Scientists at EPFL are using technology to better understand how coronavirus causes blood clots in some patients. They have developed a simplified model of a lung that lets them observe, for the first time, how the virus attacks the cells lining blood vessels. COVID-19 sometimes causes blood clots, although the exact incidence remains a mystery.

This year's Swiss HR Barometer combines two major trends: digitisation, and an aging society. Almost 40 percent of those surveyed can imagine working beyond retirement age. Job satisfaction decreases as digitisation of an employee's tasks increases. Digitisation and electronic monitoring The respondents believed that employers in Switzerland are relatively open to new technologies: more than 74 percent of employees indicated that their employer is willing to use digital solutions.

A technique developed by scientists from the University of Geneva and HUG has made it possible to identify in vitro and validate in vivo, an optimised combination of anticancer drugs that are more effective than chemotherapy and that do not have side effects. A schematic drawing of colon and colorectal carcinoma.

EPFL chemical engineers have developed a new way to manufacture zeolitic membranes, state-of-the-art materials used for gas separation in harsh conditions. Zeolites are porous minerals that occur both naturally but also are being synthesized artificially. Because they are stable and durable, zeolites are used for chemical catalysis, purification of gases and liquids, and even in medical applications such as drug delivery and blood-clotting powders, e.g. the QuickClot trauma bandages used in the US military.

Focused ultrasound waves help ETH researchers to deliver drugs to the brain with pinpoint accuracy, in other words only to where their effect is desired. This method is set to enable treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders and tumours with fewer side effects in the future. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method for concentrating and releasing drugs in the brain with pinpoint accuracy.

Optical frequency combs can link frequencies in the microwave domain to high-purity laser emissions, yielding unprecedented precision in time-keeping and metrology. Now EPFL scientists and their colleagues have generated variable low-noise microwave signals by building variable microwave gears with two compact optical frequency combs.

How do animals produce and perceive biological information in sounds? To what extent does the acoustic structure and its associated meaning change during evolution? An international team led by the University of Zurich and the University of Saint-Etienne reconstructed the evolutionary history of an animal communication system, focusing on drumming signals of woodpeckers.

Researchers have successfully overcome a limiting problem with stabilizing the best-performing formulation of metal-halide perovskite films, a key player in a range of applications, including solar cells. Perovskites are a class of materials made up of organic materials bound to a metal. Their fascinating structure and properties have propelled perovskites into the forefront of materials' research, where they are studied for use in a wide range of applications.

An international team of scientists from EPFL, the Paul Scherrer Institute and Stockholm University has identified a novel driver of new aerosol particle formation in the Arctic during the summer to fall transition. The authors show that iodic acid is important for forming new particles which subsequently influence the formation of clouds and their radiative effect over the Arctic pack ice.

The psychosocial profile of people who resist adopting suitable protective behaviours against the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus provides valuable information about preventing epidemics. Preventive measures are spontaneously adopted by a large section of the population, but pockets of resistance do exist.

ETH Zurich researchers have been able to show why biological cells can take on such an astonishing variety of shapes: it has to do with how the number and strength of  local forces acting on the cell membrane from within. This knowledge feeds into the development of better minimal model systems and artificial cells.

We want to make sure our phones no longer disturb us at the wrong moment. To achieve this, we first have to better understand where our attention lies when using smartphones. Computer scientists at ETH have now developed a system that records eye contact with the display in everyday situations for the first time.

After the announcement, in May, of the first results of serological tests carried out on healthcare personnel in Ticino [ www.usi.ch/en/feeds/13622 ], significant data on the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 is now available, thanks to the analysis carried out - among others - by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI) and Humabs BioMed (subsidiary of Vir Biotechnology), in close collaboration with hospitals and COVID-19 centers in Ticino (Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale EOC and Clinica Luganese Moncucco).

Scientists have measured the molecular footprint that aging leaves on various mouse and human tissues. Using the data, they have identified likely regulators of this central process. Time may be our worst enemy, and aging its most powerful weapon. Our hair turns grey, our strength wanes, and a slew of age-related diseases represent what is happening at the cellular and molecular levels.

Some time ago, ETH researchers developed a filter membrane made out of whey proteins and activated carbon. In a new study, they now demonstrate just how efficient this membrane is at filtering radioactive elements from contaminated water. The nuclear accident in Fukushima remains etched into people's memories.

Scientists have observed - for the first time in living cells - the way mitochondria distribute their transcriptome throughout the cell, and it involves RNA granules that turn out to be highly fluid. Mitochondria are present in all eukaryotic cells: in our cells, in mammalian cells, in the cells of plants and even of fungi.

For the first time, researchers at the Centre for Proton Therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Switzerland have tested ultrafast, high-dose irradiation with protons. This new, experimental FLASH technique could revolutionise radiation therapy for cancer and save patients many weeks of treatment.

Researchers have developed a new generation of microelectrode-array chips for measuring nerve impulses, enabling studies of how thousands of nerve cells interact with each other. For over 15 years, ETH Professor Andreas Hierlemann and his group have been developing microelectrode-array chips that can be used to precisely excite nerve cells in cell cultures and to measure electrical cell activity.

Heatwaves in the world's oceans have become over 20 times more frequent due to human influence. This is what researchers from the Oeschger Centre for Climate Research at the University of Bern are now able to prove. Marine heatwaves destroy ecosystems and damage fisheries. A marine heatwave (ocean heatwave) is an extended period of time in which the water temperature in a particular ocean region is abnormally high.

Researchers at ETH Zurich - in collaboration with colleagues from EPFL in Lausanne and Harvard Medical School - have developed a system that allows them to optically stimulate individual nerve fibres in living mice. Through this process, they have demonstrated that the nervous system has a direct influence on the immune system.