddenly becomes he fact that evolution acts less like a herbivore’s lunch, it has an inventor and more like a tinkerer little say in the matter. But just is something that the biologist and becauseW it can’t run away, doesn’t mean TNobel Prize Laureate François Jacob re- it can’t defend itself. Its defence is aimed marked back in 1977. Life might often bring at the herbivore’s digestive system and forth forms that are perfectly adapted to comes in the form of toxic hormones their respective function, but it has fre- called jasmonates. Research into jasmon- Juan Gaertner/Shutterstock quently been the case that their original ates has struggled with how plants turn purpose was quite different. For example, a local injury into a generalised alarm the auditory ossicles – the tiny bones that signal. The breakthrough was made now magnify sound waves in the middle by Edward Farmer and his team at the ear and transport them to the inner ear – University of Lausanne, and their work Way down in the bowels: an intestine afflicted by originated in the gill arches that provided on thale cress, Arabidopsis thaliana, was Crohn’s disease. primeval fish with oxygen. published recently in Nature. Evolutionary biologists have coined The key appears to be electrical signals. Treating bowel disease with light the word ‘exaptation’ for such creative They propagate from leaf to leaf activat- ‘misappropriations’. This has allowed them ing jasmonate synthesis along their way, ome 12,000 people in Switzerland suf- to fill the conceptual gap left by the notion much like nerve signals in animals. But fer from chronic inflammatory bowel of ‘adaptation’. It remains a matter of Edward Farmer notes, “we cannot speak of diseases such as Crohn’s disease and dispute just how great was the respective a vegetable nervous system because plants Sulcerative colitis. They are thought to be role played by exaptation and adaptation have no neurons. Their sensory system is, triggered by over-activity of the immune in the history of life on Earth. Aditya Barve however, undoubtedly very sophisticated”. system and lead to stomach cramps, and Andreas Wagner from the University The team in Lausanne also confirmed diarrhoea, fever and weight loss. Many of Zurich have been helping to clarify this that certain defence genes are expressed patients also react badly to the currently problem in their theoretical work, using in response to this electrical activity in available medicines, which is why alterna- computers to simulate the development of the leaves. Three genes, known as GLR tives are being sought. One promising ap- bacterial metabolic processes. Their virtual genes, have been specifically identified. proach is photodynamic light therapy that bacteria were specialised, for example, Their role is also tied to synaptic transmis- Maria-Anna Ortner and her colleagues in using glucose as their sole source of sion in the nervous system of vertebrates, are pursuing at the Zurich University carbon. But in 96% of cases they were still leading researchers to toy with the idea of Hospital. They treat patients with 5-ami- able to use carbon sources to which they a homologous defence mechanism, involv- nolevulinic acid, a substance that only were not adapted. “Such hidden properties ing GLR genes and dating back to before becomes active when the affected tissue are far more widespread than was always the separation of plants and animals. in the intestine is irradiated with light. assumed”, says Wagner. Fleur Daugey In mice, this phototherapy reduced the These researchers have also come immune response and the symptoms as- across something else that is astonishing: S. A. R. Mousavi, A. Chauvin, F. Pascaud et al. sociated with colitis after just eight days, complex metabolic networks have a great- (2013): ‘GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE genes without any side effects. For their initial er evolutionary potential for innovation mediate leaf-to-leaf wound signaling’. Nature clinical tests on patients, the researchers than simple networks. “It is an advantage 500: 422–426. adopted this time-frame, monitoring for to complexity that no one has so far appre- success eight days after treatment. Only ciated”, adds Wagner. ori one out of seven patients actually showed a clear improvement after eight days. The A. Barve & A. Wagner (2013): ‘A latent capacity researchers were positively surprised, for evolutionary innovation through exaptation in metabolic systems’. Nature 500: 203–206. Edward Farmer Edward however, when three more patients also responded to the treatment – though only after 29 days. “Clearly, the human intestine needs more time to recover than that of mice”, says Ortner. A treatment that could alleviate chronic bowel inflammation in half of all patients would be a medical breakthrough. This is why Ortner is now planning a second clinical trial, in which Undercurrent: electrodes measuring electrical the success of the treatment will only be

activity in thale cress. monitored after 29 days. Liselotte Selter Wagner Andreas and Barve Aditya

Complexity: 247 points representing simulated bacterial metabolism.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 37 Environment and technology

