In the Media - April 2023

Robot security guard on patrol in Switzerland

external pageAn autonomous two-wheeled robot developed by ETH Zurich startup, Ascento has been performing guarding tasks for security firm Securitas AG in Switzerland.call_made

Testing hundreds of therapeutics outside the body to predict their effectiveness against multiple myeloma

external pageETH researchers have adapted their screening platform to look for ways to avoid drug resistance and offer new hope for more successful treatment outcomes. The study is published in the journal Nature Cancer.call_made

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external pageBioengineercall_made

external pageScience Magazinecall_made

Taking parental leave may make dads less sexist

external pageParental leave for fathers can decrease sexist attitudes and gender bias, according to new research (co-authored by ETH Zurich researchers).call_made

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external pagePHYS.orgcall_made

Quantum Information Has Been Experimentally Proven for the First Time To Be More Connected Than Classical Physics

external pageRecently, an experiment...confirmed a strange conjecture about quantum information. It was discussed in the paper, titled "Verification of the Area Law of Mutual Information in a Quantum Field Simulator," which was published in Nature Physics. To accomplish this, theoretical guidance was provided by collaborating institutions like ETH Zürich and sevearl other institutions.call_made

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external pageAZO Quantumcall_made

external pageCanada Todaycall_made

Shrinking The Chemicals Industry’s Carbon Footprint With UniSieve

external pageETH Spinoff, UniSieve has developed a unique membrane that separates compounds by sieving them – much in the same way as people are used to using a filter to ensure their ground coffee doesn’t flow through to the cup...Professor Wendelin Jan Stark of the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering at Switzerland’s ETH Zürich believes such innovation could have a huge impact in the fight against climate change.call_made

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external pageAZO Cleantechcall_made

Scientists develop safer zinc batteries as alternative to lithium-ion batteries

external pageA team of researchers led by Professor Maria Lukatskaya at ETH Zurich has found a way to make zinc batteries more powerful, safer, and environmentally friendly.call_made

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external pageFuturitycall_made

external pageTechi AIcall_made

external pageVerve Timescall_made

external pageScienceDailycall_made

external pageTech Xplorecall_made

SIEMENS TECH ENABLES SUCCESSFUL RESEARCH AT ZERO CARBON BUILDING SYSTEMS LAB

external pageETH Zurich runs unique research project on automation and energy supply for buildings in different climate zones. Project includes one-of-a-kind artificial sun.call_made

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external pageIndustry Magazine, USAcall_made

external pageIndustry Asia Pacificcall_made

Scientist anticipates finding life beyond our solar system in 25 years

external pageSeveral missions that could detect life beyond our solar system are currently in development, Swiss astrophysicist Sasha Quanz said at the recent opening of ETH Zurich‘s Centre for the Origin and Prevalence of Life.call_made

New platform allows easier, cheaper, and safer interactions with large language models like ChatGPT

external pageResearchers from ETH Zurich created a new open-source platform and programming language called LMQL. This programming language makes it easier, cheaper, and safer to interact with large language models like ChatGPT.call_made

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external pageTechstreetcall_made

external pageTechXplorecall_made

Crypto carbon-free? FALSE

external pageLena Klaassen, a doctoral researcher at ETH Zurich's Climate Finance and Policy Group, said Riot's claim "is not correct as bitcoin miners are also relying on power sources from fossil fuels." A greener bitcoin mining process may become possible as the power grid gets more sustainable, according to Klaassen of ETH Zurich. But she warned that "until then, consuming large amounts of electricity in a grid that does not fully run on renewable energy sources will be associated with causing emissions."call_made

Unprecedented heat extremes ‘could occur in any region globally’

external pageDr Erich Fischer – a lecturer from ETH Zurich, who was not involved in the study – has published separate research warning that “record-shattering” extremes, such as the 2021 heatwave, are becoming more frequent as the climate warms...He tells Carbon Brief that many other regions around the world have also experienced record-shattering extremes – including the record-warm 2023 New Year’s warm spell in Europe, the record warm 2022 summer in China, the first exceedance of 40C in the UK, record glacier melt rates in the Alps in 2022, and the 2020 persistent Siberian heatwave.call_made

