Research

Since the start of this year, a suite of instruments has been hard at work detecting a broad spectrum of aerosols at the MeteoSwiss weather station in Payerne, in Vaud Canton. This pioneering project – a joint initiative between EPFL, the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology Climatology and European partners – aims to improve pollen forecasting and to gain further insights into the critical impact that bioaerosols, smoke and dust have on cloud formation and climate.

Swiss engineers are training legged robots for future lunar missions that will search for minerals and raw materials. To ensure that the robots can continue to work even if one of them malfunctions, the researchers are teaching them teamwork.

The way the brain regulates pupil size is different from previously thought: fundamentally responsible is the neurotransmitter orexin, as researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown. This discovery could well alter our understanding of consciousness and illnesses such as narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s.

There are plenty of plant identification apps – but only few, that directly help research. The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL has enhanced the FlorApp of the Info Flora data centre with an image recognition tool, which makes identification easier and at the same time more precise.

Researchers at PSI and the University of Barcelona have managed to explain the strange behaviour of microgels. Their measurements using neutron beams have pushed this measuring technique to its limits. The results open up opportunities for new applications in materials and pharmaceutical research.

Researchers at EPFL have developed the first system that enables four-arm laparoscopic surgery by controlling two additional robotic arms via haptic foot interfaces.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have performed calculations to work out how air traffic could become climate-neutral by 2050. They conclude that simply replacing fossil aviation fuel with sustainable synthetic fuels will not be enough. Air traffic would also have to be reduced. 

Tubulins are the building blocks of microtubules, which make up the cell’s skeleton. A new method enables the detailed study of their role in diseases, including cancer.

Microbiologists at ETH Zurich have developed computational models that use nutrients and metabolism of plant-associated bacteria to predict how the microbes interact on the surface of leaves and ultimately form the microbiome.

Researchers are using a new model to clarify why millions of years ago more animal species from Asia made the leap to the Australian continent than vice versa. The climate in which the species evolved played an important role.

ETH Zurich and Roche are joining forces in Basel to advance the development of new methods that facilitate the search for medicines. Together, they will train specialists for the biomedical challenges of our time.

Kantonsspital Baden (KSB) and ETH Zurich have been working together since 2017, mainly in teaching initially, but increasingly in clinical research. Now three ETH professors are moving into new premises on the hospital’s healthcare campus. Together, they want to make findings from basic research available for the benefit of patients.

The invasive fungal disease ash dieback has already affected 90% of ash trees in Central Europe. In addition, an invasive beetle threatens the trees. But there is now good news: trees that are resistant to the fungus are also better able to withstand the beetle, as a trial led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL shows.

Is it possible to 3D print biodegradable sensors and displays? Researchers from Empa's Cellulose & Wood Materials laboratory have developed a cellulose-based material that allows just that. The mixture of hydroxpropyl cellulose with water, carbon nanotubes and cellulose nanofibrils changes color when heated or stretched – without the addition of any pigments.

Researchers at PSI have developed a new drug that could increase the survival chances of patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The drug is now being tested on patients in the PROGNOSTICS project. A research consortium consisting of the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University Hospital Basel and ETH Zurich is receiving two million Swiss francs in funding for this project.