ETH News

Medical research needs unresolved issues from clinical practice, says ETH Zurich Vice President Christian Wolfrum. He explains in an interview how cooperation between ETH research and hospitals can be improved and why ETH intends to pool its activities in medical research.

Planning and building Europe’s largest capacity geotechnical centrifuge took seven years. Now, after one and a half years of operation, its official inauguration is finally being celebrated at the Hönggerberg campus. And it’s no coincidence that this is happening in mid-January.

This year’s Innovation Project required ETH students to develop kit-based robots capable of delivering gifts down the chimneys of model-sized houses. The ten best teams will compete against each other in the final on 17 December.

These small particles are reminiscent of paper flowers or desert roses. Physicians can use them to guide medicines to a precise destination within the body. Better yet, the particles can easily be tracked using ultrasound as they scatter sound waves.

Hydrogen-powered planes are set to take wing around the world in the future. To make this possible, engineers have to develop the jet engines that will power them. Experiments by researchers at ETH Zurich are now providing the necessary basis for making these engines powerful and durable.

ETH student and top sprinter Géraldine Frey is preparing for her races with an innovative piece of equipment. Developed at ETH Zurich, the Airshield reduces aerodynamic drag, enabling athletes to train at speeds above their normal pace.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a robotic leg with artificial muscles. Inspired by living creatures, it jumps across different terrains in an agile and energy-efficient manner.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have managed to make sound waves travel only in one direction. In the future, this method could also be used in technical applications with electromagnetic waves.

Scientists around the world can now go full throttle in their research into chemical plastics recycling. Researchers at ETH Zurich have laid important foundations for this by showing that it’s all about the stirring.

A newly developed airshield supports track and field athletes such as Mujinga Kambundji with overspeed training.

This year’s European Hyperloop Week is being held in Zurich. Student engineering teams will present their prototypes to a jury and compete against each other in different categories. ETH Zurich is represented with the Swissloop project.

A new electrolyte design for lithium metal batteries could significantly boost the range of electric vehicles. Researchers at ETH Zurich have radically reduced the amount of environmentally harmful fluorine required to stabilise these batteries.

Medical students at ETH Zurich build a gripper hand for elbow exoskeletons in a crash course lasting just one week. This course has now been honoured with the 2024 Kite Award, the ETH prize for particularly innovative teaching.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a safe and inexpensive device for reliable blood measurements. It works using a suction cup and could also be employed to diagnose the tropical disease malaria – even by non-medical personnel.

The electrification of many areas of life is leading to an increased demand for high-performance batteries. Two ETH spin-offs are making waves in this field: while BTRY develops high-performance solid-state batteries, 8inks is working on a new standard for production.

As part of the SpaceHopper project, ETH Zurich students are developing a robot that can navigate very low gravity environments using a jumping-like mode of locomotion.

The quadrupedal robot ANYmal went back to school and has learned a lot. ETH Zurich researchers used machine learning to teach it new skills: the robot can now climb over obstacles and successfully negotiate pitfalls.

Roughly one in two wearers of ventricular assist devices are diagnosed with an infection. The reason for this is the thick cable for the power supply. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a solution to mitigate this problem.

What began as a venture quickly proved its worth: The ETH Bachelor in Human Medicine is well received by graduates and has helped to establish ETH Zurich in the Swiss medical education landscape. In a video, five graduates talk about what makes studying medicine at ETH so special.

Wherever hot water flows, limescale is never far away. In households, this is a nuisance; in thermal power stations, it’s an expensive problem. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have found an answer.

At ETH Zurich, there is a room where the sun shines at the touch of a button; one hour it’s noon in the Sahara, the next it’s January in Berlin. Researchers use it to test newly developed building systems, components and materials.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a sensor that utilises energy from sound waves to control electronic devices. This could one day save millions of batteries.

Two years ago, Russia launched its war of aggression against Ukraine. One direct consequence of the conflict is the destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Now an exhibition in the ETH Main Building entitled “ETH with Ukraine” is showing how buildings, facilities and the environment in Ukraine can be protected or restored.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are developing a new method to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. It involves molecules that become acidic when exposed to light. Their new process requires much less energy than conventional technologies.

Working in a greenhouse is both strenuous and time-consuming. The picking robot from ETH spin-off Floating Robotics takes on particularly repetitive tasks, thereby alleviating the strain on human pickers. It is currently undergoing testing at Beerstecher AG in Hinwil.

