Air quality in planes in question after the incident on board the Swiss Bucharest-Zurich flight, the gap between the proportion of seniors in the population and in Parliaments, the study of the effect of a hostile environment and isolated on the human body by a Swiss doctor, the consequences of the end of the agreement for the transit of Russian gas in Ukraine, and the record attendance at ski resorts during the holidays: these are the choices of RTSinfo for the first week of the year.
LIGHTING – What do we breathe on board planes?
On December 23, a Swiss flight connecting Bucharest to Zurich had to make an emergency landing in Austria due to smoke present in the aircraft. This incident revealed a previously unknown defect on an Airbus A220-300 engine. A member of the crew, hospitalized after this event, died, and an autopsy is planned to determine the exact causes of his death.
Asked in Forum to know the risks linked to air in planes, Pierre Raimondi, general practitioner and aeronautical doctor with the Federal Office of Civil Aviation, believes that the quality of the air is generally excellent, because it is renewed every three minutes.
But problems can arise if a reactor malfunctions. “When there is a problem with the reactor and things start to burn in the reactor, there may be smoke emanations. They will be captured by the air intake which should allow ventilation of the plane, and then the fumes will enter the plane,” he explains.
>> Lire : Death of the Swiss steward: what do you breathe on a plane?
>> Listen to the interview in Forum:
DEBATE – Do we need more seniors in parliaments?
In Switzerland, people aged 65 and over represent around 20% of the total population, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). An even more marked trend in certain cantons, such as Neuchâtel, Valais and Jura, where retirees form a significant part of the population. A proportion which is expected to continue to increase over the coming decades.
However, when we examine the composition of cantonal parliaments, we see a clear gap between the share of seniors in the population and their political representation. In the canton of Fribourg, for example, only 9% of current deputies are over 65 years old. Valais and Vaud reach 13% and 16% respectively, while Neuchâtel is at 17%. Geneva and the Jura record the highest proportion with 20% of senior deputies, but this remains less than the 24% of Swiss retirees within the population.
>> Read in detail: Do we need more deputies aged 65 and over in cantonal parliaments?
>> See Forum explanations:
TESTIMONY – Surviving in Antarctica
A specialist in human physiology in extreme conditions, Jessica Studer was this year one of the two doctors on the twentieth winter team at Concordia, this station located on a plateau at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters in the heart of Antarctica, at more than a thousand kilometers from the coast, where outside temperatures can drop to -80 degrees.
After a year cut off from the world, the 34-year-old Swiss woman testifies to the difficulty of adapting to such a hostile environment. “Humans are not made to survive there. We have to get used to the altitude, the lack of oxygen and different day/night cycles. And it’s not just physiological: we are in a base with twelve co-winterers, so we are limited in terms of social interactions. This requires a certain adaptation on a psychological level,” she explains in 7:30 p.m.
>> Read in detail: Jessica Studer: “What I like about space research is that we can also apply it on Earth”
>> See his full testimony in the 7:30 p.m.:
ANALYSIS – The consequences of the end of Russian gas transit in Ukraine
Since the start of the year, Ukraine has no longer authorized the transit of Russian gas through its territory towards European countries. This interruption should not have a major impact on European supply, but could however lead to an increase in prices for certain countries.
“The various gas pipelines connecting Russia and Europe are less and less operational, but we still continue to import gas in other forms, and in particular the famous LNG”, explains in Tout un monde Céline Bayou, responsible for courseworker and researcher at the Europe-Eurasia Research Center (CREE) of INALCO, in Paris. This is gas transformed into liquid form. It can therefore be transported by sea and no longer by gas pipeline, and it is then regasified.
>> Read in detail: What consequences will the end of the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine have for Europe?
>> Listen to the analysis in Tout un monde:
ASSESSMENT – Record attendance at ski resorts during the holidays
“Exceptional”, “fantastic”, “out of the ordinary”, Swiss ski resorts have no shortage of superlatives to describe the record attendance on the slopes during the Holidays. Some have doubled their turnover, and others have broken historical records.
The now exceptional nature of such conditions for skiing reinforces the enthusiasm of the Swiss, who represent the majority of the clientele. Many of them went up to the stations to avoid the gray weather on the plains. And this includes in low altitude resorts, where snow is becoming increasingly rare.
>> Read in detail: Attendance at ski resorts during the holidays breaks records
>> See the 7:30 p.m. topic:
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