ETH News

From devising forecasting models for the Federal Finance Administration and describing the latest trends in civil protection, ETH researchers routinely supply vital support to the Swiss state and help drive innovation.

ETH professor Mirko Meboldt helps Swiss SMEs find the right technology to tackle the challenges they face. His early prototypes give companies a solid basis for decision-making – and the confidence to take things further.

In 2023, a record-breaking 43 spin-offs were founded at ETH Zurich. Why are ETH spin-offs so successful? Tracing the typical path of a start-up.

ETH’s outstanding reputation attracts top-flight researchers from all over the world. This pool of talent makes Zurich a major draw for global companies such as Microsoft.

The numerous spin-offs and patents generated at ETH Zurich are the driving force behind innovation in the Swiss economy. We present five of them.

When it comes to innovation, Switzerland’s greatest capital is its highly qualified workforce. But what makes an innovation successful? And what makes an idea innovative in the first place? Twelve ETH Zurich alumni share their thoughts and experiences.

In collaboration with University Hospital Basel, researchers from ETH are investigating the early stages of bladder cancer. Their findings show that future research should also focus on mechanical changes in tumour tissue.

Organoids grown from human stem cells can help provide answers to important medical questions. In a partnership that looks set to profit both sides, ETH professor Barbara Treutlein has teamed up with pharma giant Roche to advance research in this area.

Bioengineer Randall Platt engineers bacteria that can assess the state of our guts. It is hoped this non-invasive technique could eventually be used to develop more effective interventions against malnutrition among children in the Global South.

The idea of ETH Zurich establishing a Department of Biosystems in Basel once seemed unachievable. Today, the department occupies a new building where the dividing lines between biology, computer science and engineering are blurred – and researchers increasingly focus on medical applications

From new tests and therapies to the fundamental principles of biology: five compelling examples of the benefits of new bioengineering technologies.

ETH researchers have teamed up with Kantonsspital Baden to find ways of preventing patients from becoming dependent on opioid painkillers.

There are some striking parallels between how skin wounds heal and how malignant tumours grow. Cell culture can help us understand the mechanisms involved – but animal testing still has a role to play.

On the road to recovery, patients come into contact with clinicians from a whole range of disciplines. The importance of targeted collaboration between these disciplines is something medical students learn early on at ETH Zurich.

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.  

Noé Brasier is fascinated by the emerging field of sweat analysis. He plans to measure the effect of heat stress directly on people’s skin – and help them protect themselves from health risks.

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.

What’s the best way to translate research findings into clinical practice? A discussion with Monika Jänicke, CEO of the University Hospital Zurich, Rahel Kubik, head of radiology at Kantonsspital Baden, and Christian Wolfrum, VP for Research at ETH Zurich.

After suffering a severe case of Covid-19, Roger Gassert discovered for himself how important a role rehabilitation plays in recovery. The ETH Professor of Rehabilitation Engineering now plans to waste no time ensuring that patients profit from his developments.

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.

Mohammed Said is in his third semester of the Bachelor of Human Medicine at ETH Zurich. He plans to work abroad as a doctor and researcher one day and put his knowledge into practice in countries where people are not as fortunate as in Switzerland.

Clara Ehrenzeller studied human medicine at ETH Zurich. Aspects of her course that she will never forget were her six-week research internship at a children’s hospital in Canada and her deployment at the Kantonsspital Baden. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Ticino.

Quantum mechanics describes the forces that hold the world together on the smallest scale. The theory of relativity explains the world at the cosmic level. The two seem incompatible – and a unifying theory is nowhere in sight.

Polarisation seems to have increased in recent years, whether between right and left, urban and rural, or the supporters and opponents of vaccination. We talked to two experts about the cracks in society – and the glue that binds us together.

Strategy games developed by ETH ecologists bring different stakeholders to the table. By shifting people’s perspectives, they create a win-win situation for environmental protection.

Gravity keeps our feet firmly on the ground and Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Meanwhile, satellites in space measure the acceleration caused by the Earth’s gravitational pull.

With its ability to write text and generate images, artificial intelligence is making inroads into many areas of life. Perceived as threatening, enriching or just plain gimmicky, AI also raises a fundamental question: what is it that makes us human?

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.

How we are contaminating our waters with microplastics and a multitude of chemicals.

