As a child Cara Magnabosco wanted to be a professional footballer. Then curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to study science. Now the Zurich-based professor is searching for the origins of life – far below the earth’s surface. If you travel from the Nufenen pass in canton Valais towards Ticino in southern Switzerland, you can’t miss the Finestra di Bedretto – the Bedretto window. Yet hardly anyone actually notices this gateway to the passage into the mountain. The passage was originally excavated out of the rock as an access route to the 15-km-long Furka base tunnel. The tunnel accommodates vehicles going east to west. This is also the place where Cara Magnabosco is exploring the origins of life in the universe, 1,500 metres under the earth’s surface. To do this, Magnabosco travels to Ticino every couple of months. Dressed in orange overalls covered in reflective stripes and a hard hat, a self-rescuer (a mask with oxygen supply) strapped to her shoulders, the...
