January 2024

Two years ago, Russia launched its war of aggression against Ukraine. One direct consequence of the conflict is the destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Now an exhibition in the ETH Main Building entitled “ETH with Ukraine” is showing how buildings, facilities and the environment in Ukraine can be protected or restored.

Open, diverse and inclusive science thrives on the involvement of the public and citizen participation - in other words, on Citizen Science. In order to promote such participatory research, Citizen Science Zurich awards Seed Grants once a year for the development or implementation of Citizen Science projects. ETH researchers can currently apply for funding.

In 2019, the tailings dam at a Brazilian iron ore mine failed. The mudslide caused a catastrophe for people and the environment. A team of researchers led by Professor Alexander Puzrin at ETH Zurich has now uncovered the physical mechanism that may have triggered the accident.

Blue-green infrastructures are designed to reduce rising temperatures in densely built cities. But it takes time for new green spaces, trees, ponds, fountains and the like to produce measurable cooling effects. In a novel study, researchers from D-BAUG and Eawag created a method to quantify this time span using open-source satellite data from NASA. They distinguish between six planting structures and analyze their respective benefits for temperature reduction.

D-BAUG Professor Adrienne Grêt-Regamey has been elected to the Swiss Science Council (SWR). The Council is a body that advises the Federal Government on issues relating to the continuous improvement of education, research and innovation in Switzerland. The SWR is composed of 15 independent experts who are responsible for making recommendations to the Federal Council.