July 2017

Science and the IT industry have high hopes for quantum computing, but descriptions of possible applications tend to be vague. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now come up with a concrete example that demonstrates what quantum computers will actually be able to achieve in the future.

Fifty students from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities want to revolutionise transport. For a race set up by Elon Musk, they have developed a zero emission capsule that could in future transport people and goods through a vacuum tube at almost the speed of sound.

Climate change is leading to ever higher temperatures and aridity in many areas, making efficient room cooling increasingly important. An ETH doctoral student at the Functional Materials Laboratory has developed an alternative to electrically powered air conditioning: a cooling curtain made of a porous triple-layer membrane.

Technology opens the doors to new worlds. Yet it’s both a blessing and a curse, and as scientists, we should take care not to drive the wheel of development on faster than we need to. Summer might be the ideal time for a light-hearted look at this idea.

ETH microbiologists led by Markus Künzler have discovered a remarkable enzyme in a fungus. They now want to use it to develop new drugs.

Together with scientists from Empa, ETH Professor Jan Carmeliet studied the latest heatwave last June. ETH News asked him where is the most pleasant place to be in Zurich in summer, and which structural measures should be taken to protect cities from extreme heat events.

Digitalisation simplifies many aspects of our everyday life, but it also creates new risks. Srdjan Capkun, Professor for Information Security, explains how to find the right balance between convenience and security.

Travel and happiness have a complicated relationship – even the Stoics were aware of this. An interview with philosopher Michael Hampe on the opportunities and risks that come with travelling.

Lead

If European countries cooperated better in the field of wind energy, wind power output would fluctuate less. This is the conclusion reached by a group of energy and climate researchers at ETH Zürich and Imperial College London, who for the first time have combined a long-term analysis of predominant weather patterns with Europe-wide wind electricity generation.