Heavier rain, longer droughts, melting glaciers: climate change has a dramatic impact on the global water cycle.

The expansion of hydropower generation often leads to conflicts of interest, both in Switzerland and beyond. Researchers from ETH Zurich are trying to find a basis for compromise that serves the public interest.

From tackling micropollutants in wastewater to removing plastic waste from rivers, here are five solutions based on ETH expertise.

Psychologist Verena Zimmermann joins computer scientists Joachim Buhmann and Elgar Fleisch to discuss whether our feelings can be measured, what role they play in human-machine interactions, and the use of smart technologies.

Why researchers should not only draw on reason but also on their emotions. An essay by Michael Hagner.

Life is a constant stream of decisions that pit sober reflection against powerful emotions, conscious deliberation against gut instincts. Using complex models and sophisticated experiments, ETH researchers study how we combine these different decision-making strategies.

Emotional trauma can have far-reaching ripple effects and may even reverberate across generations. Professors Isabelle Mansuy and Katharina Gapp study how the effects of trauma can be inherited through epigenetic mechanisms.

Mental health disorders can only be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms – and individual outcomes cannot be accurately predicted. An ETH scientist hopes to change that with the help of mathematical models.

How did life on Earth first emerge? And how was it able to prosper and evolve? ETH researchers are involved in the quest to find answers to these fundamental questions.

Life has existed on Earth for billions of years. Stabilising mechanisms have helped our planet remain habitable to this day.

Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? There’s a good chance it does – though it might look very different to life on Earth. Scientists may soon be able to offer a definitive answer.

We posed this question to ETH Zurich researchers. In return, we got five intriguing answers from the perspectives of biomedicine, computer science, biology, robotics and philosophy.

Nobel laureate and astrophysicist Didier Queloz and earth scientist Cara Magnabosco on the origin of life on Earth, complex life beyond our planet, and the inevitable end of every life.

How much electricity is generated from hydropower? How many batteries are recycled? And what has been the increase in electric car registrations? Put your knowledge to the test by taking our energy quiz* about facts and figures from Switzerland.

If the transition to renewables is to succeed, we will need a viable means of storing surplus heat and electricity. Globe spoke to experts from ETH Zurich about the promising technologies that could help us reach net zero.

ETH Zurich’s course in Applied Technology in Energy brings managers up to speed on the latest energy technologies, enabling them to make informed decisions in their day-to-day work.

We all understand the importance of energy security. To maintain it, we need to chart the right course. But how can we know what that is?

Five ETH spin-offs are displaying the kind of innovative thinking that will determine the success of the energy transition.

Biodiversity is beautiful, but it’s also vitally important. ETH researchers are getting to the heart of how species diversity and genetic diversity evolve – and why we must fight to preserve them.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder – yet how do we find consensus on a shared amenity such as a neighbourhood? We took a stroll with two ETH architects to discover how they see their role as mediators between the conflicting priorities of urban consolidation, functionalism and aesthetics.

At its heart, is mathematics an aesthetic discipline? Or what does it mean if someone finds a proof “beautiful”? And what does mathematical beauty say about physical connections?

Images play an important role in science and science communication. They have always held a powerful appeal, but the means of producing them – and the notion of how they should reflect reality – continue to evolve over time.

Colours can be created in surprisingly different ways. And in addition to being pleasing to the eye, colour can also serve a useful purpose.

Human geographer Christine Eriksen and physicist David Bresch conduct research into weather and climate risks. Their methods may be different, but they agree that the scale of a disaster is often determined more by societal decisions than by the natural hazard itself.  

Climate change, pandemics and cyber attacks are risks that have long been in the public spotlight. But there are also risks that ETH researchers consider are still being given too little attention. Photographer Tina Sturzenegger has captured the scenarios on film.

Digitalisation offers a wealth of new opportunities – and criminals and hostile states are only too happy to exploit them. Protecting against such attacks requires a broad range of measures.

The war in Ukraine has fanned the flames of inflation. Is this merely a temporary shock – or the start of a new normal?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has suddenly shifted the debate on security policy. An interview for Globe magazine with ETH researchers Myriam Dunn Cavelty, Vally Koubi und Giovanni Sansavini on the subject of security and risk conducted in January has been overtaken by events and will therefore not go to print. We want to nevertheless make it available to you online. A lot of the questions and answers would be different today. Read it for yourself.  

