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Two Britons among three killed in Swiss Alps light aircraft crash

BBC News

Two Britons are among three people killed in a plane crash in the Swiss Alps. The light aircraft crashed high in the mountains near the town of Leukerbad in the southern canton of Valais on Tuesday. The authorities said the Cirrus SR22T took off from Sion airport in the Rhône Valley and, for unknown reasons, collided with a mountain slope about 10 minutes later. Witnesses reported seeing a fire and smoke. Emergency teams from the Valais Rescue Organisation, police and firefighters were sent to the scene along with three helicopters. The Swiss Transportation Safety Board has started an investigation.


Switzerland takes a Swiss Army knife to Microsoft 365

ZDNet

Two divisions of Switzerland's government are shifting from Microsoft 365 to open-source openDesk. Two Swiss government groups are moving from Microsoft 365 to openDesk. The Swiss Federal Chancellery and Swiss Armed Forces are moving at different paces. Switzerland's federal government is moving to create an open-source, digitally sovereign workplace for thousands of employees, while the Swiss Armed Forces' Cyber Command is moving much faster to replace Microsoft 365, especially for sensitive work. They're joining numerous other European government agencies, such as those in Austria, France, Germany, and Ireland, that are also cutting out Microsoft 365 and Windows in favor of open-source office suites and Linux.


Coach crash kills several people in Swiss Alps

BBC News

A tourist coach has crashed in the south-eastern Swiss Alps, leaving several people dead and several injured, local police say. The bus overturned between Susch and Zernez in the Graubünden - also known as Grisons - region late on Thursday afternoon. A large team of rescuers equipped with several helicopters was deployed to the scene. Some 48 Dutch passengers were on board the bus, according to a spokeswoman for the General Dutch Association of Travel Companies on behalf of tour operator OAD, as well as the driver. The spokesperson told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf they could not yet say how many people had been killed or injured.


Cockroach Milk, How to Blow Your Nose, and Mosquito Printers: The Ig Nobels of 2026

WIRED

Every year, the prizes recognize the weirdest research that often raises some very serious scientific questions. Achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think. That's the motto of the Ig Nobel Prizes, an annual competition that--parodying the Nobel Prizes--recognizes some of the world's most unusual scientific studies. The organization Improbable Research has been hosting the event since 1991 with the aim of showing that science also has a humorous side in its quest to meaningfully answer questions about the world. This year the ceremony was held in Zurich, Switzerland, and recognized 10 research projects ranging from an attempt to scientifically define what a kiss is to an experiment that used buried underwear to assess soil health.


AI in cardiology: The path to practical application carries risks

AIHub

Dr van Kolfschooten, the EU presented its at the end of last year. It aims to help member states develop new strategies in the fight against cardiovascular disease. What role does artificial intelligence (AI) play here? AI plays a key role in this plan. It is to be used extensively in all three areas on which the fight against cardiovascular disease is based: prevention, early detection and screening, as well as treatment and care.


'Proof by Underpants' offers a cheeky way to test soil

Popular Science

Environment Conservation Land'Proof by Underpants' offers a cheeky way to test soil Over 2,000 pairs of cotton underwear were buried in Switzerland in the name of science. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. More organically active soil is great for decomposition, but that's not always a good thing. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .


These tiny drones are powered by sound

Robohub

When you blow air across the neck of a bottle, you're not just producing a pleasant tone: you're also demonstrating a phenomenon called Helmholtz resonance. This occurs when airflow passing across an opening causes air trapped inside a cavity (like a glass bottle) to oscillate back and forth. At certain frequencies, these oscillations become much stronger, producing the familiar humming sound. Now, researchers in the MicroBioRobotic Systems ( MICROBS) Lab in EPFL's School of Engineering have harnessed the physics behind this phenomenon to build hollow structures that act as miniature, sound-powered machines. The innovation has been published in Science Advances.


How to watch Love Is Blind: UK online from anywhere in the world

Mashable

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable Selects Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag VidCon with Mashable All Series How to watch'Love Is Blind: UK' online from anywhere in the world British accents, awkward pods, and weddings -- what more do you want? Joseph Green is the Global Shopping Editor for Mashable. He covers VPNs, headphones, fitness gear, dating sites, streaming, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.


SoftBank invests 200 million in construction startup Gravis Robotics

The Japan Times

SoftBank Group's $200 million investment in Swiss startup Gravis Robotics marks another major robotics bet as founder Masayoshi Son seeks to make the company a pivotal player in the global AI race. SoftBank Group has invested $200 million in Gravis Robotics, a Swiss startup that makes autonomous software for construction machinery. Zurich-based Gravis announced the Series A investment in a statement on Monday but didn't share a valuation. It was reported in July that SoftBank was considering an acquisition of Gravis that might be completed in several stages, which includes injecting fresh capital over time. The deal marks another splashy investment into robotics from SoftBank, whose founder, Masayoshi Son, is trying to make his firm a pivotal player in the global artificial intelligence race. The Japanese investor, which by October is set to own a 13% stake in OpenAI, has backed a range of robotics businesses, including with the acquisition of ABB's industrial unit last year.


Intermittent swimming promotes the energy efficiency of fish-like robot movements

Robohub

Improving energy performance can effectively extend the time a robot can operate and reduce battery load, enabling lighter, more flexible, and more durable robotic systems. Nature has evolved optimal energy-saving locomotion strategies through billions of years of natural selection, providing unparalleled blueprints for robotic optimization. Among diverse modes of aquatic locomotion, intermittent swimming, also called bout-and-glide swimming, is a widespread adaptive behavior in aquatic organisms of a wide range of sizes, including larval zebrafish, red-nose tetra, koi carp, and even whales. This natural bout-and-glide gait features alternating motion phases: short periods of active body and tail undulation for propulsion, followed by passive gliding with a streamlined, straight body posture. It is widely recognized that this intermittent swimming gait is closely associated with optimizing biological energy, making it of great research value to transplant and explore such natural motion mechanisms into robotic control systems.