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Environment - Life Sciences - 07.11.2022 
Insects are strongly affected by climate change
In a study, 70 researchers from 19 countries around the world call for measures to better understand and reduce the impact of climate change on insects. Otherwise, they say, the chance of a sustainable future with healthy ecosystems will be drastically reduced. The researchers also outline ways to help insects in a warming world.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 07.11.2022 
Green and blue food webs are wired differently
Terrestrial and aquatic food webs respond differently to changes in the environment. Understanding these differences is fundamental to identifying the species most important to an ecosystem and to effectively protecting biodiversity. This is shown by a study led by the research institutes Eawag and WSL and published in the journal Nature Communications .
Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 02.11.2022 
A comprehensive view of the world food system
Agriculture practices that preserve resources? Enough food to make sure that everyone can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet? We still are a long way from that, finds Robert Finger - and outlines the most important fields of action to make the food system more sustainable. Today, the global system that supplies us with food is facing major challenges.
Environment - 31.10.2022 
Vegetation Regulates Energy Exchange in the Arctic
Global warming is changing the Arctic by causing permafrost thaw, glacier melt, droughts, fires and changes in vegetation. These developments are strongly linked to the energy exchange between land and the atmosphere. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now shown that different plant communities in the tundra play a key role in this energy exchange but are not taken into account in climate models.
Environment - 28.10.2022 
Brazil on the wrong track
To protect tropical forests in Brazil, commodities traders have made voluntary commitments to avoid buying soybeans grown in areas that have recently been deforested. Two new studies reveal just how inadequate these guidelines are in protecting Brazil from deforestation and assess the potential effect of implementing the commitments on a much larger scale.
Environment - Chemistry - 24.10.2022 
Accurately tracking how plastic biodegrades
Researchers at ETH Zurich and Eawag have developed an approach to accurately record and fully track the biodegradation of plastics in soils. Modern agriculture uses a lot of plastic, especially in the form of mulch film that farmers use to cover field soils. This keeps the soils moist for crops, suppresses weeds and promotes crop growth.
Environment - 19.10.2022 
Renewable cellulose-based fillers
The substitution of petrochemical materials with those obtained from renewable raw materials is an important step towards increasing sustainability.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 18.10.2022 
How rusting iron removes arsenic from water
In many regions of the world, groundwater is contaminated with arsenic of natural origin. The harmful substance can be filtered out of water with the help of iron. researchers have for the first time made visible exactly what happens in this process in a new type of experimental set-up. When metallic iron corrodes, i.e. rusts, iron oxides are formed that can strongly bind pollutants such as arsenic.
Environment - Chemistry - 12.10.2022 
Accurately tracking how plastic biodegrades
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an approach to accurately record and fully track the biodegradation of plastics in soils. Modern agriculture uses a lot of plastic, especially in the form of mulch film that farmers use to cover field soils. This keeps the soils moist for crops, suppresses weeds and promotes crop growth.
Materials Science - Environment - 10.10.2022 
Flexible solar cells with record efficiency of 22.2%
One year after announcing an efficiency record, scientists have achieved a new mark of 22.2% for flexible CIGS solar cell on polymer film. Solar cells of this type are especially suited for applications on buildings, vehicles, satellites, airships, and mobile devices. researchers have - once again - improved the efficiency of CIGS flexible solar cells.
Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 10.10.2022 
Non-native species are also beneficial to the ecosystem
A team of scientists makes the case for reevaluating maligned non-native species. Awareness of non-native species - often called ''invasive'' - has vastly increased over the past fifty years, to the point where anyone with green conscience has heard of them and their negative effects, whether it is the zebra mussel or ragweed.
Environment - 10.10.2022 
With new ponds against amphibian extinction
Nature conservation pays off: amphibians benefit from new ponds - despite many causes of endangerment that still affect them. This is what researchers from WSL and Eawag found in a joint study using data from amphibian monitoring in the canton of Aargau. The study was published in the scientific journal PNAS.
