Claudia Aufdermauer17.06.2025Systematic hunting, changes in habitat and pollution are all contributing to otters dying out, as it says on the label describing an over 100-year-old prepared specimen on exhibit in the Naturama natural history museum in Aarau. The ‘end of the otter in Switzerland’ in 1990 is closely intertwined with the country’s economic history.
Michael van Orsouw10.04.2025King Albert I of Belgium was a keen and experienced mountain climber. He scaled many Swiss peaks and even completed a first ascent in 1907. Tragically, despite his mountaineering skills, a climbing accident ended his life.
Noah Businger30.01.2025For a long time, Switzerland's watercourses were severely affected by wastewater, chemicals and hydropower. It was not until the 1950s that a water protection movement developed. How did it achieve its goals?
Thomas Weibel21.01.2025The menhirs of Clendy are impressive remnants of the Stone Age. Both mystical and mysterious, the standing stones on the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel take us on a journey back in time to a long-forgotten era.
Noah Businger12.12.2024People have been shaping the landscape for centuries. Even in seemingly remote areas such as the Binntal. How much of a mark have humans left on the natural environment?
Pascale Meyer21.11.2024Ghana is the world’s largest producer of cocoa. Pre-independence, the Basel Mission was one of the players making money from the cocoa trade in the Gold Coast region. It ran an agricultural research station there from the middle of the 19th century and attempted to cultivate the cocoa plant ‒ with varying degrees of success.
Daniela Schwab10.09.2024The term is relatively recent but the concept is as old as mankind: the 'circular economy' where goods are reused, recycled and repaired.
Felix Graf18.07.2024The fossilised skeleton of a giant salamander found in the stone quarries at Öhningen is one of the most famous fossil finds in history. Zurich-born Johann Jakob Scheuchzer believed it to be the remains of a human who had drowned in the biblical Flood.