NASA InSight Study Provides Clearest Look Ever at Martian Core

external page“Determining the amount of these elements in a planetary core is important for understanding the conditions in our solar system when planets were forming and how these conditions affected the planets that formed,” said one of the paper’s co-authors, Doyeon Kim of ETH Zurich.call_made

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external pageEngineering & Technologycall_made

Gray instead of blue: Twitter removes free verification ticks

The blue verification icons on Twitter once showed that a profile belonged to a specific person. Now the tick just means someone is paying money for a subscription. external pageThe new subscriptions also have consequences for information services – such as earthquake reports from ETH Zurich.call_made

Inspired by Brain Cells: Scientists Develop Novel Computer Components

external pageA team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), ETH Zurich, and the “Politecnico di Milano” has now developed a memristor that is more powerful and easier to manufacture than its predecessors. The researchers have recently published their results in the journal Science Advances.call_made

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external pageTeknoLogiccall_made

What previous bird flu outbreaks teach us

external pageThe researchers from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel aimed to understand how the disease spread at poultry markets, and to draw conclusions that would help improve future efforts to monitor and control bird flu outbreaks. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.call_made  

Materials scientist working to revolutionize concrete and radically reduce CO2 emissions

external pageFranco Zunino works in the Physical Chemistry of Building Materials group at ETH Zurich's Institute for Building Materials. A native of Chile, he has been doing research in Switzerland for six years, as he says, "for the future of our planet."call_made

Companies’ zero-deforestation commitments have potential to halve cattle-driven deforestation in Brazilian Amazon

external page“With this evidence, supermarkets can use their influence to help improve Brazilian cattle production. But more needs to be done to improve the rigour of corporate policies and the market coverage of policy adopters, even in relatively well-covered regions such as the Brazilian Amazon,” said Dr Sam Levy at ETH Zurich and New York University, lead author of the report.call_made

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PHYS.org, 19 April 2023, external pageCompanies' zero-deforestation commitments have potential to halve cattle-driven deforestation in Brazilian Amazoncall_made

Heaviest Schrödinger cat achieved by putting a small crystal into a superposition of two oscillation states

external pageA team of researchers led by Yiwen Chu, professor at the Laboratory for Solid State Physics, has now created a substantially heavier Schrödinger cat by putting a small crystal into a superposition of two oscillation states. Their results, which have been published this week in the journal Science, could lead to more robust quantum bits and shed light on the mystery of why quantum superpositions are not observed in the macroscopic world.call_made

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external pageNewsbreakcall_made

external pageWorld Today Newscall_made

external pageYahoo! Lifecall_made

external pageVerve Timescall_made

external pageLIVE SCIENCEcall_made

external pageGizmodocall_made

external pageNew Atlascall_made

Researchers reveal a map to study novel form of cell-to-cell communication

external pageAn international team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine with the National Institutes of Health Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium and the Bogdan Mateescu laboratory at the ETH Zürich and University of Zürich has developed a new powerful resource to study extracellular RNA (exRNA), a novel form of cell-to-cell communication. The study, published in the journal Cell Genomics, lays the foundation to examine how exRNA and its carrier proteins found in bodily fluids function in a healthy as well as a diseased setting, potentially providing a means to accurately implement early detection and monitor disease processes.call_made

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external pageNews Medical and Life Sciencescall_made

external pageTech and Science Postcall_made

external pagePHYS.orgcall_made

external pageKnowlediacall_made

Solar hydrogen production scaled up in real world test

external pageAlthough there is a long way to go before such technology could be used in our homes – particularly as hydrogen is difficult to store at standard temperatures and pressures – the work demonstrates the technical feasibility of such devices, says Aldo Steinfeld, a professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland and expert in solar fuels. ‘Moving from the laboratory to the field is a critical phase in technology development,’ he adds. ‘The authors have successfully accomplished this phase by demonstrating the on-sun operation of the entire solar fuel system at the kW scale under real, intermittent solar irradiation conditions. The findings are relevant for the large-scale implementation of the technology.’call_made

