December 2017

Digital fabrication techniques for buildings and breathtaking concrete roofs, a heart made of silicone, and a new degree programme in medicine; in 2017, teaching and research at ETH Zurich were characterised by new ventures and a pioneering spirit.

Science has to prove its relevance to society. ETH Zurich is therefore expanding its blog activities: in future, the Zukunftsblog will cover digitalisation and health alongside the topic of sustainability.

Even when studying to be an architect, designing attractive buildings wasn’t satisfying enough for Estefania Tapias. Today she is an expert in urbanisation and climate change, specialising in the research of outdoor thermal comfort.

Will we be able to do away with the classic centralized energy supply in the future? From a technological perspective: yes. Distributed multi-energy systems are feasible. But from an economic and societal perspective, many questions remain unanswered, blogs Roman Seidl.

When symmetries in quantum systems are spontaneously broken, the collective excitation modes change in characteristic ways. Researchers at ETH have now directly observed such Goldstone and Higgs modes for the first time.

In response to the proposals received from the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Lino Guzzella, the ETH Board resolved to appoint 10 professors.

Future locations of deep geological repositories for radioactive waste are expected to receive remuneration payments. These payments are not regulated by law and are therefore a matter for negotiation. Now there exists a broad-based framework for this process, writes Michael Ambühl.

Lothar Thiele is the Executive Board’s new representative for digital transformation. In this interview, he explains why ETH needs a digital transformation representative and why digitalisation deserves so much attention.

At ETH Zurich, the Research Commission promotes young talents at the beginning of their careers as well as projects that open up new scientific horizons. Today this Commission is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Uwe Sauer, President of the Commission, explains how it is going to proceed.

The ETH spin-off GratXray is working to improve precision in mammography. With the help of an innovative new device, breast cancer detection might not only become more accurate, but also painless. This is a revolutionary step in breast screening.