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Social Sciences - 06.12.2019
Better integration thanks to naturalization
Better integration thanks to naturalization
Becoming a Swiss citizen promotes immigrants' integration into Swiss society. After naturalizing, new citizens' annual earnings increased by an average of CHF 5,000 compared to their unnaturalized peers. This boost benefits the new citizens, the state, and society as a whole. What is the best way to further immigrant integration? This has long been a topic of discussion among specialists.

Environment - Social Sciences - 02.12.2019
Improved health check for running waters
Improved health check for running waters
If one turns a stone over in a river or stream, it swarms with tiny animals: caddisflies, water beetles, freshwater shrimp, and snails. The invertebrates living on the beds of water bodies that can be seen with the naked eye, called macroinvertebrates, are rather unimposing, but for science and the protection of surface waters they are of great importance.

Life Sciences - Social Sciences - 15.11.2019
How nematodes outsmart the defenses of pests
How nematodes outsmart the defenses of pests
The western corn rootworm, one of the world's most damaging maize pests, can use plant defense compounds to defend itself against its own natural enemies, so-called entomopathogenic nematodes. However, the nematodes can become immune against these compounds in turn, which enhances their ability to fight the western corn rootworm, as researchers at the University of Bern show.

Social Sciences - Health - 11.11.2019
Aging in good health: the inequalities are widening
Aging in good health: the inequalities are widening
UNIGE researchers have been analysing the rise in healthy life expectancy in Switzerland since 1990 and measuring the differences based on an individual's level of education. Life expectancy in Switzerland has been growing steadily for decades. But have these additional years been spent in good health or, on the contrary, do they only prolong the ills of an aging population?

Pedagogy - Social Sciences - 08.10.2019
Modern Family Roles Improve Life Satisfaction for Parents
Increased equality has a positive effect on mothers and fathers. Thanks to greater freedom to strike an individual balance between caring for children and working in paid employment, mothers and fathers today are happier with their lives than parents were 20 or 30 years ago, a study by sociologists at the University of Zurich has shown.

Environment - Social Sciences - 11.09.2019
Global Sustainable Development Report calls for urgent, coordinated action
Global Sustainable Development Report calls for urgent, coordinated action
A world without poverty, in which everyone's well-being is ensured: achieving this goal by 2030 is still possible, but only if the relationship between people and nature is fundamentally changed and social inequalities are reduced. That is the conclusion of the 2019 UN Global Sustainable Development Report, drafted by an independent group of scientists co-chaired by Peter Messerli, University of Bern, and Endah Murniningtyas.

Social Sciences - 28.08.2019
Breaking away from gender inequality absolutely essential
Breaking away from gender inequality absolutely essential
A group of geoscientists, among them Eawag PhD student Andrea Popp, collected data for a conference paper to be given at the annual meeting of the EGU (European Geosciences Union). The decision was made to use social media for the purposes of the research, the central question of which was what colleagues think about the unequal treatment of men and women in the geosciences.

Computer Science - Social Sciences - 28.06.2019
What can Wikipedia tell us about human interaction?
What can Wikipedia tell us about human interaction?
EPFL researchers have studied the dynamics of network structures using one of the world's most-visited websites: Wikipedia. In addition to a better understanding of online networks, their work brings exciting insights into human social behavior and collective memory. Have you ever visited a Wikipedia page to answer a question, only to find yourself clicking from page to page, until you end up on a topic wildly different from the one you started with?

Social Sciences - Health - 20.06.2019
Results Provide Basis for Targeted WASH Interventions in Rohingya Refugee Camp
Results Provide Basis for Targeted WASH Interventions in Rohingya Refugee Camp
Currently, around 910,000 Rohingya refugees live in Cox's Bazar District in Bangladesh after having fled violence faced in Myanmar, resulting in one of the most rapid exoduses in modern history. In a project funded by UNICEF and coordinated by Swiss TPH, a study was conducted to identify and understand WASH practices of the populations living in the camp.

Social Sciences - Health - 17.06.2019
Social Exclusion Measured in fMRI
Social Exclusion Measured in fMRI
A fMRI study shows the effect of social support on the social exclusion experience. Social belonging is a fundamental need for the life of human beings.

Health - Social Sciences - 22.05.2019
Poor semen quality in Switzerland
Poor semen quality in Switzerland
Researchers at UNIGE have carried out the first nationwide study on semen quality of young Swiss men. And their verdict? Only 38% of men have semen parameter values above the norms set by World Health Organization for fertile men. Over the last fifty years, a marked decrease in sperm count has been observed in the Western World.

Social Sciences - Environment - 02.05.2019
The Quiet Loss of Knowledge Threatens Indigenous Communities
The Quiet Loss of Knowledge Threatens Indigenous Communities
Most of the knowledge that indigenous communities in South America have about plants is not written down. Now, ecologists have analyzed comprehensive information about the services provided by palm trees from multiple regions and made it accessible via a network approach. What they also discovered in the process was that the simultaneous loss of biodiversity and knowledge represents a key threat to the survival of indigenous peoples.

Politics - Social Sciences - 02.05.2019
Immigrants: citizens' acceptance depends on questions asked
Immigrants: citizens’ acceptance depends on questions asked
The number of immigrants the Swiss are willing to take in on an annual basis depends greatly on the quantified proposal (i.e. high or low) put forward to them - as recently revealed by a team of UNIGE researchers.

Social Sciences - Psychology - 15.02.2019
Live better with attainable goals
Live better with attainable goals
Those who set realistic goals can hope for a higher level of well-being. The key for later satisfaction is whether the life goals are seen as attainable and what they mean to the person, as psychologists from the University of Basel report in a study with over 970 participants. Wealth, community, health, meaningful work: life goals express a person's character, as they determine behavior and the compass by which people are guided.

Health - Social Sciences - 07.02.2019
Dying in Switzerland - a review of current developments
All of us die - but the question is how? Today we have a greater say in the way our lives end than ever before. Nevertheless, most people do not die where they would like to. The book "Das Lebensende in der Schweiz" (End of life in Switzerland) reflects on what is currently known about dying in Switzerland.

Health - Social Sciences - 01.02.2019
Risks of eating disorders revealed from childhood
Risks of eating disorders revealed from childhood
Researchers in Geneva, Switzerland and the United States highlight the link between abnormal body weight in very young children and a higher risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence. Eating disorders - anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or bine eating disorder - usually start in adolescence and often leave young patients and their families helpless.

Social Sciences - Career - 23.01.2019
Young adults caught in a dilemma between traditional family models and modern views
A study has found that even young adults who do not yet have children are influenced by traditional concepts of family. At the same time, they have modern views of equality, career engagement and childcare. The result is a dilemma that affects not only young women, but also young men early in adulthood.