May 2022

Redwoods Grow Weird Leaves to Suck Water from Air

external pageMany plants (including redwoods) are known to drink through their leaves, but “no one ever really figured out how the water gets in there,” says ecologist Alana Chin, now at ETH Zurich.call_made

Also reported in...

Independent, 19 May 2022, external pageCalifornia’s famous redwoods growing special leaves to combat historic drought, scientists findcall_made

Science, 20 May 2022, external pageIs the world’s oldest tree growing in a ravine in Chile?call_made

WIRED Focus, 19 May 2022, external pageCalifornia’s famous redwoods grow leaves specifically to absorb water from air, study showscall_made

Science helped us climb out of the pandemic. Now it can energize society

external pageWhile science contributes intellectual capital to the global economy, it is also uniquely poised to play a greater role in science diplomacy. (Op-ed by Joël Mesot)call_made

Why you should speak POLITELY to animals...

How we speak matters to animals. Horses and pigs can detect negative sounds in human speech and even mirror the emotion.

Also reported in...

Science Daily, 24 May 2022, external pageHorses and pigs sense harsh speaking tonescall_made

Mirage, 24 May 2022, external pageCase for speaking politely to animalscall_made

Technology Networks, 25 May 2022, external pageCase for speaking politely to animalscall_made

The chaotic early phase of the solar system

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, in collaboration with an international team, external pageanalysed iron samples from the cores of such asteroids that landed on Earth as meteorites. In doing so, they unravelled part of their early history during the time when planets formed.call_made  

Engineers Are Unsung Heroes Of Global Health

external pageElizabeth Tilley is an Associate Professor of Global Health Engineering at ETH Zurich. While she was doing her her bachelor’s in environmental engineering, she has the opportunity to work with an NGO in rural Mexico. A nurse practitioner there showed her a big jar of preserved parasitic worms that she explained had come out of a young girl. “Realising that people, children, could die from not having a toilet seems very cliché now, but at the time it was mind blowing,” said Tilleycall_made...

ETH Zürich Team Introduces a Novel Method to Decode Text from Accelerometer Signals Sensed at The User’s Wrist Using a Wearable Device

external pageNew research by the Sensing, Interaction & Perception Lab at ETH Zürich present TapType, a mobile text entry system that allows full-size typing on passive surfaces without using a keyboard.call_made

Control of mechanical quantum resonators reaches new levels of precision

external page“Everything that we have in our physical world talks to mechanical vibrations,” explains Uwe von Lüpke of ETH Zurich.call_made

La Prairie’s Immersive Artwork at Frieze New York Transports You to the Swiss Alps

Carla Chan to create an exclusive augmented reality art experience and NFT inspired by the Swiss landscape. external pagePart of the proceeds of the NFT’s sale will be donated to ETH Zurich’s Department of Glaciology, a long term partner of La Prairie.call_made  

New Component Helps Create Electronic Circuits that Emulate the Human Brain

Much like neurons, which are responsible for both data storage and data processing in the brain, external pagescientists (at ETH Zurich, Empa, and UZH) want to combine storage and processing in a single type of electronic component, known as a memristor.call_made

Also reported in...

News Medical - Life Science, 18 May 2022, external pageNew memristors for neuromorphic computingcall_made

NASA’s Marsquake Mission Is Nearing Its End

external pageThe InSight mission, which carries a seismometer and studies the red planet’s insides, is expected to cease functioning by the end of the year.call_made

More on ETH Zurich's contributions to Mars InSight and the Marsquake Service

Also reported in...

CNN, 17 May 2022, external pageDust-covered solar panels mean NASA Mars lander's mission is coming to an endcall_made

Science, 17 May 2022, external pageNASA’s quake-sensing Mars lander is running out of power, agency sayscall_made

Forbes, 17 May 2022, external pageOur ‘Marsquake’ Mission On The Red Planet Will Bite The Dust By Mid-July Says NASAcall_made

With Dusty Solar Panels, InSight’s Days on Mars Are Numbered

external pageAfter the InSight lander studied the strongest marsquake ever detected, scientists gave the space robot a negative prognosis because of its dwindling solar power.call_made

More on ETH Zurich's contributions to the Mars InSight mission

New 5.0 marsquake is biggest yet detected

On May 4, 2022 – the 1,222nd sol (Martian day) of the InSight mission – the lander felt its external pagelargest marsquake yet, at a record magnitude 5.0. It’s not just the biggest marsquake. It’s the biggest quake detected on another planet so far.call_made

More on ETH Zurich's Marsquake Service and contributions to the NASA InSight mission.

Turning mud into ‘clean’ concrete - People Fixing the World

external pageA young scientist (ETH Zurich alum, Pioneer Fellow, and ETH Spinoff Co-founder) has developed a white powder which gives waste soil concrete-like properties. Gnanli Landrou, Oxara, grew up in Togo, helping his neighbours dry out soil to make bricks, and his big dream is to help people like them build stronger, cheaper, houses. But the European building industry is also excited about his new, low carbon building material.call_made

Switzerland is playing a key role in building the metaverse

"Texternal pagehe tech giants attract a large share of the brains trained at ETH Zurich...call_made" Professor Marc Pollefeys heads up Microsoft's Mixed Reality & AI Zurich Lab, while also teaching computer science at ETH Zurich. Referring to Microsoft’s augmented reality headset HoloLens he comments, “We synchronise virtual objects and digital information with the real world...Part of our team is also working on telepresence via avatars.”

Swiss economic system suffers from persistent expertise scarcity, report finds

external pageDaniel Kopp from the Economic Research Center at ETH Zurich comments on the extreme scarcity of employees in wake of COVID, “In many sectors, corporations are complaining about recruitment difficulties and lengthy vacancies."call_made

How Properties of Mechanical Quantum Systems Can Be Measured Without Destroying the Quantum State

The group of external pageYiwen Chu in the Laboratory of Solid State Physics at ETH Zurich has now made major progress towards mastering the handling of mechanical quantum objects, so that their quantum states can be controlled, measured, and eventually exploited in device-like structures.call_made

Also reported in...

