ETH News

This past weekend, 67 teams from 24 countries competed in ETH Zurich’s Cybathlon – fighting not only for victory, but also for the advancement of assistance technologies that are more suitable for everyday use. The third edition of the competition for people with disabilities and experimental assistive technologies was a complete success.

The prize for the best invention at ETH Zurich 2024 will be awarded on 21 November. An overview, complete with videos, of the five technologies that made it to the final.

For those with a conventional leg prosthesis, climbing stairs and negotiating uneven terrain are almost insurmountable obstacles. But drawing on ETH expertise, Team Ottobock.X3 has now designed an intelligent prosthesis that helps its wearer move about more freely.

In the international Cybathlon competition, people with physical disabilities undertake routine tasks with the aid of assistive technology that can be seamlessly integrated into everyday life. Below, we present three ETH teams that will be putting their innovative solutions to the test at this October’s event.

This year’s Cybathlon introduces a new discipline, the Vision Assistance Race. Lining up to go is Team SightGuide – a joint venture between UZH, ZHAW and ETH.

Thomas Michaels, ETH Zurich Professor of Soft and Living Matter Physics, launches the ETH show series "Cook the Science". Together with well-known chefs and food producers, he will present the fascinating science behind cooking, from the basic physical and chemical properties of food to how these change during cooking.

For the first time in its 12-year history, ETH Industry Day, which aims to bring together Swiss business with the university’s researchers and start-ups, is taking place in the heart of the City of Zurich. It is becoming part of Open-i, the event succeeding the Swiss Innovation Forum.

The exhibition “Colonial Traces – Collections in Context” opens today in the extract exhibition space. It explores the past of objects from the ETH Zurich collections and sheds light on the connection between the natural sciences and colonialism.

From 25 to 27 October, the third Cybathlon will take place in the Swiss Arena in Kloten, Switzerland. This is the world’s largest competition in which people with disabilities master everyday tasks with the help of newly developed assistive technologies. For this Cybathlon, the six existing disciplines were further developed, and two new ones added: a race with intelligent vision assistive technologies and one with assistant robots.

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.

Since 1991, 14 June has in Switzerland traditionally stood under the banner of feminist campaigns and causes. Julia Dannath, Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, explains in an interview why commitment to equal opportunities and gender equality is still needed three decades later – including at ETH Zurich.

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.

Since 2003, when Joachim Buhmann became an ETH professor, he has helped shape the explosive development of machine learning. It is not technical progress that worries him, but how society deals with it. Shortly before his retirement, he looks back on his academic career.

ETH Zurich announces its expedition towards climate neutrality today with pop-up events by students and the first Net Zero Day. The "ETH Net Zero" programme supports the reduction of emissions by 2030 and offers people plenty of ways to get involved.

Paolo Ermanni researched novel composite materials at ETH for over a quarter of a century. His enthusiasm for materials was rivalled only by his passion for teaching. He will also go down in ETH history as the first Vice Rector for Continuing Education. To mark his retirement, we take a look back at his storied career.

ETH Zurich’s new BSS teaching and research building on the Schällemätteli life science campus in Basel will officially open its doors today. The building will host ETH researchers from the fields of experimental biology, bioinformatics, and bioengineering as they work together with outside partners on innovative medical solutions.

Juraj Hromkovic has been Professor of Information Technology at ETH Zurich for the past 20 years. During this time, he has been a leading advocate of teaching computer science in schools. He’s now giving his farewell lecture.

The new “Mobility and Inclusion” exhibition at ETH Zurich lets people find out first-hand the obstacles faced by people with impairments along with the technical aids available. From 2025, it will be on display as a permanent exhibition at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.

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.

What happens when cities gear their road space primarily to the needs of cyclists and e-bikers? On a new popular-science website, ETH researchers use examples from the city of Zurich to show what such an “E-Bike City” could one day look like.

On the 168th anniversary of ETH Zurich, Rector Günther Dissertori set out his vision for further improvements in teaching. ETH President Joël Mesot and SNB Chair Thomas Jordan spoke about how ETH contributes to a strong Switzerland and what it needs to continue its mission in the future.

ETH Zurich is present at the Olma trade fair in St Gallen. Using spin-offs and games, the ETH booth illustrates how research can contribute to making Swiss food and agriculture sustainable.

With the return of the original telescope from 1864, the year the observatory was founded, ETH is taking a further step towards collecting, documenting and preserving its architectural and scientific heritage.

At Scientifica, Switzerland's largest science festival, 20,000 to 30,000 visitors experienced science up close this weekend. They exchanged ideas with around 1000 researchers from ETH and the University of Zurich, who presented their work at exhibition booths, in short lectures, workshops or on laboratory tours.

