In the Media - April 2024

New EU nature law will fail without farmers, scientists warn

external page Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity deal...The letter, signed by researchers from the University of Oxford, ETH Zurich and Wageningen University, reads: “At no point in history has there been more pressure on farmers. They are responsible for feeding an ever-growing population. And now we want them to save us all from the global climate and biodiversity crises, at the same time as market forces keep making the financial situation harder.

NATO is boosting AI and climate research as scientific diplomacy remains on ice

external page NATO is also interested in how temperature changes could affect the security of its member and non-member countries as well as of military installations around the world. In a 2024 review paper in the Texas National Security Review, CMRE researchers — along with colleagues from the University of St Andrews, UK, the University of L’Aquila, Italy, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich — found that submarines could become more difficult to detect using sonar in the North Atlantic Ocean as water temperature rises.

Bacteria Engineered for Climate-Neutral Chemicals of the Future

external page Scientists at ETH Zurich report that they have engineered bacteria in the laboratory to efficiently use methanol. The metabolism of these bacteria can now be tapped into to produce valuable products currently made by the chemical industry from fossil fuels...

Also reported in...

external page Chemistry World

external page Tech Explorist

external page PHYS.org

AI Designs New Drugs Based On Protein Structures

external page “It’s a real breakthrough for drug discovery,” says Gisbert Schneider, Professor at ETH Zurich’s Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. Together with his former doctoral student Kenneth Atz, he has developed an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to design new active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Also reported in...

external page ScienceDaily

external page PHYS.org

Quantum Maestro: Exploring the Enigmatic Genius of Wolfgang Pauli

external page Commemorating the birthday of Wolfgang Pauli (25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian-born physicist who made significant contributions to the development of quantum mechanics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945.

Our Living World | Restore the Planet | Behind the Scenes | Netflix

external page Ecologists at the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich, explain the vast interconnectivity of Earth's ecosystems and the importance of restoration for biodiversity in the recently released OurLivingWorld Netflix series narrated by British actress, Cate Blanchett.

Crossing Climate Tipping Points Will Slash Global GDP

external page Research published last week by ETH Zurich found that global gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be 3.2% lower at plus 1.5°C of global warming compared to pre-industrial temperatures. At an additional 3°C of global warming, which is where we’re quickly heading, global GDP decreases by a staggering 10-17%.

Swissloop Tunneling Triumphs at Not-a-Boring Competition 2024 with Groundhog Beta

external page At the final of the Not-a-Boring Competition 2024 in Bastrop, Texas, the team from Swissloop Tunneling came out on top thanks to a successful drilling process with a self-developed micro-tunneling machine. The team of students from ETH Zurich, supported by Empa, has thus won this year’s Champion Award. After several years of intensive work, this is a major milestone for the team in the development of highly complex and innovative tunnel drilling technologies.

Surface engineering: key to future sustainable water-energy systems

external page Researchers at ETH Zurich in the Laboratory for Multiphase Thermofluidics and Surface Nanoengineering primary focus lies in developing techniques to thoroughly study the formation, adhesion, and removal of scale on a fundamental level. Their research revealed promising outcomes, particularly with a microtextured polymer-hydrogel coating. In laboratory conditions, this coating has demonstrated the capability to remove up to 98% of scale deposits under realistic flow conditions as they would be present in water-energy systems.

Video Friday: SpaceHopper

external page ETH Zurich's Spacehopper featured in the IEEE weekly selection of awesome robot videos...students have tested their robot’s functionality in zero gravity during a parabolic flight.

Surprising Reversal in Quantum Systems

external page A team of researchers at ETH led by Tilman Esslinger have now managed to detect topological effects in an artificial solid, in which the interactions can be switched on or off using magnetic fields. Their results, which have just been published in the scientific journal Science, could be used in quantum technologies in the future.

Also reported in...

external page Tech and Science Post

external page Science Magazine

Circular solutions vital to curb enviro harm from cement and concrete

external page “A lot of focus is on how to mitigate [cement’s] climate change impacts,” says Christopher Oberschelp, senior researcher and lecturer at ETH Zurich. “But we’re forgetting that we’re also having other very big problems in terms of human health” connected to its production.

Also reported in...

external page South Africa Today

Research reveals a surprising topological reversal in quantum systems

external page A team of researchers at ETH led by Tilman Esslinger has now managed to detect topological effects in an artificial solid, in which the interactions can be switched on or off using magnetic fields.

