March 2015

While the significance of healthy soils for all life on earth, including human life, is becoming more apparent, we remain minimally committed to their conservation. It is time to use our advances in soil knowledge to manage our soils more sustainably.

Scientists from ETH Zurich have developed a thermometer that is at least 100 times more sensitive than previous temperature sensors. It consists of a bio-synthetic hybrid material of tobacco cells and nanotubes.

Cold snaps like the ones that hit the eastern United States in the past winters are not a consequence of climate change. Scientists at ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology have shown that global warming actually tends to reduce temperature variability.

Need an optical or electron microscope for your research? Look no further than ScopeM. The Hönggerberg campus has been home to this technology platform since 2014.

Every year, the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) awards the Aurel Stodola Medal to an outstanding scientist in the discipline. Mauro Ferrari, who researches and teaches in the field of nanomedicine at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, is honoured this year. He will speak about his research on April 1 at ETH Zurich.

Using pasture lands to develop oil palm cultivation can create a competitive advantage to producers in South America while sparing natural ecosystems, but it will require improvements in the ranching sector to avoid negative indirect effects.

Computer und Kommunikationsnetze benötigen Strom; sie sind für ein bis zwei Prozent des Weltenergieverbrauchs verantwortlich. Andererseits wird mit ihrer Hilfe Energie in anderen Bereichen eingespart, wobei die «smarte» Informationstechnik zunehmend an Bedeutung gewinnt.

The Robotics Industry Association presents ETH Professor Raffaello D'Andrea along with entrepreneur Dean Kamen one of the robotics industry's most prestigious honours – the 2015 Engelberger Award for Technology. What are the secrets behind his success?

Taking men’s concerns seriously: ETH biotechnologists are developing a biotech solution for erectile dysfunction that consists of a gene construct and a blue light.

The biologist Dörte Bachmann receives the Hans Vontobel Award 2015. In her doctoral thesis, Bachmann examined why biomass production of diverse grassland is larger than that of less diverse grassland. The findings captured people's attention.