news 2024

Pharmaceutical researchers often find new pharmaceutically active substances only by sifting through large collections of chemical compounds. Chemists at ETH Zurich have now made critical progress on a specific process for generating and searching these collections. Nowadays, there's lots of buzz about spectacular new medical treatments such as personalised cancer therapy with modified immune cells or antibodies.

Scientists at EPFL have developed an AI tool that creates detailed models of cellular metabolism, making it easier to understand how cells function. Understanding how cells process nutrients and produce energy - collectively known as metabolism - is essential in biology. However, analyzing the vast amounts of data on cellular processes to determine metabolic states is a complex task.

Scientists around the world can now go full throttle in their research into chemical plastics recycling. Researchers at ETH Zurich have laid important foundations for this by showing that it's all'about the stirring. Hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste are generated worldwide every year.

Scientists have developed an AI-based technique to improve chemical analysis of nanomaterials, overcoming challenges of noisy data and mixed signals. "Nanomaterials" is a broad term used to describe chemical substances or materials in which a single unit is sized between 1 and 100 nanometers (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter).

An international study led by researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has used a new method to identify the various sources of aerosols that create smog in Beijing. A number of studies have estimated that air pollution is responsible for several million deaths worldwide every year. In order to take appropriate measures to keep the air clean, it is important to know where the pollutants come from.

Researchers a novel AI-driven model designed to predict protein sequences from backbone scaffolds, incorporating complex molecular environments. It promises significant advancements in protein engineering and applications across various fields, including medicine and biotechnology. Image caption: Schematic representation of sequence prediction with CARBonAra.

An international team of researchers led by the University of Bern has used observation-based computer modelling to find an explanation for how macromolecules can form in a short time in disks of gas and dust around young stars. These findings could be crucial for understanding how habitability develops around different types of exoplanets and stars.

Scientists have discovered how yeast cells sense physical stresses on the membranes that protect them. Cell membranes play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and functionality of cells. However, the mechanisms by which they perform these roles are not yet fully understood. Scientists from the University of Geneva , in collaboration with the Institut de biologie structurale de Grenoble (IBS) and the University of Fribourg (UNIFR), have used cryo-electron microscopy to observe how lipids and proteins at the plasma membrane interact and react to mechanical stress.

Researchers are developing a process inspired by nature that efficiently recovers europium from old fluorescent lamps. The approach could lead to the long-awaited recycling of rare earth metals. Rare earth metals are not as rare as their name suggests. However, they are indispensable for the modern economy.

A new electrolyte design for lithium metal batteries could significantly boost the range of electric vehicles. Researchers at ETH Zurich have radically reduced the amount of environmentally harmful fluorine required to stabilise these batteries. Lithium metal batteries are among the most promising candidates of the next generation of high-energy batteries.

Using a special wafer-thin gold membrane, researchers have made it significantly easier to study surfaces. The membrane makes it possible to measure properties of surfaces that are inaccessible to conventional methods. "Surfaces were invented by the devil" - this quote is attributed to the theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who taught at ETH Zurich for many years and in 1945 received the Nobel Prize in physics for his contributions to quantum mechanics.

Scientists at EPFL have developed advanced atom-thin graphene membranes with pyridinic-nitrogen at pore edges, showing unprecedented performance in CO2 capture. It marks a significant stride toward more efficient carbon capture technologies. As the world battles climate change, the need for efficient and cost-effective carbon capture technologies is more urgent than ever.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have shown that quantum states of single electron spins can be controlled by currents of electrons whose spins are evenly aligned. In the future, this method could be used in electronic circuit elements. Electrons have an intrinsic angular momentum, the so-called spin, which means that they can align themselves along a magnetic field, much like a compass needle.

Cathodic corrosion protection is a widely used technique for protecting steel-based infrastructure from corrosion. researchers have now clarified the detailed mechanisms involved, thereby resolving a controversial issue that had preoccupied the engineering community for decades. Corrosion is a chemical reaction to which even the strongest structures fall victim.

Thanks to a new multidisciplinary approach, a team from the University of Geneva and the CNRS has traced the dietary practices of a Senegalese village. This method will be used for other archaeological digs. Food is more than just a biological need. A veritable marker of culture and identity, it encompasses a wide range of practices that allow us to "read" a region, a country or a social group.

Scientists introduce ChemCrow, a large language model-based AI system that revolutionizes chemistry by integrating 18 advanced tools for tasks like organic synthesis and drug discovery. ChemCrow streamlines complex processes in chemical research, making it more efficient for experts and novices alike.

An EPFL research project has developed a method based on machine-learning to quickly and accurately search large databases, leading to the discovery of 14 new materials for solar cells. As we integrate solar energy into our daily lives, it has become important to find materials that efficiently convert sunlight into electricity.

At temperatures above 30°C, water loss through transpiration increases in trees, while CO2 uptake decreases - even when there is enough CO2 in the atmosphere. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL were able to show this in a study conducted using a new high-tech facility.

An EPFL scientist along with colleagues from universities across Europe have completed the first-ever quantitative study of the changes that soil organic matter from forests can cause in high-altitude and high-latitude lakes once it's dissolved in the water Treelines are rising around the world as a result of global warming.

They are found as fragrances in cosmetics or as flavorings in food, and form the basis of new medications: Terpenes are natural substances that occur in plants, insects and sea sponges. They are difficult to produce synthetically. However, chemists at the University of Basel are now introducing a new method of synthesis.