news from the lab 2016

A new material retains its special magnetic properties even at room temperature A new material could become the basis for future data storage devices, since it may enable significant reductions in energy demands in comparison to present-day hard drives. This is a material from the class of so-called magnetoelectric multiferroics, whose distinguishing characteristic is that their magnetic and electrical properties are coupled to each other.

Scientists have developed a highly sensitive sensor to detect tiny changes in strong magnetic fields. The sensor may find widespread use in medicine and other areas. Researchers from the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, which is operated jointly by ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, have succeeded in measuring tiny changes in strong magnetic fields with unprecedented precision.

Several simple and inexpensive techniques make it possible to store antiviral-vaccines at room temperature for several months.

In most cases, electricity is produced when water is heated and transformed into vapour. Vapour bubbles in the water play a decisive role in this process by collecting in a layer at a heated wall.

A team that includes ETH Zurich scientists is the first to use materials with a network-like structure to create a full spectrum of intense colours.

EPFL scientists have developed a new perovskite material with unique properties that can be used to build next-generation hard drives.

Researchers led by EPFL have built ultra-high quality optical cavities for the elusive mid-infrared spectral region, paving the way for new chemical and biological sensors, as well as promising technologies. The mid-infrared spectral window, referred to as 'molecular fingerprint region,' includes light wavelengths from 2.5 to 20 'm.

Macroscopic crystal structures can absorb unwanted vibrations or filter noise - without any electronics or electricity whatsoever.

Earth's magnetic field has reversed direction hundreds of times in the course of our planet's history.

Electrons in a solid can team up to form so-called quasiparticles, which lead to new phenomena. Physicists at ETH in Zurich have now studied previously unidentified quasiparticles in a new class of atomically thin semiconductors.

Young giant planets are born from gas and dust. Researchers of ETH Zürich and the Universities of Zürich and Bern simulated different scenarios relying on the computing power of the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) to find out how they exactly form and evolve. Astronomers set up two theories explaining how gaseous giant planets like Jupiter or Saturn could be born.

Naturally occurring bacteria could consume pent-up hydrogen gas in nuclear waste repositories to prevent radioactive leaks, say researchers at EPFL. Scientists may have found an unexpected ally in the long-term disposal of nuclear waste: bacteria. In a recent study, a research team led by EPFL discovered a microbial community made up of seven species of bacteria that live naturally hundreds of meters underground in the very rock layers that have been chosen to host Swiss nuclear waste.

Several peptides have an antibacterial effect - but they are broken down in the human body too quickly to exert this effect. Empa researchers have now succeeded in encasing peptides in a protective coat, which could prolong their life in the human body. This is an important breakthrough because peptides are considered to be a possible solution in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

University of Bern's Laser Altimeter BELA has been successfully tested during the last weeks and the last components will be delivered to ESA on 5 October.

Biological cells can expand, contract and interact with neighbouring cells. With an advancement in a microscopy technique, ETH Zurich researchers can now readily, directly, and accurately determine which forces are at work during cell motion and where. The technique is used in areas such as cancer research.

EPFL researchers have printed nanometric-scale sensors capable of improving the performance of atomic force microscopes. Tiny sensors made through nanoscale 3D printing may be the basis for the next generation of atomic force microscopes. These nanosensors can enhance the microscopes? sensitivity and detection speed by miniaturizing their detection component up to 100 times.

The electronic energy states allowed by quantum mechanics determine whether a solid is an insulator or whether it conducts electric current as a metal.

A research team at Empa and ETH Zurich has developed single crystals made of lead halide perovskites, which are able to gage radioactive radiation with high precision. Initial experiments have shown that these crystals, which can be manufactured from aqueous solutions or low-priced solvents, work just as well as conventional cadmium telluride semi-conductors, which are considerably more complicated to produce.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have found a way of looking inside the iron core of transformers. Transformers are indispensable in regulating electricity both in industry and in domestic households. The better their iron cores are magnetized, the less energy they lose and the more efficiently they work.

25. Solar energy can be stored by converting it into hydrogen. But current methods are too expensive and don't last long. Using commercially available solar cells and none of the usual rare metals, researchers at EPFL and CSEM have now designed a device that outperforms in stability, efficiency and cost.