Materials Science
Breaking down plastic into its constituent parts
Research
ETH Zurich
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.  
How data processing can heat buildings
Research
Empa
A newly installed data center in the NEST research building is not only used for data processing, but also helps to heat the entire building. The server system is part of the international EU research project ECO-Qube, which is investigating the integration of data centers into building systems and their energy-efficient operation.
Feel and see emerging microcracks in airplanes
Research
Empa
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.
Simulant material could aid in Fukushima cleanup
Research
PSI
Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, in a project led by scientists from the University of Sheffield, have developed a new simulation of the most dangerous radioactive debris from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Their study could give an enormous boost to the cleanup effort. They are publishing their results today in Nature Materials Degradation.
Novel printing process switches materials from black to transparent
Research
EPFL
EPFL researchers have developed a new type of printing process that involves removing material rather than depositing it. Their method could be particularly useful for printing banknotes and ID documents, for example.
Improving quality through artificial intelligence
Research
ETH Zurich
ETH researchers are using artificial intelligence to improve quality management in digital production processes. The team has succeeded in halving the proportion of defective products in an experiment with the semiconductor manufacturer Hitachi Energy.
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