At the ETH Industry Day on 6 September, companies can get first-hand information on current projects, partnerships, and entrepreneurial activities at ETH Zurich.

Over the coming months, ETH Zurich will be taking a particularly close look at Ticino. The University’s Graphische Sammlung is not only presenting a new exhibition on artistic activity in and around the canton of Ticino but also opening a unique exhibition at MASI in Lugano.

On the weekend of 2-3 September, visitors can experience science up close and personal at interactive exhibition stands, shows and workshops and exchange ideas with researchers. Scientifica, Switzerland's largest science festival starts on 26 August with events in the city of Zurich. Free tickets are available now.

The 55th International Chemistry Olympiad ended with a closing ceremony on Monday afternoon, 24 July. Out of 348 participants, 217 were awarded gold, sil-ver, or bronze medals. The Swiss team took home an "honourable mention."

ETH Zurich will host the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) between 16 and 25 July. More than 300 young scientists from some 90 countries are expected to participate. This is the first time that Switzerland is hosting the event.

The Collegium Helveticum opens an exhibition this weekend that is all about data, patterns and artificial intelligence.

The 19 January visit of Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea, to ETH Zurich focused on Quantum Science.

As part of a two-day state visit to Switzerland, the Italian President stopped off at ETH Zurich on Wednesday (30 November) in the company of President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis. After a welcome by ETH President Joël Mesot and some words of greeting from the two guests, researchers and students of the university provided an insight into their work.

On the 167th anniversary of ETH Zurich, Rector Günther Dissertori spoke about the areas of teaching where he would like to see change. Against the backdrop of the current crises, ETH President Joël Mesot and Federal Councillor Alain Berset discussed the role of science in general and that of ETH in particular.

ETH Zurich offers interested students from the seventh grade onwards courses in which they can deepen their knowledge of mathematical and scientific subjects. Since spring 2021, more than 2,000 students have taken part in the ETH Youth Academy courses.

At ETH Week, more than 130 students devoted last week to looking into the subject of Urban Futures. In the video, they share their experience.

As part of the Swiss Digital Days, an exhibition at ETH Zurich visualises the St Gotthard Pass as an animated digital landscape model for the first time. This allows visitors to experience the legendary massif and its transport infrastructure from a completely new perspective.

ETH Industry Day on 7 September offers exciting insights into applied research, industry partnerships and entrepreneurial activities at ETH Zurich. A unique opportunity to engage with ETH researchers and young entrepreneurs.

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.

What the “Night of Physics” really aims to do is make physics accessible to a broad audience in a way that’s entertaining. This event will be held on 17 June. Klaus Ensslin, Professor of Physics and co-initiator of the event, explains why it’s worth coming along to the Hönggerberg campus.

Words, sentences and entire books appeared all over ETH’s exhibition pavilion at this year’s World Economic Forum. In conjunction with the research exhibits on display, they framed the space for the discussion “RETHINKING LIVING”: a search for answers to the really big questions.

In the race to combat climate change, sustainable transport systems can play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. As well as focusing on the technological issues at stake, current research also investigates whether there is public acceptance for the changes. Kay Axhausen explains this approach.  

From diagnostics to treatment, the biochemical method developed by Daniel Richter, Edgars Lakis and Jörn Piel paves the way for a diverse range of applications in research and medicine. The researchers received the ETH Zurich Spark Award 2022 for their innovative solution.

Today, the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Technology (INSAIT) has been launched in Sofia. INSAIT is a new Bulgarian Institute established in partnership with ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne.

From a technological and economic perspective, the Swiss energy system could be climate-neutral by 2050. There are various challenges when it comes to implementation, however. Deployment of photovoltaics, for example, would have to increase at a faster rate. Academia and industry discussed possible energy scenarios at ETH Zurich.

ETH President Joël Mesot paid tribute to Sarah Springman at her last ETH Day as Rector, also praising her as a mentor. Both took the opportunity to reflect on challenges that have been overcome and those that lie ahead – as did the key-note speaker Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga.

During her visit to ETH Zurich, Defence Minister Viola Amherd sketched a picture of an unstable, unpredictable world to which Swiss security policy must adapt. ETH Zurich and EPFL make an important contribution to the security of Switzerland by training specialist personnel and facilitating knowledge transfer.

The third edition of the Cybathlon will take place October 25 - 27, 2024 in Zurich and in an even more inclusive, global format. In two new race disciplines, people with disabilities solve everyday tasks with the help of intelligent visual assistance technologies or robot assistants.

Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics a century ago. To mark this occasion, ETH Zurich has brought its most famous alumnus to life digitally. At 20 October, “Digital Einstein” will take up residence in ETH’s Campus Info Hönggerberg for one week.

ETH Zurich is at Olma. Until 17 October, the family-friendly ETH booth will showcase “Research for Sustainable Agriculture” and introduce key issues in crops, livestock and agricultural policy through interactive games.

