Income inequality is increasing. According to economist David Dorn, this is causing wider demographic groups to turn their back on the established system – most notably in the US, but also elsewhere. We talk to Dorn about redistribution of salaries, temporary protective tariffs and the future of work.

Kerstin Noëlle Vokinger has doctorates in law and medicine, was admitted to the bar, has a Master’s degree from Harvard and is a professor at only 34 years old. And yet she doesn’t see herself as a high flier.

Google and Facebook sell our personal data and earn billions worth of profits by doing that. Economist Gregory Crawford and philosopher Francis Cheneval think that they ought to share the money with us and that we should have ownership rights over our personal data.

We are experiencing a moment of world history in which many certainties are being questioned and the ground under our feet feels shaky. But instead of wallowing in pessimism, we need to mobilize positive forces and face the problems head on, say legal scholar Matthias Mahlmann and political scientist Stefanie Walter.

In Côte d’Ivoire and Malawi, many children don’t attend school because they have to work on cocoa plantations or are married off at an early age. UZH economist Guilherme Lichand is using innovative experiments to explore solutions to this problem.

Investors can contribute to the sustainable development of the economy, says economist Falko Paetzold. Supporting innovative start-ups is the most high-impact way of doing so.

Two UZH researchers are harnessing the light reflections from leaves to learn more about biodiversity and the characteristics of plants. Analyzing spectral data is revolutionizing not only the way in which we research ecosystems but also allows us to protect them more effectively.

Over a dozen climate-related lawsuits are pending at the European Court of Human Rights, putting legal processes at the institution to the test. Two UZH lawyers are investigating how courts can reach fair and judicious decisions in climate cases.

The challenges facing the global community today are complex and manifold: climate crisis, war, poverty, inequality, digitalization, a new political world order. The new issue of the UZH Magazin analyzes some of the problems and points to possible solutions.

In traditional seminar and lecture formats, instructors explain a topic, while students present and discuss their ideas. But these formats are increasingly complemented by new, innovative approaches to learning. UZH systematically promotes these methods.

The remains of glyptodonts, a group of extinct giant armadillos, indicate that humans spread to South America earlier than previously assumed. Found in northwestern Venezuela, the fractured skulls could represent evidence of hunting by humans, says UZH paleontologist Marcelo Sánchez. Skilled human hunters are also likely to have contributed to pushing the large, heavily armored animals over the brink.

A big part of learning involves our memory. Neuroscientists are looking closely at what goes on in our brains when we learn, and are slowly unraveling the mysteries of this incredible ability of ours.

The young Ukrainian scientist Iaroslava Bezshyiko is set on discovering new elementary particles. This excitement about the mysteries of mass and matter runs in the family: thanks to a Scholars at Risk grant, her mother is now researching at UZH, too.

Good teaching is when learners can make their own connections to knowledge they already have, says Kai Niebert. The education researcher is looking at how teaching is being conducted today and how it can be improved, especially at high school level.

Historians Monika Dommann and Marietta Meier are working on cases of abuse on behalf of the Catholic Church. Their project exemplifies how historical scholarship can engage in the public discussion of a controversial topic.

For 10 years, the UZH Foundation has been successfully raising funds for research, teaching and innovation – including for the Digital Entrepreneur Fellowship.

Learning is itself a skill that must be learned. The best ways to do this and the requirements for success are current topics of research at UZH. The new UZH Magazin examines how our ability to learn changes over the course of our lives, how good teaching works, and what goes on in our brains when we learn. The current issue is published jointly by the University of Zurich and UZH Alumni.

Happy couples clash over the same issues as unhappy ones, and have just as many conflicts – but they argue differently, shows a large-scale long-term psychological study from UZH.

Hereditary diseases often play a role when young people succumb to sudden cardiac death. Genetic analysis may prevent further suffering in the affected families, as a study at the Institute of Forensic Medicine has shown.

Green genetic engineering will help secure our food supply, believes plant biologist Beat Keller. One possible approach involves genetically modifying wheat to make it more resistant to powdery mildew.