A question of sharing

From agriculture and tourism to tion better. The chance to solve this problem now lies in our own hands”. electricity production: the region of In his opinion, it’s now primarily a mat- Crans Montana and Sierre needs a ter for the communes to get to grips with lot of water. Although this region is the problem quickly. “They have to think about how they want to divide up the wa- already dry today, it will not suffer ter. Thanks to the research project we now from any lack of water as long as have a neutral analysis from outside. And that helps”, he says. Maria-Pia Tschopp, the this valuable commodity is properly Prefect of the district of Sierre, is convinced shared. By Felix Würsten that “among younger politicians especially, there is the will to deal with this topic”. However, she feels that it is not clear how the results of the research project can be implemented in concrete terms, and what role the cantonal authorities should play in all of this. “It will still take a while until all ow does climate change affect the an acute water shortage. Would agriculture those involved are convinced that there is a dry valleys of the Alps that are used take precedence so that farmers can water real need for action”, says Tschopp. so intensively? This question is be- their fields? Or the golf course whose tour- This is also a matter of concern to Wein- ing asked intently by the region of nament is important for tourism? Or the gartner. As a researcher he can make a HCrans Montana and Sierre, part of which power company that uses the water to pro- contribution on several different levels. has one of the lowest precipitation rates in duce its electricity? “We are considering whether to continue Switzerland. And yet many there need large But not only are there different water the dialogue with the politicians and the amounts of water. There is the Lienne pow- consumers. The matter is made even more people in the context of an Agora project er station with the Tseuzier dam, there are complicated because the catchment area financed by the SNSF”. And Weingartner tourist resorts that need drinking water, for their water stretches over eleven dif- also sees a need for action on the part of the farmers who need to irrigate the grasslands ferent communes with varying degrees of scientists. “The underlying data are partly and ski resorts that need snow on their access. The commune of Icogne has a lot of inadequate, especially with regard to water pistes. The big question is whether the re- water, for example, while other communes consumption and the legal situation. If we gion will be able to get water in the future, don’t even have a spring. “In our project we want to establish a meaningful monitoring and if so, how. It is all the more urgent be- were able to show that there is a whole net- system, then we have to determine what cause the Plaine-Morte glacier, which is an work of written and unwritten laws as to key parameters must be recorded”. important source of water for the area, will how the water is shared between the com- Weingartner also wants to investigate have completely melted away by the end of munes” says Weingartner. “Under present whether the Tseuzier dam could be used this century – if not before. conditions this is not a problem. But if wa- as a multi-function reservoir in the future. ter becomes scarce in the summer months Then the water in the lake would be used Quantity isn’t the problem of years to come, this complex set of rules for other purposes besides generating pow- Scientists from the University of Bern have will make it difficult to ensure fair distri- er. But here, too, there are many open ques- joined researchers from the Universities bution”. tions. “The power industry is in a state of of Fribourg and Lausanne to sketch out upheaval, and many power stations have various scenarios in an effort to solve the Involving all the stakeholders to renew their licenses in the coming dec- problem. They first looked into how the hy- Even before their project started, the re- ades”, says Weingartner. “This offers us an drological system functions in the region. searchers established contact with people opportunity to rethink how we use our res- Local climate scenarios allow them to pro- in the region. The different stakeholders all ervoirs. And we can provide an important ceed from the assumption that higher alti- came together: politicians, people from the stimulus in this discussion”. tudes will in future see a similar amount of tourism industry and agriculture, and rep- precipitation as today. “The region of Crans resentatives of the power plant operators Montana will in future still have suffi- and environmental associations. Alain Per- cient water at its disposal”, says Rolf Wein- ruchoud, who was there to represent Sierre gartner from the Geographical Institute Energie, praises how it was done: “The of the University of Bern. “However, there local representatives were involved in ex- will be a shift in how it is distributed. In emplary fashion”, he says. The researchers summer particularly, there will be less wa- drafted four different scenarios for regional ter available in future. In some years there development together with the stakehold- might even be a drought. So the challenge ers, then evaluated them with a view to is to achieve an optimum use of existing their sustainability. “Societal and econom- Don’t eat yellow snow: the fluo- resources”. ic change will actually have a much bigger rescent dye uranine helps trace This will not be so simple. The big wa- impact than climate change on the future the path of melted glacial water ter consumers all have their own specif- water supply”, says Weingartner. For Per- all the way down to the valley. ic needs, and they also have a number of ruchoud, this is good news: “In the coming (Plaine Morte, August 2011) Photo: conflicting interests. It is not clear how a years we won’t have any water shortages, Flurina Schneider, Institute of Geography, solution could be negotiated if there were but we will have to regulate water distribu- University of Bern.

38 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 > Clip of the report on the Montanaque project by the TV show "Einstein"

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 39 Environment and technology

A small slice of Switzerland in space

The first 100% Swiss Made satellite has been in orbit for four years now. At the end of its mission in 2018, instead of becoming another item of space debris, it may help demonstrate a workable solution to this issue. By Philippe Morel

wissCube orbits the Earth at an altitude of around 700km yet measures Balancing act: the student built satellite measures just ten centimeters and just 10cm cubed. Nor is everything weighs only 820 grams. Photo: Alain Herzog/EPFL given away by the title ‘the first Sentirely Swiss-built satellite’, as it was actually developed, designed and produced chiefly by students at Ecole Polytechnique in Davos, specialists in solar radiation. The has yet to suffer any damage, but Richard is Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Uni- mission aims to investigate ‘air glow’, a adamant in saying, “today, any new satel- versity of Applied Sciences and Arts West- photochemical phenomenon occurring at lites will be fitted with propulsion systems ern Switzerland (HES). “Giving students night at an altitude of 100km, where oxy- allowing changes in orbit and controlled hands-on experience like this is a real gen atoms recombine and emit a low inten- destruction”. booster to their education”, says the project sity light or ‘glow’. SwissCube may still dodge its fate of leader, Muriel Richard. Since its launch, SwissCube has photo- becoming yet more space waste, as re- graphed air glow on over 250 occasions. Un- searchers at the Swiss Space Centre have Student success fortunately, the data collected is of limited drummed up the Clean Space One project. In total around 200 students participated scientific value, as a compromise had to be This project aims to launch a satellite ca- in the processes of establishing protocols, struck on the choice of detector. The initial pable of collecting debris and bringing it conducting tests and selecting appropriate choice proved to be overly susceptible to safely back to Earth. If all goes to plan, the technology, then assembling the compo- radiation, leaving mission planners to opt Clean Space One team will honour Swiss- nents, building prototypes and, eventually, for a more robust, but much less sensitive Cube by making it the target of their first constructing the satellite itself. And by all model. mission, planned for 2018. “Switzerland is accounts they were successful. SwissCube a relatively small space-faring nation”, says not only resisted the intense vibrations of More space waste? Richard. “If we can demonstrate that it is the launch, but has since orbited the plan- During the planning phase of the mission, possible to deal with debris, it would force et more than 22,000 times, remaining fully there was little concern regarding the fate larger nations to take the problem serious- operational despite exposure to solar radi- of the satellite. In 2009, however, this at- ly”. ation and drastic changes in temperature. titude had to be dropped when two satel- Besides its educational aims, the project lites collided in space and another was de- has also fostered a full-fledged scientific stroyed by a Chinese missile. These events mission. To design this, they enlisted the littered the path of SwissCube’s planned help of the World Radiation Centre (WRC) orbit with debris. Fortunately the satellite

