Researchers have found that a set of proteins have different shapes in the spinal fluid of healthy individuals and Parkinson's patients. These could be used in the future as a new type of biomarker for this disease. 

When it comes to widely used social networks, girls set the trends. They join new social networks earlier than boys, as the JAMES 2022 study by ZHAW and Swisscom shows. Boys, on the other hand, game more often, and free games are particularly popular. Young people also maintain fewer, but higher-quality friendships than ten years ago. Problematically, they are becoming more careless about data protection and sexual harassment has increased further.

Together with the Canton of St. Gallen, Eawag has been investigating the impact of the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant at Flawil to include a stage for the removal of micropollutants on water quality in the River Glatt. Initial results now show a very positive picture.

In Switzerland, tire and road wear particles are one of the biggest sources of microplastics released into the environment, yet the chemical compounds contained in those particles - and their effects - remain largely a mystery. To remedy that knowledge gap, scientists at EPFL and two other Swiss research institutes are conducting a study of the toxicity of tire-particle compounds and how readily they're absorbed by living organisms. The first phase of the study has just been completed.