Research

When professional scientists and interested amateurs work together, it is a rewarding experience for both groups. Such cooperation can deliver important new insights, as shown by the results of a campaign to research winter Saharan dust events.

Wastewater treatment plants can do more than just treat wastewater. In the future, they should also recover resources. One approach that researchers at Eawag are pursuing, is the conversion of organic carbon contained in wastewater into bioplastics with the help of bacteria.

Empa researchers have studied residues from the incineration of graphene-containing plastics. Conclusion of the study: Burned composite materials containing graphene nanoparticles can be considered harmless in case of acute exposure.

ETH Zurich researchers have developed an extraordinary protection against corrosion after a chance discovery. It glows in places where it is not damaged, repairs itself – and can be reused multiple times.

Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have used the Swiss X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL and the Swiss Light Source SLS to make a film that could give a decisive boost to developing a new type of drug. They made the advance in the field of so-called photopharmacology, a discipline that develops active substances which can be specifically activated or deactivated with the help of light. The study is being published today in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers at EPFL have found that infection with a common bacterium that is linked to periodontal disease, oral cancers, and bad breath may cause a small increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Many regions have suffered from heatwaves in recent years. But exactly how these form is still a matter of debate. Two researchers at ETH Zurich have now found a nuanced answer.

EPFL researchers have come up with a new approach to electronics that involves engineering metastructures at the sub-wavelength scale. It could launch the next generation of ultra-fast devices for exchanging massive amounts of data, with applications in 6G communications and beyond.

Up to now, the use of models to research the barrier that separates the circulatory from the nervous system has proven to be either limited or extremely complicated. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a more realistic model that can also be used to better explore new treatments for brain tumours.

The SLF Permafrost research group is monitoring ground temperatures in permafrost and using new methods to measure the increasing water content caused by climate change, allowing for improved assessments of natural hazards and future water availability in the Alps.

The LOOP Zurich research centre is creating a central platform for the exchange of health data between the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the four university hospitals. This will allow data to be utilised quickly and easily to the benefit of patients. 

Ice cores are a unique climate archive. Thanks to a new method developed by researchers at the University of Bern and Empa, greenhouse gas concentrations in 1.5 million year old ice can be measured even more accurately. The EU project “Beyond EPICA” with the participation of the University of Bern aims to recover such old ice in Antarctica.

After four years of research, EPFL’s Blue Brain Project shares an enriched version of their 3D digital cell atlas of the mouse brain which includes more neuron types. The new approach can be extended to any other cell type, and provides a resource to build tissue-level models of the mouse brain.

A rare discovery during a midday walk: on a spruce tree, an employee of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL discovered not only a new species of fungus, but also a genus previously unknown to science. The parasite feeds on the spruce pollen and destroys the male flowers in the process. It is unclear whether it is an introduced species.

In a new approach to security that unites technology and art, EPFL researchers have combined silver nanostructures with polarized light to yield a range of brilliant colors, which can be used to encode messages.