news 2022

Founded in February 2018 as an Empa spin-off, the start-up company "MIRO Analytical" received one of the coveted "Innosuisse Certificates" in October. The certificate reflects the remarkable progress the young company made during the funding agency's coaching program and confirms that the start-up is ready for sustainable growth.

Scientists from EPFL and the University of Lausanne have used a chip that was originally designed for environmental science to study the properties of biocement formation. This material has the potential to replace traditional cement binders in certain civil engineering applications. The chip has the size of a credit card and its surface is engraved with a flow channel measuring one meter from end to end and as thick as a human hair.

In the futuere the metal could store energy from renewable sources, for example for transportation Energy from sun or wind is weather-dependent and lacks an efficient way to store and transport it. Scientists from the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung and TU Eindhoven are investigating iron as a possible energy carrier.

Health benefits of using wind energy instead of fossil fuels could quadruple if the most polluting power plants are selected for dialing down, new study finds. Nearly 10 percent of today's electricity in the United States comes from wind power. The renewable energy source benefits climate, air quality, and public health by displacing emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants that would otherwise be produced by fossil-fuel-based power plants.

Researchers at the University of Amsterdam have developed a model that can accurately predict the current migration routes of migratory birds. This offers the possibility of taking adequate measures at the right time when birds are at risk from air traffic or infrastructure. The researchers published their work in the scientific journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution by the end of October.

Stalactites help study past climate / Hydroclimate fluctuations and increased fires are linked To better assess future climate trends, researchers are trying to uncover and analyze evidence from past times. In an international research collaboration, scientists have now studied the Misox Oscillation some 8,200 years ago using stalactites from White Moon Cave in northern California.

Researchers in Mainz and Kyushu established a novel strategy for the generation of highly energetic UV light Many photochemical processes rely on UV light from inefficient or toxic light sources that the LED technology cannot replace for technical reasons. An international team of scientists led by Professor Christoph Kerzig of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany and Professor Nobuhiro Yanai of Kyushu University in Japan has now developed the first molecular system for the conversion of blue light into high-energy UV photons with wavelengths below 315 nanometers.

Aircraft emit nitrogen oxides and other emissions during both the LTO-phase (taxiing, take-off and landing) and when flying at high altitudes. These emissions return to the ground, resulting in nitrogen deposited over land and water bodies. Using an atmospheric model, researchers at TU Delft have quantified - for the first time - that in 2019 aviation was responsible for just under 1.2% of total global nitrogen deposition from all sources (anthropogenic and natural).

Trade wind cumulus clouds are found on about 20 percent of the globe and cool the planet. Until now, it was expected that these clouds would become fewer due to global warming and thus exacerbate climate change. A team led by Dr. Raphaela Vogel of the University of Hamburg has now been able to disprove this.

Researchers from 23 countries on 5 continents, coordinated by the Center for Research on Desertification (CIDE, UV/CSIC/GVA), collaborate and provide open data related to the processes of association between plants.

Large terrestrial mammals are vulnerable to the acoustic sounds of drones, technological systems which are increasingly used to study the wildlife in open habitats such as the savanna and marshes.

Researchers at the University of Bern have developed a new method for the successive calculation of the emission reductions which are necessary for achieving temperature targets, such as the 2°C goal. The calculation method is based solely on observation rather than models and scenarios. According to the study, international climate policy has to become even more ambitious.

Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have redefined mobility and affected travel patterns, car ownership, congestion, the economy, the environment and equity in cities across the globe. A new policy brief series delves into the implications and opportunities that transportation network companies (TNCs) present.

Dormant strains of bacteria that have previously adapted to cope with certain temperatures are switched back on during climatic change, study shows. The results, led by a team at Imperial College London and published today in eLife , have important implications for predicting the impact of global warming on ecosystems.

A new study finds treeshrews increase in size in warmer settings, contrary to established norms. Our study is the first to demonstrate a rule reversal over time in any species. We need to revisit some of our assumptions about size variation as our climate continues to rapidly change. Maya Juman New evidence shows that some mammals increase in size in warmer settings, upsetting established norms and suggesting that climate change may be having an unexpected impact on animal body size.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ÜBerkeley Lab) have demonstrated a new technique, modeled after a metabolic process found in some bacteria , for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into liquid acetate, a key ingredient in "liquid sunlight" or solar fuels produced through artificial photosynthesis.

Does evolution follow certain rules? Can these rules be predicted? Southeast Asia's tree shrews break multiple rules when it comes to body size variation - with an unexpected twist - according to researchers from McGill University, University of Cambridge, and Yale University. The findings shed new light on the effects of climate change on the evolution of body size in animals.

New research from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has revealed the extent to which pet ferret owners are aware of and understand ferret boredom. The study found that, although most owners believed their ferrets could experience boredom, owners who doubted this capability in ferrets provided a significantly less stimulating environment for their pets.

Animals that live fast - that is, frequent or abundant reproduction and short lifespans - are more resilient to human-driven land use changes than those with slow life-histories, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. Across the globe, in areas that have experienced rapid expansion of cropland or bare soil, fast-lived species have increased in numbers in recent decades while slow-lived species are in decline, according to the findings published in Global Change Biology .

Scientists replicated a 1964 River Thames survey and found that mussel numbers have declined by almost 95%, with one species - the depressed river mussel - completely gone. This dramatic decline in native mussel populations is very worrying, and we are not sure what's driving it David Aldridge The detailed study measured the change in size and number of all species of mussel in a stretch of the River Thames near Reading between 1964 and 2020.