40 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Model for the thermoelectric effect hermoelectric effects’ allow for Cern the conversion of differences in temperature into electric power. ‘TAnd contrariwise, they allow for cooling (or heating) by way of electrical currents. These effects were discovered 200 years ago, and there are already many useful

devices that apply them: portable refrig- – IceCube/NSF Lidstrom Sven erators, temperature sensors and on-board power generators for space probes. For now, these devices are only modestly effective and still cannot exploit potential This cloud chamber, almost big enough to climb sources of electrical energy such as the Ice research: the search for cosmic neutrinos inside, may reveal the origin of aerosols. heat produced in many industrial pro- starts here (March 2012). cesses. In addition, these effects involve a Cloud secrets complex set of physical phenomena, for Cosmic messengers found in which there is still no complete theoreti- Antarctica here might be smoke without fire, cal understanding. but there’s no cloud without water. The effects have recently been demon- ou know when a new e-mail reaches Yet clouds are made of more than strated in a cloud of lithium atoms con- your inbox, because you hear a short Tjust water. If they are to form, it must be in trolled by laser, as reported in an article by sound announcing its arrival. But the presence of aerosols. It is these floating Antoine Georges (University of Geneva and Yhow would you know if a message from microscopic particles that allow enough Collège de France), Tilman Esslinger (ETH the depths of space had reached Earth? water molecules to accumulate into drop- Zurich) and Corinna Kollath (University Blue Flashes. If you’re in Antarctica, at lets. The origin of aerosols, however, has of Bonn). Unlike condensed matter, this least. That’s where scientists are hailing been the focus of scientists at Cern, where system of ‘cold atoms’ (at 250 billionths the coming of cosmic neutrinos bearing a team of 77 scientists from 19 institutions, of a degree above absolute zero) produced the universe’s secrets. created the ‘Cloud’ experiment. measurements that correspond precisely Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles Amongst these institutions is the Paul to theoretical predictions. On this basis, with a mass of almost zero, no electric Scherrer Institute, which contributed to this team of researchers has concluded charge, and which therefore only interact the construction of the Cloud experiment that their device represents an ideal model extremely weakly with matter. They are and developed a device to detect extremely for studying and improving the efficiency generated both by the Sun and by the at- precise molecules. “We have shown that of thermoelectric materials. Anton Vos mosphere, but above all by various cosmic a very important role in the formation of objects (black holes, quasars, dying stars, aerosols and therefore clouds is played by J.-Ph.Brantut, C. Grenier, J. Meineke, D. Stadler, etc.). They even bear the signature of their dimethylamines (DMA). These molecules S. Krinner, C. Kollath, T. Esslinger and A. Georges creator. But whilst judging by their energy are produced in conjunction with ammo- (2013). ‘A Thermoelectric Heat Engine with levels (1011 to 1021 eV), you might predict nia during the decomposition of organic Ultracold Atoms’. Science, DOI:10.1126/science. they’d be bouncing off the walls, they matter”, says Urs Baltensperger from the 1245981 actually go through everything: galaxies, laboratory of atmospheric chemistry. In planets, even living beings, and without the presence of DMA, the creation of aero- causing any damage. sols from sulphuric acid molecules found In fact, it’s only very seldom that they in the atmosphere is multiplied by 10,000. leave a trace. When they do collide with Baltensperger adds, “this goes a long way an atom they produce a bluish trail called towards our understanding of cloud for- Cherenkov radiation. To record this,

mation. But there are still some gaps”. ETHZ Stadler, David scientists at the South Pole have built a Their work also introduces a small colossal detector, IceCube, composed of paradox into our relationship with the 86 strings of 60 photosensitive spheres all environment, as the application of DMAs buried deep in the ice. And since 2012, they to create cloud cover would favour areas of have observed the trails of 28 high-energy low pollution (i.e. where industrial pollu- neutrinos. tion does not generate enough aerosols to “Astrophysics is opening a new window produce clouds). And as clouds reflect solar of exploration”, says Teresa Montaruli, radiation, greater pollution counteracts Experimental model: the temperature of the red physicist and IceCube contributor at the global warming. Daniel Saraga lithium cloud is lifted from near-absolute zero University of Geneva. The main aim of her by the green laser beam. group's work is to identify the source of Almeida et al. (CLOUD collaboration): ‘Molecular these neutrinos. “These discoveries will understanding of sulphuric acid-amine particle help us begin to understand high-energy nucleation in the atmosphere’. Nature (2013), DOI cosmic phenomena”, she says. Meanwhile, 10.1038/nature12663. scientists hope that help will soon be to hand in the form of the arrival of more of these heavenly messengers. Olivier Dessi- bourg

‘Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector’. Science, 22 November 2013, 342:6161. DOI: 10.1126/ science.1242856

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 41 Culture and society

Swiss thinking The great philosophers of the Enlightenment seldom took residence in Switzerland, nor did it figure in their deliberations. All the same, Switzerland did become a laboratory for political theory – though not a particularly democratic one. By Urs Hafner

