Research management - Sep 28
State Secretary Hirayama in Japan for a working visit and the inauguration of a new Swissnex location
State Secretary Hirayama in Japan for a working visit and the inauguration of a new Swissnex location
wire - news in brief
Category
Results 101 - 150 of 322.
The media uproar over wolf attacks on livestock in Switzerland and a bear attack in Italy show how charged the issue of large carnivores and humans coexisting in Europe is.
Trees are not always a miracle cure for improving air quality
Master's project series (7). Donato Kofel has quantified the positive and negative effects of trees on outdoor air quality in Geneva Canton.
Master's project series (7). Donato Kofel has quantified the positive and negative effects of trees on outdoor air quality in Geneva Canton.
An ETH Zurich architectural centrepiece - the machine laboratory- has been renovated. The historically significant machine hall has been extensively restored to its original condition.
At Empa, Dorina Opris is researching how to synthesize complex electroactive polymers for robotic components, sensors or batteries - a promising project that the European Research Council (ERC) is currently funding with one of its prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants.
STUDENT PROJECT - As part of the Assistive Technologies Challenge, EPFL students developed two apps to help people with low or no vision: one app orally communicates the information contained in a box of medicine and the other helps them find empty seats on public transport.
ETH Zurich molecular biologist Mandy Boontanrart is researching gene therapies that could be used to cure two of the most common types of inherited anaemia. She has now developed a promising approach for so-called beta-hemoglobinopathies. Many hereditary diseases have largely been considered to be incurable.
How to make an on-demand bus network viable
STUDENT PROJECT - For her EPFL Master's project in civil engineering, Gaelle Abi Younes examined why on-demand buses have met with only limited success. She used technical and financial models to show how they could become a genuine alternative to cars in outlying areas. Thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones, we now have a wide range of on-demand services to choose from for traveling short distances: bike-sharing programs, ridesharing, Uber, Lyft and more.
STUDENT PROJECT - For her EPFL Master's project in civil engineering, Gaelle Abi Younes examined why on-demand buses have met with only limited success. She used technical and financial models to show how they could become a genuine alternative to cars in outlying areas. Thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones, we now have a wide range of on-demand services to choose from for traveling short distances: bike-sharing programs, ridesharing, Uber, Lyft and more.
Horizon Europe and future prospects
One-third of current Swiss scientific publications are joint papers with EU scientists. This implies that Switzerland's non-participation in the EU research programme, Horizon Europe, poses various challenges to the research community, economy, and society.
One-third of current Swiss scientific publications are joint papers with EU scientists. This implies that Switzerland's non-participation in the EU research programme, Horizon Europe, poses various challenges to the research community, economy, and society.
A sociological study by the University of Zurich confirms that a considerable proportion of employees perceive their work as socially useless. Employees in financial, sales and management occupations are more likely to conclude that their jobs are of little use to society. In recent years, research showed that many professionals consider their work to be socially useless.
Voluntary carbon offsets often fail to deliver what they promise
calls for more ambitious standards in the voluntary carbon offset market. While this would lead to fewer projects getting funded, the benefit for the climate would be greater overall.
calls for more ambitious standards in the voluntary carbon offset market. While this would lead to fewer projects getting funded, the benefit for the climate would be greater overall.
Bruno Schuler and his young team are embarking on an ambitious research project: He will selectively generate defects in atomically-thin semiconductor layers and attempt to measure and control their quantum properties with simultaneous picosecond temporal resolution and atomic precision. The resulting insights are expected to establish fundamental knowledge for future quantum computers.
STUDENT PROJECT - Charlyne Bürki explored the link between dementia and physical inactivity by comparing the results of subjective and objective studies. Her research uncovered some surprising findings - and led her to an indisputable conclusion.
The team of students is working on a unique prototype that uses graphene membranes combined with a porous, sponge-like material to pull carbon from the atmosphere.
New vehicles are responsible for around ten percent of plastic demand in the EU, and the automotive sector is the number one consumer of raw materials like aluminum, magnesium, platinum group metals, and rare earth elements.
