ETH News

From 2016 to 2022, Thomas Zurbuchen was responsible for research at NASA, the US space agency. From August this year, he will become director of ETH Zurich Space. This initiative aims to promote space research and teaching at ETH and to expand and strengthen cooperation with the space industry.

ETH Zurich started offering pre-apprenticeships for refugees last August. How are things going for the first two participants in the programme? And what are the next steps for the pilot project?

At the togETHer staff party, Professor Laura Nyström was presented with the ALEA Award as ETH Zurich’s most exemplary leader. The award, presented annually, aims to emphasise the huge importance of leadership skills for the success of ETH and to promote the desired leadership culture.

PEF bioplastic could solve some of the problems caused by PET. The lengthy and energy-intensive production process has so far prevented mass production. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a method that could finally make the PEF marketable.

On Sunday, Croatia and France are playing for the 2018 World Cup title. Our robots have also been infected by the worldwide football hype. The quadrupedal ANYmal has been training diligently in the last weeks and learned how to kick.

ETH Zurich archives cultural assets and makes them available to the public. At the same time, it makes an impact on Swiss culture like almost no other institution.  

“Everything begins and ends with family,” said ETH President Lino Guzzella at the Executive Board’s drinks reception in 2017. But is it really possible to combine top-class research with a fulfilled family life? And can you have a career at ETH if you are a parent?

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.

ETH Professor Nicola Spaldin will today be honoured for her revolutionary research in the field of materials science. In Paris, she is set to receive the L'Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science award for Europe, which carries prize money of 100,000 euros.

Whether shopping online or offline, everyone knows how difficult it can be to find the right outfit. Fashwell, an ETH spin-off, now has a remedy for that. Its app unites social media and online shopping to help users track down the clothes they like.

Take three driven physics wizards, an innovative business idea and lots of hard work, and what do you get? An ETH spin-off that could further advance both MRI research and medical diagnostics.

On Tuesday evening, 13 upcoming young scientists presented their projects at the Falling Walls Lab in Zurich. ETH doctoral student Mattias Ivarsson was declared the winner and has been awarded the chance to present his winning molecule at the Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin on 8 November.

The top 100 Swiss startups of 2014 were announced yesterday evening, and 18 ETH spin-offs were included in the list. What’s more, the startup with the best prospects of success started life at ETH Zurich.

Bridges become an infrastructure problem as they get older, as de-icing salt and carbon dioxide gradually destroy the reinforced concrete. A new robot can now check the condition of these structures, even in places that people cannot reach.

An innovative filter makes it possible to purify water more quickly, simply and economically than ever before. The developers hope the device will soon play a big role development aid, and they are looking for investors to help them achieve this goal.

ETH landscape architect Günther Vogt and the American conceptual artist Dan Graham have given the rooftop garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York a makeover that is exactly Big Apple`s taste. The extraordinary installation will remain on display until 2 November 2014.

Not one… but two ETH-Zurich spin-offs managed to convince the judging panel from the venture kick initiative and win an advancement award of CHF 130,000. The best start-up projects of the year’s first quarter were a sun-protection app and a chair that can walk.