In the Media - December 2024

Viewers of Quantum Events Are Also Subject to Uncertainty

external page “In the quantum world, the reference frames should [also] be described by the formalism of quantum theory,” said Renato Renner, a theoretical physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.

Breaking out of the social media echo chamber

external page “In centralized social networks, minority opinions are easily crowded out by majority opinions. This can sometimes mean that valuable ideas are lost, while mainstream [culture] takes over. That, however, is no guarantee of good solutions,” explains Dirk Helbing, an external faculty member at the Complexity Science Hub, professor at ETH Zurich, and researcher on the study. “In fact, social networks should offer safe spaces, where new ideas can develop without having to enter competition with the mainstream right away.”

IEEE Unveils Honorees for Excellence in Engineering and Technology

external page IEEE Medal in Power Engineering to go to ETH Zurich's Energy Science Center. "For pioneering contributions to and leadership in power electronics systems, grid interfacing technologies, and ultra-high-speed motor drives.”

Researchers Take a ‘Colorful’ Approach to Error Correction to Bring Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing a Step Closer

external page A new study demonstrates how an alternative error correction method, the color code, could one day make quantum processors more efficient while maintaining high accuracy. The team of Google-led researchers and their collaborators (including ETH Zurich) successfully implemented the method on superconducting qubits, showing reduced error rates and efficient logical operations, marking a step forward in the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing.

The top 10 staircases of 2024

external page Researchers at technology university ETH Zurich worked with ROK Architects to create this spine-like concrete spiral staircase...Showcased in the NEST building, a laboratory for experimental fabrication techniques, the Cadenza staircase is composed of 16 identical prefabricated concrete steps made from a 3D-printed mould.

Human activity is changing Earth’s tilt and rotation. What does that mean for the planet?

external page Prof Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich in Switzerland noted in a recent interview that “we can see our impact, as humans, on the whole Earth system, not just locally, like the rise in temperature, but really fundamentally, altering how it moves in space and rotates.”

ZuriMED Secures FDA Clearance for the FiberLocker(R) System

external page The Swiss MedTech startup ZuriMED Technologies AG (an ETH Spinoff) is pleased to announce FDA clearance of its FiberLocker® System, a cutting-edge solution for rotator cuff repair reinforcement. This milestone marks the upcoming U.S. launch in early 2025 and enables surgeons to leverage this novel technology for rotator cuff repair procedures.

Swisstech to announce Step into Future and Experience Swiss AI Innovation at CES 2025 in Las Vegas

external page swisstech announced today its participation at CES 2025 (the Computer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, the world’s most influential tech event held January 7-10, 2025...In the field of academia, EPFL and ETH Zurich...are stepping up their efforts to lead Swiss AI research to the international forefront, enhancing their collaborations and announcing the foundation of the Swiss National AI Institute (SNAI) with the goal of addressing challenges in AI. With CES 2025’s global reach, Switzerland aims to strengthen its position as a destination for businesses seeking AI solutions that are both impactful and sustainable.

Bluesky could become target of foreign disinformation, experts warn

external page “I don’t think Bluesky is more vulnerable to influence campaigns than X or other social networks,” Jennifer Victoria Scurrell, a researcher on AI-supported influence operations, told VOA Mandarin. But Scurrell, of ETH Zurich’s Center for Security Studies, said Bluesky’s decentralized moderation approach is flawed.

Living ceramic can smell formaldehyde  

external page By populating porous clay with bacteria, researchers have made living ceramics that sense tiny amounts of toxic formaldehyde and that capture carbon dioxide from air (Adv. Mater. 2024, DOI: 10.1002/adma.202412555)...For the challenging task of hosting living cells in a hard material, bioengineer Anton Kan, materials scientist André R. Studart, and colleagues at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, 3D printed ceramic structures with pores ranging in size from 20 µm to 130 µm and 20 nm to 80 nm. The smaller pores create a large surface area for cells to stick and proliferate, while the bigger pores allow the flow of nutrients.

‘We’re at this pivotal moment.’ These young innovators are tackling some of humanity’s biggest problems

external page A CNN team had a blast filming with Hannes Schatzmann earlier in the year in the Swiss Alps for the second episode of Tech for Good...There, he and his classmates from ETH Zurich tested a custom-developed space rocket recovery system by dropping it from a helicopter. The AI-powered system steers a parachute back to a predetermined landing site, so they can pick up the rocket and use it again...On the London stage, Schatzmann told Stewart that his team are gearing up for a “proper launch” soon, in which they’ll launch a rocket, instead of lifting it with a helicopter before guiding it down...Reusable rockets are becoming the norm, but not everyone has the technology to recover them easily and sustainably. He hopes that one day systems like his become the standard – making the space industry more sustainable...“I also hope that we can keep enabling students and inspiring them to chase these far-out ideas and keep at it until they’ve actually become a reality,” he added. (Watch Hannes Schatzmann's segment of the live show here).

