November 2022

Crucial Computer Program for Particle Physics at Risk of Obsolescence

external pageBen Ruijl, a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich comments on the value of a 1980's-era computer program called, FORM for calculations in particle physics. "FORM was built in a time when there was almost no memory, and also no disk space — basically there was nothing,” he says. This posed a challenge: Equations were too long for main memory to handle. To calculate one...call_made

To be effective, zero-deforestation pledges need a critical mass...

external page...Focusing on zero-deforestation commitments is only a small piece of what needs to happen, study co-author Rachael Garrett, an assistant professor of environmental policy at ETH Zurich, told Mongabay in a video call. Strong local forest governance and land rights, monitoring tools, accountability, and emphasis not just on carbon but on conservation and biodiversity are also crucial to both making zero-deforestation policies successful and halting deforestation, Garrett said. “Expanding [zero-deforestation commitments] is important, but it’s only part of the puzzle.”call_made

Astronomers Directly Image a Jupiter-Sized Planet Orbiting a Sunlike Star

external pageThe SHINE team was led by Dr. Natalia Engler of the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics (IPA) at ETH Zurich.call_made She was joined by astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and multiple observatories and universities.

Also reported in...

PHYS.org, 30 November 2022, external pageAstronomers directly image a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a sunlike starcall_made

How Pigs Resolve Conflicts, According to Science

external pageSébastien Goumon, who studies animal behavior at ETH Zurich, comments on an external study...“Pigs can recognize conspecifics” — animals of the same species to some extent,” he added, they “can identify and are affected by the emotional state of others.”call_made

Also reported in...

NPR and numerous syndicated radio stations in the U.S.

Elon Musk churn – Is Twitter losing its science community? – Knowledge

external pageETH Zurich first wants to observe the development while the Swiss Academy of Sciences is examining whether to set up a Mastodon canal.call_made

Parkinson's: The distinctive shape of some proteins may aid early diagnosis

external pageNew research led by scientists at ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, may offer hope for early diagnosis. The researchers led by Prof. Paola Picotti have found a group of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that have different shapes in healthy people and people with Parkinson’s disease.call_made

Also reported in...

Parkinson's News Today, 30 November 2022, external pageChanges in Protein Structure May Act as Parkinson’s Biomarkerscall_made

Futurity, 28 November 2022, external pageShape of proteins may point to Parkinson’s diseasecall_made

IFL Science, 28 November 2022, external pageThe Shape Of Proteins In Spinal Fluid Could Diagnose Parkinson’s Diseasecall_made

Archynetys, 28 November 2022, external pageProtein condition indicates Parkinson’s diseasecall_made

Archynetys, 30 November 2022, external pageChanges in protein composition may well serve as biomarkers for Parkinson’s disorder...call_made

Technology Networks, 28 November 2022, external pageProtein Shapes Indicate Parkinson’s Diseasecall_made

Science Daily, 28 November 2022, external pageProtein shapes indicate Parkinson's diseasecall_made

BioPharmBiz, 28 November 2022, external pageSwiss Researchers ID 76 Potential Abnormal Protein Biomarkers in Parkinson’sDiseasecall_made

Neuroscience News, 25 November 2022, external pageProtein Shapes Could Indicate Parkinson’s Diseasecall_made

Medical Xpress, 25 November 2022, external pageProtein shapes could indicate Parkinson's diseasecall_made

Seeds have germinated

external pageThis autumn will probably go down in agrarian history. In October, farmers in the Philippine Province of Antique harvested a substantial amount of beta-carotene-enriched Golden Rice for the first time – namely a total of 67 tonnes from 17 fields.call_made

Also reported in...

PHYS.org, 28 November 2022, external pageFor the first time, farmers in the Philippines cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale and harvested almost 70 tonscall_made

UK News Today, 29 November 2022, external pageFor the first time, farmers in the Philippines cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale...70 tonscall_made

Agro News, 30 November 2022, external pageFor the first time, farmers in the Philippines have cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale...70 tons of grainscall_made

Turning a problem into a solution: How human and organic waste is sustaining livelihoods in Africa

external pageResearchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, working with partner...countries, are creating circular economies that use processed organic waste and human excrement as fertiliser or animal feed. As a result, farmers and industries have seen higher crop yields and more jobs created.call_made

Also reported in...

IOL S. Africa, 28 November 2022, external pageResearch project results in higher crop yields, jobscall_made

A transformer robot designed for last-mile delivery

external pageCNN's "Tech for Good" hears from Marko Bjelonic, from ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab and founder of the Swiss Mile robot, who believes automated machines are the key to automating our cities.call_made His four-legged and wheeled robot is able to change shape within seconds, overcome steps and navigate between indoor and outdoor environments. It's hoped the bot, which can travel up to 20 kilometres an hour and carry 50 kilograms, has the potential to serve as a member of search-and-rescue teams in the future.

Climate Change: How Alpine glaciers will disappear Soon?

external pageAs much as we reduce carbon dioxide emissions today, it is already too late: half of the glaciers in the Alps are doomed to disappear by 2050. Half a century later, 90% will have melted, if not due to climate change we take action to reduce global warming.This is clear from the first large study of 4,000 alpine glaciers carried out by ETH Zurich.call_made

New Technology to Understand Gut Health Wins Prize

external pageFor his work in developing Record-seq, a breakthrough technology that records the activities of microbiota in the gut noninvasively and furthers the understanding of gastrointestinal health, Florian Schmidt is the grand prize winner of the 2022 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.call_made

Also reported in...

