In the Media - March 2023

This once-thriving lake has all but dried up. It’s a story repeated across Europe as the drought deepens  

external page“We’re observing a pretty special situation,” said Manuela Brunner, assistant professor in hydrology at ETH Zurich and the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, Switzerland. Looking out of her office window in Davos, at an elevation of nearly 1,600 meters (5,000 feet), Brunner said she can see a sweep of brown and green grass, but very little snow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN. “And that’s that’s a problem.” Less water stored in snow means less snowmelt will reach the rivers in spring. “Snow deficits have become a more important driver of summer streamflow droughts over the last 50 years,” Brunner said.call_made

Earthquake in Turkey was a doublet: First quake triggered second in neighboring fault

external pageETH Zurich researcher Luca Dal Zilio offers an insightful summary of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, shedding light on the complex nature of this event. The two powerful earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on 6 February 2023 were of similar magnitude (7.8 and 7.6) and only nine hours apart. These events are referred to as an earthquake doublet (multiple earthquakes with nearly identical waveforms originating from the same locationcall_made).

In a threat to diabetes tech market, scientists use implanted glucose-run fuel cell to power insulin release

external pageA fuel cell that converts excess glucose into electricity has powered the release of insulin from beta cells in mice, suggesting it may be possible to create an automatic, self-sufficient treatment for diabetes. Writing in the journal Advanced Materials, researchers at ETH Zurich in Basel (Switzerland) describe the use of a 3D carbon nanotube composite that monitors blood sugar levels and converts excess glucose into electrical power.call_made

Also reported in...

New Atlas, 28 March 2023, external pageSugar-powered teabag-like implant successfully manages type 1 diabetescall_made

Medical Republic, 29 March 2023, external pageSugar-powered implant is sweet news for diabeticscall_made

Skeletal editing provides a simple route to access isoquinolines

external pageResearchers in Switzerland have developed a method to synthesise isoquinolines from indenes using skeletal editing. The one-step protocol enables easy access to an important building block in organic chemistry using simple, benign and commercially available reagents (useful in the field of drug discovery).call_made

A targeted method to combat cancer

external page"We've succeeded in developing a unique method that enables us to visualize dozens of biomarkers in the tissue simultaneously," says Bodenmiller, director of the Department of Quantitative Biomedicine at UZH and professor in the Department of Biology at ETH Zurich.call_made  

Accurate rapid tests made from smart graphene paper

external pageETH Zurich researchers have found a way to form conductive electrodes directly inside the test strip paper. As the target substance is captured, it triggers an electronic signal. This makes measurements much faster, more sensitive and more accurate (in rapid tests).call_made

Detecting Exercise Exhaustion With Smart Sportswear

external pageA group of ETH Zurich researchers led by Professor Carlo Menon, Head of the Biomedical and Mobile Health Technology Lab, have now developed a textile sensor that produces real-​time measurements of how exhausted a person gets during physical exertion.call_made

Also reported in...

Innovation Textiles, 24 March 2023, external pageSmart Textiles: Detecting exhaustion with smart sportswearcall_made

Tech Today News, 28 March 2023, external pageRecognize training fatigue with intelligent sportswearcall_made

Bacterial biosensors eavesdrop on the gut

external pageRandall Platt, a bioengineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, thinks he may have a potential solution. Platt had always been interested in CRISPR and gene editing, but when he founded his own lab in Zürich, he wanted to explore CRISPR’s recording capabilities. In nature, CRISPR-Cas systems take genetic information from an attacker, like a bacteriophage, and integrate it into the bacterial genome to provide the bacterium with a sort of immune “memory” of the attacker. Platt and postdoctoral researcher Florian Schmidt wanted to see if they could modify this system to record other types of “memories.”call_made

Can a ‘Fingerprint’ of Your Brain Help Predict Disorders?

external page...Researchers from ETH Zurich reported that they had delivered auditory stimulation via sleep headbands to adults between 60 to 80 years old, successfully enhancing deep sleep brain activity. Importantly, however, participants responded to the stimuli in variable ways, underscoring that EEG headbands aren’t a panacea for sleep problems...“This is a medical device, not just a wellness consumer product,” says Walter Karlen, a biomedical engineer who developed the technology used in the ETH Zurich study. “Use of the device must be medically indicated and supervised by a doctor.”call_made

Cancer: Time of day may matter for diagnosis, treatment

external pageResearchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich believe that the circadian rhythm may also impact cancer diagnosis and treatment success.call_made

Also reported in...

