Environment

The next scientific mission to safeguard the heritage of the Valais Alps has started. After the challenges posed by increased melting on Grand Combin last year, the Italian-Swiss team of the international project Ice Memory now sets out again to save the valuable glacial archive in the Alps. If the team is successful, one of the ice cores will be taken to Antarctica for future generations of scientists.

Scientists at EPFL and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF have issued recommendations for what type of renewable energy should be produced in Switzerland’s various regions, to help achieve the country’s goals of carbon neutrality and energy self-sufficiency.

Sociologists at EPFL conducted a survey of the factors that prompt people to select one form of transportation over another, and then compared the results from cities across Switzerland.

The shift from fossil to renewable energy sources is essential for climate mitigation but will also significantly reduce the atmospheric input of the nutrients sulphur and selenium into soils. Sustainable solutions are therefore needed to supply intensively used agricultural soils with sufficient nutrients and to ensure a safe and healthy diet for the world's population.  

The Amazon rain forest may have reached a tipping point. According to a recent study, it now emits more CO₂ than it absorbs, which could speed the pace of climate change. Charlotte Grossiord, an expert in forest ecosystems and the head of EPFL’s Plant Ecology Research Laboratory, spoke with us about the mechanisms behind this shift and why we should be worried.