Archynewsy, 26 November 2022, New technology to external pageunderstandcall_made gut health is praised

Small but powerful – microorganisms contribute to greater sustainability at BASF

external pageCertified biodegradable in soil and helps farmers achieve higher yields. After the harvest, the film can simply be plowed under and will be broken down by microorganisms in the soil...researchers worked with scientists from ETH Zurich to examine how and why the film biodegrades in soil – both in the laboratory as well as in the field. To do so, they developed new methods of analysis which can prove that the carbon in the film is biologically transformed into carbon dioxide and biomass.call_made

Silkworms Spin a Potential Microplastics Substitute

external pageETH Zurich professor and analytical chemist, Denise Mitrano comments, "Finding substitute materials for intentionally added microplastics is 'the only place we are able to really control' microplastic pollution, aside from reducing mismanaged plastic waste overall."call_made

Swiss economy increases investment in digital technology

external pageThe Swiss economy is investing more and more money in hardware and software. In particular, the use of digital technologies such as robots, big data applications and artificial intelligence is being expanded in many sectors. This is a key finding of the KOF Innovation Survey commissioned by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).call_made

Selling nature in order to save it?

If biodiversity is measured, we need to ensure that the complex structure of the whole ecosystem is being factored in, and not just the individual parts (such as single species). Otherwise, we will miss critical aspects of ecosystem integrity such as phylogenetics, food webs, functional traits and others which are required for the whole system to regenerate and thrive. external pageThis holistic assessment of the interconnectedness of nature is something we are working on at the Crowther Lab in ETH Zurich.call_made

2022 Pictures of the Year

external pageETH Zurich solar refinery, on the rooftop of Prof. Aldo Steinfeld's lab creates carbon-neutral jet fuel from sunlight and air. The image of the solar refinery takes 17th place out of more than 2 million photos submitted to National Geographic’s 2022 Pictures of the Year! Thanks to Zurich-based, award-winning photographer Davide Monteleone.call_made

Also reported in...

New York Post, 1 December 2022, external page2022 National Geographic pictures of the yearcall_made

CNN’s ‘Tech for Good’ spotlights the technologists defining the mobility of the future

external pageCNN also hears from Dr. Marko Bjelonic, from ETH Zürich’s Robotic Systems Lab and founder of the Swiss Mile robot, who believes these machines are the key to automating our cities. The four-legged and wheeled robot is able to change shape within seconds, can overcome steps and navigate between indoor and outdoor environments. It’s hoped the bot, which can travel up to 20 kilometres an hour and carry 50 kilograms, has the potential to serve as a member of search-and-rescue teams in the future.call_made

external pageSee Tech for Good video trailer with Marko Bjelonic here at 00:12call_made  

 Brokering bandwidth across the path in SCION (Podcast)

external pageJuan Garcia Pardo from ETH Zurich discusses the Cooperative Lightweight Inter-domain Bandwidth-Reservation Infrastructure (COLIBRI) project for the SCION network (developed at ETH Zurich).call_made

European Parliament website hit by DDoS cyberattack from Russia’s Killnet

external page“Killnet’s aim is to make Europeans pay for their unequivocal support of Ukraine and punish Western governments for their anti-Russian sentiment,” Stefan Soesanto, a researcher at the Centre for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, told Politico.call_made

Combatting the rise of antimicrobial resistance 

external pageBasel-based Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D BSSE) of ETH Zürich among those paving the way for future solutions (for antimicrobial resistance)...providing a prime example of how an innovative ecosystem can spur drug development, representing a beacon of hope for alleviating the strain of AMR on healthcare systems globally.call_made

Food security thanks to faeces and waste

external pageETH Zurich researchers are creating circular economies that use processed organic waste and human excreta as fertilizer or animal feed, resulting in higher crop yields and new jobs.call_made

Material Can Shape-Shift with Stability Across Forms

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich developed a material that can change and switch between different shapes with stability, something that has been a goal of scientists for some time but until now has been difficult to achieve.call_made

Also reported in...

Plastics Today, 27 November 2022, external pageMaterial Can Shape-Shift with Stability Across Formscall_made

Fiber optics take the pulse of the planet

external pageAndreas Fichtner a geophysicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is one of a cadre of researchers using fiber optics to take the pulse of our planet. Much of this work is being done in remote places, from the tops of volcanoes to the bottoms of the seas, where traditional monitoring is too costly or difficult. There, in the last five years, fiber optics have started to shed light on seismic rumblings, ocean currents and even animal behaviors.It’s like radar, but with light. Distributed acoustic sensing — DAS — picks up tremors from volcanoes, quaking ice and deep-sea faults, as well as traffic rumbles and whale calls.call_made

Also reported in...

Discover, 28 November 2022, external pageFiber Optics Take The Pulse Of The Planetcall_made

Oris releases 1,000-piece limited edition with aerial firefighters Coulson Aviation

external pageThe process to produce the case was devised by Switzerland’s ETH Zurich University. It prints carbon fibre and a high grade polymer developed in aerospace called PEKK simultaneously, weaving them together to create an ultra-lightweight, extremely rigid material.call_made

Cooling nanoparticles simultaneously independently of their electric charge

external pageA team of ETH researchers led by Professor Lukas Novotny at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering has now developed a technique to trap and cool several nanoparticles independently of their electric charge down to a few millikelvin. This opens up various possibilities to study quantum phenomena of such particles or to build highly sensitive sensors.call_made

Mars was covered in a huge 300-meter-deep ocean filled with life-forming amino acids

external pageNew study from the University of Copenhagen, Université de Paris, ETH Zürich, and the University of Bern, have analyzed data suggesting ancient Mars got all its water by getting pummeled by ice-rich meteorites. But it wasn’t just copious amounts of water they exported from outer space; they also likely delivered amino acids, the essential building blocks of both RNA and DNA, the blueprint of life.call_made

Also reported in...