Environment - Life Sciences - 07.10.2022
Transport - Environment - 05.10.2022 
Less noise and better fuel efficiency during approach
The approach and landing of passenger jets is often a burden for people and the environment. The DYNCAT project, in which researchers are working with partners in Switzerland, Germany and France, is aiming at approaches that cause less noise and CO2 emissions - thanks to intelligent assistance systems for the pilots.
Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 29.09.2022 
Turtle studies help trace evolutionary changes
Since Darwin, we have known that evolutionary adaptation is reflected in the appearance and function of species' bodies under environmental changes. One of the questions commonly asked by evolutionary biologists is how body shape relates to a specific ecological feature, such as diet. In a recent study published in the journal Evolution , Guilherme Hermanson and his team at the University of Freiburg looked at the environmental factors that affect the shape of turtle skulls.
Environment - 28.09.2022 
Emperor penguins still free of microplastics
Good news from Antarctica: researchers have examined emperor penguins and found no evidence of microplastics in their stomachs. The study, conducted by the University of Basel and the Alfred-Wegener Institute, is an important assessment of environmental pollution at the South Pole. The researchers studied a colony of emperor penguins in Atka Bay, a remote area on the northeastern edge of the Ekström Ice Shelf.
Environment - Life Sciences - 26.09.2022 
Alpine plants respond to climate change
Researchers from ETH Zurich are studying how alpine vegetation is responding to a warming climate - and how some plant communities are continuing to stand firm against newcomers from lower elevations. A glance down the vertiginous slope is enough to create a dizzying sensation of being airborne. Far below is the city of Chur, with tiny cars beetling among toy houses.
Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 22.09.2022 
How global warming affects astronomical observations
Astronomical observations from ground-based telescopes are sensitive to local atmospheric conditions. Anthropogenic climate change will negatively affect some of these conditions at observation sites around the globe, as a team of researchers led by the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS report.
Environment - Life Sciences - 22.09.2022 
How nanoplastics enter the aquatic food web
The smallest of all plastic particles have remained largely unexplored until now, because they could not be detected in the environment. Now researchers at Eawag show: Nanoplastics stick to slimy biofilms, which can for example be found on stones in streams or rivers. When freshwater snails feed on the slime, the nanoplastics are taken up.
Environment - 14.09.2022 
Why densification often fails due to acceptance
Today, densification is a principle of urban development. Nevertheless, it repeatedly encounters local resistance. ETH spatial scientists: inside have now systematically investigated in six world cities and in the canton of Zurich how the acceptance of densification can be explained among the population.
Environment
Results 81 - 100 of 807.
In a study, 70 researchers from 19 countries around the world call for measures to better understand and reduce the impact of climate change on insects. Otherwise, they say, the chance of a sustainable future with healthy ecosystems will be drastically reduced. The researchers also outline ways to help insects in a warming world.
Terrestrial and aquatic food webs respond differently to changes in the environment. Understanding these differences is fundamental to identifying the species most important to an ecosystem and to effectively protecting biodiversity. This is shown by a study led by the research institutes Eawag and WSL and published in the journal Nature Communications .
Agriculture practices that preserve resources? Enough food to make sure that everyone can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet? We still are a long way from that, finds Robert Finger - and outlines the most important fields of action to make the food system more sustainable. Today, the global system that supplies us with food is facing major challenges.
Global warming is changing the Arctic by causing permafrost thaw, glacier melt, droughts, fires and changes in vegetation. These developments are strongly linked to the energy exchange between land and the atmosphere. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now shown that different plant communities in the tundra play a key role in this energy exchange but are not taken into account in climate models.
To protect tropical forests in Brazil, commodities traders have made voluntary commitments to avoid buying soybeans grown in areas that have recently been deforested. Two new studies reveal just how inadequate these guidelines are in protecting Brazil from deforestation and assess the potential effect of implementing the commitments on a much larger scale.
Researchers at ETH Zurich and Eawag have developed an approach to accurately record and fully track the biodegradation of plastics in soils. Modern agriculture uses a lot of plastic, especially in the form of mulch film that farmers use to cover field soils. This keeps the soils moist for crops, suppresses weeds and promotes crop growth.