Swiss National Startup Team 2023: 10 biotech innovators heading to Boston

external pageTen startups, selected from more than 70 applications by a jury of investors and biotech experts, will attend a roadshow in Boston, one of the world’s most important life science hubs...Venture Leaders is organized by Biotech VentureLab in partnership with ETH Zurich et al.call_made

TAWANI Foundation Gifts Over $1.3M to the SETI Institute and the Field Museum in Honor of Earth Day

external pageThe TAWANI Foundation announces its commitment of $1.3M to the SETI Institute and continued support for the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies at the Field Museum in honor of Earth Day...The Center is also engaged in polar studies in collaboration with ETH Zurich (as well as several other institutions).call_made

ETH Zurich's LIFE space mission aims to detect life on exoplanets

external pageWith a constellation of five satellites, the international LIFE initiative led by ETH Zurich hopes to one day detect traces of life on exoplanets. A laboratory experiment in the Department of Physics is now set to demonstrate the planned measurement method.call_made

Smart earpiece helps people relearn physical actions faster and more easily after a stroke

external pageETH researchers Paulius Viskaitis and Dane Donegan from the Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory have developed a new system that is set to make vagus nerve stimulation much easier and available much faster.call_made

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external pageGeek Techcall_made

external pageTrendRadarscall_made

VR gloves: from Power Glove to Manus Metagloves, the history and future of a revolutionary technology

external pageTogether with colleagues from EPFL and ETH Zurich, an EMPA team is developing next-generation VR gloves, which will allow to adapt to the curves of each hand and to be printed largely in 3-D.call_made

10 promising spin-offs from ETH Zurich to watch in 2023 as AI and robotics boom

external pageETH Zurich (has) a comprehensive process for selecting and supporting spinoff companies based on its research. The process involves identification of commercial potential, evaluation of the business plan, incubation and support, and mentoring and networking. While it has a rigorous process for selecting and supporting spinoff companies, a total of 540 ETH spin-​offs have been founded in the past 49 years.call_made

Swiss design in Milan

external pageFeature segment on ETH Zurich's interactive exhibition featuring assistive technologies and experiences with how inclusive design enables people to participate - imagine a world without barriers.call_made (Note: segment starts at minute 19:00 / in Italian)  

HARTING focuses on sustainability

external pageSwissloop is a student association at ETH Zurich whose mission is to research the Hyperloop technology...Live in Hanover, HARTING and Swissloop will be showing the Lavinia Heisenberg pod from 2022. For this, the HARTING Technology Group supplied the space-saving Ethernet connection with the ix Industrial®.call_made

State of the Art And Future Directions of Rowhammer (ETH Zurich)

external pageA new technical paper titled “Fundamentally Understanding and Solving RowHammer” was published by researchers at ETH Zurich...“We provide an overview of recent developments and future directions in the RowHammer vulnerability that plagues modern DRAM (Dynamic Random Memory Access) chips, which are used in almost all computing systems as main memory. RowHammer is the phenomenon in which repeatedly accessing a row in a real DRAM chip causes bitflips (i.e., data corruption) in physically nearby rows. This phenomenon leads to a serious and widespread system security vulnerability...call_made

How to make self-folding surgical tools

external pageFor minimally invasive surgery, the instruments used must be small. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a method to transport large devices through a narrow catheter. This expands the possibilities for designing minimally invasive surgical tools.call_made

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external pageCool Business Ideascall_made

Turbulent affairs: Scientists enhance the simulation of strong flow phenomena

external pageNow, with the help of the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre’s (CSCS) supercomputer “Piz Daint”, mathematician Siddhartha Mishra of ETH Zurich is working to overcome current barriers to simulating and comprehending highly turbulent flows.call_made