ScienceAlert, 28 November 2022, external pageMars Once Had So Much Water, It Could Have Been An Ocean World, Scientists Saycall_made

Knowridge Science Report, 27 November 2022, external pageMars once had enough water for a planet-wide ocean 300 meters deep, shows studycall_made

Exclusive Global News, 20 November 2002, external pageMars was coated in an enormous 300-meter-deep ocean full of life-forming amino acidscall_made

Universe Today, 25 November 2022, external pageMars Once had Enough Water for a Planet-Wide Ocean 300 Meters Deepcall_made

US Today News, 2 December 2022, external pagedive in! Ancient Mars had enough water for a global ocean 300 meters deepcall_made

Quantum – Are We There (or Close) Yet? No, Says the Panel

external pageETH Zurich professor, Torsten Hoefler weighs in on algorithms and quantum computing: “I wanted to put that challenge out there; we as a community need to focus on finding better algorithms. And we need to specifically focus on finding algorithms that have super quadratic speed-up because these quadratic speed algorithms are not going to be useful in my lifetime…"call_made

NASA's InSight Gets a Few Extra Weeks of Mars Science – NASA JPL

external pageThe mission’s team has chosen to operate its seismometer longer than previously planned, although the lander will run out of power sooner as a result...The lander was projected to automatically shut down the seismometer – InSight’s last operational science instrument – by the end of June in order to conserve energy, surviving on what power its dust-laden solar panels can generate until around December.call_made

...Researchers discover the primary indicator of global poverty

external pageThe researchers at Stanford with co-authorMatthieu Stigler, now a research fellow at ETH Zurich, found that communities given access to electricity experienced improvements in their economic livelihoods roughly double that of regions without power.call_made

Also reported in...

Tech Post and Science, 18 November 2022, external pageResearch ushers in a ‘new frontier’ in tackling global povertycall_made

Optical Delay Scanning Gets Dual Boost

external pageVarious applications of pulsed laser sources rely on the ability to produce a series of pulse pairs with a stepwise increasing delay between them. Implementing such optical delay scanning with high precision is demanding, particularly for long delays. To address this challenge, physicists from ETH Zurich have developed a versatile “dual-comb” laser that combines a wide scanning range with high power, low noise, stable operation, and ease of use...call_made

MRI technology visualizes heart metabolism in real time

external pageResearchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering are now...advancing MRI technology so that it can be used to visualize metabolism in real time. The researchers are focusing on the heart, the metabolism of which is particularly complex because it can choose from multiple energy sources.call_made

Also reported in...

Radiology Business, 23 November 2022, external pageBy visualizing metabolism, researchers hope to improve heart disease diagnosiscall_made

Europe's highest ranked universities: Which countries have performed the best in the Global Top 100?

In 2023, 36 of the Global Top 100 universities will be in Europe. This is a significant increase from 28 universities since the Times Higher Education’s 2011 World University Rankings report was released...external pageApart from three British universities...only ETH Zurich of Switzerland has ranked in the Top 10 in the last 13 years.call_made

Also reported in...

Times Higher Education, 16 November 2022, external pageUniversity reputation in a rapidly changing worldcall_made

Glaciers in Yellowstone and Yosemite on track to vanish within decades, UN report warns

external page"The changes are rapid and really alarming," Daniel Farinotti, a co-author of the new report and a professor of glaciology at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, told Live Science. "If we want to do something about it, we need to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases (opens in new tab), and we need to do that now."call_made

Also reported in...

Live Science, 10 November 2022, external pageGlaciers in Yellowstone and Yosemite on track to vanish within decades, UN report warnscall_made

Hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022: Impact on Qatar and the region

external pageA paper by Stanford University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) found that (Egyptian footballer Mohamed) Salah’s presence on the Liverpool team has coincided with a significant drop in hate crimes and a decrease in instances of Islamophobic rhetoric on social media platforms. Dubbed the “Salah effect”...call_made

Ancient global ocean on Mars may have come from carbon-rich chondrite meteorites from the outer solar system

external pageA team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen's...working with colleagues from Université de Paris, ETH Zürich and the University of Bern, has found evidence suggesting that most of the water that made up an ancient global ocean on Mars came from carbon-rich chondrite meteorites from the outer solar system.call_made

Healthy Biodiversity Is The Reason To Fight Climate Change

external pageTIME magazine publishes an op-ed on biodiversity with Tom Crowther, Professor of Ecology at ETH Zurich and chair of the advisory board for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. "As an ecologist, the most frequent question I get asked is: Can nature really help in the fight against climate change? The short answer is yes. Conserving and revitalizing nature can contribute up to one-third of our climate goals..."call_made

How to make plastic less of an environmental burden

external pageBecause manufacturers can’t make many products with recycled plastic, the market for it is limited, says Magdalena Klotz, a graduate student of ecological systems design at ETH Zurich. Klotz and her collaborators have shown that even if 80% of plastic in Switzerland was collected for recycling, at most only about 20% of it would wind up in recycled plastic products. “It’s not sufficient if we only collect more,” she says. Without other changes to the plastic system, “we get secondary material which cannot be utilized”.call_made

True connoisseur of geometric shapes

external pageAlessandro Carlotto will receive the 2022 ETH Zurich Latsis Prize for his original research at the frontier of mathematics and physics. He employs the tools of mathematical analysis to explore the shape of objects in space and how they deform over time and under the influence of curvature.call_made

Research ushers in a 'new frontier' in tackling global poverty

external pageMatthieu Stigler, a former Stanford postdoctoral fellow who is now a research fellow at ETH Zurich contributed to a new study that uncovers some of the strongest and most direct evidence yet of the extent to which access to electricity fuels economic growth in the developing world.call_made

Also reported in...

