In the Media - February 2025

Accidental discovery depolymerises commercial plexiglass

external page A new process for chemically recycling commercially available polymethacrylates under visible light has been discovered serendipitously by chemists (at ETH Zurich) in Switzerland. The researchers demonstrated that the process, which does not require specially designed polymers, could work on commercial samples of plexiglass.

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Video Friday: Good Over All Terrains - Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos

external page Yes! More research like this please; legged robots (of all sizes) are TOO STOMPY. IEEE Spectrum features latest robotic research from ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab.

Antibiotic resistance in farm animals is rising fast

external page Thomas Van Boeckeland his team analyzed 901 epidemiological studies that looked at the evolution of a series of widespread bacteria — Salmonella, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus, and Escherichia coli — in low and middle income countries around the world...They found that the strongest cases of multidrug resistance are occurring among farm animals in India and northeast China, with Kenya, Uruguay, and Brazil following close behind.

Sometimes, when competitors collaborate, everybody wins

external page Engineers from ETH Zurich and MIT have developed a new planning tool that mixes competition and cooperation to help operators in a complex, multiregional network strategically determine when and how they should work together...The tool can help mobility stakeholders, such as governments, transport agencies, and firms, determine the right time to collaborate, how much they should invest in cooperative projects, how the profits should be distributed, and what would happen if they withdrew from the negotiations...In the example of the rail operators, the researchers demonstrate that co-investment also benefits users by improving regional train service. This win-win situation encourages more people to take the train, boosting revenues for operators and reducing emissions from automobiles, says Mingjia He, a graduate student at ETH Zurich and lead author.

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Who Owns the Future of Social Media? A giant leap to decentralize core components of Bluesky's AT Protocol ecosystem

external page Project Liberty and Free Our Feeds are taking a decisive step toward reshaping the digital landscape by securing the long-term decentralization of the AT Protocol, the open protocol powering the Bluesky application. This partnership marks a milestone in decentralized social networking, ensuring that access to the "firehose" of AT protocol data is available to a broad ecosystem of developers and users, independent of any single controller or corporation...Project Liberty includes the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH Zurich, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technology team that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure.

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As well as numerous radio/television broadcasters in the US.

Simple skin patch activates new gene switch

external page Researchers from ETH Zurich in Basel have developed various different gene switches, some of which respond to physical triggers such as current, sound waves or light.

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USACE Alaska team explores Swiss dams for key insights on Lowell Creek Flood Project

external page Swiss tunnelling expertise has been put under the spotlight and is helping the US Army Corps of Engineers with the design of a flood control project in Alaska...The team also visited the sediment bypass tunnel at Solis Dam in the nearby canton of Grisons. Like the dam at Pfaffensprung, Solis is a hydropower-producing dam and is of a similar design to Lowell Creek project. And as Swiss university ETH Zurich is currently conducting a study of abrasion upon different kinds of pavers in the Pfaffensprung and Solis tunnels, researchers here also shared valuable insights with the USACE team.

Fox News bemoans that ‘vaccine confidence is at an all-time low’ amid measles outbreak

external page “Our results show that Fox News is reducing COVID-19 vaccination uptake in the United States, with no evidence of the other major networks having any effect,” the ETH Zurich study concluded. “[T]here is an association between areas with higher Fox News viewership and lower vaccinations… media emphasis on minority viewpoints against scientific consensus is linked to vaccination hesitancy.”

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AI tool to help extend lifespan of railway bridges

external page An AI tool designed to keep bridges in operation for longer has been developed by ETH Zurich researchers...“Switzerland is facing a situation in which a considerable proportion of its infrastructure is nearing the end of its planned service life and must be inspected and strengthened if necessary,” said doctoral researcher Sophia Kuhn. “We’re developing a tool that helps to keep bridges in operation for as long as possible and therefore [conserves] resources without running a disproportionate risk of [an] accident.” 

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Using AI to reduce waste in the construction industry

external page The construction sector is one of the most fragmented ever,” says Catherine De Wolf, SM ’14, PhD ’17, assistant professor of circular engineering for architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich)...“About half the materials we consume go into our buildings,” De Wolf says—and they account for about a third of all waste worldwide. So she’s employing artificial intelligence and other technologies to match builders with materials they can reuse from structures being demolished.

