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Environment - Chemistry - 08.09.2023
How trees influence cloud formation
How trees influence cloud formation
As part of the international CLOUD project at the nuclear research centre CERN, researchers at PSI have identified so-called sesquiterpenes - gaseous hydrocarbons that are released by plants - as being a major factor in cloud formation. This finding could reduce uncertainties in climate models and help make more accurate predictions.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 22.08.2023
New epoxy resin resists flames and reduces waste
New epoxy resin resists flames and reduces waste
Researchers have developed an epoxy resin that can be repaired and recycled, in addition to being flame-retardant and mechanically strong. Potential applications range from coating for wooden flooring to composites in aerospace and railways. Epoxy resins are tough and versatile polymers. In combination with glass or carbon fibers, they are used, for example, to manufacture components for aircraft, cars, trains, ships and wind turbines.

Chemistry - Environment - 17.08.2023
Collecting clean water from fog
Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated the use of a specially coated metal mesh to harvest water from fog and simultaneously remove pollutants. People living in dry but foggy areas should benefit from this technology. In countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile, it's not uncommon for people who live in foggy areas to hang up nets to catch droplets of water.

Physics - Chemistry - 15.08.2023
Carbon-based quantum technology
Carbon-based quantum technology
Quantum technology is promising, but also perplexing. In the coming decades, it is expected to provide us with various technological breakthroughs: smaller and more precise sensors, highly secure communication networks, and powerful computers that can help develop new drugs and materials, control financial markets, and predict the weather much faster than current computing technology ever could.

Chemistry - Physics - 14.08.2023
Chromium replaces rare and expensive noble metals
Chromium replaces rare and expensive noble metals
Expensive noble metals often play a vital role in illuminating screens or converting solar energy into fuels. Now, chemists at the University of Basel have succeeded in replacing these rare elements with a significantly cheaper metal. In terms of their properties, the new materials are very similar to those used in the past.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 18.07.2023
Improving high-temperature stability of perovskite solar cells
Improving high-temperature stability of perovskite solar cells
Researchers have found a way to significantly improve the operational stability of perovskite solar cells at high temperatures, which is necessary for their use in terawatt power grids. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained attention for their high power-conversion efficiencies and low-cost solution processing.

Chemistry - Life Sciences - 17.07.2023
The plant origins of active ingredients
The plant origins of active ingredients
Since the dawn of time, humans have used plants to heal themselves. But it wasn't until the 18th century that we began to understand that this healing power came from certain specific compounds: active ingredients. In a collective work for the general public entitled 'Plantes soignantes' (Healing plants), the contributions of two biology researchers from the University of Neuchâtel, Emmanuel Defossez and Sergio Rasmann, retrace the major stages in this quest, the potential of which remains largely unexplored .

Physics - Chemistry - 13.07.2023
New Superconductors Can Be Built Atom by Atom
New Superconductors Can Be Built Atom by Atom
The future of electronics will be based on novel kinds of materials. Sometimes, however, the naturally occurring topology of atoms makes it difficult for new physical effects to be created. To tackle this problem, researchers at the University of Zurich have now successfully designed superconductors one atom at a time, creating new states of matter.

Chemistry - Life Sciences - 06.07.2023
Cracking the
Cracking the "tubulin code"
Tubulins are the building blocks of microtubules, which make up the cell's skeleton. A new method enables the detailed study of their role in diseases, including cancer. Tubulin is a protein that plays a crucial role in the structure and function of cells. It is the main component of microtubules, which are long, hollow fibers that provide structural support, help the cell divide, give it its shape, and act as tracks for moving molecular cargo around inside the cell.

Physics - Chemistry - 28.06.2023
A 'magnifying glass' to observe the appearance of life on Earth
A ’magnifying glass’ to observe the appearance of life on Earth
Thanks to a new technique for observing chemical reactions in liquids, UNIGE and ETH are shedding light on one of the hypotheses about the chemical origins of life. What processes led to the appearance of life on our planet? Some scientists believe that urea played a key role. After being enriched in warm puddles, this small molecule is thought to have been exposed to cosmic rays to produce malonic acid, the source of RNA and DNA.