News Medical Life Science, 29 March 2023, external pageClockwork in cancer: the importance of the circadian rhythm in the formation and progression of tumorscall_made

Healthline, 24 March 2023, external pageCancer Treatment: How Circadian Rhythms Can Determine Best Time of Day for Therapycall_made

Protecting AI Models from “Data Poisoning”: New ways to thwart backdoor control of deep learning systems

external pageA team of computer scientists from ETH Zurich, Google, Nvidia, and Robust Intelligence have demonstrated two model data poisoning attacks. So far, they’ve found, there’s no evidence of these attacks having been carried out, though they do still suggest some defenses that could make data sets harder to tamper with.call_made

Here’s a peek into the mathematics of black holes

external pageWithin general relativity, “one can understand clean mathematical statements and study those statements, and they can give an unambiguous answer within that theory,” says Christoph Kehle, a mathematician at ETH Zurich’s Institute for Theoretical Studies. Mathematicians can solve equations that have bearing on questions about the nature of black holes’ formation, evolution and stability.call_made

Avatars With Attitude: ETH Zurich & Microsoft’s X-Avatar Expands Expressiveness in Digital Humans

external pageIn the new paper X-Avatar: Expressive Human Avatars, a research team from ETH Zurich and Microsoft presents X-Avatar, an expressive implicit human avatar model designed to capture high fidelity human body and hand poses, facial expressions and other appearance characteristics in a holistic fashion.call_made

Also reported in...

MarkTechPost, 25 March 2023, external pageResearchers From ETH Zurich and Microsoft Propose X-Avatar...Capable of Capturing...Facial Expressionscall_made

Webb Telescope Spots a Planet With 'Gritty' Clouds Just 40 Light-Years Away

external page“Webb’s high-resolution data are stressing our existing models,” said Polychronis Patapis, an astronomer ETH Zurich in Switzerland, in the STScI release. “Existing models can ingest one or two features, but not as many as Webb has shown us of this target.”call_made

Also reported in...

Yahoo!news, 22 March 2023, external pageWebb Telescope Spots a Planet With 'Gritty' Clouds Just 40 Light-Years Awaycall_made

Sanitary and heating industry turns to sustainability

external pageThe Melinda Gates Environmental Foundation in the USA holds a patent on a process for separating urine in toilets. ETH Zurich, in turn, has a process for turning urea into fertilizer...The toilet bowl has a recessed channel at the front that separates 80 percent of the urine. The solution is already available and economical from 60 residential units, according to reports. The reactor that extracts fertilizer from the liquid will then be located in the basement of a high-rise building.call_made

Yes, 100% sustainable plastic industry is possible

external pageRecycling, combined with the use of CO2 from the air and biomass, could make a fully sustainable plastics industry a reality, according to a new study... “Recycling alone will not do; We need all three pillars,” says lead author André Bardo, professor of energy and process systems engineering at ETH Zurich.call_made

Also reported in...

Futurity, 22 March 2023, external pageYes, a 100% sustainable plastics industry is possiblecall_made

ETH Zurich's Urban-Think Tank helping South African NGO

external pageDozens of homes also burned down recently in Cape Town's biggest township, Kayelitsha (South Africa) and not for the first time. Architect Gloria Pavita and her team from the NGO Ikhayalami are rebuilding the houses....This one survived the latest fire without a trace. the sheet metal they're using is thicker, so fire can't spread as easily from home to home. ikhayalami is funded through donations. it's already built 3500 of these new models...Together with the Urban-Think Tank from ETH Zurich, the NGO has replaced an entire informal settlement with two-story homes. Shack pilot project has already built more than 70 units - the last ones will be handed over to their new owners today.call_made

Also aired on numerous syndicated, regional television channels across the United States.  

ETH Zurich reviews progress made on quantum research

external pageAfter 12 successful years, the work of the National Centre of Competence in Research into Quantum Science and Technology has come to an end. Klaus Ensslin, Professor of Solid-​State Physics at ETH and NCCR QSIT Director, is delighted with the progress made. “We’ve had key breakthroughs in a whole range of areas, which has taken quantum research to a totally new level,” he explains. “Researchers are getting better and better at combining quantum objects to form complex systems, and that brings us a whole lot closer to building things like quantum computers.”call_made

Mapping drone startup Wingtra is charting a new future after landing $22M

external pageETH Zurich spinoff, Wingtra drones are used to perform surveying missions by organizations around the world, including NASA and the Army Corps of Engineers. Now, the startup is mapping out a new expansion strategy after landing $22 million in Series B funding, which it will use to improve its current tech and add new features.call_made

Also reported in...

