ETH News

ETH Zurich researchers have investigated how tiny gas bubbles can deliver drugs into cells in a targeted manner using ultrasound. For the first time, they have visualised how tiny liquid jets generated by microbubbles penetrate the cell membrane enabling the drug uptake.

For Switzerland to achieve its net zero climate target, not only must it reduce its CO₂ emissions, it must also find a way to store the greenhouse gas permanently. Researchers at ETH Zurich have investigated whether, and under what conditions, CO₂ could be stored underground in Switzerland.

ETH Zurich¡¯s CAS programme in Applied Technology in Energy provides a deeper understanding of the energy system. It enables participants to play a part in shaping the energy future of their company or industry and therefore in achieving the climate target of net zero.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and ZHAW Winterthur are simulating in a new study how the future Swiss power system could be structured to withstand a drastic fall in gas and electricity imports. By doing so, they aim to contribute to the discussion surrounding Switzerland¡¯s supply security.

This year¡¯s Innovation Project required ETH students to develop kit-based robots capable of delivering gifts down the chimneys of model-sized houses. The ten best teams will compete against each other in the final on 17 December.

At its meeting on December 5, 2024, the ETH Board appointed nine professors at the request of ETH President Jo?l Mesot. In addition, the title "Professor" was awarded twice.

People are already being forced to flee the consequences of climate change to an alarming extent in the Global South, says Jan Freihardt. He believes, however, that Europe's fear of mass climate migration is exaggerated, since international migration has other root causes.

Hydrogen-powered planes are set to take wing around the world in the future. To make this possible, engineers have to develop the jet engines that will power them. Experiments by researchers at ETH Zurich are now providing the necessary basis for making these engines powerful and durable.

An ETH Zurich team of engineers has developed RoBoa ¨C a snake-like robot with the ability to grow in length and slither into the most inaccessible places.

A secure supply of electricity from renewable energies can only succeed if we also modernise the grid infrastructure. At the Energy Science Centre (ESC), ETH researchers are looking for smart ways to make the electricity grid fit for the energy transition without expensive expansion.

Taking place for the first time at Cybathlon 2024 is the Assistance Robot Race, with ETH? represented by Team RSL. When paraplegic pilot Sammy Kunz navigates the course, a four-legged robot will be at his side.?

While living matter can advance technology and render human activities more efficient and eco-friendly, the way in which we currently fabricate materials containing living cells is far from sustainable. Miriam Filippi calls us to rethink our biofabrication practices.

In the international Cybathlon competition, people with physical disabilities undertake routine tasks with the aid of assistive technology that can be seamlessly integrated into everyday life. Below, we present three ETH teams that will be putting their innovative solutions to the test at this October¡¯s event.

This year¡¯s Cybathlon introduces a new discipline, the Vision Assistance Race. Lining up to go is Team SightGuide ¨C a joint venture between UZH, ZHAW and ETH.

Research areas at ETH Zurich span barriers in a wide variety of fields, including cell biology, drug delivery and spatial planning. Below, we look at examples from six different disciplines.

ETH student and top sprinter G¨¦raldine Frey is preparing for her races with an innovative piece of equipment. Developed at ETH Zurich, the Airshield reduces aerodynamic drag, enabling athletes to train at speeds above their normal pace.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new way to break down a dangerous subgroup of PFAS known as PFOS. With the help of nanoparticles and ultrasound, piezocatalysis could offer an effective alternative to existing processes in the future.

ETH Zurich researchers have developed a fast, robot-assisted printing process for earth materials that does not require cement.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a robotic leg with artificial muscles. Inspired by living creatures, it jumps across different terrains in an agile and energy-efficient manner.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have managed to make sound waves travel only in one direction. In the future, this method could also be used in technical applications with electromagnetic waves.

Just last year, the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich AMZ reclaimed a world record title. Now, the student team has wrapped up their Formula Student racing season this year with an unmatched performance that exceeds that of all other student race teams in the circuit.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and The Chinese University of Hong Kong have succeeded for the first time in using remote control to perform a magnetic endoscopy on a live pig. The researchers controlled the probe from Zurich while the animal was on the operating table in Hong Kong.

Southern Europe is currently battling a heat wave. Jan Carmeliet explains how cities can tackle the summer heat. It is a balancing act that calls for finely tuned measures.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and Empa have developed a hydrogel implant that can help prevent endometriosis, a condition that affects a great many women. This innovation also acts as a contraceptive.