News 8 Plus, 16 November 2022, external pageResearch ushers in a ‘new frontier’ in tackling global povertycall_made

Mirage, 17 November 2022, external pageResearch ushers in ‘new frontier’ in tackling global povertycall_made

Why is 1.5 degree Celsius target important when it comes to climate change?

external page“For every increment of global warming, changes in extremes become larger,” said climate scientist Sonia Seneviratne at ETH Zurich.call_made

Life on exoplanets and the origin of life on Earth

external pageProfessor Sascha Quanz contributes an op-ed on how scientists at ETH Zurich as part of the Centre for Origin and Prevalance of Life are "finding empirical evidence for life on planets outside the Solar System has profound implications for understanding our own origins here on Earth."call_made

ETH Zurich claims ‘dual boost’ for optical delay scanning

external pagePhysicists in the group of Professor Ursula Keller at ETH Zurich have developed a versatile “dual-comb” laser that combines a wide scanning range with high power, low noise, stable operation, and ease of use — thereby offering bright prospects for practical uses.call_made

Also reported in...

Archynewsy, 12 November 2022, external pageA double boost for optical delay scanningcall_made

Bioengineer, 10 November 2022, external pageA dual boost for optical delay scanningcall_made

The Future of Insulation

A team at...ETH Zurich in Switzerland has devised a method to produce lightweight porous foams from a variety of industrial waste. The researchers, who have since launched the external page(ETH Spinoff) company FenX, first experimented with fly ash—a byproduct of coal-fired power plants—blended and aerated into a meringue-like state...Energy-wise, the new insulation has a minimal carbon footprint, as no heat and very little power are required for its manufacture.call_made  

Wood Wide Web: Do Trees Talk?

external pageColin Averill, a mycologist at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) comments on the on-going debate about plant communication via fungal networks...."Most plant roots are colonized by mycorrhizal fungi, forming one of the most widespread symbioses on Earth. Fungi collect water and nutrients from the soil; they then pass some of these treasures along to the plants in exchange for sugars and other carbon-containing molecules."call_made

Multi-Nozzle 3D Printing Platform Prints with Sub-Micrometer Precision

external pageImagine having the ability to digitally print the impossible with sub-micrometer precision, on any material and at scale. A spin-off out of ETH Zurich has done just that. Walter Braun, chief operating officer of Scrona AG, told Machine Design how the company is now setting its sights on transforming manufacturing of semiconductor, display and many other products.call_made

These are ETH Zurich researchers cited most often

external pageOn the current list of Highly Cited Researchers, 21 have a connection to ETH Zurich. Four of these appear on the list for the first time.call_made

UK materials scientist wins prestigious Hamburg Prize

external pageThe British scientist (and ETH Zurich professor) Nicola Spaldin has won the prestigious Hamburg Prize for Theoretical Physics for her work on the development of multiferroic materials.call_made

Three-Way Entanglement Results Hint at Better Quantum Codes

external pageETH Zurich quantum physicist and professor, Renato Renner comments on recent findingd from a lab in China. "The authors also based their experiment on a new, stricter definition of three-way nonlocality that has been gaining traction in the past few years. Whereas past experiments allowed for cooperation between the devices that measured the photons, (Xuemei) Gu’s three devices could not communicate. Instead, they made random measurements of the particles—a restriction that would be useful in cryptographic scenarios where any communication can be compromised."call_made

From Devil’s Breath

In 2017, a huge, devastating wildfire swept over a vast area of Portugal...One of the reasons it was able to spread so fast and wide were the non-native eucalyptus monoculture plantations that got caught in flames...external pageWhen (ETH Zurich) Prof. Tom Crowther visited in 2020, they were in the middle of zealously restoring their local forests according to the scientific principles that the lab, and many other scientists worldwide, have been proposing. A film crew, led by Academy-Award-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel and Leonardo DiCaprio...has documented this inspiring story in the movie “From Devil’s Breath”, which will premiere on MSNBC on Sunday, 13 November 2022, at 10pm ET and be available for streaming on Peacock. For those living outside the US there will be an international release at a later point.call_made

Belching lakes, mystery craters, ‘zombie fires’: How the climate crisis is transforming the Arctic permafrost

external pageSebastian Dötterl, a professor and soil scientist at ETH Zurich...who studies how warmer air and soil temperatures change plant growth in the Arctic, was able to travel to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic this summer to collect soil and plant samples...(however) the group was forbidden to use any Russia-owned infrastructure...“We are now splitting a rather small community of specialists all over the world into political groups that are disconnected, where our problems are global and should be connected,” he said.call_made

Also reported in...