MSN, 21 March 2023, external pageMapping drone startup Wingtra is charting a new future after landing $22Mcall_made

Forbes, 21 March 2023, external pageWingtra Hopes To Soar Even Higher With $22 Million Funding Boostcall_made

Composites World, 29 March 2023, external pageWingtra lands $22 million funding for commercial VTOL dronescall_made

Metal-Detecting Drone Could Autonomously Find Land Mines

external pageA novel combination of a metal detector and a drone with 5 degrees of freedom is under development at the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETH Zurich. It may provide a viable solution to remote land-mine detection, by using careful sensing and localization along with some twisting motors to keep the detector reliably close to the ground.call_made

Shape memory for nano-sized objects

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich achieved a shape memory effect for the first time with objects that are only a few nanometers in size. This can be used to manufacture tiny machinery and robotic devices on the nanoscale.call_made

Microplastics are filling the skies. Will they affect the climate?

external page"Here’s something that people just didn’t think about — another aspect of plastic pollution," says environmental analytical chemist Denise Mitrano of ETH Zürich University in Switzerland, who co-wrote an article in November highlighting what researchers know — and don’t yet know — about how plastics can change clouds, potentially altering temperature and rainfall patterns.call_made

Where should wind turbines be constructed in Switzerland?

external pageA study by researchers at ETH Zurich shows for the first time how a relaxation of Swiss spatial planning policy would affect the locations of wind turbines. If the aim is to have as few wind turbines as possible in the Alps and in Switzerland in general, it would be worth considering using windy agricultural areas on the western Swiss Plateau.call_made  

How tumors transform blood vessels

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich discovered that the tension of extracellular matrix fibers is essential in tumor development. Fibronectin fibers are extremely taut in healthy tissue but slack in tumor tissue. This more relaxed shape, surrounded by transformed blood channel walls, creates a space for cancer cells to grow undisturbed.call_made

Also reported in...

Futurity, 22 March 2023, external pageTumors turn blood vessels into fiber-filled channelscall_made

Medical Xpress, 17 March 2023, external pageHow tumors transform blood vesselscall_made

3D-printed insole measures foot pressure right in shoe

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich, Empa and EPFL are developing a 3D-printed insole with integrated sensors that allows the pressure of the sole to be measured in the shoe and thus during any activity. This helps athletes or patients to determine performance and therapy progress.call_made

Also reported in...

Innovations Origins, 26 March 2023, external page3D-printed insoles measure pressure directly in the shoecall_made

Synthetic protein tweak could lead to universal cancer immunotherapy

external pageScientists at ETH Zurich have made a breakthrough towards designing an off-the-shelf treatment for immunotherapy against cancer. A synthetic protein tweak can allow immune cells from any donor to be given to any patient without the risk of a dangerous immune reaction.call_made

Also reported in...

Business News, 20 March 2023, external pageSynthetic protein tweak could lead to universal cancer immunotherapycall_made

The Optimist Daily, 24 March 2023, external pageUniversal cancer immunotherapy may be possible through protein engineeringcall_made

Crowd Science - Can robots be soft?

external pageETH Zurich professor Robert Katzschmann and his research group spoke with the BBC World Service on soft robots. Listen here (scroll to minute 08:30 for ETH Zurich segments...call_made

Also aired on syndicated radio across the United States including Hawaii Public Radio.

Majority in neutral Switzerland back closer NATO ties

external pageThe Swiss military academy and the Center for Security Studies -- both attached to ETH Zurich University -- publish an annual survey of public opinion on foreign, security, and defense policy issues, to evaluate long-term trends. It showed that in January, 55 percent of the Swiss population preferred closer ties with NATO...call_made

Digital Bridge: Europe’s content enforcers — US privacy dilemma — Tech summit-palooza

external pageDigital Services Act...“We have a very long history of failure in public intervention in this area,” Filippo Lancieri, a researcher at ETH Zurich, who just published an in-depth analysis (funded by U.K. and French regulators alongside Google, TikTok and Booking.com) of potential trouble areas within Europe’s new online content and digital antitrust rules ...“We’re breaking new ground here.”call_made

Engineering an immune-cell booster for cancer patients

external pageCancer patients might one day benefit from being administered immune cells from healthy donors. But as things stand, receiving donor cells can cause severe or even fatal immune reactions. A researcher at ETH Zurich has now developed a technology that avoids these.call_made  

