Wherever scientists look, they can spot them: whether in remote mountain lakes, in Arctic sea ice, in the deep-ocean floor or in air samples, even in edible fish—thousands upon thousands of microscopic plastic particles ...
Bio & Medicine
May 4, 2021
1
609
Removing pathogens from drinking water is especially difficult when the germs are too tiny to be caught by conventional filters. Researchers at Empa and Eawag are developing new materials and processes to free water from ...
Materials Science
May 3, 2021
0
0
Buildings, industrial plants, roads, cars, gasoline, electricity and all other consumption: What does Switzerland consume each year? How much of it is exported or disposed of? How much flows back into the economy? And what ...
Environment
Apr 16, 2021
0
9
Hard times for burglars and safecrackers: Empa researchers have developed an invisible "keyhole" made of printed, transparent electronics. Only authorized persons know where to enter the access code.
Materials Science
Mar 18, 2021
0
6
Ingo Burgert and his team at Empa and ETH Zurich have proven it time and again: Wood is so much more than "just" a building material. Their research aims at extending the existing characteristics of wood in such a way that ...
Materials Science
Mar 15, 2021
1
14
The pigment melanin protects human skin from harmful UV light (and gives us a summer tan), and is a veritable treasure trove for new materials and technologies. Although melanin occurs naturally, the complex biopolymer can ...
Biochemistry
Mar 9, 2021
1
13
When Barbara Lothenbach pushes ahead with her research projects, she knows that she will not live to see the final result: What she is working on should last between 100,000 and one million years. The researcher from Empa's ...
Materials Science
Feb 16, 2021
1
5
Through the window, you hear the traffic noise from down the street, a train rumbles in the distance—that is the everyday life for many of us. Almost 75% of the European population lives in urban areas and only a quarter ...
Environment
Jan 13, 2021
1
4
For half a century now, a long-term experiment has been running in Empa's largest testing laboratory at the Dübendorf site. This involves a reinforced concrete beam manufactured in 1970 which was strengthened with a steel ...
Materials Science
Dec 22, 2020
1
15
The magnetic interactions between atoms at minute scales can create unique states such as skyrmions. Skyrmions have special properties and can exist in certain material systems, such as a 'stack' of different sub-nanometer-thick ...
General Physics
Dec 21, 2020
0
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