May 2022
The best of ETH Zurich news from journalists around the globe.
The international news content here features in digital, English-language platforms. ETH Zurich also appears in numerous broadcast television shows, films, and print publications. Some publications may require a subscription to view content (noted by the symbol here), while others allow free access to a limited number of articles.
Redwoods Grow Weird Leaves to Suck Water from Air
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Independent, 19 May 2022, external pageCalifornia’s famous redwoods growing special leaves to combat historic drought, scientists findcall_made
Science, 20 May 2022, external pageIs the world’s oldest tree growing in a ravine in Chile?call_made
WIRED Focus, 19 May 2022, external pageCalifornia’s famous redwoods grow leaves specifically to absorb water from air, study showscall_made
China’s Big Climate Pledge At Davos Sounds Promising, But Experts Are Skeptical
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International Business Times, 20 May 2022, external pageUS Begins $3.5 Billion Carbon Capture Project, How Well Will It Work?call_made
Why you should speak POLITELY to animals...
How we speak matters to animals. Horses and pigs can detect negative sounds in human speech and even mirror the emotion.
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Science Daily, 24 May 2022, external pageHorses and pigs sense harsh speaking tonescall_made
Mirage, 24 May 2022, external pageCase for speaking politely to animalscall_made
Technology Networks, 25 May 2022, external pageCase for speaking politely to animalscall_made
The chaotic early phase of the solar system
Researchers from ETH Zurich and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, in collaboration with an international team, external pageanalysed iron samples from the cores of such asteroids that landed on Earth as meteorites. In doing so, they unravelled part of their early history during the time when planets formed.call_made
La Prairie’s Immersive Artwork at Frieze New York Transports You to the Swiss Alps
Carla Chan to create an exclusive augmented reality art experience and NFT inspired by the Swiss landscape. external pagePart of the proceeds of the NFT’s sale will be donated to ETH Zurich’s Department of Glaciology, a long term partner of La Prairie.call_made
New Component Helps Create Electronic Circuits that Emulate the Human Brain
Much like neurons, which are responsible for both data storage and data processing in the brain, external pagescientists (at ETH Zurich, Empa, and UZH) want to combine storage and processing in a single type of electronic component, known as a memristor.call_made
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News Medical - Life Science, 18 May 2022, external pageNew memristors for neuromorphic computingcall_made
NASA’s Marsquake Mission Is Nearing Its End
More on ETH Zurich's contributions to Mars InSight and the Marsquake Service
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CNN, 17 May 2022, external pageDust-covered solar panels mean NASA Mars lander's mission is coming to an endcall_made
Science, 17 May 2022, external pageNASA’s quake-sensing Mars lander is running out of power, agency sayscall_made
Forbes, 17 May 2022, external pageOur ‘Marsquake’ Mission On The Red Planet Will Bite The Dust By Mid-July Says NASAcall_made
With Dusty Solar Panels, InSight’s Days on Mars Are Numbered
More on ETH Zurich's contributions to the Mars InSight mission
New 5.0 marsquake is biggest yet detected
On May 4, 2022 – the 1,222nd sol (Martian day) of the InSight mission – the lander felt its external pagelargest marsquake yet, at a record magnitude 5.0. It’s not just the biggest marsquake. It’s the biggest quake detected on another planet so far.call_made
More on ETH Zurich's Marsquake Service and contributions to the NASA InSight mission.
Switzerland is playing a key role in building the metaverse
"Texternal pagehe tech giants attract a large share of the brains trained at ETH Zurich...call_made" Professor Marc Pollefeys heads up Microsoft's Mixed Reality & AI Zurich Lab, while also teaching computer science at ETH Zurich. Referring to Microsoft’s augmented reality headset HoloLens he comments, “We synchronise virtual objects and digital information with the real world...Part of our team is also working on telepresence via avatars.”
How Properties of Mechanical Quantum Systems Can Be Measured Without Destroying the Quantum State
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Bioengineer, 13 May 2022, external pageGoing gentle on mechanical quantum systemscall_made
Battle in Space to Save the Earth
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NASA Earth Observatory, 13 May 2022, external pageScientists Show How Forests Measure Upcall_made
MSN, 13 May 2022, external pageBattle in Space to Save the Earthcall_made
NVIDIA Developer, 5 May 2022, external pageNeural Network Generates Global Tree Height Map, Reveals Carbon Stock Potentialcall_made
Robot dog may get to go to the moon
The robotic explorer GLIMPSE, created at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, has made it into the final round of a competition for external pageprospecting resources in space.call_made
New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body
external pageMicrorobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine.call_made Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognizes cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism.
NASA’s InSight Records Monster Quake on Mars
external pageEstimated to be magnitude 5, the quake is the biggest ever detected on another planet.call_made ETH Zurich researchers operate the Marsquake Service and contributed to the Mars InSight mission.
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Yahoo! News, 11 May 2022 external pageNASA's InSight lander just detected a 'monster' quake on Marscall_made
ArchyNewsy, 14 May 2022 external pageTwo Largest Martian Earthquakes To Date Recorded from Planet’s Far Sidecall_made
Aviation Fuel From Sunlight And Air
Aldo Steinfeld, the professor of Renewable Energy Source at ETH Zurich, the team of scientists has made a more promising jet fuel using solar energy and air. Their external pagenewly-discovered fuel will cut back CO2 emissions and help the world combat climate change.call_made
What We Can Learn From Switzerland’s Sustainability
One of the reasons Switzerland is sustainable is its geographic advantage. Nearly 60 percent of its electricity comes from hydropower, which is made of high annual rainfall and varied topography. external pageCitizens also have high levels of eco-consciousness, most likely because of Switzerland’s beautiful mountains, according to Ralph Hansmann, a professor in the environmental social sciences at ETH Zürich.call_made
Foreign policy realists should be bolder about defeating Putin in Ukraine
Most foreign policy realists continue to advocate caution over Ukraine...However, it is equally important to acknowledge that the West has a clear interest in Putin’s defeat and in enhancing its weapon supplies to Ukraine, whose armed forces have shown their determination to fight. external pageOp-ed by Henrik Larsen, a Senior Researcher at ETH Zurich's Center for Security Studies.call_made
Artificial skin could give robots a sense of touch similar to humans
Johannes Weichart has an idea that could make robots much more adept at handling objects. Weichart, a doctoral student in the Micro- and Nanosystems (MNS) group at external pageETH Zurich, has developed an artificial skin that emulates the sense of touch in a human finger. He believes that this can endow robots with the ability to touch and feel.call_made
The role of a bumble bee
Bumble bees are the only known pollinator of the potato worldwide...external pageETH Zurich by researchers Mark Mescher and Consuelo De Moraes have indicated that it seems bumble bees are adapting to climate change. But what can they tolerate as the climate continues to change remains to be seen?call_made