3D-printed insoles measure sole pressure directly in the shoe

external pageResearchers at ETH Zurich, Empa and EPFL are developing a 3D-​printed insole with integrated sensors that allows the pressure of the sole to be measured in the shoe and thus during any activity. This helps athletes or patients to determine performance and therapy progress.call_made

Europe Is Drying Up

external pageIn recent years, various countries including Switzerland have attempted to protect their water sources—by covering glaciers and mountain snow with giant sheets that reflect the sun. This can be effective in small areas but, in terms of ensuring water resources for many millions of people, it may not be a sustainable option, suggests Manuela Brunner of ETH Zurich and the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, Switzerland.call_made

How the effects of trauma can be inherited through epigenetic mechanisms

external pageThe effects of the lifestyle and experiences of previous generations—including how well they ate and whether they suffered emotional trauma—can also be passed down through the generations via biochemical markers in sperm and egg cells. Scientists as well as psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers have long been aware of such intergenerational effects, but are not clear on what causes them. ETH Zurich Professors Isabelle Mansuy and Katharina Gapp have been working on this question—and their findings suggest that so-called epigenetic factors play a role.call_made  

Detecting Hidden Brain States With Mathematical Models

external pageMental health disorders can only be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms—and individual outcomes cannot be accurately predicted. ETH Zurich scientist, Klaas Enno Stephan hopes to change that with the help of mathematical models.call_made

Verity raises $32 million to accelerate rollout of autonomous inventory drone system

external pageETH Zurich spinoff, Verity AG, which provides an inventory tracking solution powered by fully autonomous indoor drones, today announced completion of a $32 million Series B funding round.call_made

Also reported in...

Verity, 14 March 2023, external pageVerity raises $32M in Series B funding to accelerate rollout of autonomous inventory drone systemcall_made

Fluorescent corrosion protection material repairs itself

external pageETH Zurich researchers have developed a way to protect against corrosion after a chance discovery.call_made

24 new professors appointed at ETH Zurich and EPFL

external pagePresident of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, and the President of EPFL, Professor Martin Vetterli, the ETH Board appointed a total of 10 women and 14 men as professors and awarded the title of professor to six individuals...the proportion of women among these new appointments amounts to 40%.call_made

Digital Realty deploying Anybotics robot dogs in Swiss data center

external pageAnymal is a quadruped robot...(from ETH Zurich spinoff Anybotics). Anybotics said it has been conducting inspection missions at Digital Realty’s Zurich site ‘every day since July 2022,' performing regular monitoring and measurements of specific systems, such as HVAC.call_made

Mapping Wetland Loss Across Three Centuries

An analysis by Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, a limnologist at ETH Zurich and team suggests that around 21% of Earth’s wetlands have been lost since preindustrial times, but that number could be as high as 35%..."This sort of analysis could help point to an appropriate baseline for wetland restoration efforts," Fluet-Chouinard said. The COP15 Convention on Biological Diversity set a goal of protecting 30% of Earth’s ecosystems, but it uses the 1970s as a baseline. For wetlands, “by 1970, the show [was] over,” he said. “It [was] already an impoverished world in 1970.”

Applying the Shape-Memory Effect to Tiny Nanoscale Machines

external pageFor the first time, ETH Zurich investigators attained a shape memory effect with objects as small as a few nanometers. This technology can be used to create nanoscale machinery and robotic devices.call_made

Human Genome Editing - Promise and Peril

external pageHuman Genome Editing: The team meet experts, including Kelly Ormond, professor of Bioethics, ETH Zurich, at the Human Genome Editing Summit in London, seeking to cure genetic disease and ensure that it's safe and available to all.call_made

3D-printed bridge "combines ancient wisdoms and modern technology"

external pageStriatus was originally conceived for and installed in the Giardini in Venice, as part of the Venice Biennale in 2021. It was built by Block Research Group at Swiss university ETH Zurich and the Computation and Design Group at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA CODE), in collaboration with concrete 3D printing specialists incremental3D.call_made

Brain Cells Inspire Novel Computer Components

external pageThe novel memristors are based on halide perovskite nanocrystals, a semiconductor material known from solar cell manufacturing. "Halide perovskites conduct both ions and electrons," explains Rohit John, former ETH Fellow and postdoctoral researcher at both ETH Zurich and Empa. "This dual conductivity enables more complex calculations that closely resemble processes in the brain."call_made

