"Usually when you cave in to the USA, you do it because you just want to get rid of it, " said Dr Peter V Kunz, an economic law professor at the University of Bern.

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It was not until 2001, however, that Manfred Milinski and Claus Wedekind of the University of Bern wondered whether there was a correlation between the perfume a woman preferred and her own natural scent.

ECONOMIST: Perfume science

Developed by the Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern in Switzerland and Swiss software company, Texetera, the Jungfrau Climate Guide is an interactive guide to glaciers and climate change.

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Current methods for detecting disease in livestock are slow and open to abuse, because they rely upon farmers or vets reporting sick animals, says Marcus Doherr of the Institute of Animal Neurology at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

An article in this month's Journal of Financial Economics by Mr Karolyi, Warren Bailey, of Cornell University, and Carolina Salva, of the University of Bern, suggests that once foreign companies list in America, their share prices are more volatile at the time of earnings announcements.

ECONOMIST: Finding the best place to issue shares is getting harder

Then came SIRTAX, a study by presented by Stephen Windecker of the University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, at the March annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

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