KAKE / ABC, 12 Novermber 2022, external pageBelching lakes, mystery craters, 'zombie fires': How the climate crisis is transforming the Arctic permafrostcall_made

Granthshala News, 13 November 2022, external pageBelching lakes, mystery craters, ‘zombie fires’: How the climate crisis is transforming the Arctic permafrostcall_made

The Moon Stole Something From Deep Inside Earth Eons Ago, And Scientists Can Prove It – ScienceAlert

external page...The research team studied the lunaites using a noble gas mass spectrometer at the ETH Zurich Noble Gas Laboratory. This instrument is one of the most powerful in the world – and the only one, the researchers said, that is capable of making their detection. "...it would be interesting to know how some of these noble gasses survived the brutal and violent formation of the Moon,” said geochemist Henner Busemann of ETH Zurich. “Such knowledge might help scientists in geochemistry and geophysics to create new models that show more generally how such most volatile elements can survive planet formation, in our solar system and beyond.”call_made

Mycelium-Based Bricks

external pageResearchers in Singapore and Switzerland have partnered under the Future Cities Lab (FCL) Global program to advance the study of mycelium as an eco-friendly building material.call_made  

EU proposes a united cyber defense front following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

external pageMax Smeets, the director of the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative and a senior researcher at ETH Zurich, comments: “In recent years, the EU has started to look into options to respond more forcefully to cyber operations. Indeed the last EU Cyber Security Strategy in 2020 talks about the importance of ‘Building operational capacity to prevent, deter and respond’"...call_made

This mini transformer robot represents a new generation of rescue machines

external pageSwiss-Mile is a potential rescue robot that can change form and complete a wide range of tasks. Developed by ETH Zurich's Marko Bjelonic, a robotics and machine-learning expert (and the creator of ANYmal, a wheel-legged robot), it could be saving lives by 2O3O.call_made  

Who Is Working to End the Threat of AI-Generated Deepfakes and Why Is It So Difficult?

external pageFlorian Tramèr, a computer science professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, tweeted that the major difficulty is you essentially get one try to fool all future attempts at creating a deepfake with an image. Tramèr was the co-author of a 2021 paper published by the International Conference on Learning Representations that essentially found that data poisoning...won’t stop future systems from finding ways around it. More so, creating these data poisoning systems will create an “arms race” between commercial AI image generators and those trying to prevent deepfakes.call_made

AWS Launches Infrastructure Region in Switzerland

external pageAmazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS)...announced the launch of the AWS Europe (Zurich) Region. Starting today, developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organizations, will have even greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in Switzerland, using advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation. ETH Zurich's AI Center, ETH Spinoff Verity are among the organizations benefitting from the new service.call_made

Also reported (among numerous others) in...

Yahoo! Finance, 9 November 2022, external pageAWS Launches Infrastructure Region in Switzerlandcall_made

Businesswire, 9 November 2022, external pageAWS Launches Infrastructure Region in Switzerlandcall_made

Backrest functions as steering wheel in The Reagiro wheelchair

external pageETH Zurich postgraduate student, Reto Togni has developed a prototype wheelchair shown at Dutch Design Week, which is steered by leaning from side to side. The Reagiro wheelchair is designed to give users greater control while allowing them to change direction without breaking or slowing down – something that Togni says is not possible with traditional wheelchairs.call_made

Ancient underground water could unlock secrets of alien life

external pageThe Bedretto tunnel is a disused access way to a railway tunnel underneath the imposing Saint-Gotthard mountain range in the Swiss Alps. Deep within the towering mass of granite, geobiologist Cara Magnabosco (ETH Zurich) collects samples of water that hasn't seen the light of day for millions of years. In those samples, Magnabosco searches for ancient microorganisms that are quite different from those found on Earth's surface.call_made

Also reported in...

News Explorer, 9 November 2022, external pageWater trapped below Earth's surface for billions of years could hold...the secrets of extraterrestrial life.call_made

Vegetarian guide to Zurich: how to spend a meat-free culinary weekend in the city

external pageIt’s perhaps only fitting in a country that regularly ranks as one of the best for social progress, and where one of Europe’s top universities, ETH Zurich, is home to groundbreaking startups innovating with plant-based ‘meats’.call_made

Art /Architecture: Domus Magazine – November 2022

external pageAn essay by Tom Avermaete, Professor of the History and Theory of Urban Design at ETH Zurich, and Michelangelo Sabatino, Professor at the College of Architecture of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, on tracing a history of the global in relation to architecture and the city is featured in the November 2022 print issue of Domus Magazine.call_made

Working toward a 3D-printed VR glove

external pageResearch teams from EPFL, ETH Zurich and Empa want to integrate three different types of actuators into the glove..."to make the virtual world tangible."call_made

Also reported in...

Nanowerk, 8 November 2022, external pageThe VR glove from the 3D printercall_made

AZO Materials, 9 November 2022, external pageProduction of a VR Glove Using a 3D Printercall_made

Mixed News, 12 November 2022, external pageResearchers aim to 3D print a haptic VR glove with artificial musclescall_made

Climate Change Monitoring: Cube4EnvSec Growing

NATO has launched a new multiyear Science for Peace and Security Programme project named Cube4EnvSec which aims at exploiting Big Earth Datacube Analytics for transnational security and environment protection. external pageETH Zurich spinoff, METAIR will focus on measurements of anthropogenic and biogenic emission and deposition of Green House Gases (GHG, such as CO2 and CH4) and the detection of ash plumes.call_made

Also reported in...

Geo Connexion, 9 November 2022, external pageClimate Change Monitoring: Cube4EnvSec Growingcall_made

Are Trees Talking Underground? For Scientists, It’s In Dispute.

external pageWhile how ubiquitous shared fungal networks are and how important they are to tree growth remain open questions, Dr. Averill of ETH Zurich...hopes scientists will build on the tantalizing clues gathered so far by looking for networks in more forests...“It’s very clear that in some forests in some places, different trees are absolutely connected by fungi,” he said.call_made

Also reported in...