42 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 raditionally, Switzerland’s repu- tation is one of a free country. It conjures up the image of an Alpine republic that inspired the imagi- Tnations of the Romantics and of many an enlightened thinker: a veritable Arcadia of unspoilt mountain shepherds and vir- tuous, upright citizens. By the mid-19th century it surfaced as a liberal, free state, capable not only of staying afloat in a sea of repressive monarchies but also of throwing lifelines to political refugees. Switzer- land became a safe haven for humanity. Of course, these images of Switzerland contain elements of exaggeration. They They are now the focus of Kapossy’s atten- and early 19th centuries preferred to debate achieved popularity among the educated tion, and that of his doctoral students, as the morality of the contemporary political European classes between 1750 and 1850, for several years he has been devoted to a elite: how they should act, and whether during the great upheaval from ancien thorough investigation of the politico-eco- they should raise the status of the leading régime to incipient modernity and have nomic ideas of the early modern period. families in the towns in order to prevent even retained some of that popularity to There was something else that these the outbreak of revolts. Political thinking the present day. But they often served only thinkers had in common: their perspec- as applied in and to the Swiss Confederacy the needs of those who simply saw what tive was determined by the restricted ter- thus took a critical attitude towards pow- they wanted to, an idealised place of free- ritorial dimensions of Switzerland itself. er structures, but was not republican in a dom. The common ground in both these They wanted to understand how Europe democratic sense. images is actually an absence. They dis- functioned in order to safeguard Switzer- Nor was this the case with the liberal- pense with thinkers and philosophers. The land’s modest place amidst Europe’s royal ism of the early 19th century. As with liberal citizens of the Old Swiss Confederacy and empires. ‘Peace theories’ were popular at movements elsewhere, voices spoke out in their women were supposedly farmers and the time, but these thinkers took a critical favour of market forces, pushed politicians warriors, not intellectuals. And yet in the stance towards them because they suspect- to regulate less and called for the aboli- early modern period, the Reformed cities of ed – often rightly – that they were a mask tion of guilds. But whilst British economic Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Basel, Zurich and for the interests of the great powers. Unlike thinking was very popular in Switzerland, Neuchâtel were indeed home to a host of other contemporary observers of events, according to Kapossy, Swiss liberalism had active political philosophers, known today they were more sensitive to the presence of certain specific features. There was a real only by their names, if at all: Emer de Vattel, imperial undertones. understanding of the tensions between Isaak Iselin, Johannes von Müller, Karl politics and economics and of social cohe- Viktor von Bonstetten, Benjamin Constant, Moral debate sion and peace. The negative consequences Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Germaine It’s natural to assume that thinkers raised of economic liberalisation – poverty and the de Staël, Karl Ludwig von Haller, Johann in the societies of republican Swiss states impoverishment of the lower classes – were Caspar Bluntschli and others besides them. would have propagated republican theo- named and shamed. Liberalism in Switzer- The great Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the ex- ries. Republicanism stood in contrast to land helped to establish social insurance ception who proves the rule, so to speak. the prevalent monarchism of early mod- institutions. And in Europe, Swiss liberal- ern times (which allowed communities ism became admired and was regarded as Analytical minds to fall under autocratic rule) and gave rise both anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist. Despite their different political orienta- to a far less common system, a sovereign tions and fields of activity, these thinkers state ruled either by the aristocracy or by Suspected conservatives all had things in common. Their life and representatives of ‘the people’ – by citi- So why has this Swiss tradition of political work were discussed throughout the Ger- zens, merchants or even artisans. Monar- thought been forgotten, even in Switzer- man and French-speaking worlds, says chism therefore stood for the hereditary land itself? For one thing, research into the Béla Kapossy – a historian of ideas who principle, whereas liberal republicanism Enlightenment has traditionally been cen- teaches at the University of Lausanne and favoured elections. But the philosopher tred on literature and France, says Kapos- occupies an almost unique place in Swit- Hannah Arendt traces our understanding sy. Politics and Switzerland have slipped zerland today. They knew all the ins and of republican politics back to the ‘polis’ of through the net, as it were. Furthermore, in outs of the contemporary economic, polit- the Ancient Greeks, arguing that Athens recent decades the academic discipline of ical and cultural discourse in Europe, and played host to the invention of politics and the history of ideas has largely fallen by the they were fierce analysts of what today we with it – and inseparable from it – “secular, wayside. It has been displaced by social and would term the international body politic. visible freedom”. Her idea of freedom is the economic history and is unjustly suspected public execution of political acts among of having adopted a conservative stance. equals. Those ‘equals’ are, for example, oth- These days the history of political ideas er citizens endowed with the same rights naturally factors in the social dimensions in an autonomous city – such as the guild of leading thinkers, their social environ- republic of Zurich in the Old Swiss Confed- ment and the intellectual discourse they eracy. propagated. So is the discipline perhaps on But from Kapossy’s point of view, these the verge of a renaissance? Given that the One shining exception: Jean- Swiss thinkers only agree with Arendt’s boom years have finished for the majority Jacques Rousseau reads to Madame appreciation of political action to a limited of the population, battles for resources will d’Epinay from ‘Julie ou la Nouvelle degree. Once again the exception is Rous- probably intensify. But if there are battles Héloïse’ (drawing by Felix seau, who consistently propagated the sov- to be fought, then – hopefully – there will Philippoteaux, 19th century). ereignty of the people. Otherwise, the so- also be more arguments and more debate. Picture: Keystone/Interfoto/Sammlung Rauch called republican philosophers of the 18th

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 43 Culture and society

Playful poses, theatrical gestures

After family, it’s friends who are the most popular subjects for private photography. And friendship is often demonstrated by the physical proximity of those featured in the pictures. By Caroline Schnyder

