Research

Imagine designing a robotic glider able to accelerate to 800km per hour using only the wind at its back. Combining passion with work, EPFL Professor Pascal Fua is leading research to develop the required capabilities, with important implications for sustainability.

In experiments on mice, researchers at ETH Zurich show that non-essential amino acids act as appetite suppressants and promote the urge to move. Their research provides insight into the neural mechanism that controls this behaviour.

The research project CircuBAT aims to create a circular business model for the production, application and recycling of lithium-ion batteries used for mobility purposes. Seven Swiss research institutions and 24 companies are joining forces to look for ways to boost sustainability in all stages of a battery’s life cycle. The project is part of the newly launched Flagship Initiative of Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency.

Robotic wheelchairs may soon be able to move through crowds smoothly and safely. As part of CrowdBot, an EU-funded project, EPFL researchers are exploring the technical, ethical and safety issues related to this kind of technology. The aim of the project is to eventually help the disabled get around more easily.

A bandage that releases medication as soon as an infection starts in a wound could treat injuries more efficiently. Empa researchers are currently working on polymer fibers that soften as soon as the environment heats up due to an infection, thereby releasing antimicrobial drugs.

Glacier ice holds valuable information about our planet’s past. But as the glaciers melt in the course of climate change, this archive is disappearing. An international research team with PSI participation is rushing to preserve this scientific treasure for posterity.

In a technological breakthrough, researchers at ETH Zurich have announced the development of a new technique that can transplant mitochondria – the tiny powerhouses of the cell – from one living cell to another with unparalleled efficiency.

The U.S. start-up Cryptosat has taken the EPFL developed Drand protocol, the internet’s first production grade, publicly verifiable randomness beacon, into space for an historic experiment.

The slab avalanche modelling that Alexander Puzrin and Johan Gaume, two researchers from ETH and EPFL, used to explain the so-called Dyatlov Pass mystery has triggered a variety of responses around the world. In a follow-up article, the two researchers reflect on the impact of their research findings in science and the media and describe the follow up expeditions to the Dyatlov Pass that supported the slab avalanche theory.

A team of ETH researchers led by Athina Anastasaki have succeeded in breaking down plastic into its molecular building blocks and in recovering over 90 percent of them. A first step towards genuine plastic recycling.  

On 21 March, the PASTURE project, which will explore glacier retreat in the Andes, was launched simultaneously online and live at the Alpine Museum of Switzerland in Bern. The joint project between WSL and the National Institute for Glacier and Mountain Ecosystem Research in Peru aims to assess the impact of climate change on water resources and mountain ecosystems and to facilitate countermeasures.

EPFL engineers have discovered that increasing the temperature of cartilage in the knee during physical exertion could prevent the cartilage from degenerating.

In an interview with ETH News, ETH Professor Emeritus and former State secretary Michael Ambühl outlines possible cornerstones of a diplomatic solution for the war in Ukraine.

Cryo-electron microscopy is still a comparatively new method for elucidating the three-dimensional structure of biomolecules. It can help researchers resolve many open questions about light-sensitive proteins, rapidly and with high precision.

Engineers at EPFL and ETH Zurich developed a variable stiffness catheter made of nontoxic threads that can transition between soft and rigid states during surgery. It may make minimally invasive surgical interventions, including the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, simpler and more effective.