December 2020

An extraordinary year is drawing to a close. ETH News takes a look back at the highlights that emerged amidst difficult and unsettling times, at ingenious ideas, fascinating science and solidarity in action during – and despite – the coronavirus pandemic.

The new episode of the ETH Podcast marks the beginning of a series on the topic of uncertainty. The presidents of the students' umbrella organization and the rector report on how they are dealing with the pandemic.

Roman Stocker, member of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force, explains why it is so important in this pandemic that experts exchange information across national borders.

There is little to suggest we’ll be eating less meat any time soon. In the last post of 2020, Lukas Fesenfeld explains why a sustainable food supply system is still possible.

A team of ETH researchers led by Karsten Weis has developed a method that allows them to study the assembly process for large protein complexes in detail for the first time. As their case study, the biologists chose one of the largest cellular complexes: the nuclear pore complex in yeast cells.

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.

Daniela Latorre wanted to be a scientist since she was a child. At the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, affiliated to the USI in Bellinzona and the Institute of Microbiology, she is finding evidence that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease. She has now received the Pfizer Prize for Research 2020 for her pioneering work.

When it gets warmer, organisms rise higher from the lowlands. Researchers from ETH and WSL investigated what could happen to plant communities on alpine grasslands if grasshoppers from lower elevations settled there.

Rising expectations from both inside and outside the university have prompted the Executive Board to launch rETHink. One year on, this organisational development project is steadily gaining momentum.

Great honour for ETH professor Nicola Spaldin: the European Commission has elected the materials researcher as a member of the ERC Science Council.