Research

Emotional trauma can have far-reaching ripple effects and may even reverberate across generations. Professors Isabelle Mansuy and Katharina Gapp study how the effects of trauma can be inherited through epigenetic mechanisms.

Life is a constant stream of decisions that pit sober reflection against powerful emotions, conscious deliberation against gut instincts. Using complex models and sophisticated experiments, ETH researchers study how we combine these different decision-making strategies.

Psychologist Verena Zimmermann joins computer scientists Joachim Buhmann and Elgar Fleisch to discuss whether our feelings can be measured, what role they play in human-machine interactions, and the use of smart technologies.

In a major joint project with top Indian scientists, PSI researchers have determined why smog forms at night in the Indian capital New Delhi, contrary to all the rules of atmospheric chemistry. Their results have now been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

AI chatbot ChatGPT exploded onto the scene in November 2022. It can write essays, WordPress plugins and even pass an MBA exam – yet scientists still don’t fully understand how these general artificial intelligence programs work. New EPFL research aims to change this paradigm. 

EPFL researchers have developed a new technique that uses a protein language model for generating protein sequences with comparable properties to natural sequences. The method outperforms traditional models and offers promising potential for protein design.

Researchers at ETH Zurich achieved a shape memory effect for the first time with objects that are only a few nanometers in size. This can be used to manufacture tiny machinery and robotic devices on the nanoscale.

The Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich has just introduced the first seismic risk model for Switzerland. It shows the potential impact of earthquakes on people and buildings in the country.

Researchers at Empa, ETH Zurich and the Politecnico di Milano are developing a new type of computer component that is more powerful and easier to manufacture than its predecessors. Inspired by the human brain, it is designed to process large amounts of data fast and in an energy-efficient way.

Switzerland has no available fossil gas reserves. It also lacks substantial domestic storage capacities, like those used by Germany. Because of this, geopolitical conflicts and crises can lead to supply shortfalls. Synthetic methane could be a way of getting around this dependency. It can be produced sustainably in Switzerland and fed directly into the existing gas grid.

Researchers have for the first time estimated how probable the accidental release of nanomaterials will be in the future. They based this on models from the nuclear industry. For a risk assessment, the results now have to be linked to information about the hazardous nature of the materials.

A new study shows what it will take for the plastics industry to become completely sustainable: lots of recycling combined with the use of CO₂ from the air and biomass. It is also the image of plastics that need to change.

ETH researchers have managed to take three-dimensional pictures of single nanoparticles using extremely short and strong X-ray pulses. In the future this technique could even be used to make 3D-movies of dynamical processes at the nanoscale.

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.