t’s almost as if they were posing for a fashion magazine. Two young women with bob-cuts and clad in brightly coloured, sleeveless dresses turn their Ifaces to catch the sun. The taller of the two has her arm around her friend, who in turn leans on her. A mutual smile confirms that it’s all staged, signifying their playful delight in posing together. This photo from 1934 is to be found in Doris Keiser-Zanolari’s photo album. It was taken – presumably with a self-timer – on the balcony of the Hold it in… now let it out: friends in front of the camera in the first half of the 20th century. finishing school in Lausanne where she Photo: Swiss National Museum, LM-10196993-96 spent a year after high school. For the historian Nora Mathys, it is typical of the photos taken among friends in the first half of pictures of young men engaged in personal any studio portrait. In private photos, a de- the 20th century. hygiene, whereas there are none of wom- gree of naturalness becomes the ideal. In For her doctoral thesis on depictions of en in similar situations. And the gesture of the case of women, mutual physical con- friendship in private photography, Mathys placing one’s arm around the shoulders of tact remains an important means of de- has analysed private archives held by the a friend, common today, arises only in pri- picting intimacy. With men such contact is Swiss National Museum – 168 albums be- vate photography; it was unknown in stu- rarer, and often one-sided. longing to men and 65 to women. She also dio photography and in painting. consulted single photos not in albums, The lead characters in Mathys’s study Memories in perspective along with photography guides and photo are men and women between 18 and 40 The exuberance that is perceptible in the magazines. Her period of investigation cov- years from the Swiss urban upper-middle moment when those two women took ers the first half of the 20th century. It was class. The topics and life phases covered their photograph on the balcony is a fun- a time when the new hand-held cameras in these photos are barely dealt with – if damental aspect of photography among became affordable to the upper classes, al- at all – in written sources of the time. The friends, says Mathys. Playful poses and the- lowing them to take snaps whenever and year that Doris Keiser-Zanolari spent in atrical gestures can be found in many pho- wherever there was enough light to do so. French-speaking Switzerland is an exam- tos, and such pictures bring into perspec- The results of Mathys’s work can be seen in ple of a traditional feature in the life of tive the function of memory that is all too a beautiful book entitled Fotofreundschaften young girls from German-speaking Swit- often regarded as stereotypical of private (‘Photo friendships’) that, in its composi- zerland, intended to turn them into disci- photography. But friends don’t just take tion and design, is reminiscent of a photo plined young mothers. But the surviving photos so as to remember each other or the album itself. photos show how the girls at her finishing things they’ve done together. They also do school endeavoured to evade the roles that it just for the sake of it, as an act of sharing Male bodily hygiene had been assigned to them. a happy moment of mutual theatricality or Mathys photographed each individual pic- But how do friendships actually become creativity. Photography among friends, she ture with a digital camera and entered it in visible? How are they depicted? Whether says, is also a means of affirming friend- a database. Ten years ago, she says, it would the people in photos are friends can often ship and the here-and-now. have been almost impossible to carry out only be deduced from consulting the al- such a study. She took a serial approach to bums, says Mathys. Friends are more likely Nora Mathys: Fotofreundschaften. Visualisie- the pictures because it was only thanks to to reappear often, in different situations rungen von Nähe und Gemeinschaft in privaten the sheer volume that she could identify in different photos. She has observed how Fotoalben aus der Schweiz 1900-1950. Baden: conventions in the pictorial language of the friendship is often signified in private Hier + Jetzt, 2013. 328 pp. times, and how those conventions adapted photos by a physical proximity that comes and shifted. For instance, there are many across as obviously more relaxed than in

44 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 The arms trade and Fighting depression with international law self-esteem n the eyes of their critics, countries loomy, unmotivated and exhausted – that export weapons are morally co-re- you’re suffering from depression, so sponsible for the adverse consequences you’re hardly going to be brimming of armed conflict. They are regarded as with self-confidence. That much is obvi-

I Horem Elisabeth G ‘accomplices’ and guilty of ‘prolonging ous. But up to now, the sequence of things wars’. But what can a legal perspective was not so clear: is it depression that caus- tell us about this responsibility? May es low self-esteem? Psychologists speak countries export weapons to repressive in this case of a “scarring effect”. Or is it regimes at their own discretion, or are the other way round, and do people with a they subject to the provisions of interna- low sense of self-worth run a higher risk of tional law? In a comprehensive study, the suffering from depression? Psychologists legal scholar David Furger from Bern has call this the “vulnerability effect”. Accord- explored international law to see if there ing to Ulrich Orth, a psychologist from are corresponding rules. The result was the University of Basel, proof can be found sobering: the transfer of conventional of both effects. But over the course of weapons takes place “largely outside ex- several studies he has now shown that the plicit barriers of international law”. There vulnerability effect is far more significant. is also a lack of consistent case-law. How- This means that a low sense of self-esteem ever, Furger maintains that under certain Timothy’s commentary on Aristotle: indeed contributes to depression. conditions, responsibilities may indeed be a 13th century Iraqi manuscript. So someone is more likely to develop derived from various areas of international depression, if he or she feels of little value, law such as human rights, humanitarian When Timothy translated of no use to anyone and unappreciated. law and the law of neutrality. Aristotle Self-esteem is measured by means of a The most recent developments confirm standardised questionnaire. The findings Furger’s findings. Last year, the UN General n the late Middle Ages, the ultimate of Orth’s research team in Basel have a Assembly adopted the multilateral Arms authority in philosophy was Aristotle. broad base – they have evaluated data from Trade Treaty (ATT). Prior to granting an His writings became known to Euro- more than 35,000 people, including the export licence for arms, ratifying coun- Ipeans during the 12th and 13th centuries, results of long-term studies. Orth has also tries must now check whether those arms primarily via Islamic culture. A decisive checked the influence of different factors. might be employed in human rights viola- step in this process of knowledge transfer The results show that the vulnerability ef- tions or in infringements of international was taken in 8th century Baghdad, a cul- fect has an impact on both young and old, humanitarian law. If there is a ‘considera- turally vibrant city. This process involved women and men – and to judge from the ble’ risk of this, the export of arms is pro- Syrian Christians, as the church historian research thus far, it is even found across hibited. Furger’s work also discusses the Martin Heimgartner from the University many different cultures. Orth believes that significance of this Treaty, its strengths of Zurich can demonstrate. On the orders his findings have practical importance: and its weaknesses. Nicolas Gattlen of Caliph Al-Mahdi, Aristotle’s Topics was “We know now that a low sense of self-es- translated from the Greek and Syriac teem is one of the factors that can cause David Furger: Völkerrechtliche Staaten into Arabic by Timothy I, Patriarch of the depression, or worsen an existing case”. verantwortlichkeit für grenzüberschreitende Church of the East. In fact, Aristotelian This could result in possibilities for the Waffentransfers. Zurich: Schulthess, 2013. 564 logic formed the basis of Timothy’s dis- treatment, or even the prevention, of to- pp. cussions about religion with the Caliph, day’s widespread incidence of depression. its arguments being skilfully used by Susanne Wenger Timothy to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. This might be a reason U. Orth, R.W. Robins (2013): ‘Understanding the why the Islamic world didn't fully adopt link between low self-esteem and depression’. Aristotelian logic until the mid-9th century Current Directions in Psychological Science 22, onwards, having initially favoured other, 455–460. Platonic systems of thought. Heimgartner investigates the transfer of Greek and Arab culture and the prehis- tory of the later reception of Aristotle, and

