News in Brief
Health - Oct 25
Roche launches comprehensive genomic profiling kit to expand access to personalised cancer research
Roche launches comprehensive genomic profiling kit to expand access to personalised cancer research
news
« BACK
Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 14.10.2021 
The planet does not fall far from the star
A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. For the first time now, a team of scientists, with the participation of researchers of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS from the University of Bern and the University of Zürich, deliver empirical evidence to support the assumption - and partly contradict it at the same time.
Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 13.10.2021 
Did Venus, Earth’s twin sister, ever have oceans?
Astrophysicists led by the UNIGE and the NCCR PlanetS have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans. The planet Venus can be seen as the Earth's evil twin. At first sight, it is of comparable mass and size as our home planet, similarly consists mostly of rocky material, holds some water and has an atmosphere.
Astronomy / Space Science - 22.09.2021 
Very old Universe reveals new galaxies
Scientists serendipitously discover two heavily dust-enshrouded galaxies that formed when the Universe was only 5% of its present age. While investigating the data of young, distant galaxies observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Yoshinobu Fudamoto from Waseda University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan noticed unexpected emissions coming from seemingly empty regions in space that, a global research team confirmed, came actually from two hitherto undiscovered galaxies heavily obscured by cosmic dust.
Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 08.09.2021 
Surprise: the Milky Way is not homogeneous
Astronomers from the UNIGE have observed the composition of the gases in our galaxy and have shown that, contrary to the models established until now, they are not homogeneously mixed. In order to better understand the history and evolution of the Milky Way, astronomers are studying the composition of the gases and metals that make up an important part of our galaxy.
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 19.08.2021 
Researchers from IRSOL and IAC solve twenty-year-old paradox in solar physics
In 1998, the journal Nature published a seminal letter concluding that a mysterious signal, which had been recently discovered analysing the polarization of sunlight, implies that the solar chromosphere (a very important layer of the solar atmosphere) is practically unmagnetised, in sharp contradiction with common wisdom.
Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 29.07.2021 
Small force, big effect: How the planets could influence the sun
A new theory supports the controversial hypothesis that the planets affect solar activity. It puts forward a mechanism by which the very small influence of the planets could exert its rhythm on such a large system as the Sun. If the theory is confirmed, it could possibly be used to predict solar activity more accurately.
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 26.07.2021 
On eternal imbalance
Some physical systems, especially in the quantum world, do not reach a stable equilibrium even after a long time. An ETH researcher has now found an elegant explanation for this phenomenon. If you put a bottle of beer in a big bathtub full of ice-cold water, it won't be long before you can enjoy a cold beer.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 22.07.2021 
Advancing to the core thanks to marsquakes
Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. Marsquakes recorded by NASA's InSight lander provided information about the structure of the planet's crust, mantle and core. We know that Earth is made up of layers: a thin crust of light, solid rock surrounds a thick mantle of heavy, viscous rock, which in turn envelopes a core consisting mainly of iron and nickel.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 22.07.2021 
The anatomy of a planet
Researchers at ETH Zurich working together with an international team have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. They measured the crust, mantle and core and narrowed down their composition. The three resulting articles are being published together as a cover story in the journal Science .
Astronomy / Space Science - 20.07.2021 
Xenon Researchers Unite to Build Next-generation Dark Matter Detector
The two major competing experiments, XENON/DARWIN at Gran Sasso in Italiy and LUX-ZEPLIN in the US, have now joined forces to work together on a new, single, multi-tonne scale xenon observatory to explore dark matter. The detector will be highly sensitive to a wide range of proposed dark matter particles and their interactions with visible matter.
Astronomy / Space Science - Economics / Business - 28.06.2021 
Unique exoplanet photobombs CHEOPS study of nearby star system
While studying two exoplanets in a bright nearby star system, the CHEOPS satellite has unexpectedly spotted the system's third known planet crossing the face of the star. This transit reveals exciting details about a rare planet -with no known equivalent-, as the scientific team led by the Universities of Geneva and Bern, and members of the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS, point out.
Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 18.06.2021 
Scientists detect signatures of life remotely
It could be a milestone on the path to detecting life on other planets: Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bern and of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS detect a key molecular property of all living organisms from a helicopter flying several kilometers above ground.
Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 31.05.2021 
Looking deep into the universe
How is matter distributed within our universe? And what is the mysterious substance known as dark energy made of? HIRAX, a new large telescope array comprising hundreds of small radio telescopes, should provide some answers. Among those instrumental in developing the system are physicists from ETH Zurich.
Astronomy / Space Science - 25.05.2021 
The Universe is hotter than expected
Researchers at the University of Geneva have succeeded in reconciling cosmological theory and observations of the Universe by considering that it is hotter than previously thought. Astrophysicists still encounter various inconsistencies between cosmological theory and measurements made with various research instruments.
Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 31.03.2021 
Two strange planets
Uranus and Neptune both have a completely skewed magnetic field, perhaps due to the planets- special inner structures. But new experiments by ETH researchers now show that the mystery remains unsolved. The two large gas planets Uranus and Neptune have strange magnetic fields. These are each strongly tilted relative to the planet's rotation axes and are significantly offset from the physical centre of the planet.
Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 11.03.2021 
How the habitability of exoplanets is influenced by their rocks
The weathering of silicate rocks plays an important role to keep the climate on Earth clement. Scientists led by the University of Bern and the Swiss national center of competence in research (NCCR) PlanetS, investigated the general principles of this process. Their results could influence how we interpret the signals from distant worlds - including such that may hint towards life.
Astronomy / Space Science - Microtechnics - 05.03.2021 
Army of robots pushes the limits of astrophysics
One thousand newly-minted microrobots created in EPFL labs will soon be deployed at two large-scale telescopes in Chile and the United States. These high-precision instruments, capable of positioning optical fibers to within a micron, will vastly increase the quantity of astrophysics data that can be gathered - and expand our understanding of the Universe.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 04.03.2021 
Volcanoes might light up the night sky of this planet
Until now, researchers have found no evidence of global tectonic activity on planets outside our solar system. Under the leadership of the University of Bern and the National Center of Competence in Research NCCR PlanetS, scientists have now found that the material inside planet LHS 3844b flows from one hemisphere to the other and could be responsible for numerous volcanic eruptions on one side of the planet.
Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 01.03.2021 
Extinct atom reveals the long-kept secrets of the solar system
Using the extinct niobium-92 atom, ETH researchers have been able to date events in the early solar system with greater precision than before. The study concludes that supernova explosions must have taken place in the birth environment of our sun. If an atom of a chemical element has a surplus of protons or neutrons, it becomes unstable.
Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 22.02.2021 
Martian moons have a common ancestor
Phobos and Deimos are the remains of a larger Martian moon that was disrupted between 1 and 2.7 billion years ago, say researchers from the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich and the Physics Institute at the University of Zurich. They reached this conclusion using computer simulations and seismic recordings from the InSight Mars mission.
Astronomy/Space Science
Results 1 - 20 of 150.
A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. For the first time now, a team of scientists, with the participation of researchers of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS from the University of Bern and the University of Zürich, deliver empirical evidence to support the assumption - and partly contradict it at the same time.
Astrophysicists led by the UNIGE and the NCCR PlanetS have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans. The planet Venus can be seen as the Earth's evil twin. At first sight, it is of comparable mass and size as our home planet, similarly consists mostly of rocky material, holds some water and has an atmosphere.
Scientists serendipitously discover two heavily dust-enshrouded galaxies that formed when the Universe was only 5% of its present age. While investigating the data of young, distant galaxies observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Yoshinobu Fudamoto from Waseda University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan noticed unexpected emissions coming from seemingly empty regions in space that, a global research team confirmed, came actually from two hitherto undiscovered galaxies heavily obscured by cosmic dust.
Astronomers from the UNIGE have observed the composition of the gases in our galaxy and have shown that, contrary to the models established until now, they are not homogeneously mixed. In order to better understand the history and evolution of the Milky Way, astronomers are studying the composition of the gases and metals that make up an important part of our galaxy.
In 1998, the journal Nature published a seminal letter concluding that a mysterious signal, which had been recently discovered analysing the polarization of sunlight, implies that the solar chromosphere (a very important layer of the solar atmosphere) is practically unmagnetised, in sharp contradiction with common wisdom.
