Biology

To mark the tenth annual UN World Wildlife Day, we compiled a sample of EPFL research projects that are using technology to protect and preserve wildlife.

The federal government has just published the updated Red List of fish and cyclostomes. Eawag was involved. The list documents a further endangerment since the last listing in 2007. Prof. Ole Seehausen explains why.

It is known that toxins in tobacco smoke can change our DNA – but where exactly in the genome they do this has been a mystery. A new approach developed by researchers at ETH Zurich now brings light into the darkness. In the future, this could make it easier than ever to determine the safety of many chemical substances.

After four years of research, EPFL’s Blue Brain Project shares an enriched version of their 3D digital cell atlas of the mouse brain which includes more neuron types. The new approach can be extended to any other cell type, and provides a resource to build tissue-level models of the mouse brain.

A rare discovery during a midday walk: on a spruce tree, an employee of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL discovered not only a new species of fungus, but also a genus previously unknown to science. The parasite feeds on the spruce pollen and destroys the male flowers in the process. It is unclear whether it is an introduced species.