The wastewater goldmine

This story can be told in two ways. First, there’s the market story. What a waste! All the valuable stuff in human excrement just poured down the sewers. Out of sight, out of mind. Money just thrown...

Actuators instead of motors

Does something have to be set in motion? Nature relies on muscles, technology on motors; nature deforms, technology turns and screws. That could all be about to change, because researchers from Empa...

Genetics for conservation

Motorways dissect the habitats of wild animals. Green bridges are intended to ensure that the animals can move around widely along their traditional routes again. But do these expensive structures...

Designing the networked future

Crossing the street in Fehraltorf, you would never know that there is a constant stream of data being recorded and transmitted up underfoot. The water level in the drainage canals, which run under...

Innovative research, happy pilots and enthusiastic spectators

Cutting a slice of bread or screwing in a lightbulb - the sell-out crowd were spellbound in the seats of the Swiss Arena in Kloten as people with arm amputations mastered these everyday tasks with...

Better, safer and even more cost-efficient batteries

The battery market is dominated by lithium-ion batteries. They can be inserted into a smartphone or computer, and can be used in electric cars or for the storage of solar energy at the EPFL. "These...

Oak instead of spruce

The people leading the research programme briefed the media in November 2016 to report on the results. The people who were invited to attend met up on a forest path close to the Swiss Federal...

Wood for every occasion

Trees as high as 30 metres still stand up to the wind, even if their stems are relatively thin. Tanja Zimmermann has meticulously studied the structure of wood for years in order to understand this...

Inventing the Future

The Federal Government’s Energy Strategy 2050 plans to increase the production of solar electricity in future. But when the sun shines, there may be times of overproduction, then the feeding into the...

New Recipes for a super-material

Tiny pillars of colourful hexagons all pointing upwards, adorn the cover of the renowned British journal Nature, issued on 7 August 2014, – perfectly formed carbon nanotubes which embody a...