How Drugs Get into the Blood

external page...Researchers are trying to understand which molecules can penetrate cell membranes and how exactly they do this. For one important and promising class of substances—cyclic peptides—chemists at ETH Zurich have now decoded additional details of the relevant mechanism. “The more we know about this mechanism and the properties a molecule must have, the earlier and more effectively researchers can take this into account when developing new drugs,” says Sereina Riniker, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. She led the study, which has now been published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.call_made

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external pageTechnology.orgcall_made

external pageNews Wisecall_made

Return of the GEDI: Space-based, forest carbon-mapping laser array saved

external pageSince GEDI data became publicly available in 2020, researchers and governments have been using it for a variety of applications...Thomas Crowther, a professor of ecology at ETH Zurich, has used data from the mission to study biodiversity around the world. It’s helped aid his understanding of how changes in the structure of the ecosystem affect biodiversity in different regions, he said, “For example, the diversity of birds can change as the forest structure changes,” Crowther told Mongabay in an email interview. “Therefore, when we are trying to model the variations in bird diversity, it is incredibly useful to have GEDI data that shows how the structure of the ecosystem changes across forest landscapes. We use this, and similar approaches to understand all aspects of biodiversity.”call_made

Torsten Hoefler Named First Winner of Jack Dongarra Early Career Award

external pageProfessor Torsten Hoefler of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, has been named the inaugural Jack Dongarra Early Career Award recipient. This award acknowledges his significant contributions to converging high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI).call_made

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external pageHPC WIREcall_made

Araris Biotech AG Acquires ARS Pharmaceutical’s Nectin-4 Antibody

external pageAraris Biotech AG, an ETH Zurich and PSI spin-company pioneering a proprietary antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology...announced the execution of an asset purchase agreement for the acquisition of ARS Pharmaceutical’s Nectin-4 antibody...Araris intends to use the antibody in the development of a differentiated Nectin-4 ADC using its proprietary linker technology to broaden its ADC pipeline.call_made

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external pageBioSpacecall_made

external pageFidelitycall_made

external pagePipeline Reviewcall_made

Quantum superposition reaches the microscopic world: Is a quantum computing revolution on the horizon?

external pageRecently, Mathieu Fadel of the ETH Zurich and colleagues were able to place a single-microgram crystal in a state of quantum superposition to test the validity of quantum mechanics in the microscopic world. The results of their research have been published in the journal Physical review letters. This work should make it possible to test quantum mechanics and its possible modifications using massive objects of microscopic size.call_made

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external pageNews Foundedcall_made

external pageGeeky Newscall_made

external pageArchyworldyscall_made

Spanish industry kicks off EU green hydrogen race

external page“The sense of urgency is that everyone seems to be racing to be the first to export green hydrogen," said Alejandro Núñez-Jiménez, an expert in green hydrogen policy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. "Once you build energy infrastructure, it’s going to be there for decades. So it’s really a game where the first one might lock in the situation for many years.”call_made

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external pageSanta Fe New Mexicancall_made

external pageSW Iowa Newscall_made

(As well as numerous regional radio broadcasts in the U.S.)

Swiss Hyperloop Team Wins Top Prize for Innovation at Not-A-Boring Competition

external pageAt the 2023 "Not-A-Boring Competition" in Bastrop, Texas, at the beginning of April, the "Swissloop Tunneling" team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich won the top prize for innovative design. Sponsored by Gebrüder Weiss, the group of more than 40 students retained their title as the team with the most innovative design in this competition hosted by The Boring Company.call_made  

How You Use Your Mouse Or Type Says A Lot About Your Stress Levels At Work

external pageResearchers at ETH Zürich, Switzerland, have developed a model to detect the levels of stress someone is experiencing at work based on how they type and move their mouse. The results may help prevent chronic stress before it becomes too serious.call_made

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TrendRadar, 14 April 2023, external pageKeyboards and mice could provide an early warning of worker stresscall_made