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”.

For the first time, visitors to Scientifica had the chance to experience up close recent scientific developments at three locations. The large numbers of visitors showed the huge public appetite that exists for direct interaction with researchers.

What secrets are held by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way? Andrea Ghez, astronomer and Nobel Laureate in Physics, will discuss this question as part of next week’s Paul Bernays Lectures 2021. The honorary lecture series on the philosophy of the exact sciences will take place for the tenth time.

Scientifica will be held over the weekend of 4 and 5 September on the theme of “Synthetic naturally”. This year’s science festival from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich (UZH) offers a bigger programme than ever before, and will now also include the Irchel and Hönggerberg campuses.

ETH Professor Emeritus Anne Lacaton and her partner Jean-Philippe Vassal have received this year’s Pritzker Prize for their social and sustainable architecture. The prize is regarded as the Nobel Prize of the architecture world. ETH celebrated this success on Wednesday with a virtual event of honour, which was attended by ETH President Joël Mesot as well as the two prize winners.

The Graphische Sammlung opened a new exhibition on 9 December. What makes this latest exhibition special is its integration with an augmented reality app for mobile phones and tablets, which allows visitors to interact with the artwork on display.

On the occasion of the 165th anniversary of ETH Zurich, Rector Sarah Springman and ETH President Joël Mesot took stock of how the university has weathered the crisis until now. A few outstanding individuals were also honored during the event.

Today was the last day of the Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition. In total, 51 teams from 20 countries competed against each other, completing everyday tasks with the help of state-of-the-art assistance systems. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the teams competed for the first time in different time zones and locations. Apart from the winning teams, the technological advances attracted the most attention, as the also promote social inclusion.

On 13 and 14 November, the Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition will be broadcast on the new Cybathlon website. In this one-of-a-kind championship initiated by ETH, individuals with disabilities compete using the latest assistance technologies. Over 50 teams from around the world will be taking part in the qualifying rounds. 

The current episode of the ETH Podcast is dedicated to the Cybathlon, a competition for people with physical disabilities. We have spoken with two project contributors.

The guiding principle for global climate policy is shifting from mistrust to collaboration, says Anthony Patt. Interestingly, nations' answer to the coronavirus can help to clarify how.

The world’s second ever Cybathlon competition will take place on 13 and 14 November 2020 in a new global format. 70 teams from all over the world will start in their respective home countries. The Cybathlon organizers and participants will embed content into a live programme and broadcast delivered via a new online platform. Ten Swiss teams will compete locally on the campus of ETH Zurich.

Leading AI researchers from 30 top institutions across Europe are joining forces to form the European AI network ELLIS. Today, it celebrates its launch, with ETH Zurich as a founding member. The ETH Zurich ELLIS Unit is set on establishing the foundations for reliable and trustworthy artificial intelligence.

The fact that there are many different types of infinities is one of the big puzzles in mathematics. One mathematician who enjoys investigating which infinities can actually occur is Saharon Shelah, the guest speaker at this year’s Paul Bernays Lectures.

Roger Wattenhofer is convinced that the digital currency CBDC will completely replace cash rather sooner or than later, as the new electronic payment method offers many advantages.

Several technical advances have been achieved recently in the pursuit of powerful quantum computers. Now, Computer scientists from ETH Zurich have made an important breakthrough in the field of programming languages: their quantum language is the first of its kind that is as elegant, simple and safe as classical computer languages.

The winners of the Alfred Escher Prize 2020 are Julia Gschwind and Sébastien Delsad. This year ETH Zurich awarded the Escher prize for its second time, as one of the special prizes in the 54th national competition “Swiss Youth in Science”.

ETH Zurich has decided to postpone the Cybathlon until 19–20 September 2020. The safety and health of all those involved in this major international event takes top priority.

The uncertainty created by the coronavirus continues to build. What precautions are ETH taking? In this interview, Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Infrastructure and Personnel Development discusses the current situation.

The health care system places a greater emphasis on the treatment of diseases than the root causes of health. On the invitation of the Life Science Zurich (LSZ) Business Network, science, business and society recently discussed this challenge.

On 2 - 3 May 2020, Zurich opens its doors for the second Cybathlon. In this unique championship, individuals with a disability, assisted by cutting-edge technology, come to terms with the challenges of everyday life. Over 90 teams from around the world are battling it out in six disciplines. Swiss radio and television will broadcast the race finals across the nation.

Computer science at school can be very creative. On the tenth Swiss Day for Computer Science Teaching, ETH Zurich provided teachers from all levels of schooling with new approaches to teaching computer science. The Rector also honoured schools and teachers who are committed to lively computer science lessons.

