Research

Researchers from ETH Zurich and TU Delft have developed a model to generate hundreds of ways in which Europe’s energy system can become green and self-​sufficient by 2050. They have made their results available on an interactive platform to provide a clearer picture of all the various options and their associated trade-​offs.

EPFL’s Platform of Hydraulic Constructions has been commissioned to model a future hydropower plant in Australia. As part of its work, the team has built an outsize replica on campus.

In the middle of the 20th century, many countries around the world were suffering from a poor supply of food. However, in response to the devastation of two world wars, science had prepared the ground for major advances in agriculture. A key question was how to combat hunger. The answer came in the decades-​long process of constantly increasing yields and the mechanisation of farming.

Cryospheric ecosystems are some of the oldest on the planet. EPFL scientists have found that the microorganisms living in them have a unique genetic signature. They performed an inventory of the microorganisms in these ecosystems and complied the information into a database, which will be a useful resource for future studies on climate change microbiology.

The InSight mission on Mars is running out of power and most of its functions could be shut down in the months to come. Some have already been deactivated. However, the attached seismometer, SEIS, will remain in operation for as long as possible. ETH Professor Domenico Giardini takes stock of three years of marsquake measurements.

For ancient artefacts and modern technologies alike, examination methods that leave the object completely intact are required. For this, researchers at PSI use elementary particles called muons and are developing a new experimental method that is useful for archaeology and can also answer questions relevant to battery development.

A blood clot in the brain that blocks the supply of oxygen can cause an acute stroke. In this case, every minute counts. A team from Empa, the University Hospital in Geneva and the Hirslanden Clinic is currently developing a diagnostic procedure that can be used to start a tailored therapy in a timely manner, as they write in the current issue of the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

From banking to communication our modern, daily lives are driven by data with ongoing concerns over privacy. Now, a new EPFL paper argues that many promises made around privacy-preserving mechanisms will never be fulfilled and that we need to accept these inherent limits and not chase the impossible.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Villigen have developed a chemical reactor that uses solar power to mix water and carbon dioxide to produce synthetic natural gas for heating residential buildings. The new system even pays off for certain single-family homes, according to a new study.

If dry spells become more frequent due to climate change, litter-degrading organisms found in forest soil, like earthworms, will suffer, impacting carbon sequestration: this is the finding of a study conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).

The biologically active, slow-flow sand filters of lake water treatment would remove nanoplastics from the raw water very efficiently. This was shown both in the laboratory and in larger, realistic tests and modelling.

Oliver Janzer is a mathematician who specialises in graphs – that is, collections of nodes that may or may not be connected, such as Facebook users. As part of his ETH Fellowship, the young researcher has been busy solving problems that had stumped mathematicians for decades.

The multidisciplinary Zurich research team Liver4Life has succeeded in doing something during a treatment attempt that had never been achieved in the history of medicine until now: it treated an originally damaged human liver in a machine for three days outside of a body and then implanted the recovered organ into a cancer patient. One year later, the patient is doing well.

Around one third of all food worldwide ends up in the trash bin instead of on our plate. With the help of digital twins, researchers at Empa and Stellenbosch University are now aiming to reduce food waste, for example in the case of citrus fruits, along the production and supply chains. 

Before it reaches our plates, the food we eat usually has travelled a long way. In this episode of the ETH Podcast, we talk about how far a breakfast travels and the resulting political and ecological significance.