Large language models such as GPT-3 are able to learn new concepts by interacting with their users. Researchers at ETH and Google may now have uncovered a key mechanism behind this capability. Despite their huge success, the inner workings of large language models such as OpenAI's GPT model family and Google Bard remain a mystery, even to their developers.
Robot snake slithers brilliantly after much trial and error
STUDENT PROJECT - Intelligent robots - for search and rescue, exploration and surveillance - are a new and challenging field. Unique and versatile, could robot snakes advance the abilities of machines in these fields? Serpentine robots are a ground-breaking innovation in robotics. These flexible and slithering machines excel at navigating complex and confined spaces, offering immense potential in various fields.
STUDENT PROJECT - Intelligent robots - for search and rescue, exploration and surveillance - are a new and challenging field. Unique and versatile, could robot snakes advance the abilities of machines in these fields? Serpentine robots are a ground-breaking innovation in robotics. These flexible and slithering machines excel at navigating complex and confined spaces, offering immense potential in various fields.
The future Empa and Eawag campus is set to become an inspiring space for new ideas and innovation, also with a view to environmentally and climate-friendly construction of the future.
Since the start of this year, a suite of instruments has been hard at work detecting a broad spectrum of aerosols at the MeteoSwiss weather station in Payerne, in Vaud Canton.
CO2 emissions from fuels (gasoline and diesel) decreased by 1.1 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.
There are plenty of plant identification apps - but only few, that directly help research.
’Federal systems are experimental spaces for a sustainable state.’
Steps toward sustainability are an important topic for many administrations. How does -sustainabilization- work in the Swiss cantons? Marius Christen and Basil Bornemann from the University of Basel examined this question.
Steps toward sustainability are an important topic for many administrations. How does -sustainabilization- work in the Swiss cantons? Marius Christen and Basil Bornemann from the University of Basel examined this question.
In the last few days it has been exceptionally hot. Not only we humans feel the effects of the current weather situation, also the birds have to come to terms with the high temperatures.
For their project -The Armenian presence at the Montreux Jazz Festival - A study of the Tigran Hamasyan Quintet concert in 2014-, Léandre Guy and Basile Tornare explored what exoticism means in music and the limits of genres.
Recent analyses by Swiss TPH show that not only heat waves, but also moderately hot temperatures, contribute to heat-related fatalities. On behalf of the Swiss federal government, Swiss TPH now monitors heat-related deaths in Switzerland on an annual basis. This monitoring provides a long-term record of the effects of climate change on health and helps to identify adaptation measures.
A new mobility app brings together public transport, micromobility solutions and private carpooling.
ETH Zurich and Roche are joining forces in Basel to advance the development of new methods that facilitate the search for medicines. Together, they will train specialists for the biomedical challenges of our time. ETH Zurich and Roche are to collaborate more closely in two new research and training programmes.
Fighting tumours down to the last cancer cell
Researchers at PSI have developed a new drug that could increase the survival chances of patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The drug is now being tested on patients in the PROGNOSTICS project. A research consortium consisting of the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University Hospital Basel and ETH Zurich is receiving two million Swiss francs in funding for this project.
Researchers at PSI have developed a new drug that could increase the survival chances of patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The drug is now being tested on patients in the PROGNOSTICS project. A research consortium consisting of the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University Hospital Basel and ETH Zurich is receiving two million Swiss francs in funding for this project.
STUDENT PROJECTS - Fourteen mechanical engineering students spent a semester getting inside the head of Leonardo da Vinci. Using his drawings from the 15th and 16th centuries, the teams built ingenious machines - altering the design in some cases - in order to better understand how they worked. The "Da Vinci Project," a concurrent engineering project devised by Prof. Pedro Reis, created a buzz of excitement among the three participating teams of final-year Bachelor's students.
Research management - Sep 28
State Secretary Hirayama in Japan for a working visit and the inauguration of a new Swissnex location
State Secretary Hirayama in Japan for a working visit and the inauguration of a new Swissnex location