Topics of the Week 32

When concrete shimmers and cities glow, thermography reveals what remains invisible to the naked eye. A new ETH study by Jacopo Canton shows the extent to which urban heat islands are warming Switzerland’s ten largest cities. Science editor Céline Elber covers the findings.

To bring these scientific results to life, photographer Gaëtan Bally created a striking series of side-by-side comparisons: alongside a standard shot of the scene, an infrared photograph brings surface temperatures into full view.

The visualization relies on genuine measurement technology rather than a simple filter: a thermal imaging camera captures the infrared radiation emitted by surfaces, translating it into a color spectrum. Parks and bodies of water appear in cool blues, while scorching asphalt and building facades stand out in vibrant reds.

From an edgy underground rave to a global mass phenomenon: when student Marek Krynski led roughly 1,000 ravers behind two love mobiles through downtown Zurich on September 5, 1992, few could have anticipated what the initiative would become. Inspired by Berlin’s Love Parade, the procession was officially approved as a demonstration for love, peace, freedom, and tolerance.

Even a temporary ban by the Zurich city council in 1994 due to noise and trash failed to stall its momentum. A groundswell of public solidarity and protest forced the city to overturn the ban and permanently relocate the route to the Zurich lakefront basin.

Keystone-SDA has covered this transformation from day one—reporting on its beginnings as a niche event, its recognition when Zurich’s techno culture joined the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017, and its evolution into today’s mega-parade. 

Standardized anti-littering fines went into effect across Switzerland on August 1. Anyone caught carelessly discarding small items of trash—such as cigarette butts or chewing gum—faces a flat fixed fine of 80 francs. For larger quantities of waste, like discarded barbecue packaging left in a park, the fine scales by volume and can reach up to 250 francs (for volumes up to 110 liters).

At the same time, the federal government is tightening circular economy regulations: plastic packaging is now subject to a statutory recycling quota of at least 55 percent, while the target recovery rate for beverage cartons has risen to 70 percent.

A partial solar eclipse will be visible across Switzerland in the early evening of August 12, 2026. Just as twilight sets in, the moon will pass in front of the sun, obscuring more than 90 percent of its disk. Because the spectacle reaches its peak shortly before sunset, the pairing of a low-hanging crescent sun and evening twilight promises a unique natural spectacle.

While a narrow path cutting across Iceland, Spain, and the Mediterranean experiences totality, Switzerland will witness its most dramatic eclipse since May 2003.