ETH News
All stories that have been tagged with Earth and Planetary Sciences
From Earth to distant worlds: ETH department is now called Earth and Planetary Sciences
News
![Boulders and clouds of dust floating around a sun in space](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2024/08/from-earth-to-distant-worlds-eth-department-is-now-called-earth-and-planetary-sciences/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.758437356.jpg)
The Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich has been renamed the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, abbreviated to D-EAPS, effective 1 August. Head of Department Johan Robertsson explains why the renaming was both logical and necessary.
"Morph Tales" - a new ETH game invites you to get to know AI research
- Homehero
- News
![In the center is the blue morph, to its right the purple one and to its left the orange one.](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2023/06/morph-tales-a-new-eth-game-invites-you-to-get-to-know-ai-research/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.698048358.jpg)
The Morphs are here! The smart, eager-to-learn creatures are now waiting in the ETH main building for players to train them. "Morph Tales - Exploring Artificial Intelligence" is a new game from ETH Zurich that is fun to play and shows how humans and AI master tasks together.
New insights into the Earth’s formation
News
![Artist’s impression of the Earth’s formation – from chondritic asteroids on the left, and from planetesimals on the right.](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/07/new-insights-into-the-earths-formation/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.616711666.jpg)
An international research team led by ETH Zurich proposes a new theory for the Earth’s formation. It may also show how other rocky planets were formed.
An underrated factor
News
![Image of deformed rocks under tension](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/06/an-underrated-factor/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.1186865548.jpg)
How the plates of the Earth’s crust move depends largely on the behaviour of the rocks below them in the mantle. A new ETH study now shows that the grain size of these rocks is a key factor.
The chaotic early phase of the solar system
News
![Asteroid belt](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/05/the-chaotic-early-phase-of-the-solar-system/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.1841253868.jpg)
An international team of researchers led by the ETH Zurich and the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS have reconstructed the early history of several asteroids more precisely than ever before. Their results indicate that the early solar system was more chaotic than previously thought.
Earth’s interior is cooling faster than expected
News
![Image of the earth with liquid earth core](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/01/earth-interior-is-cooling-faster-than-expected/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.412133475.jpg)
Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated in the lab how well a mineral common at the boundary between the Earth’s core and mantle conducts heat. This leads them to suspect that the Earth’s heat may dissipate sooner than previously thought.
Are these the last ERC grants for ETH?
Press release
![ERC Grants](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/01/are-these-the-last-erc-grants-for-eth/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.824443250.jpg)
In the last application process for the sought-after ERC Starting Grants, the European Research Council made 11 awards to ETH researchers worth about CHF 17 million. Due to Switzerland’s non-association, however, the researchers will not receive these grants. The funds will now be provided by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
Crushed resistance
News
![Subducting plate at Japan trench](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/11/crushed-resistance/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.1916221541.jpg)
Geophysicists can use a new model to explain the behaviour of a tectonic plate sinking into a subduction zone in the Earth’s mantle: the plate becomes weak and thus more deformable when mineral grains on its underside are shrunk in size.
Advancing to the core thanks to marsquakes
News
![Insight Mission on Mars](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/07/advancing-to-the-core-thanks-to-marsquakes/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.35202638.jpg)
Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. Marsquakes recorded by NASA’s InSight lander provided information about the structure of the planet’s crust, mantle and core.
Extinct atom reveals the long-kept secrets of the solar system
News
![Atom Niob-92](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/03/extinct-atom-reveals-the-long-kept-secrets-of-the-solar-system/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.1127934148.jpg)
Using the extinct niobium-92 atom, ETH researchers have been able to date events in the early solar system with greater precision than before. The study concludes that supernova explosions must have taken place in the birth environment of our sun.
Witnesses to Earth’s early history
News
![Microscopic image of a kimberlite](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/01/witnesses-to-earths-early-history/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.2111411213.jpg)
Determining the composition of rock in the deepest layer of the Earth’s mantle is impossible to do directly. But thanks to isotope measurements of volcanic rocks, ETH researchers are now able to show that the mantle is still home to material from the planet’s earliest days.
Almost like on Venus
News
![Earth today and 4.5 billion years ago](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/11/almost-like-on-venus/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.902566836.jpg)
A team of international scientists led by ETH researcher Paolo Sossi has gained new insights into Earth’s atmosphere of 4.5 billion years ago. Their results have implications for the possible origins of life on Earth.
Leading European universities unite to battle climate change
Press release
![Geothermal energy is becoming increasingly important: geothermal power plant in Indonesia. (Image: TU Delft)](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/10/idea-league-easygo-en/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.89474113.jpg)
Researchers from four leading European technical universities, all members of IDEA League, are looking for new solutions against climate change in the EASYGO project.
A new way of looking at the Earth’s interior
News
![Impression from the high pressure laboratory](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/10/a-new-way-of-looking-at-earths-interior/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.1620623384.png)
Current understanding is that the chemical composition of the Earth’s mantle is relatively homogeneous. But experiments conducted by ETH researchers now show that this view is too simplistic. Their results solve a key problem facing the geosciences – and raise some new questions.
Thousands of seismometers on a single cable
Globe magazine
![Gletscherbeben](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/09/thousands-of-seismometers-on-a-single-cable/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.694777396.jpg)
Fibre-optic cables are emerging as a valuable tool for geoscientists and glaciologists. They offer a relatively inexpensive way of measuring even the tiniest glacial earthquakes – plus they can also be used to obtain more accurate images of the geological subsurface in earthquake-prone megacities.
"My dream discovery would be to map the Moon’s geology"
Globe magazine
![Maria Schönbächler](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/06/5-questions/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.190631765.png)
Maria Schönbächler investigates how our solar system formed. Her work often reminds her of the importance of breaking out of established patterns.
QS rankings: ETH Zurich top in 13 subjects
News
![QS rankings symbolic image](/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/03/qs-rankings-2020/_jcr_content/pageimages/imageSmall.imageformat.contentteaser.691111914.jpg)
The university analysts at QS have published their 2020 rankings by subject: ETH Zurich is in the top ten in 13 categories – and has been top in one for several years now.