Research

EPFL scientists have studied two mechanisms that can help bring oxygen to the depths of a lake – essential for preserving the lake’s ecosystem. The classical deepwater renewal caused by surface cooling during winter is becoming less efficient due to climate change, especially in deep lakes.

The NADEL Center for Development and Cooperation at ETH Zurich is celebrating its 50th anniversary. We sat down with NADEL co-directors Isabel Günther and Fritz Brugger to learn more about the effectiveness of development cooperation as well as the centre’s new missions and plans for the future.

Empa researcher Peter Nirmalraj wants to image proteins with unprecedented precision – and thus gain insights into the molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer's. This should pave the way for an earlier diagnosis of the dementia disorder via a simple blood test. Together with neurologists from the Kantonsspital St.Gallen, a successful pilot study has now been completed.

Two EPFL engineers have come up with a revolutionary new method for tackling plastic pollution by harnessing the inner workings of proteins. The result? A whole new way of looking at plastic recycling.

The "gene scissors" CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to precisely modify genes in order to study their function in an organism. A researcher at Eawag has now succeeded for the first time in establishing the gene scissors for a fish cell line of rainbow trout. This means that, as of now, genetically modified cell lines can be produced. These allow alternatives to ecotoxicological tests on living animals.

Oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through microscopic algae that carry out photosynthesis and then sink to the deep sea when they die. This sinking enhances the degradation processes, as ETH researchers have now discovered.

Switzerland may soon be facing a shortage of railway ballast. ETH geologists are heading into the wilds to track down new sources of crushed rocks.

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

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.

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.

Researchers from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF and ETH Zurich have spent four years conducting rockfall experiments, enabling them to compile the most comprehensive set of measurement data to date. Among other things, the results show that wheel-like rocks have a wider lateral spread than cube-shaped rocks. The new findings have important implications for hazard assessment and the dimensioning of protective structures. Based on the measurement data, calculation programs can be calibrated and refined to give a more accurate representation of reality.

The chaotic behaviour of vortices is one of the things that makes weather forecasting so difficult. Researchers at ETH Zurich, Eawag and WSL, together with international partners, have now developed a novel experimental method that enables more accurate analyses of the movement and energy of turbulence in fluids with much less effort.

EPFL scientists have developed a chemical method for targeting the effects of cancer-fighting immunotherapy drugs only to the tumor tissue, making the drugs less toxic to the rest of the human body.

The Italian scientist Nicola Aceto will receive the Swiss Science Prize Latsis 2021 worth CHF 100,000. Aceto is an associate professor at ETH Zurich and is being honoured for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of cancer research.

An international research team with participation of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has revealed a secret about a marine animal's shell: The researchers have deciphered why the protective cover of the brachiopod Discinisca tenuis becomes extremely soft in water and gets hard again in the air. The study appears today in the journal Nature Communications.