Environment

The Hotlab at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI is a unique experimental facility for analysing highly radioactive materials – its 60^th anniversary marks a milestone not only in the institute’s history but also in the history of Swiss nuclear technology as a whole. 

Imad El Haddad analyses the chemical composition and health impacts of particulate matter at the Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. 

The temperatures of mountain rivers rise. Climate change is endangering industrial and electricity production and threatening fish stocks.

A team led by ETH climate researcher Sandro Vattioni has shown that diamond dust released in the atmosphere could be a good way to cool the climate. However, it is still not a sustainable solution to climate change, says Vattioni in an interview with ETH News.

Insects and spiders are important elements in the food webs of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. With declines in their biodiversity, the food supply for birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals is not only becoming scarcer, but also poorer in important fatty acids, as an international research team led by scientists from Eawag and WSL reports in the journal Science.

A new catalogue and database of over 17,000 European river catchments facilitates the work of researchers in the field of hydrology. The EStreams project, carried out at Eawag, provides hydrological and meteorological data as well as information on the landscape of the river regions. The records go back up to 120 years.