Fear. (01/2022)

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It protects us from danger but can also paralyze us. Dealing with an uncomfortable yet important feeling that can set the pulse racing, cause goosebumps and make hands tremble.

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  Dossier

  The complexity of an emotion.

  Text: Fabienne Hübener / A psychiatrist and a neuroscientist approach fear from different angles. Both strive to create new therapies and promote a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying anxiety.

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  Dossier

  Overcoming anxiety with broccoli monsters.

  Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / Up to a point, fear is a normal – and even beneficial – experience for children. But when fear takes the upper hand, it helps to make the causes of this anxiety tangible.

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  Dossier

  Stronger than fear.

  Text: Niklas Bienbeck / It is understandable to be afraid of a dangerous animal or a risky situation, but if this feeling manifests in moments where there is no clear and present danger, fear can become its own burden. Ways that can help.

• Dossier

  Displaced.

  Text: Urs Hafner / Migration is a source of anxiety, both for the existing population and for the migrants themselves. Very little research has been done on the fears of children housed in cantonal repatriation facilities. Their plight is a desperate one, warns Walter Leimgruber.

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  Dossier

  Dreaded future.

  Interview: Angelika Jacobs / Psychologist Karina Wahl studies rumination. We have plenty of reasons to worry about what the future will bring. A discussion about constructive ways to handle our fears about what is to come.

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  Dossier

  “Death will always arrive too soon.”

  Text: Cornelia Niggli / Many people have experienced the fear of death, but what if it is suddenly eclipsed by a fear of life? An interview with ethicist and theologian Georg Pfleiderer on death in the modern world, shame and what all that has to do with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

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  Dossier

  Visions of the end-time.

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / Harrowing images of a divine judgment at the end of the world, as described in the New Testament, were commonplace during the Middle Ages. Yet, people at the time did not live in constant fear of punishment for sin and everlasting damnation.

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  In pictures

  Dental implants like a cicada’s wings.

  Text: Angelika Jacobs / The oral cavity is populated by hundreds of different species of bacteria, some of which can attack the surface of dental implants, triggering inflammation and potentially leading to the loss of the implant. While antibiotics can help, more and more bacteria are developing resistance to these medications. One possible solution is being pursued by a team of researchers including Laurent Marot and Fabien Sanchez.

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    Dossier

    Call to prayer instead of church bells?

    Text: Noëmi Kern / Foreign infiltration, Islamization, economic decline: Political actors use threatening scenarios to exert influence over people. By playing with our emotions, they leave the rational level behind.

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  In conversation

  "We always avoid making sacrifices any way we can."

  Interview: Noëmi Kern / During the pandemic, we reigned in our lives for the common good. But we still insist on our dream beach vacations, although they are bad for the environment. Georg von Schnurbein explains the difference – why we do good and why a degree of egotism is required.

• 

  Opinion

  Is inflation here to stay?

  Text: Sarah Lein / After a long period of tranquility, inflation began to rise again last year. The reasons for this increase are manifold. What can halt this development.

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  In pictures

  Bones, seeds and sediments.

  Text: Angelika Jacobs / Researchers perform a rescue mission on hands and knees with spades, sieves and their bare hands. At the future site of a new, large-scale building complex and parking garage located on Zürcherstrasse in the city of Windisch, Switzerland, the Canton Aargau Archaeology Department is working to preserve the remains of the Roman legion camp Vindonissa.

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    Portrait

    The unassailable one.

    Text: Irène Dietschi / During the pandemic, Richard Neher monitored the evolutionary changes in SARS-CoV-2 closely and provided commentary for the media. When doing so, he was careful to avoid being drawn into political or emotional statements – and thereby made himself immune to attack.

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  Research

  The sounds of silence.

  Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / Much remains to be understood about how sounds are processed in the brain. In the University of Basel’s Brain & Sound Lab, researchers are slowly coming closer to solving the puzzle.

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  Research

  Stockpiling bacteria.

  Text: Samuel Schlaefli / Our health is highly dependent on the presence of a diverse community of microorganisms in the body, but the diversity of this “microbiome” is in rapid decline. An international research consortium is therefore planning to build a vault for the long-term conservation of particularly valuable microbial communities.

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  Research

  Princess rooms and car-themed palaces.

  Text: Eva Mell / Gender researcher Dominique Grisard is interested in how the design of children’s bedrooms perpetuates gender roles. She explains how much influence middle-class notions still have on today’s parents.

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  Opinion

  Definitions of sex and gender by Walter Salzburger.

  Text: Walter Salzburger / In today’s society, it is widely accepted that there are more facets to gender than just male and female. How is an individual’s sex defined? Answers from the field of evolutionary biology.

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  Opinion

  Definitions of sex and gender by Andrea Maihofer.

  Text: Andrea Maihofer / In today’s society, it is widely accepted that there are more facets to gender than just male and female. How is an individual’s sex defined? Answers from the field of gender research.

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  Column

  On the potential of unread books.

  Text: Dominique Brancher / My book: Literary scholar Dominique Brancher wonders what it means to read a book - or not.

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  Alumni

  A new start with obstacles and opportunities.

  Text: Letizia Scholl and Basil Hatz /

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  Alumni

  In the field for mission “soil fertility”.

  Text: Davina Benkert / What is it that makes good soil good? Biologist Sarah Symanczik is dedicated to finding the answer. She is currently conducting research into European wheat farming to determine what makes soil resistant to climate stress.