Aviation's green leap: Solar-powered fuel breakthrough at ETH Zurich

external page Fuel production is typically associated with the use of nonrenewable resources and environmental pollution. However, the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) has developed a groundbreaking technology for producing aviation fuel, which could transform the aviation industry into a more eco-friendly sector.

Environmental research: How dangerous are nanoplastics for babies in the womb?

external page Among other things, environmental factors during the child’s early development in the womb are suspected, which lay the foundation for later illnesses. A team of researchers from Empa, ETH Zurich, EPFL, the University of Zurich and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen is now focusing on micro- and nanoplastics. It is already known that the tiny plastic particles enter the body of pregnant women via drinking water, food and air and find their way to the unborn child. Here they could affect the fragile immune system of mother and child. Moreover, they are able to transport other pollutants, allergens and pathogens.

Light-triggered process breaks down polymers into monomers for easier recycling

external page A team of materials scientists and engineers at ETH Zurich has developed a light-triggered chemical process for breaking down certain polymers into their constituent monomers. The paper is published in the journal Science.

Ultrasound-activated microbubbles form high-speed jets for drug delivery

external page ETH Zurich researchers have investigated how tiny gas bubbles can deliver drugs into cells in a targeted manner using ultrasound. For the first time, they have visualized how tiny cyclic microjets liquid jets generated by microbubbles penetrate the cell membrane, enabling the drug uptake...The targeted treatment of brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or brain tumors is challenging because the brain is a particularly sensitive organ that is well protected. That’s why researchers are working on ways of delivering drugs to the brain precisely, via the bloodstream. The aim is to overcome the blood–brain barrier, which normally only allows certain nutrients and oxygen to pass through.

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Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface experienced record heat in 2024. See where and by how much – visualised

external page “These analyses are consistent with what is expected given the very large warming so far, and the particularly extreme conditions this year,” said Sonia Seneviratne, a climate scientist at ETH Zurich and vice-chair of the physical science working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)...“If we don’t manage to decrease the burning of fossil fuels and reduce the global emissions of CO2 fast, these extreme temperatures will continue to become even more extreme and frequent,” she said. “Some regions could become uninhabitable. The last IPCC report has highlighted that we are starting to reach some limits to adaptation under the current level of global warming.”

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Breker RISC-V SystemVIP Deployed across 15 Commercial RISC-V Projects for Advanced Core and SoC Verification

external page Breker is cooperating with academic institutions including Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., and Oklahoma University, developers of the Wally open-source processor core, and ETH Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland, that produced the Ariane processor core. Breker has provided application-level tests for these institutions while collaborating on next-generation verification environments.

LogicStar raised 3 million dollars

external page LogicStar, the AI agent for fully autonomous software maintenance, has raised $3M (CHF 2.6M) in a pre-seed funding round led by Northzone, with angel investors from DeepMind, Snyk, Spotify, Fleet and Sequoia scouts. LogicStar empowers engineering teams to focus on innovation by automating tedious application maintenance tasks...The founding team consists of Boris Paskalev, Veselin Raychev, Mark Müller, and Prof. Dr. Martin Vechev. Boris, Veselin, and Martin previously built DeepCode.ai (acquired by Snyk and now called Snyk Code) and scaled it to over $100M ARR: a technology trusted by millions of developers. Martin also leads the Secure, Reliable, and Intelligent Systems (SRI) lab at ETH Zurich and is the Founder and Scientific Director of INSAIT. The unique technology behind LogicStar draws from the team’s deep research background and expertise from ETH Zurich, MIT, TRIUM, and INSAIT, resulting in over 20,000 citations and 350 top publications in AI and program analysis, particularly in large codebases and software development.

“Solar energy that can be poured in the fuel tank”: the Aldo Steinfeld Weltwoche interview

external page ETH (Zurich) professor Aldo Steinfeld is one of the pioneers of synthetic fuels. He explains how to capture the solar energy in such a way that it can be poured into the fuel tank...When will synthetic fuels, which can be handled like gasoline, diesel or kerosene, and that are not of fossil origin but are climate neutral, finally arrive?...His research group Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers (PREC) at ETH Zurich has developed technological innovations in the field of solar energy conversion and produced two successful spin-offs: Climeworks and Synhelion. Climeworks is focused on the technology for direct CO2 capture from air, Synhelion markets the technology for the production of solar fuels...

