They are all helpless. But I’m still going to these meetings. Because I somehow have the hope that I can learn something. All of them start with the exact same slide: the women’s quota in the Swiss academic landscape. Depressing. So what? Change something! These meetings want to [more]

A couple of days ago, I asked a scientific group leader what he thinks is the difference between research in Switzerland and in the U.S.A. He answered me as follows: “Think of a crazy idea you may have. And of a rather difficult experiment that may somehow demonstrate [more]

Tonight, I went to a talk given by Micheline Calmy-Rey, former head of the federal department of foreign affairs. Not because I’m deeply interested in politics (even though I should be), but rather because I’m deeply interested in “personalities” (or great leaders), whether they’re Nobel Prize winners or [more]

Feeling offended by stereotypes that indirectly concern my identity, I decided to fight against my own stereotypes. The first step to fight against stereotypes is to be aware of the fact that you’re going to think or react according to a particular stereotype. This may help to avoid [more]

Things didn’t get better on my way back to Zurich, when I was sitting next to Algerian asylum seekers. They didn’t have a train ticket. They were drunk. They asked everybody for money and every woman for a romantic dinner. The train police had to come. They told [more]

While traveling to Lausanne, I was sitting next to a “modern” Moroccan couple. At the beginning of our common train ride, they were focused on their smart phone. Each of them had the newest version of the Samsung Galaxy SX and was staring at it as if their [more]

Once upon a time, my father told me that I would lose many friends while growing up, while becoming an adult. He did so. My mother too. My oncle as well. Back then, I couldn’t imagine at all loosing so many school friends with whom I spent precious [more]

Will be still be able to celebrate immigrants who won an Olympic medal for Switzerland in a couple of years? Fight again mass stupidity!

Have you ever experienced difficulties to wake up in the morning? Have you ever ignored the snooze function of your smart phone? Yesterday, I thought to have found THE solution: the intelligent alarm function of my Samsung Galaxy Advanced. It’s so intelligent that it starts very smoothly to [more]

But what if you’ve been born into a uniculturally oriented multicultural family? And if you don’t feel equally comfortable in both branches because you’re not familiar enough with the culture and because you’re not able to communicate equally well in both languages. And, importantly, if your family expects [more]

Multiculturalism: one culture, two cultures, three countries, four (potential) languages. I am not sure how to think about multiculturalism. If both branches of your family are multicultural, then great. If  both branches are unicultural, mmhhhh. It depends on how much you identify yourself with each branch. It depends [more]

Bar’s road or Prostitute’s road? I usually choose the latter one when I have to walk home late at night. I might sound awkward but I feel safer amongst prostitutes than amongst drunken men. They aren’t drunk, or aggressive or impolite. We start getting knowing each other, we [more]

There is nothing better to recover from a long night than going really really early to bed the next evening. That’s what I did. Because I had no choice. And I haven’t had experienced the feeling to  wake up in the morning awake – without the urgent need [more]

After each laundry, I’m missing at least one pair of socks. My father used to call them orphan socks. And I think that this fits pretty well. But what shall we do with orphan socks? We can’t throw them away; this would be cruel and amoral. We shall [more]

It was the second presentation of a Nobel Prize winner that I attended within a couple of days and I must say that don’t like presentations of Nobel Prize winners (if I am allowed to generalize). Such a very very deep monotone voice that you felt immediately asleep [more]

Sometimes I wish I had the courage to leave everything behind me. To sell all my belongings. To keep only a good jacket, good shoes, a small recorder and a passport. No obligations, no bills, no office, no lab, no meetings, no agenda, no plans. To leave everything [more]

If I were another on the road, I would not have looked back, I would have said what one traveler said to another: Stranger! awaken the guitar more! Delay our tomorrow so our road may extend and space may widen for us, and we may get rescued from [more]

They are weekends on which you don’t know where to go. Because you cannot decide where to go. Because you want to stay at home, but you don’t really want to rest. Because you actually want to go out, but you don’t really want to party. Because you [more]