Gizmodo Australia, 14 April 2023, external pageTech News: 5 Things to Know in Australia Todaycall_made

ScienceDaily, 11 April 2023, external pageDetecting stress in the office from how people type and clickcall_made

Archyworldys, 13 April 2023, external pageClick and hammer: Stressed people type differentlycall_made

New Atlas, 13 April 2023, external pageKeyboards and mice could provide an early warning of worker stresscall_made

Scandinavian News, 12 April 2023, external pageResearchers find level of work stress among people from typing, mouse clickscall_made

A new approach to minimally invasive surgical instruments

external pageETH Zurich scientists have now developed a method for minimally invasive surgical instruments. Through this method, scientists can bring large objects into the body through a narrow catheter.call_made

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EE News, 12 April 2023, external pageHow to make self-folding surgical toolscall_made

Computer Simulations Unveil Promising Mechanisms for Future Oral Drug Delivery Solutions

external page“The more we know about this mechanism and the properties a molecule must have, the earlier and more effectively researchers can take this into account when developing new drugs,” said Sereina Riniker, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences.call_made

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Futurity, 25 April 2023, external pageHow do drugs get into the blood?call_made

ETH Zurich boosts medical research with new site in Schlieren

external pageETH Zurich is boosting its medical research and establishing a new site in Schlieren. It is leasing a new building (SSA) right next to the Bio-​Technopark in Schlieren; the site is currently being set up as a laboratory building for medical research...“ETH Zurich is not just committed to basic biomedical research, it also helps ensure that findings from research find rapid application in clinics and in patient care,” says Christian Wolfrum, Vice President for Research, “and as such, it also invests in translational research.” “The Schlieren site is well suited for this purpose, because the physical proximity to our medical partners such as UZH, USZ and KS Baden will promote rapid transfer of our research results to practical application,” says Wolfrum.call_made

Marking time

external pageRadiocarbon timestamps left in ancient tree rings by cosmic ray bombardments can date historical events with unprecedented precision...Using techniques developed in part by Lukas Wacker, a physicist at ETH Zürich...call_made

Russian hacker who broke into Democratic emails in 2016 has himself been breached, Ukrainian hackers say

external pageReuters was not able to independently verify the hackers’ claim. Stefan Soesanto, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, told Reuters that the leak “looks pretty credible.”call_made

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Reuters, 11 April 2023, external pageUkrainian hackers say they have compromised Russian spy who hacked Democrats in 2016call_made

Arab News, 14 April 2023, external pageUkrainian hackers say they have compromised Russian spy who hacked Democrats in 2016call_made

How one ski resort is changing the way we think about sustainable ski travel

external pageTravelling by train in Switzerland – rather than driving – is especially helpful. Professor Reto Knutti, climate scientist and professor of climate physics at ETH Zurich's Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science and a member of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was one of the esteemed scientists who contributed to the reports that present evidence that human activities, mainly the burning fossil fuels, have warmed the climate by more than one-degree celsius already, causing severe impacts...call_made

Soft robotic hand learns how to avoid buttery fingers

external pageRobert Katzschmann of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich says that novice hands are too simplistic and have limited movement to imitate the different ways the human hand grasps objects, but experiments have shown that AI systems need only a small amount of information to learn to recognize the different ways an object feels . He said he would consider this AI approach when adding “senses” to the more complex, dexterous robotic hands his team is building.call_made

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NewScientist, 12 April 2023, external pageSoft robot hand learns how to avoid butter fingerscall_made

The shocking decline of Earth’s microbiome – and how to save it

external page“We’re starting to see scary signals that there may be this large microbial extinction event under way that we barely noticed,” says Colin Averill, an ecologist at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.call_made

European forests lose colour due to climate change

external pageThe findings were revealed after researchers analysed over 20 years of forest imagery in the Mediterranean and central regions of Europe. The large-scale study involved specialists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the Technical University of Munich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.call_made

