ETH News

ETH Fellow Nadia Shardt is researching how water droplets in clouds freeze to form ice, and the role played by particles in this process. She has developed an innovative apparatus specifically for this purpose. She hopes that her findings will enable climate models to produce more accurate forecasts.

ETH Fellow Serina Robinson is devoted to microorganisms. She is particularly interested in the enzymes they use to produce and break down chemical substances. The young scientist is also especially fascinated by as yet uncultivated microbes.

As chocolate becomes ever more popular, demand for cocoa keeps rising. For production to keep up, agricultural practices have to become more sustainable. ETH researchers tested what shade trees can contribute to solving this problem.

ETH researchers have succeeded in determining the 3D structure of the enzyme that attaches sugar chains to proteins – a breakthrough that they recently published in the journal Science.

Engineers at ETH Zurich have discovered that soft biological tissue deforms very differently under tension than previously assumed. Their findings are already being put to use in medical research projects.

ETH researchers have developed a method that allows large amounts of genetic information to be compressed and then decompressed again in cells. This could aid in the development of new therapies.

Jeremy Rugenstein studies how the climate has changed since the extinction of the dinosaurs. By looking into the past, the ETH Fellow hopes to gather information about our future climate.

Spines and thorns keep hungry mammals at bay – or at least, that's the conventional wisdom. However, ETH researchers have now shown that spiky growths on plants make life difficult for caterpillars too. This finding could be important for crop breeding.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have produced starch in yeast - the first time this has been achieved in a non-plant organism. The new model system now makes it easier for them to investigate how starch is formed and what role is played by the enzymes involved. In future, it may be possible to use yeast to trial specific modifications of starch.

ETH researchers have developed a robot that can ascertain the temperature and elasticity of objects – and adapt independently to various ranges in the process.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have succeeded in identifying various subtypes of schizophrenia using mathematical models. This paves the way for more accurate diagnosis and more targeted treatment.

Voluntary user ratings are extremely important for online auctioneers. Researchers at ETH examined why this system works so well. In the process, they were also able to show that it pays off for online retailers to watch out for their reputation.

President of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer, is currently testing a crypto phone. ETH News talked to his namesake, ETH professor and cryptography expert Ueli Maurer, about secure IT, the NSA and the threat of a cyberwar.

In a recently published Nature paper, ETH scientists presented the first artificial enzyme that readily competes with its natural counterparts in terms of catalytic throughput. Structural insights gained from its structure may facilitate the development of new enzymes in the future.