AW Journal, 10 November 2022, external pageIs the Wood-Wide Web Real? Scientists Debate Whether Trees Really Talkcall_made

‘Iceman’ discovery wasn’t a freak event. More frozen mummies may await

external pageAssumptions about how weather, climate, and glacial ice conspired to preserve 5100-year-old Ötzi were wrong, researchers argue. Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich comments, “This paper sheds new light on the interpretation of this exceptional archaeological find (referring to Oetzi - the oldest known "ice mummy").call_made

Also reported in...

Smithsonian Magazine, 10 November 2022, external pageRewriting the Story of Ötzi, the Murdered Icemancall_made

COP27: Climate finance needs more transparency

Iexternal pagen a study recently published in Nature Climate Change, Florian Egli and two colleagues from ETH Zurich and the University of St. Gallen took a closer look at the reported climate finance flows of the last 20 years. Using artificial intelligence, they analyzed 2.7 million bilateral development projects based on their description texts and classified them according to their climate relevance.call_made

Also reported in...

Tech and Science Post, 8 November 2022, external pageCOP27: Climate finance needs more transparencycall_made

The brain chemicals that control what we enjoy

external pageETH Zurich professor Denis Burdakov comments, "Sudden paralysis or sleep are striking symptoms of orexin deficiency in humans, dogs and mice."call_made

Miniaturized Infrared Detectors

external pageExtreme miniaturization of infrared (IR) detectors is critical for their integration into next-generation consumer electronics, wearables and ultra-small satellites...A team of scientists lead by Empa (with contributions from ETH Zurich researchers) have now succeeded in developing a cost-effective miniaturization process for IR spectrometers based on a quantum dot photodetector that can be integrated on a single chip.call_made

Also reported in...

Photonics, 9 November 2022, external pageMiniaturized Spectrometer Proves a Fit for Compact Electronicscall_made

Wiley Industry News, 7 November 2022, external pageMiniaturized infrared detectorscall_made

News Wise, 17 November 2022, external pageA chip to replace animal testingcall_made

Daily Mail, 17 November 2022, external pageChip designed to mimic a human placenta and embryo could replace...drug testing...in experimentscall_made

Rodinanews, 30 November 2022, external pageChip designed to mimic a human placenta and embryo could replace drug testing pregnant micecall_made

The charge dynamics of a non-centrosymmetric magnetic Weyl semimetal

external pageIn work published in npj Quantum Materials, a team led by Prof. Leonardo Degiorgi in the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich has studied the broadband charge dynamics (i.e., longitudinal optical conductivity) of the ferromagnetic (FM), non-centrosymmmetric PrAlGe material.call_made

Mountain House II in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

external pageMonte Rosa Hut : Swiss Building designed by ETH Zurich researchers and the Swiss Alpine club presented as the “Hut of the Future” - After six years on the drawing board – two of which as a student project design – and a construction phase spanning two summers, the New Monte Rosa Hut above Zermatt...nicknamed “Mountain Crystal”...generates over 90 percent of its energy itself.call_made

Cold snap in October on the business market of companies

external pageThe economic studies center, KOF at ETH Zurich indicates that Swiss companies noticed a deterioration in the performance of their business in October. The manufacturing industry in particular has started to show signs of weakening, penalized by weak foreign demand; the majority of company managers continue to consider their situation ‘good’...call_made

The Challenges Of Research In Treeless Landscapes

external pageLena Bakker, Sigrid Trier Kjaer and Jana Rüthers, three PhD students at the ETH Zurich who are heading north to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to investigate Arctic greening, a process initiated by global warming and driven locally by soil chemistry, thickness and age.call_made

Examining why parties in conflict cease fighting

external pageThe path to peace usually leads through a ceasefire. In an international project, ETH Zurich researchers have shown the conditions under which parties to civil wars are willing to stop fighting—and why they decide to do so.call_made

Also reported in...

Public News Time, 6 November 2022, external pageExamining why parties in conflict cease fightingcall_made

ETH Zurich develops formwork from 3D-printed foam to slash concrete use in buildings

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich have used 3D-printed formwork elements made from recyclable mineral foam to create a pre-cast concrete slab, which they say is lighter and better insulated while using 70 per cent less material.call_made

Are Putin’s troops luring Ukrainians into the Kherson trap?

external page“It’s a classic confusion between military and political logic,” strategist Marcel Berni (34) from the Military Academy at ETH Zurich told Blick in mid-October. Militarily it is difficult to hold the occupied territories in Kherson. But Russia is under pressure. It’s about honor.call_made  

Businesses’ deforestation pledges in Brazil have not stopped forest clearing

external page“If soybean traders actually implemented their global commitments for zero-deforestation production, current levels of forest clearance in Brazil could be reduced by around 40%,” Rachel Garrett, ETH Zurich and University of Cambridge.call_made

Futurity, 2 November 2022, external pageGuidelines for soy don’t protect tropical forests in Brazilcall_made

VegNews, 2 November 2022, external pageThe Meat Industry Is Still Destroying the Amazon for Soy, Study Findscall_made

Massachusetts State News, 2 November 2022, external pageCompanies' 'deforestation-free' supply chain pledges have barely impacted forest clearancecall_made

ScienceDaily, 28 October 2022, external pageCompanies' 'deforestation-free' supply chain pledges have barely impacted forest clearance in the Amazon...call_made

The Beet, 3 November 2022, external pageHow the Meat Industry is Destroying the Amazon Rainforestcall_made

South Africa Today, 3 November 2022, external pageBusinesses’ deforestation pledges in Brazil have not stopped forest clearingcall_made

A new quantum component made from graphene

external pageA team of researchers led by Klaus Ensslin and Thomas Ihn at ETH Zurich’s Laboratory for Solid State Physics was able to demonstrate that twisted graphene could be used to create Josephson junctions, the fundamental building blocks of superconducting devices. Ennslin says, “With these components, we might be better able to understand how superconductivity in graphene comes about...”call_made

Also reported in...