Bioengineer, 13 May 2022, external pageGoing gentle on mechanical quantum systemscall_made

The combination makes the difference: New therapeutic approach against breast cancer

external pageComputational algorithm developed by Professor Niko Beerenwinkel at ETH Zurich in collaboration with the University of Basel researchers reveals that MDM2 could be a worthwhile target structure for the treatment of certain breast tumours.call_made

Battle in Space to Save the Earth

external pageNico Lang, a PhD candidate at ETH Zurich, (Albert Einstein’s alma mater), is using GEDI and other satellite data to map the impact of fire on California forests.call_made

Also reported in...

NASA Earth Observatory, 13 May 2022, external pageScientists Show How Forests Measure Upcall_made

MSN, 13 May 2022, external pageBattle in Space to Save the Earthcall_made

NVIDIA Developer, 5 May 2022, external pageNeural Network Generates Global Tree Height Map, Reveals Carbon Stock Potentialcall_made

Robot dog may get to go to the moon

The robotic explorer GLIMPSE, created at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, has made it into the final round of a competition for external pageprospecting resources in space.call_made

New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body

external pageMicrorobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine.call_made Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognizes cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism.

Robots and Humans Make Murals Together

Researchers from external pageETH Zurich presented an interactive robotic plastering system that lets artistic humans use augmented reality to create three-dimensional designs meant to be sprayed in plaster on bare walls by robotic arms.call_made

Machine learning spots metals in single-atom catalysts  

external pageSharon Mitchell, a chemist at ETH Zurich explains how an algorithm could accelerate the way chemists identify and analyze single-atom catalysts. Using machine learning techniques, the method scans microscopy images and successfully detects metallic atoms.call_made  

NASA’s InSight Records Monster Quake on Mars

external pageEstimated to be magnitude 5, the quake is the biggest ever detected on another planet.call_made  ETH Zurich researchers operate the Marsquake Service and contributed to the Mars InSight mission.

Also reported in...

Yahoo! News, 11 May 2022 external pageNASA's InSight lander just detected a 'monster' quake on Marscall_made

ArchyNewsy, 14 May 2022 external pageTwo Largest Martian Earthquakes To Date Recorded from Planet’s Far Sidecall_made

Aviation Fuel From Sunlight And Air

Aldo Steinfeld, the professor of Renewable Energy Source at ETH Zurich, the team of scientists has made a more promising jet fuel using solar energy and air. Their external pagenewly-discovered fuel will cut back CO2 emissions and help the world combat climate change.call_made

Chelsea sale: Who are the key people behind consortium buying club?

external pageSwiss billionaire (philanthropist and ETH Zurich alumnus), Hansjoerg Wyss part of a consortium to purchase the Chelsea Football Club.call_made

Kiva Systems creators inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame

external pageKiva Systems’ creators (and ETH Zurich professor) Raffaello D’Andrea, Mick Mountz and Peter Wurman are again being recognized for their innovation by being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Famecall_made.

Verity CEO Raffaello D’Andrea Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame

external pageETH Zurich professor and CEO of ETH Spinoff, Verity, Raffaello D'Andrea was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his contributions to the invention of the Kiva system, a mobile robotic material handling and order fulfillment solution.call_made

With their HoloLens 2 project, Microsoft and Volkswagen collaborate to put augmented reality glasses in motion

external pageMarc Pollefeys, who is also a professor of computer science at ETH Zurich, commented, “This feature turned out to be critical to unlock HoloLens 2 for the maritime space.”call_made

Foreign policy realists should be bolder about defeating Putin in Ukraine

Most foreign policy realists continue to advocate caution over Ukraine...However, it is equally important to acknowledge that the West has a clear interest in Putin’s defeat and in enhancing its weapon supplies to Ukraine, whose armed forces have shown their determination to fight. external pageOp-ed by Henrik Larsen, a Senior Researcher at ETH Zurich's Center for Security Studies.call_made

Artificial skin could give robots a sense of touch similar to humans

Johannes Weichart has an idea that could make robots much more adept at handling objects. Weichart, a doctoral student in the Micro- and Nanosystems (MNS) group at external pageETH Zurich, has developed an artificial skin that emulates the sense of touch in a human finger. He believes that this can endow robots with the ability to touch and feel.call_made

The role of a bumble bee

Bumble bees are the only known pollinator of the potato worldwide...external pageETH Zurich by researchers Mark Mescher and Consuelo De Moraes have indicated that it seems bumble bees are adapting to climate change. But what can they tolerate as the climate continues to change remains to be seen?call_made

Kamonyi female entrepreneur turning cassava waste into livestock feed

external pageA project implemented by ETH Zurich and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) support Rawandan entrepreneur who turns cassva waste into feed.call_made

Nobody Knows Where the Red Line Is for Cyberwarfare

external pageLennart Maschmeyer, a cybersecurity researcher at ETH Zurich, comments on the impact of Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine... “They have really achieved almost no measurable strategic impact,” he says.call_made

Environmental DNA reveals the diversity of coral reef fish

external page“Thanks to the eDNA method, we can detect many fish species and families much faster than with observations alone,” said study senior author Loïc Pellissier, a professor of Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution at ETH Zurich.call_made

Hansjörg Wyss receives contract for Chelsea purchase!

ETH Zurich Alumnus, Hansjörg Wyss (86) reportedly the most influential Swiss in the world receives contract for London’s top club football club, Chelsea. Wyss studied civil engineering at ETH Zurich.