ETH Zurich has always been a mirror of new social developments. In the past 20 years, the university has become more international, increasingly autonomous, more digital – and less male.

With the world facing enormous challenges, the need for innovation has never been greater. But how can we design universities to deliver the kind of knowledge we need for the future? And how do we deal with the ever-increasing pace of change?

The Student Project House offers a model of what learning might look like in the future. With no course credits on offer, students are encouraged to develop critical thinking skills and to venture into unknown territory.

The idea behind rETHink is to cement the university’s position as a world-leading institution. President Joël Mesot, Vice President Julia Dannath and transformation coach Dieter Schmid reflect on ingrained habits and inspiring moments.

Two years ago, ETH launched the innovative Master’s degree in quantum engineering. Now the first cohort of students is nearing the end of the programme.

Could quantum technologies really be the next gold rush? ETH Vice President Vanessa Wood and quantum researcher Andreas Wallraff discuss how close we are to putting quantum promises into practice.

Quantum physics opens our eyes to the holistic nature of reality. Nothing can be observed in isolation – and everything is governed by chance.

For a long time, the development of quantum computers was concerned with theoretical and hardware aspects. But as the focus shifts towards programming, software and security issues, the classical computer sciences are coming back into play.

If only it were less prone to error, quantum physics might already be giving us instant solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. ETH researchers are therefore working to develop systems that are more robust.

From robots that offer solace to algorithms that help judges make fact-based decisions, robotics and machine learning are entering new domains that were once the preserve of humans.

Today, molecular genetic methods can be used to breed sustainable crops - such as multinutrient rice. Researchers are calling for the risk of new plant varieties to be assessed not on the basis of the breeding method, but on the basis of their characteristics.

A cultural landscape reflects the combined activity of nature and humans. Where has the equilibrium of this union been lost? And how can we restore the balance? 

Is natural always good and artificial always bad? We talked to psychologist Angela Bearth and biotechnologist Sven Panke about science, scepticism, misunderstandings and how language influences the way we think.

Evolution never stops – and disruptions can speed up the process. Now ETH researchers are delving deeper into the secrets of evolutionary change.

Even minor disruptions in infrastructure systems can have fatal consequences. Researchers and practitioners counter that risk by taking action on multiple levels. Four examples.

Disruption has the power to upend our lives. But approached constructively, disruption and resilience can be positive.

We register disruptions as a deviation from our expectations. We often experience this as a moment of uncertainty or as frustrated expectations. Does this mean that disruptions are always a bad thing? The philosophical essay explores these questions.

As Chair of the National Science Task Force, Martin Ackermann has to perform a constant balancing act between science, politics, the media and society. So how does he do it?

The coronavirus crisis has triggered a boom in virtual collaboration as an alternative to flying. Might it be possible to seize on this experience to shape the future of sustainable mobility?

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.

Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement means embracing a sustainable transition to renewables. Yet analyses suggest that decarbonisation can only be achieved with targeted government support for the right technologies.

Civil society and governments struggle to take action when it comes to climate change. So what’s the solution? We asked climate researcher Reto Knutti and climate strike advocate Marie-Claire Graf for their perspectives.

Without a profound socio-ecological change, we will never achieve climate neutrality, say three economists. A brief sketch of what a sustainable economy might look like.

The automation of work is increasing at a tremendous pace. But how well do technology and humans really work together in a digitised world?

Protecting citizens in the face of disaster often requires far-reaching decisions to be made. Any assistance is welcome – including from AI.

From Alexa and Siri to translation programs and computer-generated news, anything seems possible these days.The Media Technology Center is searching for applications that could lend a hand with day-to-day editorial work.

More and more companies say that AI will be an important tool in the future. AI could also be useful for administration and management – but this journey has only just begun.

A bioethicist and a neuroinformatics scientist discuss how machines are becoming more intelligent and why the advances in technology are leading to new ethical challenges.

Artificial intelligence is having a growing impact on our daily lives and is also revolutionising research. ETH Zurich recognises its responsibility in this area and is striving to promote innovation and trust in this fast-evolving technology.

Using algorithms to analyse the whole-genome sequence of a tumour can make treatment more successful – and can even help determine how cells become cancerous.