PHYS.org, 3 November 2022, external pageA new quantum component made from graphenecall_made

Graphene Info, 4 November 2022, external pageResearchers create tunable monolithic SQUID component based on twisted bilayer graphenecall_made

Wevolver, 9 November 2022, external pageA new quantum component made from graphenecall_made

Sustainable clean drinking water solution

external pageETH Zurich postdoc Olivier Groeninger is improving the drinking water supply for people in rural areas of South America with his Openversum project. This benefits not only the families but also the local economy and the climate.call_made

Giving birth permanently alters your bones — fossil records reveal

external page“This was really fascinating for me,” lead author Paola Cerrito tells Inverse. “We know how much reproduction has a toll on the female organism, but even with time, something that’s written in your skeleton doesn't go away.” Cerrito conducted this research as an anthropology doctoral student at NYU, and now serves as a postdoctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich).call_made

Also reported in...

Houston News, 5 November 2022, external pageStudy shows how female bones permanently change after giving birthcall_made

The Print, 5 November 2022, external pageStudy shows how female bones permanently change after giving birthcall_made

Tribune India, 5 November 2022, external pageFemaile bones change permanently after giving birth...call_made

Red Cross seeks ‘digital emblem’ to protect against hacking

external pageETH Zurich is working with the Red Cross on a joint venture that seeks a ‘digital emblem’ to protect against hacking.call_made

Also reported in...

ICRC, 3 November 2022, external pageICRC proposes digital red cross/crescent emblem to signal protection in cyberspacecall_made

The Register, 7 November 2022, external pageRed Cross seeks digital equivalent of its emblems to mark some tech as off-limits in warcall_made

Business Telegraph UK, 7 November 2022, external pageRed Cross seeks digital equivalent of its emblems to mark some tech as off-limits in war...call_made

Trendeepro, 3 November 2022, external pageICRC proposes digital red cross/crescent emblem to signal protection in cyberspacecall_made

For Elon Musk, Lessons From Friendster

external pageProf. David Garcia, a data scientist comments on the potential "unraveling" risk for Twitter referencing an earlier paper on social resilience that he wrote while at ETH Zurich with professors Pavlin Mavrodiev and Frank Schweitzer.call_made

3 tragedies in Asia take hundreds of lives in 1 month

external pageETH Zurich professor, Dirk Helbing comments on three October disasters in Seoul, Indonesia, and India that "serve as reminders of the variety of ways in which authorities are responsible for ensuring public safety...In the past decades, science has provided many new insights and tools to contribute to crowd safety and management,” he said. “I hope this knowledge will spread quickly and thereby help to avoid disasters in the future.”call_made

Also reported in...

The Washington Post, 29 October 2022, external pageHere’s how the Seoul Halloween crush happenedcall_made

Hindustan Times / Deutsche Welle, Dehli, 3 November 2022, external pageThe science of human stampedescall_made

Archynetys, 2 November 2022, external pageThe Science of Human Tramplecall_made

Fox44 News (Seoul), 1 November 2022, external pageSeoul’s Halloween victims primarily women, young peoplecall_made

ANCX, 4 November 2022, external pageItaewon crowd crush reminds experts of 2010 tragedy in Germany—their research shows you can stay safecall_made

Claims Journal, 3 November 2022, external pageCrowd Management an Issue in 3 Disasters that Took Hundreds of Lives in Asiacall_made

Taiwan News, 1 November 2022, external pageSeoul's Halloween victims primarily women, young peoplecall_made

Omni Television, 1 November 2022, external pageSeoul’s Halloween victims primarily women, young peoplecall_made

The Telegraph, 4 November 2022, external pageThe science of human stampedescall_made

KnitNervi – An actively bent, knitted formwork for ribbed concrete shells

external pageKnitnervi is a pavilion-scale demonstration of a ribbed concrete shell constructed with a flexible formwork system - a project by the Block Research Group (BRG) at ETH Zurich and Dr. Mariana Popescu from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Delft University of Technology (who was formerly at ETH), constructed for the exhibition “Technoscape: The architecture of engineers” in Rome, Italy, 2022.call_made

Also reported in...

Houston News, 26 October 2022, external pageGlobal Market For Knitted Fabrics Market To Generate Substantial Increment In Dollar Opportunities Through 2032call_made

Atlanta Leader, 26 October 2022, external pageGlobal Market For Knitted Fabrics Market To Generate Substantial Increment In Dollar Opportunities...call_made

Inexhibit, 3 November 2022, external pageTECHNOSCAPE. The Architecture of Engineers at the MAXXI in Romecall_made

Volcanic Activity and Low Ocean Oxygen Events Linked to Climate Warming and Rapid Ice Melt During Last Ice Age, Study Finds

external page“It is unknown right now whether volcanic eruptions will increase as the climate warms,” said the study’s lead author, Jianghui Du of ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who conducted the research as a doctoral student at Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.call_made

Also reported in...