Storing CO₂ underground in Switzerland

external page Researchers at ETH Zurich have conducted the first ever study to investigate whether CO2 can be permanently stored underground in Switzerland in the form of carbonate rock, and what criteria would need to be met for this to happen. They present their findings in a study that was recently published in the Swiss Journal of Geosciences.

BCI maker Subsense emerges from stealth mode with $17M in seed funding

external page ...Subsense develops a non-surgical, nanoparticle-based BCI. Golden Falcon Capital led its seed funding round...The company collaborates with UC Santa Cruz and ETH Zurich to develop a safe, effective and accessible BCI. They aim for the system to enhance lives and redefine the interaction between human cognition and technology.

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The Wallace Line forms an invisible barrier that separates Asian and Australian species. Scientists now know what happened

external page Ever wondered why you won't find kangaroos outside Australia? It all started with massive climate change millions of years ago...The findings were made by biologists at the Australian National University (ANU) and ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who ran a computer model that predicts how this ancient tectonic event affected the range and diversification of species. This model revealed that the changing climate affected species differently on both sides of the Wallace Line.  

New gene switch may lead to precise treatments for metabolic diseases

external page ETH researchers have developed a new gene switch that can be activated using a commercially available nitroglycerine patch applied to the skin. One day, researchers want to use switches of this kind to trigger cell therapies for various metabolic diseases...The body regulates its metabolism precisely and continuously, with specialised cells in the pancreas constantly monitoring the amount of sugar in the blood, for example. When this blood sugar level increases after a meal, the body sets a signal cascade in motion in order to bring it back down.

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Scandit: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Samuel Mueller About Smart Data Capture Technology

external page Scandit (an ETH Spinoff) is the leader in smart data capture, giving superpowers to workers, customers, and businesses by providing actionable insights and automating end-to-end processes. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Scandit co-founder and CEO Samuel Mueller to learn more about the company.

Transforming Underwater Inspections

external page By automating time-intensive subsea inspection tasks, Tethys Robotics’ new hybrid underwater drone, Tethys ONE, invites operators to streamline in-field practices while guaranteeing maximum operational safety to all system users...This achievement is no accident. As a spinoff of ETH Zurich, we draw on the rich tradition of Swiss engineering excellence and innovation. Located in Zurich’s thriving robotics ecosystem, we are part of a community dedicated to pushing boundaries and creating solutions for the most demanding environments.

The science of sourdough – how citizens are helping shape the future of fermented foods

external page A sourdough starter is made from a mixture of flour and water that is left to ferment with the help of naturally occurring microorganisms in the flour and the environment. These include wild yeast (almost always Saccharomyces cerevisiae), lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria...“These [bacteria] come from a few different species, but functionally speaking, they are relatively similar,” explained Professor Nicholas Bokulich, a microbiologist at ETH Zürich in Switzerland.

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Synhelion Commits $1B to Morocco’s Solar Fuel Revolution

external page Swiss company Synhelion (an ETH Spinoff) plans to invest $1 billion to build a solar fuel plant in Morocco. The plant will use advanced solar technology to produce 100,000 tons of synthetic fuel annually, with funding secured through equity and bank loans.

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Research Reveals That Discrimination Can Stem from Random Individual Differences

external page ...The research alludes to deeper cognitive mechanisms at play. Co-author Dr. Richard Ramsey from ETH Zurich noted that the brain appears to respond to perceived differences similarly to conflict, manifesting negative emotions when identifying dissimilarities. In contrast, recognizing similarities can trigger positive emotions and enhance favorable treatment. This complex interplay reveals a new dimension of psychological understanding, illustrating how our cognitive frameworks are wired to reward similarity and punish difference, irrespective of its relevance or significance.

ETH Zurich Develops Ultra-Thin Aerogel Insulation for Energy-Efficient Buildings 

external page ETH spin-off Aeroskin Tech is developing innovative thermal insulation that uses aerogel technology to insulate buildings more efficiently and sustainably. This new insulation has an energy-saving effect and is significantly thinner than conventional materials – a mere 10 centimetres instead of up to 30 centimetres, depending on the application.