Researchers have trained an artificial intelligence to design the structure of so-called metamaterials with desired mechanical properties for a wide range of applications.

For her doctoral project at ETH Zurich, Sabrina Badir developed a device that determines the risk of premature birth. Today she is the CEO of spin-off Pregnolia, and her certified measuring device is being used in more than 20 clinics and medical practices.

Marianne Schmid Daners was already fascinated by the human-technology interface when she worked as a registered nurse. Since graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in biomedical engineering, she has been developing biomedical devices for the treatment of heart failure and hydrocephalus.

Modelled on nature: researchers have developed a new material that replicates the structure responsible for the blue feathers of the North American song bird, among many other birds. It also has other striking advantages.

ETH Zurich researchers taught an autonomous excavator to construct dry stone walls itself using boulders weighing several tonnes and demolition debris.

For the first time, researchers have succeeded in printing a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons made of different polymers using a new laser scanning technique.

Dimos Poulikakos is retiring in January 2024. The ETH Professor of Thermodynamics has developed many practical applications. His lectures on the fundamentals of thermodynamics have delighted more than 8,000 students; now he passes on a piece of advice for aspiring researchers.

ETH Zurich is participating in two quantum computing projects that are being financed by IARPA, the US research funding agency, with up to 40 million dollars. Both projects aim to connect two error-corrected qubits with one another and thus lay the foundation for future quantum computers.

Using a new 3D printing technique, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed special ceramic structures for a solar reactor. Initial experimental testing show that these structures can boost the production yield of solar fuels.

For the first time, a team of students from ETH Zurich is taking part in the renowned World Solar Challenge. Will they be able to keep up with the world’s best?

ETH spin-off Gaia Tech transforms waste from olive oil production into high-quality antioxidants for use in cosmetics or food. This turns waste into valuable raw materials.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated the use of a specially coated metal mesh to harvest water from fog and simultaneously remove pollutants. People living in dry but foggy areas should benefit from this technology.

A research team from ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI together with the Baden Cantonal Hospital and the University Hospital Zurich wants to improve a method for diagnosing breast cancer.  

Swiss engineers are training legged robots for future lunar missions that will search for minerals and raw materials. To ensure that the robots can continue to work even if one of them malfunctions, the researchers are teaching them teamwork.

Sewer systems and centralised treatment plants are not a sustainable solution for managing the world’s wastewater. Environmental engineers at ETH Zurich and Eawag have been helping to develop decentralised, closed-loop modular systems.

The start-up Unbound Potential has developed a new battery technology for long-duration energy storage – and received a grant of one million euros for it.

Divers are often put at considerable risk when searching for people or objects underwater. The ETH spin-off Tethys has developed an underwater robot that can be used in situations that are too dangerous for human divers.

Bachelor’s students at ETH Zurich were given a year to turn their original ideas into finished products. ETH News presents videos of two of these projects.

It is not easy to make batteries cheap, efficient, durable, safe and environmentally friendly at the same time. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in uniting all of these characteristics in zinc metal batteries.

For minimally invasive surgery, the instruments used must be small. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a method to transport large devices through a narrow catheter. This expands the possibilities for designing minimally invasive surgical tools.

Robots that can perform guarding tasks and overcome obstacles have already been seen in films such as the Pixar animation "Wall-E ". This film is set 800 years in the future. But similar robots are now becoming reality.

Researchers at ETH Zurich achieved a shape memory effect for the first time with objects that are only a few nanometers in size. This can be used to manufacture tiny machinery and robotic devices on the nanoscale.

A new study shows what it will take for the plastics industry to become completely sustainable: lots of recycling combined with the use of CO₂ from the air and biomass. It is also the image of plastics that need to change.

Until now, microscopic robotic systems have had to make do without arms. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an ultrasonically actuated glass needle that can be attached to a robotic arm. This lets them pump and mix minuscule amounts of liquid and trap particles.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a new transparent gold nanocoating that harnesses sunlight to heat the lenses of glasses, thereby preventing them from fogging in humid conditions. This coating could potentially also be applied to car windshields.

ETH Zurich researchers have developed a structure that can switch between stable shapes as needed while being remarkably simple to produce. The key lies in a clever combination of base materials.

Materials scientists Nicole Kleger and Simona Fehlmann have developed a 3D printing process for creating salt templates that they can fill with other materials. One area of application is the creation of highly porous lightweight metal components. The two Pioneer Fellows are now trying to transfer this process to industry.