A newly developed airshield supports track and field athletes such as Mujinga Kambundji with overspeed training.

This year¡¯s European Hyperloop Week is being held in Zurich. Student engineering teams will present their prototypes to a jury and compete against each other in different categories. ETH Zurich is represented with the Swissloop project.

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.

Whether sustainably produced hydrogen needs to be 100 percent green is currently under debate. Using the production of ammonia and artificial fertiliser as examples, researchers have calculated that "nearly sustainable" hydrogen would be better in the end.

Using a special wafer-thin gold membrane, ETH 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.

Marco Hutter, a pioneer in mobile robotics, has been awarded this year¡¯s R?ssler Prize, the most highly endowed research award at ETH Zurich.

ETH professor Mirko Meboldt helps Swiss SMEs find the right technology to tackle the challenges they face. His early prototypes give companies a solid basis for decision-making ¨C and the confidence to take things further.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences have developed a novel solution for heat pumps. Using this new approach, companies can generate carbon-free process heat at temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius while also drastically reducing the number of different heat pumps required.

Paolo Ermanni researched novel composite materials at ETH for over a quarter of a century. His enthusiasm for materials was rivalled only by his passion for teaching. He will also go down in ETH history as the first Vice Rector for Continuing Education. To mark his retirement, we take a look back at his storied career.

At its meeting of 22 and 23 May 2024 and upon application of Jo?l Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed twelve professors. The Board also awarded the title of "Professor" four times and the title of "Professor of Practice" three times.

Racing cars, robots, aircraft: Bachelor¡¯s students in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering spend two semesters working on a project in teams. They will be presenting their results on 28 May 2024.

Instead of burning coal or oil to produce cement or steel, in the future solar energy could be used for this purpose. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a thermal trap that can absorb concentrated sunlight and deliver heat at over thousand degrees Celsius.

As part of the SpaceHopper project, ETH Zurich students are developing a robot that can navigate very low gravity environments using a jumping-like mode of locomotion.

The quadrupedal robot ANYmal went back to school and has learned a lot. ETH Zurich researchers used machine learning to teach it new skills: the robot can now climb over obstacles and successfully negotiate pitfalls.

The new ETH Policy Fellowship aims to foster greater understanding between government and the academic world. Regina Witter from the Federal Office for Spatial Development was among the first cohort to take part.

At its meeting of 6 and 7 March 2024 and upon application of Jo?l Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed nine professors. The Board also awarded the title of "Professor" three times and the title of "Professor of Practice" once.

Students at ETH Zurich are working together with engineers from the technology firm B¨¹hler to accelerate innovation and minimise the attendant risks. It's a fruitful collaboration that other companies are also poised to benefit from.

The cost of removing large quantities of CO₂ from the air will fall in the medium term, but not as much as previously hoped. This is the conclusion reached by ETH researchers on the basis of new calculations. Efforts to reduce carbon emissions should therefore continue at pace, says the research team.

Roughly one in two wearers of ventricular assist devices are diagnosed with an infection. The reason for this is the thick cable for the power supply. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a solution to mitigate this problem.

Wherever hot water flows, limescale is never far away. In households, this is a nuisance; in thermal power stations, it¡¯s an expensive problem. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have found an answer.

A new Master¡¯s degree programme in Space Systems will be launched at ETH Zurich in autumn 2024. Interested parties can start applying in April.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have recently developed artificial muscles for robot motion. Their solution offers several advantages over previous technologies: it can be used wherever robots need to be soft rather than rigid or where they need more sensitivity when interacting with their environment.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are developing a new method to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. It involves molecules that become acidic when exposed to light. Their new process requires much less energy than conventional technologies.

Climate neutrality and nuclear phase-out: Switzerland's ambitious green electricity targets are realistic if the electricity supply is profoundly and rapidly transformed, as a study by the SWEET EDGE consortium shows. The researchers developed three strategies for expanding renewable energies.

Working in a greenhouse is both strenuous and time-consuming. The picking robot from ETH spin-off Floating Robotics takes on particularly repetitive tasks, thereby alleviating the strain on human pickers. It is currently undergoing testing at Beerstecher AG in Hinwil.

Researchers have trained an artificial intelligence to design the structure of so-called metamaterials with desired mechanical properties for a wide range of applications.

