Annual Report 2022

The new gold standard?

In urban water management, the system used for treating wastewater has always been straightforward: wastewater is conveyed through the sewage system to centralised treatment plants, where it is treated. An interdisciplinary research project at Eawag led by Professors Bernhard Truffer and Max Maurer is now challenging this principle, advocating instead a hybrid system with decentralised treatment plants – for use worldwide, but also with potential for Switzerland.

“It all comes down to the last atom”

Empa researchers have developed novel materials made of carbon that exploit quantum effects to exhibit previously unattainable electronic and magnetic properties. The Werner Siemens Foundation is providing the CarboQuant project with a grant of CHF 15 million. Graphene, nanotechnology and quantum science are now widely used at Empa.

Artificial intelligence for avalanche warning systems

Digital tools such as artificial intelligence make it possible for environmental researchers to access larger data pools and generate new scientific findings. WSL uses these tools in a wide variety of ways. For instance, they offer support with making more precise predictions about danger zones in snow and avalanche research.

Imaging at the next level

Their names are Marianne Liebi Adrian Wanner. Two young researchers who make the nanostructure of macroscopic samples, such as bones or brain tissue, visible in three dimensions using high-resolution images. They achieve this using measurement data obtained with X-rays at the Swiss Light Source at PSI, which is then processed and used for imaging.

“The magic of 8 and 24”

Professor of number theory Maryna Viazovska has solved a mathematical problem that has stumped researchers for centuries. Using a creative approach and the knowledge gained in her dissertation work, she demonstrates how spheres can be optimally and symmetrically packed into multidimensional space in a manner that fills all available space. This achievement brought her recognition with the Fields Medal, which is something like a “Nobel Prize for Mathematics”.

Research for crisis management

Species decline, increasing extreme weather events as a fallout of global warming and, on top of it all, the war in Ukraine, which has also brought about uncertainties regarding energy supply and digital transformation: We are living in a challenging time in which several crises are being felt at once. Meanwhile, scientists from the ETH Domain are faced with a lot to tackle. They are investigating a diverse range of issues. Drawing on the expertise they have acquired, they are developing proposals for solutions to assist citizens, the authorities and politicians with advice and support.