Int. Women's Day Spotlight: Women Making Waves in Physics

external page"When I was a child, I was really into sciences. As a teenager, I watched science fiction, and that led me to read about astronomical phenomena, such as exoplanets, black holes, quasars, etc...I enjoy searching for humankind’s big questions: what is our origin, how our planet and planetary system came to be, how many other planets are out there, and whether we are alone in the Universe or not...call_made

Women in the Clean Technology Field: A Conversation with Adina Rom

external pageAdina Rom, Executive Director of ETH for Development (ETH4D) talks with AZO Cleantech about innovations that address global challenges and educate future sustainable development leaders. The ETH4D network consists of around 45 professorships at ETH Zurich with various programs, such as “Engineering for Humanitarian Action”, a partnership with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and the International Committee of the Red Cross, where we put science and technology at the service of humanitarian action, with 12 innovative research collaborations, courses on topics such as cybersecurity and digitization, and a program to bring innovations to scale. With partners at Ashesi University in Ghana, we offer a Master’s in Mechatronics Engineering.call_made

Discussing Construction Heritage and Preservation with Dr. Silke Langenberg

external pageSilke Langenberg, Professor for Construction Heritage and Preservation at ETH Zurich talks about preservation and building in existing contexts. Interested in building innovations and how they have influenced architectural expression, her research at ETH Zurich bridging a gap between two institutes which makes interdisciplinary work and exchange come naturally. Her group is currently work with colleagues from mechanical engineering and the Game Technology Center of ETH Zurich.call_made

Open source software could deliver huge time savings for computational chemists

external page‘The program parses the output files of the quantum-chemical calculations to detect common problems, normally … dealt with manually,’ explains Kjell Jorner, an expert in digital and computational chemistry at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Although experienced computational chemists commonly correct the mistakes manually, in ‘high-throughput calculations [this] would become impossible’.call_made

Scientists introduce new seismic risk model for Switzerland

external pageUntil now, we knew little about what effects earthquakes could have in Switzerland," says Stefan Wiemer, director of the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich. The SED, together with the Federal Office for the Environment and the Federal Office for Civil Protection, therefore created an earthquake risk model for the first time on behalf of the Federal Council.call_made  

Aisot Technologies Secures CHF 1.8 Million Seed Funding Led by Haute Capital Partners

external pageAisot Technologies, a spin-off from ETH Zurich developing AI-powered portfolio insights for equity and crypto markets, received CHF 1.8 million in seed funding. "...AI will play in the future of asset management,” said Stefan Klauser, CEO and Co-Founder of Aisot Technologies AGcall_made.

Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2023

external pageGreta Preatoni has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2023 list in the category Science and Healthcare. Preatoni s using artificial intelligence to develop pain and sensory measurement methods for amputees and patients with diabetic neuropathy as a Ph.D. candidate at ETH Zurichcall_made.

Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2023

external pagePhilipp Bosshard, co-founder of ETH Spinoff Yasai named to the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe 2023 list for social impact for his contributions to Yasai’s 100% renewable energy strategy.call_made

Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2023

external pagePatrik Bertschi, co-founder of ETH SmartBreed named to the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe 2023 list for manufacturing and industry. SmartBreed enables companies to economically and ecologically transform waste into new raw materials.call_made  

A wholly sustainable plastics economy is feasible

external pageProfessor of Energy and Process Systems Engineering at ETH Zurich. Gonzalo Guillén Gosálbez, Professor of Chemical Systems Engineering at ETH Zurich, and researchers from RWTH Aachen University and the University of California, Santa Barbara collaborated on a study that shows what it will take for the plastics industry to become completely sustainable: lots of recycling combined with the use of CO2 from the air and biomass.call_made

3D Pictures of Single Nanoparticles with Short and Strong X-Ray Pulses

external pageThe three-dimensional structure of a particle can now be calculated from a single diffraction pattern, allowing one to “look” at the particle from all angles, according to a team of researchers led by ETH professor Daniela Rupp and including members from the universities of Rostock and Freiburg, the TU Berlin, and DESY in Hamburg.call_made

Newly discovered protein supports efficient refining of REEs (Rare Earth Elements)

external pageIn a recent paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers at ETH Zurich describe the discovery of lanpepsy, a protein which specifically binds lanthanides – or rare earth elements – and discriminates them from other minerals and metals.call_made

Scientists launch new initiative to look for extraterrestrial life

external page"The universities of Cambridge in the UK, Harvard and Chicago in the US and ETH Zürich in Switzerland announced the formation of what they called the Origins Federation on Saturday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington."call_made

Also reported in...

