August

Have you ever wished your mobile phone display was unbreakable? Researchers from ETH Zurich imitate materials from nature to create transparent materials with high fracture resistance.

Trading in digital currencies such as Bitcoin or Ether has become an established practice but using them as a payment means is still a slow process. ETH Professor Srdjan Capkun and his team have now developed a system that makes cryptocurrency payments secure, fast and practical.

Breeding animals often suffer from diarrhoea caused by Salmonella, but since the bacterium is constantly changing, previous vaccines quickly become ineffective. Wolf-​Dietrich Hardt, Emma Wetter Slack and Médéric Diard have developed a vaccine that exploits this genetic modification. Their vaccine triggers an immune response that directs the evolution of Salmonella in such a way that the only survivors are harmless pathogens that are also difficult to transmit to other animals.

In the "Quartierstrom" project, ETH Zurich has joined forces with partner companies and universities to conduct field trials on a local electricity market for the first time. Christian Dürr from the Wasser- und Elektrizitätswerk Walenstadt (WEW) shares his experience as an SME in this project.