At its meeting of 6 and 7 December 2023 and upon application of Jo?l Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed twelve professors and awarded the title "Professor of Practice" once. ?

ETH Zurich researchers have shown for the first time that microvehicles can be steered through blood vessels in the brains of mice using ultrasound. They hope that this will eventually lead to treatments capable of delivering drugs with pinpoint precision.

Capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and storing it either in recycled concrete aggregate or in geological reservoirs in Iceland is not only technically feasible, but also has a positive carbon footprint. These are the findings of a pilot project lead by ETH Zurich and commissioned by the Swiss confederation.

For her doctoral project at ETH Zurich, Sabrina Badir developed a device that determines the risk of premature birth. Today she is the CEO of spin-off Pregnolia, and her certified measuring device is being used in more than 20 clinics and medical practices.

Marianne Schmid Daners was already fascinated by the human-technology interface when she worked as a registered nurse. Since graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in biomedical engineering, she has been developing biomedical devices for the treatment of heart failure and hydrocephalus.

Modelled on nature: researchers have developed a new material that replicates the structure responsible for the blue feathers of the North American song bird, among many other birds. It also has other striking advantages.

ETH student Luca Hasler has developed a new set of handlebars for parathlete Flurina Rigling. After clinching two world championship titles, she now aims to qualify for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

ETH Zurich researchers taught an autonomous excavator to construct dry stone walls itself using boulders weighing several tonnes and demolition debris.

ETH is offering a new continuing education programme in the serviceability and repairability of buildings and products. The CAS is backed by an architect, a product developer and a production technologist.

Of the 13 scientists receiving an SNSF Starting Grant for projects at ETH Zurich this year, 11 are women.

The ETH Zurich Latsis Prize goes to Professor Inge Herrmann, and the Lopez-Loreta Prize to researcher Alexandre Anthis. The two scientists have been working together for five years to develop new materials and applications for medicine.

For the first time, researchers have succeeded in printing a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons made of different polymers using a new laser scanning technique.

Dimos Poulikakos is retiring in January 2024. The ETH Professor of Thermodynamics has developed many practical applications. His lectures on the fundamentals of thermodynamics have delighted more than 8,000 students; now he passes on a piece of advice for aspiring researchers.

ERC Synergy Grants have been awarded to Barbara Treutlein from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering and Nicolas Noiray from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, together with their European partners.

Using a new 3D printing technique, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed special ceramic structures for a solar reactor. Initial experimental testing show that these structures can boost the production yield of solar fuels.

For the first time, a team of students from ETH Zurich is taking part in the renowned World Solar Challenge. Will they be able to keep up with the world¡¯s best?

Through a new bilateral carbon trading pact, Switzerland is poised to fund thousands of household biogas reactors in Malawi. Marc Kalina has worked with biogas projects across Southern Africa and explains why they often fail to make their promised impact.

Gravity keeps our feet firmly on the ground and Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Meanwhile, satellites in space measure the acceleration caused by the Earth¡¯s gravitational pull.

The start-up Treeless Pack produces cellulose with microorganisms - entirely without wood. The cellulose can be used to produce paper, packaging material or composites for the construction industry in a resource-saving way.

ETH spin-off Gaia Tech transforms waste from olive oil production into high-quality antioxidants for use in cosmetics or food. This turns waste into valuable raw materials.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated the use of a specially coated metal mesh to harvest water from fog and simultaneously remove pollutants. People living in dry but foggy areas should benefit from this technology.

At its meeting of 12 and 13 July 2023 and upon application of Jo?l Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed ten professors.

Swiss engineers are training legged robots for future lunar missions that will search for minerals and raw materials. To ensure that the robots can continue to work even if one of them malfunctions, the researchers are teaching them teamwork.

Sewer systems and centralised treatment plants are not a sustainable solution for managing the world¡¯s wastewater. Environmental engineers at ETH Zurich and Eawag have been helping to develop decentralised, closed-loop modular systems.

Innovative production technologies are crucial to the chemical industry¡¯s net-zero endeavour ¨C but they¡¯re not always enough, says Paolo Gabrielli.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and Empa have developed a patch with a sensor function. It can be used to seal wounds in the abdomen after surgery. The polymer patch warns before the occurrence of dangerous leaks on sutures in the gastrointestinal tract.

The Collegium Helveticum opens an exhibition this weekend that is all about data, patterns and artificial intelligence.

