wire - news in brief

Buildings, roads, railways, supply and disposal networks and much more: The entire Swiss built environment is as complex as its challenges for the future - due to climate change, natural hazards, population growth and other factors.

Ultra-fast capsules in vacuum tubes: All around the world, companies and research institutes are working on "Hyperloop" concepts.

Super-insulating materials such as aerogels are expensive. At the same time, they offer a powerful advantage: the thinner the insulation of a building, the larger its usable area.

Noise barriers or improved wheel systems and brakes that are less noisy are not the only ways to reduce railway noise for close-by residents. An inconspicuous component under the tracks is a source of hope for a research team including scientists. Railway noise is unhealthy. Hundreds of millions of Swiss francs have already been invested in noise barriers, quieter braking systems and other measures with the goal to protect at least 80 percent of the Swiss population from emissions by the year 2025 - but because railway traffic will continue to increase, a lot remains to be done.

Kurt Heutschi, a senior scientist in Empa's Acoustics / Noise Control lab, explains what noise does and why we perceive sound so differently.

A bandage that releases medication as soon as an infection starts in a wound could treat injuries more efficiently. researchers are currently working on polymer fibers that soften as soon as the environment heats up due to an infection, thereby releasing antimicrobial drugs. It is not possible to tell from the outside whether a wound will heal without problems under the dressing or whether bacteria will penetrate the injured tissue and ignite an inflammation.

A lot has happened in 2021: In January, the Swiss government adopted the "Long-Term Climate Strategy for Switzerland" with the goal of net zero by 2050.

Operations on the digestive tract involve particularly high risks. To enable wounds on the intestinal wall to be sealed tightly in the future, Empa researcher Alexandre Anthis has developed a patch that prevents dangerous leaks.

If Switzerland wants to achieve its goal of being climate neutral by 2050, there are still many hurdles to overcome.

We live in moving times. And quite literally: Mobility, both of people and goods, has probably never been greater than in our globalized present - apart from the restrictions imposed by Corona, of course.

Together with teams from England and Germany, researchers developed a monitoring system for aircraft components.

Empa is working intensively on solutions to reach the climate targets and is starting on its own doorstep.

Together with scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), X-ray specialists from Empa are now providing their industrial partners with access to state-of-the-art material analysis of 3D-printed work pieces and components.

Every year, the most cited scientists are selected. They are each considered to be particularly influential in their field.

Short-wave infrared light (SWIR) is useful for many things: It helps sort out damaged fruit and inspecting silicon chips, and it enables night vision devices with sharp images.

In January 2021, Empa and BASE (Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy) were among the winners of the prestigious Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge by data.org, a platform for partnerships committed to build the field of data science for social impact.

Sediments in the Spöl, a small river in the very south of the canton Graubünden, are contaminated with PCBs.

Solar cells as design objects now adorn the façade above the main entrance to the NEST building of Empa and Eawag.

On 26 August 1992, two people entered the Empa reception in Dübendorf with two samples of osmium-187 - a rare and valuable isotope of the platinum metal - which they wanted to have analyzed.

A new efficiency record of 21.4% for flexible CIGS solar cell on polymer film has been achieved by scientists at Empa. Solar cells of this type are especially suited for applications on roofs, transport vehicles or mobile devices. A group of scientists at Empa has pushed the efficiency of flexible solar cells to a new limit.

The COgITOR project is being funded by the EU with about 3.5 million Euros for the next four years.

Sprint sets new standards for circular construction: In only ten months, flexible and COVID-19-compliant office spaces were built at NEST, the research and innovation platform of Empa and Eawag, using mostly reused materials and components.

Switzerland's building stock is quite impressive. There are around 1.8 million buildings in the country, but only one percent of this building stock is renovated each year.

Alain Aerni is trying to look into the future: His "Crystalball" energy control system combines photovoltaics, heat pumps and charging stations and uses weather reports to predict energy requirements.

Torrential rain and flooding have dominated the weather over the past few weeks.

Synhelion and Empa are conducting a joint research project, co-funded by the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse, to further develop a high-temperature energy storage solution that is a key component in the production of climate-friendly solar fuels. The project will enable the cost-effective and scalable storage of high-temperature solar heat at over 1'000°C for the first time.

Data and signals can be transmitted quickly and reliably with glass fibers - as long as the fiber does not break.

Modern, decentralized energy systems are a highly complex matter. Planning them in an optimal and cost-efficient way is a major challenge for energy planners.

A new chemical process developed by Empa turns cotton into a fire-resistant fabric, that nevertheless retains the skin-friendly properties of cotton.

The research and innovation building NEST of Empa and Eawag can now be visited virtually at any time and from anywhere in the world.

The number of data-transmitting microdevices, for instance in packaging and transport logistics, will increase sharply in the coming years.

Digital twins enable customized medical therapies. researchers have now modeled several hundred such avatars based on real people and treated them experimentally.