SmartStamp: "Face Recognition" for Works of Art

external page Gregor Kisters, an ETH Master's student in Materials Science and Engineering, has now developed a fail-safe, tamper-proof technology to authenticate artworks. The SmartStamp app combines machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer vision to create what amounts to a unique digital fingerprint—essentially biometrics for artworks.  

Can AI-generated podcasts boost science engagement?

external page Other researchers argue that the podcasts are better suited to public outreach than to digesting the literature. Pedro Beltrao, a geneticist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, says that robo-podcasters tend to explain basic concepts using multiple analogies at the expense of diving into details, which can make the tool less useful for specialists who want to keep up with studies in their field...

Researchers are making jet engines fit for the hydrogen age

external page Researchers at ETH Zurich have now provided an important contribution for the development of clean hydrogen aircraft engines: they have tested the acoustic behaviour of hydrogen injection nozzles in the lab under conditions similar to those prevalent at cruising altitude.

Desert Planet Orbital Recon: MRO Images Mars InSight Lander to Study Dust Movement

external page NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) caught a glimpse of the agency’s retired InSight lander recently, documenting the accumulation of dust on the spacecraft’s solar panels. In the new image taken Oct. 23 by MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, InSight’s solar panels have acquired the same reddish-brown hue as the rest of the planet.

Also reported by...

external page NASA

Inside Cybathlon 2024 - the Olympics for assistive technology

external page BBC Click takes an inside look at Cybathlon 2024 with the inspiring stories of 3 pilots in the Robot Assistance Race, Brain-Computer Interface, and Vision Assistance Race.  

The 3,000m-high border that's melting away

external page Glacier meltwater is an important part of that supply because it replenishes the rivers at the height of summer, during hot, rainless periods, says Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich who monitors glaciers in Switzerland. Missing meltwater from Alpine glaciers can therefore cause problems as far as the Netherlands, he says..."Glaciers are retreating at an ever-faster rate," warns Huss, who has had a close-up view of that change.

How Investing In Startups Keeps Corporations At The Cutting Edge Of Technology

external page Partner With University Innovation Labs...Tap into research-based startups emerging from universities such as MIT, Stanford and ETH Zurich. These well-regarded innovation labs are centers of innovation and research. When a corporation collaborates with such labs, it can find creative technologies and meet the founders of innovative startups from every corner of the globe.

What Is Entropy? A Measure of Just How Little We Really Know.

external page What entropy consistently measures is ignorance: a lack of knowledge about the motion of particles, the next digit in a string of code, or the exact state of a quantum system. “Despite the fact that entropies were introduced with different motivations, today we can link all of them to the notion of uncertainty,” said Renato Renner (opens a new tab), a physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.

U.S. climate scientists gird for a second Trump administration

external page Trump’s first NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine, a Republican congressman who once was labeled a climate denier, refashioned himself as an all-around supporter of science, including recognizing mainstream climate science. He struck a deal that allowed NASA science chief Thomas Zurbuchen to choose what research to publicize. “He tried hard to support science as best he could,” says Zurbuchen, who now serves as director of ETH Zürich Space. “He gave it the limelight.”...  

New documentary 'To Build Law' offers insights into building change at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

external page The film opens a dialogue into the inter-dynamics of law and the built environment, following Arno Brandlhuber’s studio bplus.xyz (b+) and the ETH Zurich’s seven-year-old station.plus (s+) initiative as they attempt to use legal mechanisms for proactive change and community-building to augment the movement for adaptive reuse over demolition in cities across Europe.  

International agricultural trade has caused 90 percent biodiversity loss

external page ...Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the ETH Zurich have considered international trade responsible for more than 90 percent of the biodiversity loss. The loss caused between 1995 and 2022 is due to the conversion of natural areas into agricultural land.