Fitness trackers and phones can help monitor multiple sclerosis

external page Monitoring and treating multiple sclerosis requires reliable and long-term data on how the disease is progressing. A new study finds fitness trackers and smartphones can supply the needed data.

Also reported in...

external page Medical Xpress

external page TechTimes

external page Health Medicine Network

external page Science Daily

Accurate Elemental Mapping of Plant Tissues Using LA-ICP-TOF-MS

external page Detlef Gunther of ETH Zurich and his research team recently demonstrated a new method involving laser ablation with inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-TOF-MS) to conduct elemental analysis on biotissues for plants, according to the team’s published findings in Analytical Chemistry.

Climeworks launches new tailored carbon removal portfolio solution

external page Switzerland-based carbon removal specialist Climeworks (an ETH Zurich spinoff) has extended its services beyond direct air capture (DAC) with the release of Climeworks Solutions – a new offering that tailors carbon removal portfolios to the individual needs of companies.

Twisted pollen tubes induce infertility in plants with multiple sets of chromosomes

external page Plants with multiple genomes adapt better to the environment and are salt-tolerant or drought-resistant. In addition, they often produce larger seeds or fruits and result in greater yields—promising characteristics for crops of the future.

How fruit-eating birds could help regrow tropical forests

external page “This crucial information enables us to pinpoint active restoration efforts–like tree planting–in landscapes falling below this forest cover threshold, where assisted restoration is most urgent and effective,” Daisy Dent, a study co-author and naturalist at ETH Zurich, a public research university in Switzerland, said in a statement.

Also reported in...

external page ScienceDaily

external page Technology Networks

external page Yahoo! News

external page ZME Science

external page EurAsia Review

external page Science Blog

external page Environmental News Network

external page Newsbreak

Meteorites Are Becoming Harder to Find as They Sink Into Antarctica’s Melting Ice

external page “We need to accelerate and intensify efforts to recover Antarctic meteorites,” Zekollari says in a statement from ETH Zurich. “The loss of Antarctic meteorites is much like the loss of data that scientists glean from ice cores collected from vanishing glaciers—once they disappear, so do some of the secrets of the universe.”

Also reported in...

external page ScienceAlert

external page Polar journal

Novel material startups to watch, according to investors

external page A spinout from ETH Zurich, Apheros is developing a novel foam product made of metals that can be shaped and used in applications like industrial cooling catalysis and energy storage. It can synthesise a range of metal alternatives, including iron, stainless steel, copper and nickel, and can engineer the foam to retain the properties of the metal it offers an alternative to.  

Voliro opens flight center in Canada

external page ETH Zurich spinoff, Voliro, a company that specializes in the development of drones, has opened the first Voliro Flight Center in North America.

Hopping space robot will help explore asteroids

external page A hopping robot that can explore asteroids or moons? Meet SpaceHopper: Designed by a group of researchers from Switzerland, this three-legged robot can move in any direction and jump large distances.

Also reported in...

external page Engadget

external page Interesting Engineering

external page POPULAR SCIENCE

external page SPACE

external page The Science Times

external page Yahoo! News

external page TechStreet Now

external page Extreme Tech

UK tourists in Italy warned with half a million in 'danger zone'

external page Olivier Bachmann, professor at ETH Zurich, told Futurity during an interview previously: "That’s why we think it’s more likely that a large, explosive eruption of Vesuvius would occur only after a quiescent period lasting for centuries."

Also reported in...

external page Daily Express

The Rise of Photovoltaic-Powered Vehicles

external page Solutions include advanced battery technologies to enhance storage and designs focusing on lightweight materials for better efficiency. Innovations, as demonstrated by ETH Zurich's aCentauri in the World Solar Challenge, showcase solar mobility's potential in addressing EV charging issues, despite the uneven distribution of charging infrastructure (Nieman, 2003).

Volcano Watch

external page Currently, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and collaborators at ETH Zürich, a public research university, are finalizing locations for about 300 nodes to be deployed in the summer of 2024 across the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea. This deployment will collect data near the 2018 Kīlauea eruption site, focusing on understanding how much magma is distributed across the East Rift Zone and how it connects to Kīlauea’s summit magma reservoir.  

Marco Hutter Wants to Solve Robotics’ Hard Problems: The AI Institute’s new Zurich head will focus on reliable, mobile robots

external page Last December, the AI Institute announced that it was opening an office in Zurich as a European counterpart to its Boston headquarters and recruited Marco Hutter to helm the office. Hutter also runs the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, arguably best known as the origin of the ANYmal quadruped robot (but it also does tons of other cool stuff).

