Research

According to an EPFL study, if we take immediate measures to reduce CO₂ emissions, we could limit the rise in the temperature of Swiss rivers to 1°C between now and 2090 without drastically affecting their discharge. Inaction, on the other hand, would threaten ecosystems and jeopardize the country’s agriculture sector and electricity production.

The current energy debate could do with more facts and less gut feeling – argue Thomas J. Schmidt, renewables expert and Head of the PSI Research Division Energy and Environment, and Andreas Pautz, nuclear energy specialist and Head of the PSI Research Division Nuclear Energy and Safety. In this joint interview, they set out the challenges that science needs to address in connection with the Swiss government’s Energy Strategy 2050 and why nuclear energy and renewables experts must work closely together.

ETH researchers have shown that the Swiss population is willing to pay more to reduce food waste. It is in favour of government regulations that set strict reduction targets and ensure transparent monitoring of implementation.

Demographer and migration specialist Mathias Lerch has shown that Zurich owes as much of its industrial era development to international immigration as it does to the rural exodus. The EPFL researcher will apply his method to the study of rapidly growing sub-Saharan cities.

Often overlooked until now: symbioses could be a driving force for the emergence of biodiversity. A case where bacteria live in aphids shows that this can even have practical implications for biological pest control.

Scientists at EPFL’s Swiss Plasma Center and DeepMind have jointly developed a new method for controlling plasma configurations for use in nuclear fusion research.

The buffet of healthy insects starts earlier, is no longer as varied, and is only half as plentiful as it once was. This is the situation faced by insectivorous birds at Northern Temperate latitudes, such as Switzerland, during the breeding season. Ryan Shipley from the Eawag water research institute, has been investigating how climate change affects the timing and quality of the food supply for breeding birds.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new algorithm that allows them to model the dynamics of physical systems from observations. In the future it could be applied to the onset of turbulence and tipping points in climate.

Bacteria show great promise as a source of active ingredients. Using computer-based genome analysis, researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered a new class of natural products that might one day serve as antibiotics.

Together with teams from England and Germany, Empa researchers developed a monitoring system for aircraft components. In the future, minor damage could be detected and monitored during flight without the aircraft having to go into the hangar for maintenance. This will reduce operating costs and increase safety at the same time.

Bioengineers at EPFL have found a way to radically increase the efficiency of single-cell RNA-sequencing, a powerful tool that can “read” the genetic profile of an individual cell.

An international team of scientists conducted CALISHTO, a large-scale air measurement campaign in Greece last fall, with the goal of surveying, counting and characterizing the tiny particles and their impact on cloud formation. The goal is to incorporate this information in climate models for improved predictions of clouds, precipitation and climate.

More heat pumps in buildings and more electric cars on the roads will lead to an increase in electricity consumption in Switzerland in the future. To meet this increasing demand, we rely on electricity imports, which, however, often have a large carbon footprint, as they come from gas or coal-fired power plants, for example. In a new study, researchers from Empa and the University of Geneva sketch out various scenarios to show how Switzerland can reduce these CO₂-emitting electricity imports by diversifying the expansion of renewables.

Eawag researchers have won a competition organised by Britain’s National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3R). The prize money is awarded for use in research to develop technologies to replace animal testing.

A team of experts in artificial intelligence and animal ecology have put forth a new, cross-disciplinary approach intended to enhance research on wildlife species and make more effective use of the vast amount of data now being collected thanks to new technologies. Their study recently appeared in Nature Communications.