ETH News

Steering and navigating manual wheelchairs on pavements costs wheelchair users a lot of energy and places a strain on their joints. Two ETH employees have discovered a brilliant and simple solution that they are now developing further to bring to market.

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.

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

The Gloria Cube is ETH Zurich’s newest building in the Zurich City university district. Teaching, research and translation are all carried out in the service of health and medicine here. At the end of last week, ETH Zurich celebrated the laboratory and research building’s inauguration.

Surprisingly little is actually known about how the knee works. ETH professor Bill Taylor plans to change this with a unique technology and a new 22-metre-long experimental facility.  

The brain’s state of arousal is the key to many stress- and anxiety-related disorders. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now found a way to influence it with a new biofeedback method.

ETH student Luca Hasler developed a new set of handlebars for para-athlete Flurina Rigling. The cyclist hopes these will boost her chances of qualifying for future events – including the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable textile exomuscle that serves as an extra layer of muscles. They aim to use it to increase the upper body strength and endurance of people with restricted mobility.

Whether for squats or sit-ups, the software created by the start-up VAY alerts exercisers about incorrect movements via a smartphone screen. Now the ETH spin-off has been acquired by connected fitness equipment manufacturer Nautilus.

From genetics and personalised medicine to health insurance and climate change: at ETH Week 2021, 120 students from all degree programmes and from 31 countries grappled with the topic of “Health for Tomorrow”.

ETH Zurich Professor Katrien De Bock and her team have discovered a certain type of blood vessel cell in muscles that multiplies rapidly upon exercise, thereby forming new blood vessels. Researchers can use this to find novel therapies for vascular disorders of the muscle.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich deciphered the cellular mechanisms through which tendons can adapt to mechanical stresses. People who carry a certain variant of a gene that is key to this mechanism show improved jumping performance.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and ZHAW present a simple method to precisely map resistance exercise on machines and record missing comparative figures. This could help to develop optimised training strategies in the future, such as for age-associated muscular atrophy.

He can play a computer game using thought alone. Samuel Kunz, who has tetraplegia, is currently training with researchers from Zurich and Singapore for the next Cybathlon.

ETH Zurich aims to step up rehabilitation research and education with the Rehab Initiative. But how are the needs of people with disabilities best met? To discuss the issues, we hosted a roundtable with a physician, a person with a disability and a researcher.

Hands are our most important tools. Many stroke survivors struggle with a serious loss of function in their affected hand. ETH researchers are developing innovative solutions to help people in rehabilitation – and in everyday life.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no reason to avoid exercising in the evening, an analysis of the scientific literature has revealed.

Blow into the tube, please. In the future, the procedure will not just be used by police checking for alcohol intoxication, but also for testing the condition of athletes and for people who want to lose that extra bit of weight. A sensor developed by ETH researchers makes it possible to measure when the body starts burning fat with a convenient breathalyser.

They have big ambitions: nine students from ETH Zurich and ZHdK are preparing to take on developers from renowned manufacturers and universities from around the world with their "Scewo" wheelchair at the Cybathlon.

Riding the Polybahn from Central up to the ETH Zurich main building with Robert Riener: the Professor for Sensory-Motor Systems at ETH Zurich tells us in a new Polybahn Pitch, why ETH Zurich is organising the Cybathlon, a competition for people with disabilities.

Tickets for the Cybathlon are on sale now. Be there on 8 October when the teams with the most ingenious technology and the most skilful test pilots will emerge victorious.

The spring edition of the Treffpunkt Science City series begins next Sunday. The events revolve around the issue of health, and specifically, how the latest advances in research can improve it.

ETH biomechanic Sabrina Badir impressed the jury at the international ideas competition Falling Walls Lab. She developed a device that can determine the risk of a premature birth.

In promoting mental health, combined mental and physical training is more effective than physical training alone, as ETH human movement scientists have shown in a study of people over 70.

At its meeting of 20/21 March 2015, the ETH Board appointed 12 professors at ETH Zurich in accordance with the application submitted by ETH President Lino Guzzella.  

ETH Zurich is taking part in EIT Health, a new major EU research programme. As part of the project, more than 140 European companies and research institutes are developing solutions for problems in the field of health and old age.

A torn anterior cruciate ligament is the most common clinically relevant knee injury. Every year, more than 6,000 people are affected in Switzerland alone. Current treatment methods, although numerous, often produce inadequate results. A new implant could provide the answer.

ETH Zurich and the Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation are set to expand their research and teaching collaboration. ETH Zurich will establish a new chair to study how physical activity affects human physiology and long-term well-being. The Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation is supporting the creation of the Chair of Physical Activity and Health with 10 million Swiss francs over a 10-year period.