news 2021

Using CRISPR technology, researchers at EPFL and the University of Geneva have uncovered the complex dance of genes involved in embryonic development. The rapid scientific advancements that followed the mapping of the human genome have revealed just how staggeringly complex the world of genetics is.

Whether a hydroelectric power plant is built, a pesticide is banned or a moor is placed under protection - a wide variety of political decisions have an impact on biodiversity. But does biodiversity play any role at all in such decisions? Researchers at Eawag and WSL have investigated this question and examined Swiss policy over the past 20 years.

These days, the cause of death in cancer patients often isn't the primary tumour, but metastases. With his research, biochemist Nicola Aceto has found a new way to prevent the formation of such secondary tumours. To achieve this, the Latsis laureate had to repeatedly fight against the prevailing wisdom.

Buildings that own and run themselves: this idea, from the think-tank Dezentrum, was put into action for the first time at ETH Zurich in the form of a prototype. The result is a meditation cabin that shakes up the usual economic and social expectations. The outward appearance of the small, prism-shaped hut in the recently opened Student Project House on ETH's Zentrum campus is enough to arouse the curiosity of anyone looking at it.

Astronomers led by the UNIGE have discovered exoplanets that orbit in planes at 90 degrees from each other. When planets form, they usually continue their orbital evolution in the equatorial plane of their star. However, an international team, led by astronomers from the University of Geneva , Switzerland, has discovered that the exoplanets of a star in the constellation Pisces orbit in planes perpendicular to each other, with the innermost planet the only one still orbiting in the equatorial plane.

A team from the University of Geneva has observed that the role of plant tissue - called endosperm - is not only to feed the seed but is crucial for the development and protection of young plants. The endosperm, the tissue surrounding the plant embryo in the seed, has long been perceived as a nourishing tissue that is abandoned once the transition to the seedling is complete.

When fish ingest microplastics, they often also ingest progesterone. This compound is subsequently released into the digestive tract through chemical reactions with the fish's digestive fluids. That's the key finding of a study carried out jointly by scientists from EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Peking University in Beijing, and Oklahoma State University, and appearing in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts.

A UNIGE-led team has studied the fossil rivers of the Egyptian Sahara to reconstruct the region's rainfall rates that led to a major migration of people away from the Nile valley 10,000 years ago. Why did the people living near the Nile river migrate to central Egypt 10,000 years ago, when the Egyptian Sahara was still green? Geologists led by the University of Geneva , Switzerland, have studied the fossil rivers north of Lake Nasser in Egypt in order to reconstruct the palaeo-hydrology of the region and to determine the rainfall rate of this African humid period.

Like many viruses, SARS-CoV-2 relies on lipid modifications carried by host enzymes to organize their membrane structure and coordinate the function of virulence proteins. Scientists at EPFL have discovered the enzymes that transfer fatty acids to one of the main components of SARS-CoV-2, its fusion protein Spike.

Scientists from the University of Geneva are demonstrating how cold could alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis by depriving the immune system of its energy. In evolutionary biology, the "Life History Theory", first proposed in the 1950s, postulates that when the environment is favourable, the resources used by any organism are devoted for growth and reproduction.

Interleukin-12 - a messenger molecule of immune cells - was long considered to trigger the development of psoriasis. Now, researchers at the University of Zurich have shown that interleukin-12 does not actually cause the skin disease but protects against it. This also explains why common psoriasis drugs that block the messenger show insufficient treatment efficacy.

EPFL and Microsoft Research scientists demonstrated ultrafast optical circuit switching using a chip-based soliton comb laser and a completely passive diffraction grating device. This particular architecture could enable an energy-efficient optical datacenter to meet enormous data bandwidth requirements in future.

A common gene variant for the protein Aquaporin-1 lowers the amount of water channels in the cell membranes. This reduces water transport and leads to a higher risk of death in patients with kidney failure treated with peritoneal dialysis. In such cases, specific osmotic solutions should be used, as an international research team led by the University of Zurich has shown.

Swiss and German scientists show that activation of the immune system oscillates throughout the day, with a peak just before the start of the day. Circadian clocks, which regulate most of the physiological processes of living beings over a rhythm of about 24 hours, are one of the most fundamental biological mechanisms.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have identified a chemical compound that may be suitable as an active agent against several different unicellular parasites. Among these are the pathogens that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis. The point of attack for this promising substance is the protein tubulin: It helps cells divide and therefore is essential for the multiplication of the parasites.

An international team with participation of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI shows how light can fundamentally change the properties of solids and how these effects can be used for future applications. The researchers summarise their progress in this field, which is based among other things on experiments that can also be carried out at the Swiss X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL, in the scientific journal Reviews of Modern Physics .

Ocean warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions will prompt many species of marine plankton to seek out new habitats, in some cases as a matter of sur-vival. researchers expect many organisms to head to the poles and form new communities - with unforeseeable consequences for marine food webs.

To measure an ecosystem's beauty and the well-being it produces for people can help inform public environmental policy. Scientists at EPFL and Wageningen University in the Netherlands have developed a novel modeling approach for ecosystem assessments based on deep learning and millions of Flickr photos.

The adoption of the initiative for a ban on animal and human experimentation would prevent biomedical research and new medical treatments in particular. The high quality of healthcare and responsible research in Switzerland to the benefit of the population and the environment are at stake.

Sustainable agriculture will not be achieved by one universal solution. A meta-analysis by the University of Basel shows that the current focus on no-till farming does not achieve the desired results. A sustainable system of agriculture must be designed for local needs and in dialog with local farmers.