Light and Dark. (02/2024)
The alternation of light and darkness shapes our lives. A panoramic view from music at midnight to saving our eyesight.
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DossierSounds after sunset.
Text: Noëmi Kern / In pre-industrial times, music was played not only in the hours of daylight; in the middle of the night, people even took up their instruments to play. How sleep habits have influenced music.
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DossierThe sun vitamin.
Text: Ori Schipper / Most of the Swiss population have seasonally low levels of vitamin D. Researchers at the University of Basel studied drops, tablets and capsules to work out the best way of raising those levels.
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DossierDazzling darkness.
Text: Barbara Spycher / Whether we’re sleeping, partying or getting up to mischief, night defies the rules of day and creates space for the unexpected.
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DossierUnder the radar.
Text: Isabel Wagner* / The dark web has an image problem, but the main thing it offers is secure communication – something we should all be advocating. A case for the defense.
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DossierOut of sync.
Interview: Yvonne Vahlensieck / Without natural transitions between day and night, our body’s internal clock becomes confused. Corrado Garbazza explains how this can affect our health and why daylight is sometimes the best medicine.
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DossierBetween worlds.
Text: Céline Emch / Dreams open up a world in which the lines are blurred between day and night, light and darkness, reality and fantasy. This has inspired authors ever since antiquity.
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DossierIn dreams, there are no rules.
Interview: Noëmi Kern / Sleep researcher Christine Blume explains what researchers know about dreaming and what remains to be clarified.
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DossierMuch too bright and far too gloomy.
Text: Béatrice Koch / People with bipolar disorder go from manic highs to periods of depression. Those who learn to recognize the warning signs, however, have a good chance of living a stable life.
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In conversation“Almost 40% of nursing staff leave the profession.”
Interview: Christian Heuss / Staff shortages and poor working conditions in the healthcare sector are the subject of constant discussion. Nursing scientist Michael Simon explains where the system needs improvements, why academization is not a problem, and how nursing robots could help.
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PortraitA tenacious researcher.
Text: Irène Dietschi / Mirjam Christ-Crain is setting new standards. Her motto? “Never give up.” The endocrinologist is even making advances in fields beyond her own – and always for the benefit of patients.
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ResearchDemocracy in the digital age.
Text: Christian R. Ulbrich, legal scholar* / Christian R. Ulbrich combines his interest in computer technology with jurisprudence and examines the question of how digitalization influences political power relations.
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OpinionShould medication still be used after the expiry date, Anis Arioua?
Text: Anis Arioua, Medical Ethicist /
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OpinionShould medication still be used after the expiry date, Emre Çörek?
Text: Emre Çörek, Toxicologist /
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ResearchPlant’s favorite bacteria to promote crop yield.
Text: Santina Russo / To optimize their growth, plants shape the bacterial community on and around their roots. Finding out how they do so is key to develop new microbiological products for greater sustainability in agriculture.
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ResearchMolecules in full gallop.
Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / An interdisciplinary team of scientists investigates how exactly individual biomolecules move around. One of the tricks the researchers use involves tiny pores that only allow one molecule to slip through at a time.
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AlumniHooked on politics.
Text: Marion Maurer / In his youth, An Lac Truong Dinh memorized the names of Switzerland’s parliament members. Today, the Basel alumnus works as a political advisor to Swiss Federal Council member Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
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Alumni“I wish we were braver as a Church.”
Interview: AlumniBasel* / Priscilla Schwendimann came to Basel to study theology. Today, as a pastor in the Reformed Church, she advocates for joyful and empowering faith.