Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, together with colleagues from several other European institutions, have investigated whether particulate matter from certain sources can be especially harmful to human health. They found evidence that the amount of particulate matter alone is not the greatest health risk.

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is an important chemical reaction, especially considering that the use of hydrogen as an energy source in sustainable mobility in the future. An international research team has now decoded how one of the catalysts used in this reaction works. Hydrogen is a key element for achieving sustainable mobility in the future, especially "green" hydrogen produced by splitting water using renewable power.

TIGER is an project between France, Germany and Switzerland to support the cross-border monitoring and control of the Asian tiger mosquito in the Upper Rhine region. On 13 November, Swiss TPH hosted a one-day virtual symposium, where the project team, consisting of Swiss TPH and partners, presented on the current situation of the spread of the tiger mosquito in the region, as well as the project results from the past three years.

Some viruses can get inside cells via a mechanism that involves sulfur organic molecules. Chemists at UNIGE have discovered effective inhibitors and blocked the uptake of SARS-CoV-2. The cell membrane is impermeable to viruses: to get inside and infect a cell, they use a range of strategies to exploit the cellular and biochemical properties of the membranes.

Some, if not all, early sharks that lived 300 to 400 million years ago not only dropped their lower jaws downward but rotated them outwards when opening their mouths. This enabled them to make the best of their largest, sharpest and inward-facing teeth when catching prey, paleontologists at the Universities of Zurich and Chicago have now shown using CT scanning and 3D printing.

The University of Bern and the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, are founding a "Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine" (CAIM) that combines cutting-edge research, engineering and digitalization.

Resilience is the ability to adjust readily to traumatic events and to reorganise one's life positively. Greater flexibility, adaptation to difficulties and control of one's emotions become even more relevant in times of crisis, such as that triggered by the coronavirus to avoid depression, anxiety and stress.

Swiss and Italian scientists prove a correlation between gut microbiota and the appearance of amyloid plaques in the brain, typical of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. Still incurable, it directly affects nearly one million people in Europe, and indirectly millions of family members as well as society as a whole.

Fiber optic sensors - used in critical applications like detecting fires in tunnels, pinpointing leaks in pipelines and predicting landslides - are about to get even faster and more accurate. EPFL engineers have developed an advanced encoding and decoding system that allows fiber optic sensors to send data up to 100 times faster and over a wider area.

At its annual event yesterday, the University Medicine Zurich initiative presented its new flagship project ImmunoPhage: a groundbreaking endeavor that aims to develop bacteriophages for treating urinary tract infections. Bacteriophages are highly specialized viruses that attack and destroy bacteria.

A preclinical study conducted at the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to USI) reveals the role of aging cells in the formation of metastases and identifies a drug capable of blocking them. The work of the group of researchers in Switzerland, Italy and the United States, led by Prof. Andrea Alimonti, is published in the important scientific journal Cancer Cell.

Coral reefs are extremely sensitive to temperature, making them particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. But some corals seem able to adapt. Researchers from EPFL and the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) studied a reef in New Caledonia, combining approaches from environmental science and genomics to characterize their adaptive potential and develop targeted conservation strategies.

Scientists from the University of Geneva and HUG identify the essential role of circadian clocks in the regeneration of insulin-producing cells. Certain parts of our body, such as the skin or liver, can repair themselves after a damage. Known as cell regeneration, this phenomenon describes how cells that are still functional start to proliferate to compensate for the loss.

Many countries could be using less nitrogen fertiliser in their agriculture without compromising their crop yields, as an international research team headed up by ETH scientists David Wüpper and Robert Finger are demonstrating. The world is awash with nitrogen. In agriculture, nitrogen is used as a fertiliser to increase output, but this causes one of the biggest environmental problems of our time.

The COVCO-Basel study is assessing the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the population of the cantons Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. A bus now brings the study team closer to the participants and allows antibody testing on site in their villages. The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) is in the lead of the COVCO-Basel study that is part of the Swiss research programme Corona Immunitas.

In order for robots to be able to achieve more than simple automated machines in the future, they must not only have their own "brain". Empa researchers postulate that artificial intelligence must be expanded to include the capabilities of a Physical Artificial Intelligence, PAI. This will redefine the field of robotics and the relationship between man and machine.

Database systems are under pressure to become more and more powerful. But reliability seems to be suffering as a result. Now, ETH computer scientists have developed a tool to automatically detect logic errors in database systems using three different methods. They found and reported over 450 unique, previously unknown bugs.

Bioengineers at EPFL have used organoids - tiny lab-grown organs - to mimic the early development of the heart in the mouse embryo. The work is another step towards future bioartificial organs for research and transplants. There was a time when the idea of growing organs in the lab was the stuff of science fiction.

The DO-HEALTH study examines the effect of simple measures on the health of healthy adults aged 70+. The first evaluation shows no significant improvement in terms of bone fractures, leg and memory function through the intake of vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and strength training. However, certain groups could still benefit.

Research can now target metastases more effectively thanks to a new approach that takes into account the enormous heterogeneity and phenotypes of tumour cells, with a team from the University of Geneva pinpointing a gene that prevents their development. Before an effective treatment can be devised, we have to be able to understand the specific effect of an anti-cancer substance on the cell type, or even the cell, that produces metastases in the enormous cellular heterogeneity of tumours.