The four-seater electric aircraft “e-Sling”, which was developed by ETH students, has taken flight for the first time. The student project has taken two years and a lot of dedication.

Canadian researchers have discovered that they can stick hydrogel plasters to the skin very effectively using ultrasound. ETH Zurich professor Outi Supponen has now explained the underlying mechanism: imploding bubbles that form within the adhesive located between the plaster and the skin anchor the one on the other.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have redetermined the gravitational constant G using a new measurement technique. Although there is still a large degree of uncertainty regarding this value, the new method offers great potential for testing one of the most fundamental laws of nature.

Eight ETH students are working on battery and hydrogen versions of an electric aircraft as part of the e-Sling focus project. For the past year, their lives have revolved around Hangar 3 at the Innovation Park Zurich in Dübendorf.

ETH alumnus Christoph Rennhard runs a company that develops precision machines for the global market. The keys to his success are technical expertise, customer orientation and talented staff – plus the ability of his SME to respond faster than big corporations.

This weekend, students from ETH Zurich won the sustainability prize at the 18^th concrete canoe regatta in Brandenburg with their boat "TruchETH". The aspiring civil engineers impressed with an environmentally friendly boat for which they combined old clothes with concrete.

In this year’s innovation projects, ETH students had to develop an engineering kit that can be used to spark adolescents' interest in engineering.

The robotic explorer GLIMPSE, created at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, has made it into the final round of a competition for prospecting resources in space. The long-term goal is for the robot to explore the south polar region of the moon.

Catherine De Wolf firmly believes that digitalisation can help shift the construction industry towards a more circular economy. The assistant professor and her research group recently completed a hands-on project to illustrate how this could work.  

Shared e-scooters and e-bikes transport the image of a climate-friendly mobility solution. ETH researchers have now shown that shared micromobility solutions in Zurich emit more CO₂ emissions than the alternatives they replace.

Like bridges and tall buildings, large mountains are constantly vibrating, excited by seismic energy form the Earth. An international team of researchers has now been able to measure the resonant swaying of the Matterhorn and make its motion visible using computer simulations.

How can we decarbonise our economy by 2050? ETH Zurich Professor Tobias Schmidt argues that the answer lies in a radical technological transformation. He describes his journey from engineer to policy researcher – and his determination to build bridges between science and policy.

Biomechanical engineer Bettina Müller has developed a device that can improve examinations of how scars heal. She hopes her device will help doctors to diagnose skin diseases. “Nimble” is set to go to market within two years.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed the process technology that can produce carbon-neutral transportation fuels from sunlight and air. Now, in a Nature publication, they demonstrate the stable and reliable operation of the solar mini-refinery under real on-sun conditions. And they show a way to introduce solar fuels to the market without additional carbon taxes.

He might have been known to the general public as the “Chocolate Professor”, but the newly retired ETH professor Erich Windhab was interested in much more than just indulgence. He also dedicated himself to issues of global food security and sustainability.

High-performance batteries are key to the comprehensive roll-out of e-mobility. ETH Pioneer Fellow Paul Baade is looking into how to manufacture them more cost-effectively.

The EU funded project DAFNE has developed a methodology for avoiding conflicts of use in transboundary rivers. The model-based procedure allows for participatory planning and cooperative management of water resources. The aim is now for the DAFNE methodology to be implemented in other regions of the world.

As part of the focus projects, mechanical and electrical engineering students have developed solutions for the challenges of the future. In teams, they spent two semesters developing new technical approaches for their respective projects. The “IGNIS” and “e-Sling” teams presented here are just two of this year’s many notable focus projects.

This summer, students from ETH Zurich will test various technologies on the Limmat for the automatic removal of waste. The Autonomous River Cleanup project is starting with rivers to tackle the global problem of marine pollution.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a condenser for countries where water is in short supply. Theirs is the first zero-energy solution for harvesting water from the atmosphere throughout the 24-hour daily cycle. It relies on a self-cooling surface and a special radiation shield.

ETH researchers are among the first scientists to have succeeded in propelling microvehicles against a fluid flow using ultrasound. In future, these tiny vehicles are set to be introduced into the human bloodstream, thereby revolutionising the field of medicine.

More and more ETH Zurich researchers are taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. By launching spin-offs, they hope to turn their lab findings into solutions that can help stem the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Changing the world with the power of ideas – that’s what Martin Bosshardt finds so fascinating about being an engineer. And no matter which industry he works in, he always draws on what he learnt at ETH.