AZO Cleantech, 3 November 2022, external pageDisclosing the Mystery Behind Climate Warming and Ice Melt During Last Ice Agecall_made

PHYS.org, 2 November 2022, external pageVolcanic activity and low ocean oxygen events linked to climate warming and rapid ice melt during last ice agecall_made

Forbes, 3 November 2022, external pageStudy Shows Link Between Volcanic Activity And Climate Changecall_made

Newsaxes, 3 November 2022, external pageVolcanic exercise and low ocean oxygen occasions linked to local weather warming and fast ice soften...call_made

The Corvallis Advocate, 3 November 2022, external pageVolcanic Ash, Low Ocean Oxygen Contribute to Climate Warmingcall_made

Verve Times, 4 November 2022, external pageVolcanic activity and low ocean oxygen events linked to climate warming...study finds — ScienceDailycall_made

Tillamook Headlight Herald, 8 November 2022, external pageClimate Warming: Volcanic activity, low ocean oxygen, rapid ice melt linkcall_made

The Chronicle, 8 November 2022, external pageClimate Warming: Volcanic activity, low ocean oxygen, rapid ice melt link, study findscall_made

The News Guard, 11 November 2022, external pageClimate Warming: Volcanic activity, low ocean oxygen, rapid ice melt link, study findscall_made

The World Link, 21 November 2022, external pageClimate Warming: Volcanic activity, low ocean oxygen, rapid ice melt linkcall_made

Cosmos, 25 November 2022, external pageReceding ice, energetic volcanoes and the Southern Ocean iron experiment: be careful what you wish forcall_made

NASA Prepares to Say 'Farewell' to InSight Spacecraft

external pageThe day is approaching when NASA’s Mars InSight lander (in which ETH Zurich scientists both contributed and researched) will fall silent, ending its history-making mission to reveal secrets of the Red Planet’s interior. The spacecraft’s power generation continues to decline as windblown dust on its solar panels thickens, so the team has taken steps to continue as long as possible with what power remains. The end is expected to come in the next few weeks.call_made

Also reported in...

Scientific American, 28 October 2022, external pageDying NASA Spacecraft Records Epic ‘Marsquakes’call_made

SpaceRef, 1 November 2022, external pageNASA Prepares to Say Farewell To Mars InSightcall_made

JPL, 1 November 2022, external pageNASA Prepares to Say ‘Farewell’ to InSight Spacecraftcall_made

Archynewsy, 4 November 2022, external pageNASA prepares to say “goodbye” to the Insight spacecraft that made history on Marscall_made

Outdoor Enthusiast Magazine, 2 November 2022, external pageNASA prepares to say goodbye to the InSight spacecraft – NASA’s Insight Mars probecall_made

Aerotech News, 3 November 2022, external pageNASA preparing to say ‘farewell’ to InSight spacecraftcall_made

NewsBeezer, 2 November 2022, external pageNASA is preparing to bid “farewell” to the storied Mars InSight landercall_made

Inferse, 20 November 2022, external pageNASA Prepares to Say 'Farewell' to InSight Spacecraft – NASA's InSight Mars Lander – NASA Mars Explorationcall_made

In Switzerland, DNA spray for 100% traceable products

external pageETH Spinoff Haelixa Co-founder and CEO, Michela Puddu, is Italian. After studying chemistry in Rome, she continued in Zurich with a doctorate in applied genetics. ” In principleshe says, we can mark everything with DNA. We started with gemstones, but now our main sector is textiles."call_made

MicroRNA plays a key role in body weight

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich have shown that microRNA molecules, not just genes, play a central role in the regulation of body weight.call_made

A lasting impact: Microplastics settling into soil

external pageAndreas Cramer, a researcher from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and his team believe that high amounts of microplastics in soil cause the soil to repel water...The research team found that, in large quantities, microplastics begin to impact how water flows through soil.call_made

Also reported in...

Newswise, 2 November 2022, external pageA lasting impact: microplastics settling into soilcall_made

Sciencenewsnet, 2 November 2022, external pageA lasting impact: microplastics settling into soilcall_made

Morning Ag Clips, 3 November 2022, external pageA lasting impact: Microplastics settling into soilcall_made

Swiss-Led Group Re-Proposes Revolutionary New Way To Directly Image Exo-Earths

external pageETH Zurich professor Sascha Quanz interviews with Forbes on LIFE (The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets) - a flotilla of optically linked, free-flying mid-infrared telescopes that could find heretofore undiscovered earth mass planets in their star’s habitable zone. This would enable the team to characterize planetary systems and detect atmospheric biosignatures from hundreds of nearby extrasolar planets.call_made

Researchers found a way to fight tumors with magnetic bacteria

external pageSimone Schürle and her team have now shown that a rotating magnetic field applied to the tumor improves the bacteria’s ability to cross the vascular wall near the cancerous growth.call_made

Also reported in...

BGR, 7 November 2022, external pageResearchers are testing tiny magnetic robots that hunt and destroy cancercall_made

Physics World, 8 November 2022, external pageBacteria-based microrobots show potential for cancer drug deliverycall_made

BioWorld, 7 November 2022, external pageMagnetic attraction makes bacteria better drug delivery vehiclescall_made

INVERSE, 3 November 2022, external pageThese tiny magnetic robots can infiltrate tumors — and maybe destroy cancercall_made

News Tech Ok, 3 November 2022, external pageMagnetic bacteria target tumors | Medgadgetcall_made

Newsbreak, 13 November 2022, external pageScientists use magnets to deliver cancer-killing 'micro-robots' into the bodycall_made

Health Inovations, 11 Novemver 2022, external pageNaturally magnetic bacteria is a promising cancer therapycall_made

Robohub, 19 November 2022, external pageFighting tumours with magnetic bacteriacall_made

TechNewsCrypt, 19 November 2022, external pageFighting tumours with magnetic bacteriacall_made

Industry Update, 30 November 2022, external pageFighting cancer with magnetic bacteriacall_made

SciTech Daily, 30 November 2022, external pageFighting Cancer With Magnetic Bacteriacall_made

external pageAlso see "In the Media" for Octobercall_made