A new theory supports the controversial hypothesis that the planets affect solar activity. It puts forward a mechanism by which the very small influence of the planets could exert its rhythm on such a large system as the Sun. If the theory is confirmed, it could possibly be used to predict solar activity more accurately.
Some physical systems, especially in the quantum world, do not reach a stable equilibrium even after a long time. An ETH researcher has now found an elegant explanation for this phenomenon. If you put a bottle of beer in a big bathtub full of ice-cold water, it won't be long before you can enjoy a cold beer.
Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. Marsquakes recorded by NASA's InSight lander provided information about the structure of the planet's crust, mantle and core. We know that Earth is made up of layers: a thin crust of light, solid rock surrounds a thick mantle of heavy, viscous rock, which in turn envelopes a core consisting mainly of iron and nickel.
Researchers at ETH Zurich working together with an international team have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. They measured the crust, mantle and core and narrowed down their composition. The three resulting articles are being published together as a cover story in the journal Science .
The two major competing experiments, XENON/DARWIN at Gran Sasso in Italiy and LUX-ZEPLIN in the US, have now joined forces to work together on a new, single, multi-tonne scale xenon observatory to explore dark matter. The detector will be highly sensitive to a wide range of proposed dark matter particles and their interactions with visible matter.
While studying two exoplanets in a bright nearby star system, the CHEOPS satellite has unexpectedly spotted the system's third known planet crossing the face of the star. This transit reveals exciting details about a rare planet -with no known equivalent-, as the scientific team led by the Universities of Geneva and Bern, and members of the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS, point out.
It could be a milestone on the path to detecting life on other planets: Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bern and of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS detect a key molecular property of all living organisms from a helicopter flying several kilometers above ground.
How is matter distributed within our universe? And what is the mysterious substance known as dark energy made of? HIRAX, a new large telescope array comprising hundreds of small radio telescopes, should provide some answers. Among those instrumental in developing the system are physicists from ETH Zurich.
Researchers at the University of Geneva have succeeded in reconciling cosmological theory and observations of the Universe by considering that it is hotter than previously thought. Astrophysicists still encounter various inconsistencies between cosmological theory and measurements made with various research instruments.
Uranus and Neptune both have a completely skewed magnetic field, perhaps due to the planets- special inner structures. But new experiments by ETH researchers now show that the mystery remains unsolved. The two large gas planets Uranus and Neptune have strange magnetic fields. These are each strongly tilted relative to the planet's rotation axes and are significantly offset from the physical centre of the planet.
The weathering of silicate rocks plays an important role to keep the climate on Earth clement. Scientists led by the University of Bern and the Swiss national center of competence in research (NCCR) PlanetS, investigated the general principles of this process. Their results could influence how we interpret the signals from distant worlds - including such that may hint towards life.
One thousand newly-minted microrobots created in EPFL labs will soon be deployed at two large-scale telescopes in Chile and the United States. These high-precision instruments, capable of positioning optical fibers to within a micron, will vastly increase the quantity of astrophysics data that can be gathered - and expand our understanding of the Universe.
Until now, researchers have found no evidence of global tectonic activity on planets outside our solar system. Under the leadership of the University of Bern and the National Center of Competence in Research NCCR PlanetS, scientists have now found that the material inside planet LHS 3844b flows from one hemisphere to the other and could be responsible for numerous volcanic eruptions on one side of the planet.
Using the extinct niobium-92 atom, ETH researchers have been able to date events in the early solar system with greater precision than before. The study concludes that supernova explosions must have taken place in the birth environment of our sun. If an atom of a chemical element has a surplus of protons or neutrons, it becomes unstable.
Phobos and Deimos are the remains of a larger Martian moon that was disrupted between 1 and 2.7 billion years ago, say researchers from the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich and the Physics Institute at the University of Zurich. They reached this conclusion using computer simulations and seismic recordings from the InSight Mars mission.
News in Brief
Health - Oct 25
Roche launches comprehensive genomic profiling kit to expand access to personalised cancer research
Roche launches comprehensive genomic profiling kit to expand access to personalised cancer research