Bjarne Henning Kvaale/Shutterstock Bjarne it is thanks to him that we know about the theological disputes and intercultural th events of the 8 century in such detail. eyetronic/Fotolia.com Bullets for bullion: can states export weapons as The basis for his work is the correspond- they see fit? ence of the Patriarch, including his own reports on his discussions of religion, which Heimgartner has edited and translated from the Syriac into German – some of them for the very first time.uha The vulnerability effect: too much self-doubt may make you unhappy in the long run.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 45 Im Gespräch “Good work is more important than spectacular results” Photos: Severin Severin Photos: Nowacki

46 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Interview

Horizons: Prof. Ioannidis, at a recent course there are breakthroughs time and appearance before the National Research again. But if you plan your trials well and Council you made no bones about criticising carry them out properly, then anything the current scientific system. Is it in a state you discover has a better chance of being of crisis? the real deal. If researchers risk not getting Prof. Ioannidis: You can’t put it in such funding because they can’t promise impor- general terms. Science is more productive tant results, then there’s also a risk that than ever, but it’s suffering from a problem they’ll claim to have made major findings of credibility. Many published results are even when their results are less significant. Research funding simply untrue, though it’s rare for them to Research funding organisations should have been falsified intentionally. It’s more therefore place less importance on expect- organisations should place common for their experimental design to ing results and more on the rigour of the less importance on results be flawed. Or they might have used inad- methods employed and on a high quality and instead be more insistent missible statistical information. Not all sci- of research. They ought to insist that scien- entific disciplines are equally affected by tists make their experimental data availa- about researchers making this problem, but every researcher should ble and accessible to the public. their data generally available, know the state of affairs in his own field. Some disciplines have improved how they But it’s human nature to believe that what says the epidemiologist John monitor research and now produce cred- we do and support is significant and useful. P. A. Ioannidis. By Ori Schipper ible, useful results. Other disciplines have That may be, but the system should al- made less progress with quality control. low scientists to say: “I’ve worked hard But if you don’t scrutinise your results, you and conscientiously, but nevertheless I’ve can’t know if they’re right or wrong. come up with nothing useful or practicable in recent years”. In my opinion that would You are a researcher too. How have you be very honest. As long as you’ve done your come to question the very system in which work well and correctly, then you shouldn’t you yourself participate? be penalised for failing to produce spectac- For me, it’s not a matter of questioning ular results. the whole scientific system. I have simply come across problems and mistakes that are widespread in both my own work and that of colleagues. Most results in the biomedical field that have supposedly been “Most results in the proven to be statistically relevant have either been exaggerated or are simply wrong. biomedical field have For example, various hormone additives either been exaggerated and vitamin additives in our food have claimed to possess curative properties or or are simply wrong.” anti-cancer effects. But these claims don’t stand up to examination in larger-scale studies. So I began to carry out empirical evaluations to see how results are obtained, what they are, whether they are scruti- nised and, if so, whether we find the same Do you see any signs that the scientific results when the tests are repeated. I’m not system is moving in a more honest engaging in a fundamental critique. I just direction? want to show where problems occur and There are reasons to hope so. No doubt how they can be rectified. most researchers accept that honesty is the best policy in the long run. And yet But these problems affect many other they are still subject to immense competi- researchers too. Are you simply braver than tive pressure and have to assert themselves the others, or are you more tenacious in through their work. But the importance of being willing to speak out? their contribution should lie less in their No, I don’t think that it’s got anything to results and more on criteria such as good do with courage. It’s more about my own experimental design and reproducibility, research interests. Just as others are in- for these are at the heart of scientific en- terested in the flight of birds or separation deavour. anxiety, I’m fascinated by questions about research. I’m open for discussion and have More and more is being published all over worked with over 2,000 other scientists. the world, which is why it is increasingly And I’m fully aware that mistakes are difficult to monitor the quality of research bound to lie dormant in my own work, too. across the board. That’s true. But it doesn’t bother me that In your opinion, research funding organi- the number of publications is increasing. sations should expect results that are not That’s actually a good thing. Scientific so spectacular. Are you calling for more production shouldn’t be shrinking. The humility? problem is that mistakes can spread once Yes. And even though we’re all interested they’re published. For example, ten years in big discoveries, you can’t force them. Of ago the first studies were published in Eu- Photos: Severin Severin Photos: Nowacki

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 47 Interview

“Self-correction functions in science – but not quickly enough”.

rope and the USA that looked for disease characteristics in our genetic makeup. They Do you like Don Quixote? associated specific genes with smoking, de- Yes, he’s a wonderful fictional character. pression, obesity or asthma. Only one per- But I don’t think that he can serve as a role cent of these findings were later confirmed model for me in my endeavours to bring in larger-scale studies. But today, 60% of the about change and improvement. I’m trying contributions to the literature on genetic to be realistic. I see great potential for opti- meta-analysis come from China – and they misation, and I’m pointing it out. Actually, are worthless because they make the same all scientists are a bit like Don Quixote: we mistakes that we made in Europe and the pursue certain ideas, just like he did, and USA, right at the start. we’re willing to fight for them too. But perhaps this fight should be less about defend- If mistakes are passed on, then they also ing our ideas. It should be more often about multiply over time. Doesn’t the process of ensuring that our ideas get as close as pos- self-correction function properly any more sible to truth and reality, and that these in the sciences? ideas are as exact and as free of mistakes as It functions, but what matters is how we can make them. Whatever that reality quickly. In olden times we used to think is, we should try harder to understand it. that the sun orbited the earth. We needed 2,000 years to correct this misconception. But today it’s problematic if it takes two John P. A. Ioannidis years to discover a mistake and correct it, because there are far more scientists John P. A. Ioannidis is professor of medicine out there than ever before. They’re doing and disease prevention at Stanford Univer- more research and publishing more – but sity in the US, where he is Director of the they’re basing their work on the results of Stanford Prevention Research Center. He has their predecessors and colleagues, some of previously also chaired the Department of which are actually wrong. My primary con- Hygiene and Epidemiology at the University cern is to speed up the process of self-cor- of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece. rection in the scientific system. This can Ioannidis was born in New York and grew only happen if results are checked swiftly up in Athens in Greece, where he studied and independently. In many fields, self-cor- medicine. He is one of the most-often cited rection is not yet efficient enough. Until scientists in the world. His article ‘Why most not too long ago, some disciplines, such as Published Research Findings are False’ alone psychology, were not even bothered about has been downloaded almost a million times the reproducibility of their results. They since it was published in the journal PLoS only recently began to repeat important Medicine in 2005. trials.