For the fourth time, ETH Zurich was present at the WEF in Davos from 21 to 24 January. With the slogan “RETHINKING Creativity”, this year’s exhibition was devoted to the interfaces between art and science – both of which are driven by human creativity.

ETH Meets Davos during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2020 with  "Rethinking Creativity" - an interactive exhibition featuring five new prototypes that  show how creativity plays an essential role in scientific and technological innovation.

At the ceremony to mark the 164th anniversary of ETH Zurich, Rector Sarah Springman outlined how she wants to equip students for the future. ETH President Joël Mesot and Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin spoke about social changes and how the ETH is addressing them. As part of the celebrations, the physicist Evelyn Hu was awarded an honorary doctorate.

400 secondary school students visited the winner of the 2018 Fields Medal, Alessio Figalli. You don't have to be a genius to do mathematics, said Figalli.

Twenty years ago, Switzerland ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. This important agreement is based on a sophisticated network that makes it possible to monitor compliance with the treaty.

At the sixth Times Higher Education (THE) World Academic Summit, experts from the research community and higher education explored and reflected on how digitalisation is changing higher education and on nurturing of talent. ETH Zurich hosted the conference.

Alessio Figalli’s life has changed since he was awarded the Fields Medal one year ago. There’s now more intensive contact to schools and public life, and he has taken on new tasks in research. He masters them with a joyful outlook and optimism.

Are there limits to what computers are actually able to compute, and do quantum computers really solve more problems than conventional computers? Computer scientist Scott Aaronson will discuss these kinds of fundamental questions during the Paul Bernays Lectures 2019.

Cybathlon feeling and plenty of enthusiasm at Zurich’s main station – numerous visitors came to join the competition yesterday as people with disabilities used the latest assistive technology to overcome a challenging obstacle course.

You can find the answer in this video and at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Scientifica is the biggest science festival in Switzerland. This year's theme ist “science fiction – science facts”.

Time is a fundamental dimension of human existence and comes in many forms. Using a comparative approach, philosopher and physicist Norman Sieroka looks at what distinguishes them, using time travel and music.

You can find the answer in this video and at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Scientifica is the biggest science festival in Switzerland. This year's theme ist “science fiction – science facts”.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

At yesterday’s Hyperloop Competition in Los Angeles, the Swissloop pod achieved a top speed of 252 km/h. The team, comprising students from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities reached second place.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

On Tuesday 27 August, the Cybathlon will make a guest appearance at Weltklasse Zürich in the main station. This will be an opportunity for interested passers-by to find out how the latest technical devices assist people with disabilities in their everyday life.

The current situation is paradise for computer criminals, said entrepreneur and cybersecurity pioneer Eugene Kaspersky in his ETH Global Lecture. That’s why IT security needs to be built directly into systems. Kaspersky is building a centre in Zurich to promote knowledge sharing.

Students from 12 departments took part in the first “ETH Singapore Month”, a “classroom” more than 10,000 kilometres away from the Zurich campus. Within an intensive month, they crossed disciplinary boundaries to develop proposals to address complex problems posed by urbanisation.

Maksym Kovalenko is being recognised for his research on bright nanoparticles with this year’s Rössler Prize, which carries an endowment of 200,000 Swiss francs in research funding.

How will the energy consumption habits of Switzerland change when more consumers use local energy storage options? How will this affect the grids, tariffs and data privacy? ETH Zurich, the Paul Scherrer Institute and Empa have jointly established the new energy research platform ReMaP to find answers to these interlinked questions.

Agricultural technology doesn’t have a good reputation. And yet, developed intelligently, it’s the key to enhancing sustainability and biodiversity in agriculture, says Achim Walter.

On 2 and 3 May 2020 – exactly one year from now – the Swiss Arena will open its doors for the next edition of the Cybathlon. Teams from all over the world are starting their intensive preparations now, so that they will be able to compete in new, even more difficult challenges next year.

The popular “Treffpunkt Science City” series started with an introduction into the fascinating properties of materials and the research on the material of the future.

Raffaele Mezzenga, Sreenath Bolisetty and Qingrui Zhang have been awarded the Spark Award 2019 for their filter, which removes harmful fluoride from drinking water. Their invention gives people all over the world access to clean drinking water.

What do liquid chocolate and the movements of satellites have in common? Jagna Wiśniewska is intrigued by such mathematical puzzles. Together with seven other women, she will show in the goMATH series of events at ETH Zurich why she is fascinated by mathematics.

In honour of the 200th birthday of Zurich visionary Alfred Escher, ETH Zurich awarded the first Alfred Escher Prize for innovative pupils and university students yesterday. The two winning ideas both encourage playful learning.

What makes good supervision for doctoral students? What factors define the relationship between the supervisor and the doctoral student? A two-day symposium was held last week at the ETH main building to answer these and many other questions.