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Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2025

external page ETH Zurich’s Estelle Emilie Clerc, a researcher for Groundwater and Hydromechanics, D-BAUG and Jessica Droujko, a Pioneer Fellow and CEO of ETH startup, Riverkin feature in AZO Cleantech in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Funky office space in a 100-year-old air hangar

...Renovation is underway at an historic airfield in the Swiss capital, Zurich, that will bring a cavernous, 100-year-old hangar back to life again for modern purposes...When complete at the end of this year, inside will be offices for up to 200 ETH Zurich researchers working in robotics, mobility, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing.

How the Brain Chooses to Eat or Exercise

external page In neurobiologist Daria Peleg-Raibstein’s lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, a mouse navigates a complex eight-armed maze. As the animal scurries about, it answers some important research questions...Peleg-Raibstein, who was intrigued by how people decide when presented with choices, wanted to “basically understand how our brain processes different options.” Specifically, she and her team investigated eating or exercising.

Artificial intelligence—the great job maker or taker?

external page A lot of good schools are starting to teach AI as part of their chemistry syllabus, but making this trend more widespread will be difficult, says Christophe Copéret, an inorganic chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. While chemistry professors are critical thinkers and exponents of scientific practice, many have been in their roles for decades and are not experts in the emerging field of AI. “We have new tools, but we are not going to integrate them as fast as we wish,” Copéret says.

How climate extremes fuel droughts and heavy rains

external page Millions of people are already experiencing the impacts of climate change in everyday life. A few tenths of a degree warmer and the life we know becomes increasingly at risk due to climate extremes such as heat waves, droughts, and heavy rainfall typically associated with flooding. (Zukunfstblog from Sonia Seneviratne)

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Origami-inspired floor design cuts concrete and steel use by half  

external page Concrete's strength and structural integrity come not only in its material properties, but also from how it's molded during construction. An architecture student has devised a clever way to build strong, stable vaulted floors using far less concrete and steel than usual, with a novel formwork design inspired by origami...The Unfold Form – created by Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, a doctoral architecture student at Switzerland's ETH Zurich – is a reusable framework for molding wet concrete until it hardens into its final form in vaulted floors.  

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DACH’s venture capital prominence: an outlier, or the start of a golden age?

external page “Switzerland and Austria have fostered thriving startup ecosystems, largely thanks to their strong academic hubs, such as ETH Zurich,” says Markus Gleim, principal at renowned global VC fund Northzone...“These institutions have a consistent track record of producing top-tier talent and cutting-edge spin-outs such as AI innovators LogicStar. And, as a result, both nations have been able to carve out strong niches in deep technological sectors like medtech and cleantech.  

Oxyle raises $16 million for PFAS destruction  

external page The Swiss start-up Oxyle (an ETH Spinoff) has raised $16 million to further its technology for destroying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water.

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Study explores how nanoplastics could affect child's immune system during pregnancy

external page Asthma, hay fever or chronic skin conditions: The occurrence of allergic reactions is diverse and on the rise. Among other things, environmental factors during the child's early development in the womb are suspected, which lay the foundation for later illnesses. A team of researchers from Empa, ETH Zurich, EPFL, the University of Zurich and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen is now focusing on micro- and nanoplastics.

Why SAEKI’s Robots Could Change Manufacturing Forever

external page In a highly competitive supply chain market for industrial companies, Andrea Perissinotto, the co-founder and CEO of the Swiss start-up SAEKI (an ETH Spinoff), has a simple pitch to customers. “We are faster, cheaper and greener than traditional manufacturers,” he claims. And SAEKI, which is today announcing it has raised $6.7 million of seed finance, is starting to make good on that promise.

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As well as numerous radio / television networks in the US

InSight Finds Marsquakes From Meteoroids Go Deeper Than Expected

external page With help from AI, scientists discovered a fresh crater made by an impact that shook material as deep as the Red Planet’s mantle. Meteoroids striking Mars produce seismic signals that can reach deeper into the planet than previously known. That’s the finding of a pair of new papers comparing marsquake data collected by NASA’s InSight lander with impact craters spotted by the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The papers, published on Monday, Feb. 3, in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), highlight how scientists continue to learn from InSight, which NASA retired in 2022 after a successful extended mission. (ETH Zurich is a partner and contributer in the NASA InSight Mission).