48 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 How does it work? Put a Li-ion in your batteries! By Philippe Morel, with illustrations by Dario Forlin

1 For the last few years the world of portable electronics has become dominated by Li-ion (lithium-ion) batteries. These batteries operate on the same principle as conventional lead-acid batteries, i.e., a redox reaction inducing ion and electron transfer between a cathode and an anode. The materials used for the anode and cathode define the potential of this reaction and therefore the voltage of a cell. Increasing the voltage is as simple as linking several cells together to form a battery!

2 The result of the chemical reaction in Li-ion batteries is the generation of electricity. By reversing the electric current back into a cell, it is possible to partially reverse the reaction. Indeed, this is how batteries can be recharged. But it’s easier said than done. In theory all batteries are rechargeable, yet if the operation is not carefully controlled, there is a risk of overheating and leakage. This is particularly true for lithium, which reacts strongly with air and water to form the very corrosive lithium hydroxide. 3 The success of Li-ion batteries is mainly due to their high energy density. For a given weight, a Li-ion battery can produce seven times more energy than a lead-acid battery. This is thanks to the properties of lithium, a lightweight alkali metal with a very high electrochemical potential. But there are other advantages too. They discharge less rapidly during storage and are not susceptible to the memory effect, a phenomenon result- ing from semi-charging and affecting battery performance. As with many resources, however, lithium is scarce. It is only found in a few countries, including some significant sources in South America’s salars, the salty Dario Forlin studied at the Bern University of the Arts. remnants of long-evaporated seas.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 49 Access all areas

Bern: Welche Religion(en) für unsere Gesellschaft? Open data and the NSA affair New questions and tensions between secularisation and globalisation By Martin Vetterli 21 March 2014 UniS Building, University of Bern, Bern The open-data movement has already For scientists, the open-access move- reached almost the whole of society. Thus ment is only the beginning. The next big Nachhaltige Universität: Discussing education, today, for example, digital content can be challenge will be free access to the data research, student projects and university used freely (open content), computer pro- from work that has been published. This strategies grams perused and altered (open source), will bring in its wake complex questions 28 March 2014 official data consult- regarding the storage and shared use of University of Bern, Bern ed (open government) data. But this development will also prove and educational positive for the scientific community, 15th Swiss Global Change Day: Researchers courses pursued free since it will allow for a whole new culture discuss global change of charge (open edu- of reproducibility of scientific experi- 2 April 2014 Freies Gymnasium, Bern SNF/Beat Brechbühl SNF/Beat cation). ments. In recent years, this issue has come Research, too, is under fire. But for science it is the greatest ▸ www.proclim.ch/ affected. At present, commodity of all, as it is the very basis the demand for free of the success story behind scientific re- Herausforderungen der wissenschaftlichen access to scientific search. Perhaps the open-data movement Politikberatung: Anne Glover, Chief Scientific literature is a major can aid us here. Adviser to the President of the European talking point. Behind Of course, this shift to more and more Commission this open-access digitised, publicly accessible data has 23 May 2014, Bern movement lies the its downside. Sensitive health data and noble goal of making online behaviour in one’s private sphere commercial publica- are often afforded an inadequate degree tions freely accessible of respect. The spying affair involving the Geneva: to readers – because they are in fact fi- NSA has shown how quickly our privacy Science Cafés: nanced from public funds. Last August, the can disappear. So researchers should not 31 March 2014: European Commission proudly announced be naïve, nor should they shut their work “Facile/pas facile … d’inventer un microbe” that soon the majority of publications will off from technological developments. It 28 April 2014: be freely available. But this new system has to move with the times in order to be “Facile/pas facile … de personnaliser son also has knock-on effects, because the cost able to continue making new discoveries. traitement” to researchers of submitting publications And for this, a certain degree of ‘openness’ 26 May 2014: has risen considerably. For this reason, the is indispensable. “Facile/pas facile … de créer un cerveau humain” SNSF is giving financial support to those Musée d’histoire des sciences, Geneva publishing in open-access journals. This Martin Vetterli is the Chairman of the National ▸ www.bancspublics.ch chosen path is the right one, however, as it Research Council and teaches electrical promotes the free dissemination of knowl- engineering at EPFL. Geneva Health Forum 2014: edge and learning. Challenges and solutions 15 – 17 April 2014 International Conference Centre of Geneva (CICG), Geneva

Dompter la lumière: An interactive exhibition for all ages, free 9 April 2014 – 11 April 2015 Musée d’histoire des sciences, Geneva Letters to the Editor

The independence of universities presented as a scientific, or quasi-scientific Lausanne: (Horizons No. 99, December 2013) fact: “do we not live in a market economy Les jeux sont faits! Hasard et probabilités. The debate on the private financing of where free competition provides the best A fun introduction to games of chance and universities and other higher educa- solution?” Each term should have been statistics tion establishments has overlooked two subject to serious discussion and verifica- Until 27 April 2014 equally worrying aspects relating to tion. Espace des inventions, Lausanne their independence: academics dabbling Michel Charrière, Pensier (FR) in politics and, economists particularly, Anatomies: De Vésale au virtuel. An inter sitting on boards of directors and other active, thought provoking and immersive decision-making bodies in the world of Corrigenda: exhibition business. And let’s not mention their in- The social psychologist Heinz Gutscher Until 17 August 2014 volvement with lobbies funded by the very remains the Chairman of the Swiss Academy Musée de la main, Lausanne same private sector. […] My reservations of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS), ▸ www.verdan.ch are bolstered by Urs Hafner’s comments despite the statement to the contrary in the on page 22. He takes up a laissez-faire most recent issue of Horizons (No. 99, p. 19). approach, fortunately with a pinch of We regret this mistake and apologise to Heinz irony, to an ideological statement often Gutscher.