I fall very easily in a kind of semi-conscious dream state. Or I am very absorbed by what I am reading (which is why I tend to get easily frightened). And that’s a clear disadvantage with regard to public transports. And it’s particularly frustrating when it’s the first [more]

I used to have one boyfriend who was my first boyfriend, a charming Swiss guy. We didn’t differ much in our opinions and “penchants” except for one thing: are woman “allowed” to work full-time (or almost) and to have a family at the same time? Of course! Being [more]

There is a little bar close to my place that serves delicious Italian sandwiches called ‘Piadina’. And this bar is open until midnight, which appeased my hunger many times and saved me from eating chicken nuggets at McDonald’s or a Döner box around the corner. If there would [more]

Lately I had a chat with someone who works in the same building than me. But in a different institute on a different floor, which is the reason why we never got properly introduced to each other. I passed by his office several times and always said “Hi”. [more]

Tenez, mon ami, si vous y pensez bien, vous trouverez qu’en tout, notre véritable sentiment n’est pas celui dans lequel nous n’avons jamais vacillé, mais celui auquel nous sommes le plus habituellement revenus. Le rêve de D’Alembert, Diderot

Est-ce que l’on sait où l’on va? Jacques le Fataliste et son maître, Diderot

Tonight I had a precious phone call. I didn’t expect this person to call me. And even less what she asked me. She wondered what I was doing in my life. Strange phone call I thought. She wondered what would be the next step. And then I told [more]

At least once a week I’m completely lost during two hours: “Every mode consists of two tetrachords. The names of the modes may be the same than the tetrachords. In between tetrachords you have trichords and pentachords that may share the same names than the modes (not always [more]

Recently I went to have a coffee with a Magrebian friend of mine. And we spoke about many different things. One such thing was the adoption of a new constitution by the Tunisian parliament. Despite the fact that Islam is the official religion in Tunisia, the new constitution [more]

Somehow I’m not focused. For sure at the moment but it might also be a general thing since it isn’t the first time it happens. My problem is not that I’m not aware of what I’m reading while reading due to some lack of concentration or so. My [more]

The French First Lady Valérie Trierweiler was apparently admitted to hospital when she read in a stupid magazine that her boyfriend, the French President François Hollande, had an affair with a pretty French actress. The personal bodyguard of Mr. President himself went every morning to buy two Croissants [more]

Not only fruit flies can discriminate between healthy and cancer cells, also dogs and bees can do so. And most importantly, they can be trained to tell us whether human breath contains volatiles of cancerous origin, by, e.g., ringing a bell or flying into a given box. But, [more]

Detecting cancer with a fruit flie’s antenna. This is the title of a recently published scientific article showing that the activity pattern of a fruit flie’s antenna differs upon exposure to the odour of cancer versus control cells. In simple words, fruit flies can discriminate between healthy and non-healthy. [more]

Back to my roots (or kind of), in Alsace, I went with a good friend of mine to visit a common friend from primary school. Same age, same school, but different. Our friend got married about six years ago. Like her sisters, she got married to her cousin [more]

Every compulsive behavior has its own consequences – with varying degrees of severity. The consequence of my CDCCCB (see CDCCCB I) is that it is associated with a huge Pre-Christmas stress (on top of the non Butterbredele-derived Christmas stress). Well, this year, I thought about optimizing a solution [more]

Usually two to three days before Christmas I am overwhelmed by a very strong feeling that pops up every year. I HAVE to do Butterbredele (the Alsacian word for Mailänderli in Swissgerman, which are Christmas cookies that originate from Alsace in France). Or the world will go under. [more]

No doubt, a new year has started. I’ve been asked a couple of times this year (but also already last year) what my wishes were for this year. And I said: I don’t have any. No wishes, no hope, poor girl. More exercise? More sleep? More seriousness? Bullshit. [more]