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How Can 3D Bioprinting Advance Drug Discovery?

external page Other nanostructures can be developed to respond to micro-environmental changes. including osmolarity, temperature, humidity, light, and electric and magnetic stimuli. As an example, ETH Zürich engineered nano-hydrogels combined with non-cytotoxic photo-cross-linkable methacrylated gelatin (GelMA). Designed for targeted drug delivery, the nano-hydrogels were designed to be magnetically responsive through their surface being infused with magnetic nanoparticles.

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Adipose tissue atlas identifies metabolically healthy vs unhealthy obesity

external page Although obese individuals are at greater risk of diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, not all obese people develop metabolic diseases of this kind. About a quarter of all obese individuals are healthy, and scientists are trying to work out why some obese people become unhealthy while others do not...Now, a comprehensive study published in Cell Metabolism by researchers from Zurich and Leipzig has produced a detailed atlas with data from healthy and unhealthy overweight people, on their fat (adipose) tissue, and on the gene activity in this tissue's cells.

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Switzerland: A Deep Tech Beacon In Europe

external page Swiss research institutions are continually reinventing their approaches to technology transfer and commercialization. This is evident in the rise of spinoffs from ETH Zurich and EPFL, which have gained international recognition for their groundbreaking innovations. These institutions are creating new entry points for entrepreneurs and investors, making Switzerland an increasingly attractive destination for deep tech.

ETH Zurich and HSG launch Manufacturing Alliance to strengthen Switzerland as an industrial location 

external page The alliance currently has 13 industrial partners: Roche, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Takeda, SHL Medical, Nestlé, Lindt & Sprüngli, Givaudan, Schneider Electric, Schindler, Endress+Hauser Flowtec, VAT Group and SFS Group. They will finance the project starting in January 2025 for a period of three years with a total of CHF 2.1 million...One key advantage of this model is that the doctoral students are employed either at HSG or ETH Zurich and work closely together through regular cross-location exchanges...alliance partners benefit here from the expertise and research results of the entire Circle of Scholars. In addition, members benefit from events such as the Operations Executive Forum, the St.Gallen Production Management Conference and other exchanges.

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external page Europawire

COMPL-AI Identifies Critical Compliance Gaps in DeepSeek Models Under the EU AI Act

external page The first evaluation framework for Generative AI models under the EU AI Act, has flagged critical compliance gaps in DeepSeek's distilled models. While these models excel in toxicity prevention, they fall short in key regulatory areas, including cybersecurity vulnerabilities and bias mitigation challenges, raising concerns about their readiness for production use by enterprises...Developed by ETH Zurich, INSAIT, and LatticeFlow AI, COMPL-AI is the first compliance-centered framework that translates regulatory requirements into actionable technical checks. It provides independent, systematic evaluations of public foundation models from leading AI organizations, including OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, Mistral AI, and Alibaba, helping companies assess their compliance readiness under the EU AI Act.

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Enhanced Algorithm for Global Internet Grid: A Breakthrough in Earthquake Detection

external page The innovative research led by Dr. Thomas Hudson at ETH Zurich highlights the compelling possibilities of this technology. By adapting an existing physics-based algorithm, the team has made it possible to include fibre optic data alongside conventional seismic measurements. This adaptability is crucial because it allows for a more comprehensive analysis of seismic activity that could be beneficial for earthquake early warning systems.  

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Heart drug dissolves breast cancer cell clusters in the blood

external page Digoxin, a heart medication, dissolves clusters of circulating breast cancer cells in the blood, reducing the risk of metastases formation, researchers report...In a new study, which has just been published in the journal Nature Medicine, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich, the University Hospitals of Basel and Zurich, and the Basel-Land Cantonal Hospital, shows a new, promising approach.

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ETH Zurich’s CAS Program Provides Crucial Expertise

external page The CAS program in Applied Technology in Energy at ETH Zurich offers a more thorough comprehension of the energy system. It allows participants to contribute to the development of their industry’s or company’s energy future and, consequently, to the achievement of the net-zero climate target.

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