Gabriela Hug ¨C an expert in power transmission networks ¨C argues that securing an affordable energy supply from renewable sources is not a utopian ideal for Switzerland, but rather a practical and feasible necessity.

The start-up Unbound Potential has developed a new battery technology for long-duration energy storage ¨C and received a grant of one million euros for it.

From tackling micropollutants in wastewater to removing plastic waste from rivers, here are five solutions based on ETH expertise.

Divers are often put at considerable risk when searching for people or objects underwater. The ETH spin-off Tethys has developed an underwater robot that can be used in situations that are too dangerous for human divers.

Security of energy supply in a fossil-free Switzerland is feasible and affordable according to a new white paper from an expert group at the Energy Science Center. It will require increased production of renewables and efficient energy trading with neighbouring countries.

Bachelor¡¯s students at ETH Zurich were given a year to turn their original ideas into finished products. ETH News presents videos of two of these projects.

Yesterday, Swiss President Alain Berset toured the Carbfix plant in Iceland and visited the facilities where the pilot project "DemoUpCARMA" is implemented. The project aims at injecting and storing CO₂ in the Icelandic underground. Marco Mazzotti, project coordinator and ETH Zurich professor, explains why Swiss CO₂ is being shipped all the way to Iceland.

If European countries collaborate, they can avoid severe energy scarcity due to a gas shortage. This is the finding of a new study by ETH Zurich researchers.

It is not easy to make batteries cheap, efficient, durable, safe and environmentally friendly at the same time. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in uniting all of these characteristics in zinc metal batteries.

For minimally invasive surgery, the instruments used must be small. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a method to transport large devices through a narrow catheter. This expands the possibilities for designing minimally invasive surgical tools.

Robots that can perform guarding tasks and overcome obstacles have already been seen in films such as the Pixar animation "Wall-E ". This film is set 800 years in the future. But similar robots are now becoming reality.

More effective, reusable and self-repairing: a new kind of corrosion protection developed by the ETH researchers Marco D'Elia, Walter Caseri und Markus Niederberger has been honoured with ETH Zurich¡¯s Spark Award 2023. The innovation offers excellent market potential and could significantly slow down the deterioration of buildings and vehicles.

Researchers at ETH Zurich achieved a shape memory effect for the first time with objects that are only a few nanometers in size. This can be used to manufacture tiny machinery and robotic devices on the nanoscale.

A new study shows what it will take for the plastics industry to become completely sustainable: lots of recycling combined with the use of CO₂ from the air and biomass. It is also the image of plastics that need to change.

Robotics specialists from a group led by ETH professor Raffaello D¡¯Andrea have created a new, cube-shaped robot that can balance on its pivot and compensate for external disturbances. What makes the One-Wheel Cubli unique? Unlike its predecessors, it only requires a single reaction wheel.

Until now, microscopic robotic systems have had to make do without arms. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an ultrasonically actuated glass needle that can be attached to a robotic arm. This lets them pump and mix minuscule amounts of liquid and trap particles.

A grand total of 26 spin-offs were founded at ETH Zurich in 2022. Their businesses range from new cancer drugs and sustainable water bottles to digital mapping of urban traffic flows. The ETH spin-off family also welcomed three new unicorns and raised 1.2 billion Swiss francs in fresh capital.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Carnegie Institution for Science have shown how nitrogen fertiliser could be produced more sustainably. This is necessary not only to protect the climate, but also to reduce dependence on imported natural gas and to increase food security.

Elvis Nava teaches robots to carry out oral and written commands. To this end, he sends them to ¡°training camps¡± where they learn to combine image, text and motion data.

We posed this question to ETH Zurich researchers. In return, we got five intriguing answers from the perspectives of biomedicine, computer science, biology, robotics and philosophy.

ETH Zurich and armasuisse Science and Technology are launching a joint security robotics programme. Over the course of five years, armasuisse will be investing 2.5 million Swiss francs in selected research projects.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a new transparent gold nanocoating that harnesses sunlight to heat the lenses of glasses, thereby preventing them from fogging in humid conditions. This coating could potentially also be applied to car windshields.

As part of a two-day state visit to Switzerland, the Italian President stopped off at ETH Zurich on Wednesday (30 November) in the company of President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis. After a welcome by ETH President Jo?l Mesot and some words of greeting from the two guests, researchers and students of the university provided an insight into their work.