Also reported in...

external page Earth.com

Anybotics raises $60M to bring more autonomous industrial robots to the US

external page Swiss robotics company Anybotics has raised an extra $60 million to close its Series B round off at $110 million, some 18 months after first announcing it had raised a $50 million Series B...Spun out from the ETH Zurich research university in 2016, Anybotics has built a quadruped autonomous inspection robot dubbed Anymal, replete with sensors and cameras for monitoring equipment in industrial settings.  

Also reported in numerous regional television and digital publications across the US.

US Sanctions Member of China's Cyber Hacker Army

external page Experts warn that vulnerabilities discovered in these competitions (state-affiliated hacking) likely benefit Chinese security agencies. Eugenio Benincasa, co-author of an Atlantic Council report and senior researcher at ETH Zurich's Center for Security Studies, recently told Newsweek this knowledge is "funneled to China's security agencies for potential use in offensive operations."

Also reported in multiple digital publications.

Will artificial intelligence help or hinder progress on the SDGs?

external page How can the equity problem be addressed?...Some potential solutions include creating public–private partnerships and initiatives to democratize access to computing infrastructure...For example, the Swiss International Computation and AI Network, run by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, aims to give researchers from low-income settings access to supercomputing resources so that they can develop AI tools that benefit the world.

AI-Driven Design Optimization for Offshore Wind Turbines

external page ETH Zurich is applying these approaches to tackle not only wind-related challenges but also earthquake-related issues, such as the seismic fragility of buildings in complex environments and the design of high-rise buildings subjected to random wind excitation...Senior Scientist Stefano Marelli, Chair of Risk, Safety, and Uncertainty Quantification at ETH Zürich, added, “The project required us to develop a new methodology from scratch to handle uncertainties in high-dimensional inputs and responses. Our work on surrogate modeling techniques, which accelerated algorithm development and enabled cross-partner collaboration, proved to be successful.”

The Potential of Aerogel Technology: A New Approach to Insulation

external page ETH spin-off Aeroskin Tech is developing cutting-edge thermal insulation using aerogel technology to provide more effective and sustainable building insulation. Unlike traditional materials, this innovative insulation is significantly thinner and helps save energy.

Scrona to demonstrate 128-nozzle Printhead for Semiconductor Advanced Packaging, Display Manufacturing and Consumer Electronics at CES 2025

external page Scrona AG, the micro-manufacturing startup and world record holder of the smallest ever printed color picture, will be demonstrating its new 128-nozzle printhead at CES (Consumer Electronics Show - Las Vegas)

This herb helps reduce and prevent joint pain from arthritis

external page Among the health benefits of oregano, there is one that has been highlighted by the University of Bonn in Germany and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in Switzerland...Oregano provides an active ingredient known as beta-caryophyllene (E-BCP) that has a positive impact on reducing joint pain and inflammation, which is why it is highly recommended as a preventative treatment for osteoarthritis.

AI prediction: Limiting global warming to 1.5°C is "almost certainly" already out of reach

external page A second paper by Barnes, Diffenbaugh, and co-author Sonia Seneviratne from ETH-Zurich suggests that many regions – including South Asia, the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and parts of sub-Saharan Africa – will surpass three degrees Celsius of warming by 2060 under scenarios of increasing emissions...The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, notes that this warming may come sooner than previous models anticipated, indicating that some parts of the world face rapidly intensifying climate conditions.

Also reported in...

external page PHYS.org

external page ScienceDaily

external page Tech and Science Post

external page Earth

external page France 24

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Announcing the First Keynote, New Featured Sessions, Mentor Opportunities, and More for SXSW EDU 2025

external page ...Newly announced Featured Sessions with incredible thought leaders working towards a brighter future in education through the lens of the communities they serve. These voices include Manu Kapur, professor for learning sciences and higher education at ETH Zurich...

Delivering medicines with microscopic 'flowers'

external page Research lead by ETH Zurich have now unveiled a special class of particle...Using microparticles consisting of extremely thin petals, medicines can be delivered via the bloodstream in a precisely targeted manner, for example to a tumour or blood clot. Ultrasound and other acoustic procedures guide the particles through the body and reveal their locations. This makes the particles easy to deploy, as ultrasound procedures are common practice in medicine.  

Also reported in...

external page Interesting Engineering

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Performing Drone-based Energy Asset Inspections at Height

external page MISTRAS provides unmanned robotic inspections for assets at-height in the energy sector. After adopting the Voliro T system from Swiss-based aerial robotics provider (ETH Spinoff) Voliro, aerial inspections are performed much faster and without having to close down a facility...Voliro originated from a research project at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, to develop an omnidirectional flying inspection robot.

QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025

external page ETH Zurich ranks second in the QS World University Rankings for Sustainability in 2025.

Also reported in...

external page TimeOut

As well as numerous regional publications internationally.

Robot cat built to always stick landing could revolutionise asteroid mining, scientists say

external page Earlier this year researchers at ETH Zurich unveiled a three-legged jumping robot called SpaceHopper to navigate low-gravity environments like asteroids and moons...“These are thought to contain valuable mineral resources that could be of use to humankind in the future. The exploration of these bodies could also give us insights into our universe’s formation,” researchers wrote.

Also reported in...

external page Aol.

Microsoft challenges you to hack its LLM email service

external page Well you might be in luck, as Microsoft is sponsoring a competition, alongside the Institute of Science, and Technology Australia, and ETH Zurich, in which contestants will try to break a simulated Large Language Model (LLM) integrated email client...Winning teams for the LLMail-Inject challenge will be awarded a share of the $10,000 prize pool.

World's 1st mechanical qubit uses no light or electronics. It could lead to ultra-precise gravity-sensing tech.

external page "[The challenge] is whether you can make the energy levels unequally spaced enough that you can address two of them without touching the others," study co-author Yiwen Chu, a physicist at ETH Zürich, told Science.

Also reported in...

external page Physics APS

Climate change will soon make Earth's days longer. Here’s what that means for the planet

external page “It’s fascinating that we, as humans, with the record change in the climate we’ve caused over the past 100 years, can impact the whole Earth like that,” says Prof Benedikt Soja, a scientist at ETH Zürich who helped uncover the troubling trend...“This could be larger than any previously dominant effect on our planet’s rotation.”

MAN Energy Mega Heat Pump Activated For District Heating In Denmark

external page André Bardow, Professor of Energy and Process Systems Engineering at ETH Zurich, believes his team has come up with a better solution: “Instead of a single refrigerant, we use a blend. This allows a heat pump to use different heat sources and generate different temperature profiles.” The composition of the refrigerant blend can be varied to cater to different applications, which is a key benefit for companies. Instead of having to redesign the entire heat pump whenever they need a different temperature, they can simply modify the mixture, which is much simpler and cheaper.

Greening concrete: A Major emitter inches toward carbon neutrality

external page The Swiss start-up Neustark, founded in 2019 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich University, describes concrete from demolished buildings as “the largest waste stream in the world,” with around 900 million tons of waste produced annually. The company has developed a technology to accelerate crushed concrete’s ability to absorb and bind carbon dioxide by injecting CO2 produced in biogas plants into concrete granulate in recycling plants.

Ethical Considerations for FDA Accelerated Approval

external page In a recent article in Bioethics, Mattia Andreoletti and Alessandro Blassimme of Switzerland’s ETH Zurich argue that six conditions must be met for accelerated approval to be ethically acceptable. Andreoletti and Blassimme suggest that the four principles of bioethics—beneficence, nonmalfeasance, justice, and respect for persons—can be sufficiently met by requiring six conditions: moral solicitude, evidence, risk mitigation, impartiality, sustainability, and transparency...

Solar Panels: The Quest for Better Return on Investment

external page Very recently researchers at ETH Zurich, a Swiss institution that traces its origins to 1855, and described as a driving force behind Swiss industry, achieved a breakthrough in developing a thermal trap that can absorb concentrated sunlight and deliver heat at over 1,000-degree Celsius. 

New Discovery Reveals Unintended Genetic Damage in CRISPR-Cas9 Therapy

external page Although AZD7648 promotes precise repair and thus precise gene editing using the CRISPR-Cas9 system as hoped, in a significant proportion of cells this has led to massive genetic changes in a part of the genome that was expected to be modified without scarring. The ETH researchers found that these changes resulted in the simple deletion of thousands and thousands of DNA building blocks, known as bases. Even whole chromosome arms broke off. This makes the genome unstable, with unpredictable consequences for the cells edited by the technique.

Also reported in...

external page CRISPR MEDICINE NEWS

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10 new professors appointed at ETH Zurich and EPFL

external page At its meeting of 4/5 December 2024 and upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, and the President of EPFL, Professor Martin Vetterli, the ETH Board appointed a total of three women and seven men as professors and awarded the title of professor to eight individuals and the title of Professor of Practice to two individuals. It also took note of the resignation of eleven professors and thanked them for their services. In the last 12 months, the ETH Board has made a total of 21 new appointments for women and 29 for men; the proportion of women among these new appointments amounts to 42%.