A team at Balgrist University Hospital successfully completed the first holographically navigated spine surgery. The technology was developed at Balgrist University Hospital as part of a project involving ETH Zurich researchers.

The Engineering Humanitarian Aid initiative, officially launched on 10 December 2020, will harness the expertise of Switzerland's two federal institutes of technology to benefit humanitarian aid programs. The effort will focus on the areas of energy and the environment, data sciences and digital technologies, and personalized health and related technologies.

ETH scientists use magnetic bacteria to control liquids at the micro level. They are already thinking about using them in the human bloodstream for precision delivery of cancer drugs to a tumour.

Engineers from the ETH Feasibility Lab are working together with the ICRC to develop a prosthetic leg that allows easy replacement of its wearing part. This prolongs the service life of the prosthesis. In the future, more mine victims could be fitted with a such.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a technique for manufacturing micrometre-long machines by interlocking multiple materials in a complex way. Such microrobots will one day revolutionise the field of medicine.

Many cells in the body must pass through tissue, which sometimes requires them to get out of tight corners. An international research team co-led by ETH Zurich has now examined how cells recognise and escape from such bottlenecks. Among the results of the team’s work are new pointers for how to improve immunotherapy.

ETH researchers have developed a new generation of microelectrode-array chips for measuring nerve impulses, enabling studies of how thousands of nerve cells interact with each other.

Even if we succeed in combatting the COVID crisis, the challenges for the health system will not simply disappear. Digital technologies can be developed to help meet ongoing challenges; Nicole Wenderoth explains what should be borne in mind here.

The materials scientist, chemist and world-renowned tribologist Nicholas Spencer will be retiring soon. His departure could signal the loss of a specialist discipline within ETH Zurich.

Olga Fink develops artificial intelligence algorithms for industrial assets, rolling stock and power plants. The 37-year-old researcher's goal is to predict rare events before they even occur. By doing so, she improves the reliability and service life of complex industrial assets.

Venus flytraps are known for the fact that their catching leaves close in a flash when unsuspecting prey touch highly sensitive trigger hairs twice in a row. A team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich has now discovered a new snap mechanism.

ETH researchers have built an ultrafast chip that can speed up data transmission in fibre optic networks. The chip combines several innovations at the same time and, given the growing demand for streaming and online services, represents a significant development.

ETH scientists have responded to the coronavirus pandemic by developing a low-cost ventilator that should help to alleviate the shortage of such equipment in emerging and developing countries. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is now offering start-up financing for the project enabling production to commence in Ukraine.

Researchers at ETH have provided the first theoretical explanation for how electrical current is conducted in semiconductors made of nanocrystals. In the future, this could lead to the development of new sensors, lasers or LEDs for TV screens.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method for the production of wavy surfaces with nanometre precision. In the future this method could be used, for instance, to make optical components for data transmission on the internet even more efficient and compact.

ETH researchers have deconstructed the mechanisms that control wound healing and scar formation in more detail. To this end, biologists and engineers have developed a new method that allows the biomechanical properties of the healing tissue to be measured in vivo for the first time.

In the video series "Ask the Expert", experts from ETH Zurich answer questions from the community. In this episode Roland Siegwart talks about robotics.

A team of researchers led by ETH professor Martin Fussenegger has succeeded in using an electric current to directly control gene expression for the first time. Their work provides the basis for medical implants that can be switched on and off using electronic devices outside the body.

ETH researchers are using a new mathematical model to calculate a possible second wave of the pandemic in Switzerland. Even though such a wave would probably grow more slowly than the first without overloading hospitals, its death toll may turn out to be significantly higher.

The Basel Botnar Research Centre for Child Health is funding five research projects at ETH Zurich dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

ETH researchers have set up a test rig to put newly developed ventilator systems through their paces.

ETH researchers have analysed individual marine bacterial cells to show that metabolic processes inside them determine the amount of gas they release, which is involved in cloud formation.

People suffering from COVID-19 need air enriched with oxygen, as SARS-CoV-2 attacks the lungs. Presenting new ideas and prototypes for oxygen concentrators, researchers at ETH Zurich hope to avoid a worldwide oxygen shortage.

The two technical universities in the ETH Domain are launching a new initiative, “helpfulETH”. Its goal is to provide solutions for hospitals and other healthcare bodies to help them deal with the acute problems presented by the coronavirus epidemic.

ETH researchers analysed various possibilities for reducing the net CO₂ emissions of the chemical industry to zero. Their conclusion? The chemical industry can in fact have a carbon-neutral future.