Three-legged asteroid-hopping robot passes Zero G airplane-ride test

external page Late last year, however, members of the student team (from ETH Zurich) got to take the SpaceHopper on an Air Zero G parabolic flight hosted by the European Space Agency and French company Novespace.

Also reported in...

external page Andalou Agency

external page Tech Trends Post

external page TechEBlog

World Quantum Day — Inspiring The Next Generation of Quantum Specialists

external page At the university level, the proliferation of dedicated quantum science and engineering degree programs has also played a crucial role in cultivating the next generation of quantum experts. Institutions like...ETH Zurich...have established interdisciplinary quantum research hubs, offering undergraduates the chance to participate in cutting-edge projects in areas like quantum sensing, quantum cryptography, and quantum algorithms.

Biofortified rice to combat deficiencies

external page Vitamin B1 is an essential micronutrient for human beings. Its deficiency is the cause of numerous diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with teams at ETH Zurich et al..., have achieved a significant advance in the fight against vitamin B1deficiency, frequently associated with a rice-based diet.

Also reported in...

external page Environment + Energy Leader

external page Knowridge

Mechanism of action of the hepatitis B and D virus cell entry inhibitor bulevirtide deciphered

external page "Our research results are an important step in the fight against hepatitis D and B. By understanding the structure of bulevirtide and its binding to NTCP, we can potentially develop more targeted and effective treatments for millions of people chronically infected with HBV/HDV,” says Prof. Kaspar Locher, last author of the publication and head of the internationally renowned structural biology team at ETH Zurich, summarising the study results.

Also reported in...

external page ScienceDaily

Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2024

Emanuele Aucone, ETH Zurich was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe for 2024 in the category Science and Healthcare. Emanuele is a doctoral student of environmental robotics and uses drones to collect e-DNA for biodiversity monitoring.

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024

external page Switzerland boasts the highest concentration of #1 entries (4) proportionally to its ranked universities. ETH Zurich leads in three subjects, making it Continental Europe's strongest institution.

Also reported in numerous regional publications across the U.S. and around the world.

Strengthening Swiss hydropower with science

external page Researchers at ETH Zurich, led by Robert Boes, are developing specific solutions to optimise electricity production from Swiss hydropower plants. This will ensure that hydropower remains the backbone of Switzerland’s electricity supply in the future.

Researchers explain how cities can implement environmentally sustainable densification

external page The housing situation in Swiss cities and towns is currently the subject of intensive debate in politics and the media...At ETH Zurich, David Kaufmann, Professor of Spatial Development and Urban Policy, focuses on the challenges when densifying cities.

Launching its Priority Access Program, Odne Inc. Appoints Joe Werner as Director of Strategic Accounts

external page ETH Spinoff, Odne AG (formerly Lumendo AG), has its roots in a groundbreaking collaboration between two renowned Swiss institutions: the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne and Zürich (EPFL & ETH Zürich). Odne is committed to pioneering the future of endodontics through advanced technology and innovative solutions.

Also appeared in numerous regional publications, radio, and television in the U.S.

3D printing-powered tunneling machine wins Not-a-Boring Competition 2024

external page Swissloop Tunneling, a team of students from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities, has won the Not-a-Boring Competition 2024 with its 3D printing-enabled tunneling technology. The competition was hosted in Bastrop, Texas by The Boring Company, a tunneling firm headed by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Also reported in...

external page 3D Natives

Protecting art and passwords with biochemistry

Rexternal page esearchers at ETH Zurich have now presented a cryptographic one-way function that works differently from today’s and will also be secure in the future. Rather than processing the data using arithmetic operations, it is stored as a sequence of nucleotides—the chemical building blocks of DNA.

Also reported in...

external page Tech and Science Post

external page Science Magazine

external page ScienceDaily

external page Bioengineering

external page TechXplore

‘We will lose amazing technology in the long run’: Deeptech founders still struggle to win state support

external page Securing state subsidies remains a “huge challenge” for European deeptech companies, one that could cost the continent some of its most innovative technologies, says Christoph Jenny, cofounder of Swiss plant-based food startup Planted...Jenny cofounded the startup in 2019 as a spinoff from ETH Zurich, Europe’s most successful university at spinning out research into companies.

Injecting Sulfur Into The Atmosphere Could Pose Dangerous Risks

external page New research warns that if we inject sulfate particles into the atmosphere to attempt to reflect sunlight and mimic the cooling effects of volcanic eruptions and they don't end up in the right position, they could cause further warming and even worse climate anomalies than burning greenhouse gases as usual..."We found that some detrimental effects of this injection are of a similar magnitude to those from climate change itself in some regions," ETH Zürich atmospheric scientist Elia Wunderlin and colleagues write in their paper.

