How do you paint what isn’t there?

Matter’s song about his lofty artistic ambitions is less popular: armed with a brush and easel, he wants to capture the cow by the woods on canvas, and create a priceless work of unimaginable quality in the process. He paints the border of the woods, conjures up the sky on canvas and includes the meadow replete with flowers at the forefront. Then – all of a sudden – the cow has gone. It has removed itself from the artist’s line of sight. The actual subject of the picture is but a blurry blob.

Mani Matter “Chue am Waldrand” 

The song is reminiscent of our attempt to portray how hard the US tariffs have hit Switzerland. The setting, or bigger picture is clear enough: the – in Swiss eyes – special relationship with the US; the – also in Swiss eyes – unwarranted accusations by Trump. But the contours of the actual subject of the picture remain blurred: to what extent will the US customs policy actually affect Switzerland? It was too early to tell as this edition went to print. Nonetheless, our article on the tariffs still has something to say: it explains why Switzerland is so perplexed by Donald Trump’s protectionism.

While the Swiss share price at times flickers nervously amid the customs dispute, glaciologists are busy working on something rather more tangible. They take long drill cores from the ice of the glaciers, because deep within the glaciers lie memories of a distant past preserved in the ice. The cores contain, for example, traces of the climate thousands of years ago and pointers as to when and how the climate changed. We report on the researchers’ work. The scientists have troubles of their own to contend with. The glaciers are melting – and taking their icy secrets with them.

MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF