Bettina Bhend Portrait

Bettina Bhend

Editor

I have always been interested in the natural sciences and technology. But since I am poor at math, I became a historian and journalist. I am fascinated by everything associated with being on the move: new mobility concepts, the logistics of the future, social acceleration processes, or digital nomads. And long train rides with a big stack of books.

My articles

Man with VR glasses sitting in fron of a screen

Putting a face to the voice in the head

Voices that insult, harass, control: These are just some of the things patients with auditory hallucinations have to deal with. An innovative virtual reality therapy can help them gain greater control over the voices. The therapy was inspired by computer game technologies.

Animation of Steve Jobs holding a computer mouse in his hand

Here comes the mouse!

The computer mouse was invented in the early 1960s. However, it did not begin its triumphal advance until two decades later. Hence its inventor, Douglas C. Engelbart, no longer had much to do with this success story. But a certain Steve Jobs did.

The underside of a concrete ceiling

Structure that creates stability

The architect and structural engineer Francesco Ranaudo is researching how precast concrete ceiling slabs can be manufactured thinner, lighter, and in a more sustainable way. To achieve this, he is utilizing both 3D printing processes and techniques of master builders of old.

Tests with the children's hand prostheses "the Velohand"

Downloadable prosthetic hand

The hand is our ultimate multi-purpose tool. Accordingly, a prosthesis designed to replace it must be extremely sophisticated. But this does not necessarily have to be the case. As a solution developed by a start-up in Zurich shows: A simpler approach is possible.

An orchestra playing music using digital sheet music on a tablet

Using deep learning to create a digital sheet music stand

Researcher Lukas Tuggener and app developer Florian Seibold intend to revolutionize the world of professional music. They are digitizing sheet music using a completely new deep learning method: Deep Watershed Detection.