Alarmed tech leaders call for AI research pause

external pageSome technologists warn of deeper security threats. Planned ChatGPT-based digital assistants that can interface with the web and read and write emails could offer new opportunities for hackers, says Florian Tramèr, a computer scientist at ETH Zürich.call_made  

Scientists Learned How to Turn Our Blood Sugar Into Electricity

external pageResearchers from ETH Zurich have tapped into the human body’s ability to produce electricity in order to show how placing a fuel cell under the skin can turn blood sugar into power.call_made

An interview with Didier Queloz, Nobel laureate and exoplanet hunter

external pageThe Economist podcast on science and technology. This week, the first of two episodes on the hunt for life elsewhere. Nobel laureate, Dider Queloz, talks about how the “exoplanet revolution” has influenced the search for life elsewhere.call_made

Also on external pageSpotifycall_made or wherever you access podcast content.

QS World Rankings Selects Best Universities to Study Architecture in 2023

external pageQS- Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings just announced the 2023 top universities to study Architecture and the Built Environment. The index rates over 1,400 schools and covers a total of 54 disciplines, grouped into five broad subject areas...ETH Zurich tied with Delft University of Technology for third place in the subject area of Architecture and the Built Environment, right behind MIT (second) and University College London (first).call_made

Spark Award for new corrosion protection

external pageSprayed on like paint, this polymer can even be peeled off again, recycled and reused. More effective, reusable and self-​repairing: a new kind of corrosion protection developed by the ETH researchers Marco D'Elia, Walter Caseri und Markus Niederberger has been honoured with ETH Zurich’s Spark Award 2023. The innovation offers excellent market potential and could significantly slow down the deterioration of buildings and vehicles.call_made 

SynSense boosts $10m round for 3D neuromorphic processor

external pageSynSense in China has boosted its recent $10m funding round to support its 3D neuromorphic processor technology developed in Switzerlandcall_made...The funds will be used to accelerate the development of SynSense’s 3D neuromorphic processor DYNAP-CNN2 for high-speed vision processing for autonomous systems, such as drones, robots and self-driving vehicles.

Scientists Create "Tea Bag" Implant That Manages Diabetes, Powered by the Body's Excess Sugar

external pageA team of researchers has come up with an implantable fuel cell that they say can manage type 1 diabetes — and make use of glucose in the body to power itself instead of relying on an external power source. The device, devised at ETH Zurich in Basel, Switzerland, can release insulin depending on the patient's blood sugar levels, a task that is conventionally taken care of by an insulin pump attached to the outside of the body.call_made

Also reported in...

Freethink, 3 April 2023, external pageSugar-powered implant produces insulin as neededcall_made

Healthcare Packaging, 5 April 2023, external pageBlood Sugar Could Power Medical Implantscall_made

Health Tech Insider, 11 April 2023, external pageNew Teabag Implant Can Treat Diabetes Automaticallycall_made

Robotics investments reach $620M in February 2023

external pageETH Zurich spinoff, Nanoflex Robotics, a spin-off from ETH Zurich, provides advancing robotic technologies for surgical interventions for the treatment of ischemic stroke receives USD12,000,000 in Series A funding.call_made  

Why are forests turning brown in summer?

external pageIncreasing summer heat and drought are affecting European forests -- some years, trees brown prematurely and some even start to die back. Researchers from ETH Zurich and the WSL are showing how exceptional weather conditions over several years are turning forests brown.call_made

Review: Nix Hydration Biosensor

external pageNoé Brasier from ETH Zurich and University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, who had chaired an interdisciplinary session on biosensors during a virtual congress called Sensors in Medicine 2022. Brasier, whose focus is clinical applications of sweat analysis, told me, “I am convinced that noninvasive molecular diagnostics will help physicians to extend and improve remote patient-monitoring in the future.” He’s currently conducting a clinical study at ETH Zurich, where he will investigate the proteomic and partly metabolic sweat profiles in participants exposed to heat.call_made

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