Research

Twelve years of intense work are now bearing fruit – researchers at Empa have developed unique carbon materials with quite astonishing, hitherto unattained electronic and magnetic properties, which one day could be used to build quantum computers with novel architectures. A million-dollar grant from the Werner Siemens Foundation for the next ten years now gives this visionary project an unusually long research horizon, greatly increasing the prospects for success.

EPFL scientists have made the first link between muscular dystrophy and a group of bioactive fats, the sphingolipids, which are involved in numerous cell functions and other diseases.

PSI is involved in the development of a breath test that can be used to diagnose asthma. Imad El Haddad explains why such a test could be extremely useful – especially for children.

Seemingly less hazardous than Delta, but significantly more infectious: The spread of the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus raises the question of whether it can push the healthcare system to its breaking point. Empa researchers have worked with partners to model scenarios for both Switzerland and Germany – and conclude that this is an unlikely course of events. Nevertheless, some risks remain.

Scientists at EPFL have developed a way to maximize hydrogen yields from biowaste, within few milliseconds. The method uses rapid photo-pyrolysis to produce hydrogen gas and solid conductive carbon from banana peels.

Hydropower delivers renewable electricity, but comes with massive fish mortality – a global dilemma that can only be addressed by true compromises, says Luiz Silva, and outlines how to find them.

Soon, internet users will be able to meet each other in cyberspace as animated 3D avatars. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed new algorithms for creating virtual humans much more easily.

While glaciers are shrinking worldwide, those in the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia show less change. They and the other components of the cryosphere (snow and permafrost) are key unknowns for future changes to runoff and hazards. Over the next four years, a research consortium led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and the University of Fribourg will comprehensively study this unique environment. The Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) has awarded CHF 1.5 million to this SPI Flagship Initiative.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the University of Basel have developed a rapid test for Covid-19. Its novel functional principle promises reliable and quantifiable results concerning a patient's Covid-19 disease and its course – as well as evidence concerning other diseases and Covid variants that may be present. Before it can go into widespread use, however, it still must undergo further testing and optimisation. The researchers report on their development in the journal ACS Applied Nanomaterials.

A team of scientists from EPFL and Switzerland’s WSL research institute has studied the conversion of savannas into oil palm plantations as a deforestation-free way of growing these plantations. What’s more, if improved management practices are adopted at the plantation scale, then the net carbon balance could be enhanced and a great leap could be made towards reducing the environmental impact of palm oil.

In a large-scale fundraising campaign, popular YouTubers like Mister Beast and Mark Rober are currently trying to rid the oceans of almost 14,000 tonnes of plastic waste. That's about 0.15 per cent of the amount that ends up in the oceans every year. But it's not just our waters that are full of plastic. A new study shows that the spread of nanoplastic through the air is a more widespread problem than previously thought.

Scientists at EPFL and the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) have found the biological mechanism behind the inflammation seen in COVID-19 infections that involve a rise in interferons in the lungs and skin.

Switzerland has around 800 municipal wastewater treatment plants. A recent study by Eawag researchers reveals the burden these plants place on the climate, and explores how emissions of climate-damaging nitrous oxide can be reduced.

Located near Naples, Italy, Vesuvius last had a violent eruption in 1944, towards the end of the Second World War. It could be a few hundred years before another dangerous, explosive eruption occurs, finds a new study by volcano experts at ETH Zurich.

ETH Zurich researchers led by Marco Hutter developed a new control approach that enables a legged robot, called ANYmal, to move quickly and robustly over difficult terrain. Thanks to machine learning, the robot can combine its visual perception of the environment with its sense of touch for the first time.