Environment - Chemistry - 14.06.2023
Climate Change Releases Carbon Stocks Deep Underground
Climate Change Releases Carbon Stocks Deep Underground
Subsoils are the largest storehouses for carbon, as well as one of the most important sources of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Global warming is accelerating the decomposition of soil humus. It is also affecting the waxy and woody compounds which help plants store carbon in their leaves and roots and were previously thought to be stable.

Environment - Chemistry - 06.06.2023
Traces in the water
Traces in the water
How we are contaminating our waters with microplastics and a multitude of chemicals. A plastic sandwich wrapper bobs in the water where the Limmat River flows out of Lake Zurich. The current carries it downstream through Zurich's historic centre before eventually depositing it on the bank of Werd island.

Physics - Chemistry - 05.06.2023
Slow electrons for more efficient reactions
Slow electrons for more efficient reactions
Researchers have managed to produce slow electrons in a solution. In the future, such electrons could help make certain chemical reactions more efficient. What the international team of researchers actually set out to do was to detect a mysterious chemical object: a dielectron in solution. A dielectron is made up of two electrons, but unlike an atom, it has no nucleus.

Environment - Chemistry - 10.05.2023
Climate change leads to disproportionately high pollutant absorption
Climate change leads to disproportionately high pollutant absorption
Pesticides and other chemicals harm biodiversity, and climate change is also threatening many habitats. With his study, Eawag researcher Johannes Raths has shown that these two challenges for our society may even worsen. Amphipods absorbed pollutants faster as water temperatures rose. The researcher has received an award from the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry for his paper on the toxicokinetics of amphipods in combination with increased water temperatures.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 10.05.2023
PeSTo: a new AI tool for predicting protein interactions
PeSTo: a new AI tool for predicting protein interactions
Scientists at EPFL have developed PeSTo, an AI model for predicting protein binding interfaces with proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, ions, and small molecules with high confidence. The model's low computational cost enables the processing large amounts of structural data, opening up opportunities for discovering new biology.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 24.04.2023
Cryo-imaging lifts the lid on fuel cell catalyst layers
Thanks to a novel combination of cryogenic transmission electron tomography and deep learning, researchers have provided a first look at the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers, revealing how they could be optimized for fuel cell efficiency. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which are being developed for use in electric vehicles, rely on nanoparticles called catalysts to trigger electricity-producing reactions between hydrogen and oxygen.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 24.04.2023
Progress in alternative battery technology
Progress in alternative battery technology
It is not easy to make batteries cheap, efficient, durable, safe and environmentally friendly at the same time. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in uniting all of these characteristics in zinc metal batteries. The world needs cheap and powerful batteries that can store sustainably produced electricity from wind or sunlight so that we can use it whenever we need it, even when it's dark outside or there's no wind blowing.

Physics - Chemistry - 20.04.2023
Fat quantum cats
Fat quantum cats
Researchers at ETH Zurich have created the heaviest Schrödinger cat to date by putting a crystal in a superposition of two oscillation states. Their results could lead to more robust quantum bits and help to explain why quantum superpositions are not observed in everyday life. Even if you are not a quantum physicist, you will most likely have heard of Schrödinger's famous cat.

Chemistry - Physics - 17.04.2023
A solar hydrogen system that co-generates heat and oxygen
A solar hydrogen system that co-generates heat and oxygen
Researchers have built a pilot-scale solar reactor that produces usable heat and oxygen, in addition to generating hydrogen with unprecedented efficiency for its size. A parabolic dish on the EPFL campus is easily overlooked, resembling a satellite dish or other telecommunications infrastructure. But this dish is special, because it works like an artificial tree.

Pharmacology - Chemistry - 13.04.2023
How drugs get into the blood
Computer simulations have helped researchers understand in detail how pharmaceutically active substances cross cell membranes. These findings can now be used to discover new drug candidates more efficiently. Abstract Cyclic peptides are chemical compounds suitable as potential drugs. Scientists now know in detail how these compounds enter cells.