news 2021

Scientists have developed new controlled proteins and used to switch cellular activities on and off like a light bulb. Sailan Shui, a doctoral assistant at EPFL's Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering, enjoys playing with proteins, activating and deactivating them as she wishes, as if light switches that can be turned on and off.

Led by scientists at Empa and the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, an international team of researchers from Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, and Spain have succeeded in building carbon-based quantum spin chains, where they captured the emergence of one of the cornerstone models of quantum magnetism first proposed by the 2016 Nobel laureate F. D.

A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. For the first time now, a team of scientists, with the participation of researchers of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS from the University of Bern and the University of Zürich, deliver empirical evidence to support the assumption - and partly contradict it at the same time.

Astrophysicists led by the UNIGE and the NCCR PlanetS have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans. The planet Venus can be seen as the Earth's evil twin. At first sight, it is of comparable mass and size as our home planet, similarly consists mostly of rocky material, holds some water and has an atmosphere.

Scientists have developed a topology-based method that forces microwave photons to travel along a one way path, despite unprecedented levels of disorder and obstacles on their way. This discovery paves the way to a new generation of high-frequency circuits and extremely robust, compact communication devices.

Scientists at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and EPFL have discovered a highly potent monoclonal antibody that targets the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and is effective at neutralizing all variants of concern identified to date, including the delta variant. Their findings are published in the prestigious journal Cell Reports.

Europe has relatively low biodiversity compared to most other continents because many species became extinct during the ice ages. In subterranean ecosystems, however, which were shielded from climatic turbulences, a great diversity of ancient species were able to survive. This is the conclusion of a study on the amphipod genus Niphargus.

Personalized medicine is set to revolutionize healthcare, yet large-scale research studies towards better diagnoses and targeted therapies are currently hampered by data privacy and security concerns. New global collaborative research has developed a solution to these challenges, described. Predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory medicine, known as P4, is the healthcare of the future.

Fraudulent practices in food production, especially false claims of geographical origin, cause billions of dollars in economic damage every year. Botanists at the University of Basel have now developed a model that can be used to determine the origin of food in an efficient and low-cost manner. Strawberries from Switzerland or olive oil from Italy can be sold at much higher prices than the same products from other countries.

The more water is dissolved in the magma, the greater the risk that a volcano will explode. A new ETH study now shows that this simple rule is only partially true. Paradoxically, high water content significantly reduces the risk of explosion. Volcanologists have long been troubled by two questions: When exactly will a volcano erupt next?

ETH Zurich and UNIGE establish an interdisciplinary unit dedicated to science in diplomacy in the heart of international Geneva. This joint lab will bring scientific insights and methods into diplomatic, international conflict resolution and help address the global challenges our societies are facing.

Researchers at the University of Zurich have developed a new approach to autonomously fly quadrotors through unknown, complex environments at high speeds using only on-board sensing and computation. The new approach could be useful in emergencies, on construction sites or for security applications. When it comes to exploring complex and unknown environments such as forests, buildings or caves, drones are hard to beat.

Modest financial rewards can help increase COVID-19 vaccination rates. This is the conclusion of an international study co-lead by Swiss universities, based on data from Sweden. Despite countless appeals from politicians and scientists, stagnating vaccination rates hamper the containment of coronavirus.

Boasting an intricate, doubly curved concrete roof, lightweight funicular floors, and self-learning building technology, the latest addition to Empa and Eawag's NEST research building in Duebendorf, Switzerland officially opened today. The innovative unit illustrates nearly a decade of formative ETH Zurich research in architecture and sustainable technologies.

The practice of mindfulness shows a positive impact of the intervention on the adolescents' everyday life and on their ability to react to new events. Adolescents born prematurely present a high risk of developing executive, behavioural and socio-emotional difficulties. Now, researchers from Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the University of Geneva have revealed that practicing mindfulness may help improve these various skills.

Bacteria in the human gut go to war in order to protect themselves against attacks of the "spear-wielding" cholera bacterium Vibrio cholerae or other pathogens, an EPFL study has found. Image: V. cholerae's growth and competition on natural surfaces (left). The framed area is zoomed-in on the right and shows the killing of a bacterium (indicated by the red arrow) by the two V. cholerae cells.

Researchers in the Friedrich group have contributed to create an atlas that links subcellular structures to gene expression in each cell of the sea worm Platynereis dumerilii , a key model organism for the study of development and evolution. The atlas will help researchers to shed light onto molecular and cellular mechanisms at play in our very ancient ancestors.

It is still elusive to what extent interactions between different cell types of the heart influence the normal heart rhythm and possibly trigger life-threatening arrhythmias. A new measurement method developed at the University of Bern combines for the first time optical and electrical recording of cardiac ventricular activation which, in conjunction with optogenetics, will permit finding comprehensive answers to these questions.

Scientists at EPFL and Dartmouth College in the US have developed a system that can, for the first time, both pinpoint the exact location of a tumor and measure its depth. Their technology employs a high-tech camera developed at EPFL's Advanced Quantum Architecture Laboratory. A few years ago, Edoardo Charbon, an EPFL professor and head of the Advanced Quantum Architecture Laboratory, unveiled a new, ultra-high-power camera called SwissSPAD2.

Evolution plays a crucial role in ecosystem tipping points, as shown in two recently published studies by researchers. If this influence is taken into account, ecosystem collapses can be better predicted in the future. At the same time, the studies reveal how the risk of ecosystem collapse can be reduced and the chances of recovery increased.