50 Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 Inside the SNSF and SA

Promoting healthcare research Research without borders Horizons The Swiss magazine for scientific research is published quarterly in German, French and Basic clinical and biomedical research The future of research in Europe has been English. Volume 26, no. 100, March 2014. have a long tradition in Switzerland. In outlined in the ‘Science Europe Road- www.snf.ch/horizonte addition to these two fields, healthcare map’. It identifies nine areas in which its research has also become established in member organisations – including the Publisher Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) many countries. This field investigates the SNSF – wish to collaborate in order to con- Communication Department efficacy of medical care under everyday solidate the research system and realise Wildhainweg 3 conditions and looks for new solutions the following strategic goals: supporting Postfach 8232 CH-3001 Bern to ensure a high-quality health system ‘borderless’ research, improving the scien- Tel. 031 308 22 22 that also meets the challenges of today’s tific environment, promoting science and [email protected] society. Why do we also need this research communicating science. Over 50 institu- Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences tions and other stakeholders have helped Generalsekretariat in drafting this roadmap. Hirschengraben 11 CH-3001 Bern Tel. 031 313 14 40 Colourbox.com ‘Artificial’ is wrong [email protected] Editors Urs Hafner (uha), Chief Editor What is artificial and what is natural? This Valentin Amrhein (va) seemingly simple question never ceases to Marcel Falk (mf) bewilder, and this bewilderment leaves its Philippe Morel (pm) Ori Schipper (ori) mark on political debates. The Swiss Acad- Marie-Jeanne Krill (mjk) emy of Sciences has therefore asked four discipline in Switzerland? What is the pairs of experts to share their views. The Graphic design, Photography 2. stock süd netthoevel & gaberthüel, current comparative state of research on heart surgeon Thierry Carrel discusses the Valérie Chételat the international level? And what mea- matter with Antoinette Brem, a theologian Cover photo: Alison Pouliot sures need to be taken in order to promote and companion for the terminally ill; the Illustration: Eliane Häfliger, HEAB healthcare research in Switzerland? On architect Peter Zumthor is in conversation Translation and Proofreading behalf of the Federal Council, the Swiss with the former director of WWF Switzer- Max Crisp, Chris Walton, Interpreters’ and Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS) has land, Claude Translators’ Association, Zurich drafted a plan to consolidate healthcare Martin; the Printer and Lithographer research (www.akademien-schweiz.ch). top chef Stämpfli AG, Bern and Zurich Anne-Sophie Climate neutral, myclimate.org Paper: Refutura FSC, Recycling, matt Pic meets the Typography: FF Meta, Greta Text Std ‘Use-inspired basic research’ aroma ana- lyst Christine Distribution 40,000 copies in German, Since 2011, researchers have been able Hunziker; 16,200 copies in French. to submit their applications for SNSF and the funding under the category ‘use-inspired artist Pierre- © All rights reserved. Reproduction with the Editor’s permission is basic research’. This new category places Philippe requested. an additional focus on the acquisition of Freymond ISSN 1663 2710 knowledge geared to possible applications engag- Subscription is free. Distribution of the paper and practical implementation. The SNSF es with the sportswoman Géraldine version is usually restricted to Switzerland and has since made an initial assessment. The Fasnacht. Their views, published in the foreign organisations. proportion of project applications sub- book Kehrseiten – Gespräche über Natürliches The opinions in the articles are those of their mitted under the ‘use-inspired’ category und Künstliches (Flipsides – Conversations authors and do not necessarily reflect those makes up just 20%, so its introduction about what’s natural and artificial), are of the SNSF and/or SA. Research presented is has not led to a marked increase in the astonishing. The difference between generally supported by the SNSF. number of funding submissions, nor natural and artificial is clearly something The SNSF has it opened up new research areas. As that is felt, rather than being rationally The SNSF is the principal body for the promo- expected, the applications received mainly definable. These conversation partners all tion of scientific research in Switzerland. It is mandated by the Confederation to promote come from clinical research, engineer- link the ‘artificial’ with a lack of authen- basic research in all fields and disciplines and ing, architecture, universities of applied ticity and genuineness, and therefore with each year distributes some 755 million Swiss sciences and a broad range of disciplines what is ‘wrong’. The book is published by Francs amongst more than 3,500 projects in the humanities and social sciences. This Vdf-Hochschulverlag (www.vdf.ethz.ch). involving about 8,750 scientists. new category is contributing significantly The Swiss Academies to the visibility and better evaluation of Also mandated by the Confederation, the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences are committed projects situated between basic research to an open dialogue between science and and applied research. society. They are on the side of science, each specialising in a respective domain, yet also acting in an inter-disciplinary way. Being anchored to the scientific community rewards them with access to the expertise of around 100,000 researchers.

Swiss National Science Foundation – Swiss Academies: Horizons No. 100 51 “Most results in the biomedical field have either been exaggerated or are simply wrong.” John Ioannidis page 46

“We’re creating substances that no one has made before now, and that don’t exist anywhere else!” Katharina Fromm page 24

“Do you really think we wouldn’t publish results if we thought they might damage the image of the university?” Christoph Pappa page 23