Also reported (with differing perspectives) in...

external page PHYS.org

external page Innovation News Network

A Popular Alien-Hunting Technique Is Increasingly in Doubt

external page Recent controversies bode ill for the effort to detect life on other planets by analyzing the gases in their atmospheres...“It’s a bit of this elephant in the room,” said the astronomer Daniel Angerhausen of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, who is a project scientist on the LIFE mission, a proposed space telescope that would search for biosignature gases on Earth-like exoplanets.

Computer scientists discover gap in the latest security mechanisms used by some chips

external page Computer scientists at ETH Zurich have now proven that it is possible for hackers to gain access to (secure cloud based) systems and to the data stored in them.

Also reported in...

external page Tech and Science Post

external page Techstreet Now

external page eGreennews

external page Tech Times

Tracing the largest solar storm in modern times from tree rings in Lapland

external page An international research group including ETH Zurich and lead by University of Helsinki was able to measure a spike in radiocarbon concentration of trees in Lapland that occurred after the Carrington flare. This discovery helps to prepare for dangerous solar storms.

Also reported in...

external page Space Weekly

external page Astrobiology

Uncertainty is Science's Super Power. Make It Yours, Too

external page Helga Nowotny, professor emeritus of science and technology studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and former president of the European Research Council talks about uncertainty..."The most important thing really is not to be afraid of—not to shrink back but to realize that uncertainty is part of our lives."

Construction Begins on World's Largest 3D Printed Structure in Switzerland

external page Construction has just begun on the Tor Alva, or the White Tower, the world’s largest 3-D printed tower. Designed by architects Michael Hansmeyer and Benjamin Dillenburger and printed with concrete by the technology university ETH Zurich...

ETH Zurich researchers to optimise Swiss hydropower

external page Researchers at ETH Zurich, led by Robert Boes, are developing specific solutions to optimise electricity production from Swiss hydropower plants. This will ensure that hydropower remains the backbone of Switzerland’s electricity supply in the future.

Also reported in...

external page Water Power & Dam Construction

Dynex Unveils Dynex Moonshots, Dedicated to Transformative Change Through Capital-Enhanced n.quantum Computing

external page Chris Luebkeman Head of the Strategic Foresight Hub at ETH Zurich and founder of [y]our2040 named to ethics committee.

Career Moves: A Journey from Nuclear Engineer to Higher Education

external page Feature article on Pingchein Neo who completed her master’s in nuclear engineering at ETH Zurich. After graduation, she worked in a nuclear power plant in Switzerland, and my focus then was on probabilistic safety assessment in nuclear engineering.

Quantum Computing Recharged With Electromagnetic Ion Trap Innovation

external page Researchers at ETH have managed to trap ions using static electric and magnetic fields and to perform quantum operations on them. In the future, such traps could be used to realize quantum computers with far more quantum bits than have been possible up to now.

Albedo can reduce climate benefit of tree planting: New tool identifies locations with high climate-cooling potential

external page This new study by researchers at Clark University in the United States alongside scientists from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and ETH Zurich, published today in the journal Nature Communications, provides a global analysis of where restoration of tree cover is most effective at cooling the global climate system, considering not just the cooling from carbon storage but also the warming from decreased albedo.

This four-legged robot learned parkour to better navigate obstacles

external page Meet ANYmal, a four-legged dog-like robot designed by researchers at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, in hopes of using such robots for search-and-rescue on building sites or disaster areas, among other applications.  

It’s easy to tamper with watermarks from AI-generated text

external page …The European Union’s AI Act, which enters into force in May, will require developers to watermark AI-generated content. But the new research shows that the cutting edge of watermarking technology doesn’t live up to regulators’ requirements, says Robin Staab, a PhD student at ETH Zürich, who was part of the team that developed the attacks.

AMERICAN SWISS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES MERGER WITH BOSTON-BASED FRIENDS OF SWITZERLAND, INC.

external page The Stratton Prize is named after the 11th President of MIT, Dr. Julius Stratton, an American electrical engineer and physicist known for his contributions in applied electromagnetism. Stratton completed his bachelor’s degree from MIT and received his Doctor of Science from ETH Zurich, and was heavily influenced by his time in Switzerland. As part of the merger agreement, the American Swiss Foundation will continue the FOSI Stratton Prize.

Also reported in numerous regional television broadcasts across the US