The substitution of petrochemical materials with those obtained from renewable raw materials is an important step towards increasing sustainability.
In many regions of the world, groundwater is contaminated with arsenic of natural origin. The harmful substance can be filtered out of water with the help of iron. researchers have for the first time made visible exactly what happens in this process in a new type of experimental set-up. When metallic iron corrodes, i.e. rusts, iron oxides are formed that can strongly bind pollutants such as arsenic.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an approach to accurately record and fully track the biodegradation of plastics in soils. Modern agriculture uses a lot of plastic, especially in the form of mulch film that farmers use to cover field soils. This keeps the soils moist for crops, suppresses weeds and promotes crop growth.
One year after announcing an efficiency record, scientists have achieved a new mark of 22.2% for flexible CIGS solar cell on polymer film. Solar cells of this type are especially suited for applications on buildings, vehicles, satellites, airships, and mobile devices. researchers have - once again - improved the efficiency of CIGS flexible solar cells.
A team of scientists makes the case for reevaluating maligned non-native species. Awareness of non-native species - often called ''invasive'' - has vastly increased over the past fifty years, to the point where anyone with green conscience has heard of them and their negative effects, whether it is the zebra mussel or ragweed.
Nature conservation pays off: amphibians benefit from new ponds - despite many causes of endangerment that still affect them. This is what researchers from WSL and Eawag found in a joint study using data from amphibian monitoring in the canton of Aargau. The study was published in the scientific journal PNAS.
Alpine fish biodiversity is amazingly young
A high fraction of the endemic biodiversity of the Alps is very old. The endemics - species found only in a confined area - have developed over the past millions of years during the cycles of glacial and interglacial periods or even before these cycles began. Fish, however, are an exception: most endemic fish species emerged only after the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago.
A high fraction of the endemic biodiversity of the Alps is very old. The endemics - species found only in a confined area - have developed over the past millions of years during the cycles of glacial and interglacial periods or even before these cycles began. Fish, however, are an exception: most endemic fish species emerged only after the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago.
The approach and landing of passenger jets is often a burden for people and the environment. The DYNCAT project, in which researchers are working with partners in Switzerland, Germany and France, is aiming at approaches that cause less noise and CO2 emissions - thanks to intelligent assistance systems for the pilots.
Since Darwin, we have known that evolutionary adaptation is reflected in the appearance and function of species' bodies under environmental changes. One of the questions commonly asked by evolutionary biologists is how body shape relates to a specific ecological feature, such as diet. In a recent study published in the journal Evolution , Guilherme Hermanson and his team at the University of Freiburg looked at the environmental factors that affect the shape of turtle skulls.
Good news from Antarctica: researchers have examined emperor penguins and found no evidence of microplastics in their stomachs. The study, conducted by the University of Basel and the Alfred-Wegener Institute, is an important assessment of environmental pollution at the South Pole. The researchers studied a colony of emperor penguins in Atka Bay, a remote area on the northeastern edge of the Ekström Ice Shelf.
Researchers from ETH Zurich are studying how alpine vegetation is responding to a warming climate - and how some plant communities are continuing to stand firm against newcomers from lower elevations. A glance down the vertiginous slope is enough to create a dizzying sensation of being airborne. Far below is the city of Chur, with tiny cars beetling among toy houses.
Astronomical observations from ground-based telescopes are sensitive to local atmospheric conditions. Anthropogenic climate change will negatively affect some of these conditions at observation sites around the globe, as a team of researchers led by the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS report.
The smallest of all plastic particles have remained largely unexplored until now, because they could not be detected in the environment. Now researchers at Eawag show: Nanoplastics stick to slimy biofilms, which can for example be found on stones in streams or rivers. When freshwater snails feed on the slime, the nanoplastics are taken up.
Today, densification is a principle of urban development. Nevertheless, it repeatedly encounters local resistance. ETH spatial scientists: inside have now systematically investigated in six world cities and in the canton of Zurich how the acceptance of densification can be explained among the population.