Science, 9 March 2023, external pageNews at a glance: Hubble interlopers, an ocean-drilling gap, and a near-sighted astronomercall_made

Australian Financial Review, 5 March 2022, external pageScientists launch initiative to look for extraterrestrial lifecall_made

University of Cambridge News, 8 March 2023, external pageHumanity’s quest to discover the origins of life in the universecall_made

Harvard University News, 4 March 2023, external pageOrigins Federation Announcedcall_made

Mirror, 9 March 2023, external pageNew powerful telescopes could help scientists detect alien life on other planetscall_made

Disabled World, 5 March 2023, external pageOrigins Federation: Major Quest to Find Origins of Life in the Universecall_made

Ask by Geeks, 5 March 2023, external pageScientists from Cambridge, Harvard and ETH Zurich form Origins Consortium to search for alien life formscall_made

Academic Gates, 9 March 2023, external pageHumanity’s quest to discover the origins of life in the universecall_made

Mirage, 9 March 2023, external pageHumanity’s quest to discover origins of life in universecall_made

New Hope for Patients With a Rare Incurable Disease

external pageFor the first time, researchers from the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, ETH Zurich, EPFL, the University of Zurich, and the Health 2030 Genome Center in Geneva study Methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) is a rare metabolic disorder that affects about one in 90,000 newborns using a multi-omics approach (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics).call_made

You can poison AI datasets for just $60, a new study shows

external page“We’ve known for years that, in principle, if you could put in arbitrary, weird things into these training sets, you could get things to go very, very wrong,” says Florian Tramèr, coauthor of the paper and an academic at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. “And yet, this doesn’t really seem to have happened, ever. And we’re kind of wondering why that is.”call_made

Simon Stähler awarded 2023 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize

external pageETH Zurich Earthquake scientist, Simon Stähler and colleagues were presented with the 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Newcomb Cleveland Prize for their paper on “Seismic Detection of the Martian Core” published in the prestigious journal, Science.call_made

Also reported in...

Mirage, 3 March 2023, external pageSimon Stähler awarded 2023 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prizecall_made

Switzerland's citizens want a circular economy, but not to share products

external pagePolitical scientists from ETH Zurich, together with the Federal Office of the Environment (FOEN), have now examined how the Swiss people feel about the circular economy.call_made  

Two Swiss Universities Mull Reducing International Student Intake

external pageThe ETH Board, a union consisting of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and ETH Zürich, is expected to bring the issue of international students’ admission at these two institutions to the table, and a new grade requirement may also be introduced.call_made

Researchers Map Effects of Chemical Carcinogen Exposure on Lung DNA

external pageResearchers from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, have for the first time mapped the effects of Benzo(a) pyrene (BaP) exposure on lung cells...BaP, found in both cigarette and industrial smoke, is known to cause damage to DNA. The team’s study...could represent a new way to predict cancer risk based on a patient’s exposure to BaP.call_made

We need to make more sustainable fertilizers. This is how we could do it

external pageFertilizers are a bigger environmental problem than you think. They help feed the world, and about half of today’s population is completely reliant on them, but synthetic fertilizers also account for an important part of our greenhouse gas emissions...This is why this vital component of agriculture is often thought to be impossible to decarbonize. But Paolo Gabrielli from ETH Zurich thinks differently. Gabrielli is looking at ways through which the chemical industry can achieve net-zero CO2 emissions...call_made

Condenser Makes Drinking Water from Air without Using Energy

external pageTaking this problem into note, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of technology have developed a water condenser that can produce drinking water without energy input. “In contrast to other technologies, ours can really function without any additional energy, which is a key advantage,” said Iwan Hächler, highlighting the USP of the device.call_made

Taking Corrosion Protection to the Next Level

external pageWith an entire field of engineering dedicated to controlling and preventing corrosion, the amount of time and money that goes into combatting the inevitable is costly. Now, a team of researchers at ETH Zurich has developed an exceptional material that offers protection against the destructive effects of corrosion.call_made  

Physicists Levitated a Glass Nanosphere, Nudging It Into The Realm of Quantum Mechanics

external pageBack in 2021, a team succeeded with a tiny glass nanosphere that was 100 nanometers in diameter – about a thousand times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. To our minds that's very, very small, but in terms of quantum physics, it's actually rather huge, made of up to 10 million atoms. Pushing such a nanosphere into the realm of quantum mechanics was a huge achievement..."This is the first time that such a method has been used to control the quantum state of a macroscopic object in free space," said Lukas Novotny, a professor of photonics from ETH Zurich in Switzerland...call_made