Trees live out their lives in surprising ways, massive new study finds

external page “For short-lived species, it’s a lot easier. Because they have short lifespans, you can track individuals and calculate average life expectancy,” said ecologist Lalasia Bialic-Murphy, the study’s first author and a lead scientist in the Crowther Lab (at ETH Zurich).

OpenAI poaches 3 top engineers from DeepMind

external page OpenAI announced today it has hired three senior computer vision and machine learning engineers from rival Google DeepMind, all of whom will work in a newly opened OpenAI office in Zurich, Switzerland...The city is home to ETH Zurich, a public research university with a globally renowned computer science department. Apple has also reportedly poached a number of AI experts from Google to work at “a secretive European laboratory in Zurich,” the Financial Times reported earlier this year. 

Next generation of wearable sensors will be able to provide biochemical analyses, researchers say

external page ...In future, such sensors will gather valuable insights into their wearer's state of health by analyzing body fluids such as sweat, breath, saliva, tears and urine. Although many of these advances are not yet ready for the market, they are certainly feasible...This is what led Dr. Noé Brasier, Early-Career Fellow at the Collegium Helveticum, and ETH Professor Jörg Goldhahn to join forces with leading researchers in the field of wearable sensors and conduct a comprehensive review. Their overview was recently published in the journal Nature.

Spectroplast secures Series A investment from HZG Group & AM Ventures

external page Silicone 3D printing company Spectroplast AG (an ETH Spinoff) has successfully closed its Series A financing round, with HZG Group named as the lead investor...HZG Group was joined by existing investor AM Ventures in providing financial backing to the company...Spectroplast plans to use the funds to intensify its existing customer relationships, while establishing its patented silicone materials in other industries...The company is considered a technological leader in silicone 3D printing solutions...  

New alchemy of the digital age: turning e-waste into gold

external page ...One team of researchers at ETH Zurich dissolved 20 computer motherboards in an acid bath to ionize the gold and other metals. They then processed the gold by placing a protein fiber sponge in the solution, which the extracted gold adhered to. The researchers then heated the sponge, turning the gold metals into flakes. As a result, they created a gold nugget of approximately 450 milligrams, around 22 carats.

Play any kind of music to make art an emotional experience

external page Art and music have always intertwined, each amplifying the other’s emotional depth. Researchers recently explored how aesthetic perception — the ability to notice and enjoy things that are beautiful or interesting — is affected by combining music and images...The findings are part of a neuroaesthetics collection edited by Emily Cross of ETH Zurich. This remarkable study sheds light on how auditory and visual elements interact in artistic appreciation.

Romania faces political deadlock as far right makes gains in legislative vote

external page It "will be highly fragmented, with no dominant party", Marius Ghincea, a political scientist at ETH Zurich, told AFP...He said the PSD (pro-European Social Democrats) cannot govern without the support of two other parties, which suggests "a high degree of instability in the short-to-medium term".

Also reported in numerous regional publications in Europe and the US

external page France 24 (second article)

Special abilities of users should be employed in a targeted way in order to increase cyber security, says expert

external page The rise in the number and quality of cyber attacks that target the "human factor" is also worrying. Phishing attacks, for example, use social engineering in an attempt to trick people into downloading malicious attachments or entering their secret log-in details on fake websites. Cybersecurity research must therefore start to break new ground. Among other approaches, recent research aims to improve the fit between people and security solutions.

Ocean acidification is spreading into deeper waters

external page The rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in our world’s atmosphere is fueling an environmental threat to marine life. Ocean acidification is growing in magnitude as it moves into deeper waters...Jens Müller and Nicolas Grube are environmental physicists in the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics at ETH Zurich. They set out to investigate the consequences of acidification by developing a 3D model of our oceans.

Also reported in...

external page Ocean Acidification International

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Could this new tech stop your glasses from fogging up?

external page People who wear glasses, no matter where they're from, can often share the same problem - fogged up lenses. There have been many attempts to solve this issue, including sprays and lens cloths. But thanks to new tech, there may be a more permanent solution. Features Pioneer Fellow, Iwan Hächler.  

Is this the future of electric racing?

external page Formula Student is a world series of events featuring electric cars built by teams of students. Could this be the future of motor racing? BBC Click highlights AMZ Racing - a student led racing team from ETH Zurich.  

How do you measure the snow melting on Switzerland’s glaciers?

external page A group of scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a new technique to monitor the snow on the largest glacier in the Swiss Alps.