The Swiss Connection
Discover science and innovation in Switzerland with the Swiss Connection Podcast! From the tiniest particles to the vastness of space, satisfy your scientific curiosity and join our journalists while they talk to researchers working on projects ranging from rocket building and AI to medicine and climate solutions.
This podcast is produced by SWI swissinfo.ch, a multilingual public service media company in Switzerland.
Episodes
95 episodes
AI for everyone: how to open up public debate
Who does AI really serve in the end? Is it the people? The companies that profit from this technology? Or is the truth more nuanced? On this episode of the Swiss Connection podcast, Swissinfo science journalist Sara Ibrahim talks to Tammy Macke...
Life without Big Tech: a Swiss experiment
Switzerland wants greater digital sovereignty. But how easy is it to break free from Google, Apple and Microsoft? Two Swissinfo journalists attempted to replace Big Tech services with Swiss and other European alternatives. Their experiment reve...
Are court cases a way to tackle climate change?
In this episode host Jo Fahy talks to swissinfo.ch journalist Luigi Jorio about how ordinary people have been using the legal system to hold companies to account over their alleged contributions to climate change. We find out how islanders from...
Building a Swiss FabLab: the future of Switzerland’s semiconductor strategy
In this episode of The Swiss Connection science podcast, we're digging into the push to create a Swiss FabLab, a shared chip fabrication laboratory that brings public research and private industry together under the Swiss Chip Alliance. Our hos...
How Bangladesh adapts to erosion, floods, and rising seas
Where do people go when the water takes their land? Guided by a three-year ETH Zurich study and first-hand voices, we trace a pattern that defies the headlines: most climate migration is short and local, driven by community ties, scarce resourc...
How does Switzerland deal with the food waste problem?
A bin bag can tell you a lot about a country. We follow the trail of rubbish from Swiss kitchen cupboards and discover why one of Europe’s wealthiest nations still throws away so much edible food. With fresh data, on‑the‑ground auditing, and ca...
A Swiss community living on 2,000 watts
What does a good life look like when you cap your energy use at 2,000 watts? We take you inside Zurich’s "Hunziker Areal", a car‑free, cooperative neighbourhood turning a bold climate target into liveable daily routines. From shared workshops a...
What does Antarctic ice reveal about CO2 and climate shifts?
We follow the 2,800-meter Antarctic ice core from Little Dome C to a -50°C lab in University of Bern, tracing how scientists extract ancient air to probe the Mid-Pleistocene transition and the limits of abrupt climate change. The story links fi...
Invasive Quagga mussel Is Rewriting Switzerland’s Waterscape
A fingernail‑sized invader is transforming Swiss lakes and the cost of clean water. In this episode, we track the quagga mussel from its arrival in the Rhine to its rapid spread through deep Swiss basins—stripping plankton, stressing fis...
Bonus Episode - The Trends Shaping the Pharmaceutical Industry in 2026
Join host, Jo Fahy, and pharmaceuticals and healthcare reporter, Jessica Davis Pluss, to weigh up the forces shaping pharma in 2026. From AI’s real gains in clinics and labs, to the case for inclusive data, we also discuss the politics of who f...
Bonus Episode - Inside Switzerland’s Quiet Rise as a Longevity Hub
How did longevity go from a social media trend to a focus of serious science?In this special bonus episode our host, Jo Fahy, is joined in the studio by pharmaceuticals and healthcare reporter, Jessica Davis Pluss. We trace how Switzerland ...
Special announcement: Season wrap for longevity, please try out Lost Cells
Lost cells on Apple, Spotify and
Rethinking Aging: Science, Society, And The Stories We Tell
Want a longer life that still feels like yours? We sit down with psychologist Christina Röcke of the University of Zurich’s Healthy Longevity Center to unpack what actually f...
How Michael Hall’s TOR Discovery Reframed Longevity Science
We trace how a soil-derived drug led to the discovery of mTOR, why growth control sits at the core of aging biology, and where evidence ends for humans. Michael Hall’s quiet breakthroughs explain fasting, autophagy, and rapamycin without the hy...
Big Pharma steps up race for AI-discovered drugs
What if the most valuable drug candidates aren’t found but designed on demand? We follow a chemist’s journey from a pencil-and-paper notebook to generative algorithms that propose novel, IP-free molecules tailored to specific targets, and we op...
Women’s Health Meets Drug Design and Medical Research
We trace how sex and gender shape drug development, from male-heavy mouse studies to the split results in Lecanemab’s Alzheimer’s trial. Experts explain why regulators should keep approvals moving while demanding smarter design, better reportin...
Cracking the Alzheimer’s Code
Alzheimer’s disease is more than age-related memory loss—it’s a serious brain disorder. In this episode of the Swiss Connection Science podcast, Swissinfo healthcare reporter Jessica Davis Pluess explores the science, hope, and controversy surr...
Swiss Longevity clinics: modern-day snake oil or the key to healthy ageing?
The search for the elixir of life has been going on since time immemorial – and Switzerland has played a key role. Although scientists have yet to come up with a winning formula, the Alpine nation has a booming market for treatments, pills and ...
Listen again: Herwig Schopper, Former CERN head has served science and peace for 100 years
We’ve received the sad news that former CERN director and experimental physicist Herwig Schopper has passed away at the age of 101. He was considered the grandfather of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, helped promote peace throug...
Lost Cells, Ep.6: The Canaries
This is the final episode of 'Lost Cells', a short investigative podcast series. The production is an original SWI swissinfo.ch trilingual podcast made in collaboration with Piz Gloria Productions, Fut...
Lost Cells, Ep.5: In Limbo
Over the next two episodes, we're proud to present 'Lost Cells', a short investigative podcast series. The production is an original SWI swissinfo.ch trilingual podcast made in collaboration with Piz G...
Lost Cells, Ep.4: The Hunt
Over the next three episodes, we're proud to present 'Lost Cells', a short investigative podcast series. The production is an original SWI swissinfo.ch trilingual podcast made in collaboration with Piz...
Lost Cells, Ep.3: The Program
Over the next four episodes, we're proud to present 'Lost Cells', a short investigative podcast series. The production is an original SWI swissinfo.ch trilingual podcast made in collaboration with Piz ...
