Dec 18, 2018 | Federal Council elects Gian-Luca Bona to ETH Board
On 14 December 2018, the Federal Council elected Gian-Luca Bona to the ETH Board. The Empa Director will now represent the four research institutions PSI, WSL, Eawag and Empa on the ETH Board.
Dec 14, 2018 | ERC Consolidator Grant for Maksym Kovalenko
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Maksym Kovalenko an ERC Consolidator Grant 2018. His application convinced the jury to give him the opportunity to tackle an ambitious new research topic in the field of...
Dec 11, 2018 | Two Empa scientists on "Highly Cited Researcher" list
Two Empa scientists are on this year's list of "Highly Cited Researchers". The publications of Bernd Nowack and Maksym Kovalenko are among the top-1% most highly cited papers worldwide.
Dec 3, 2018 | New partnership with Imperial College London
The new "NEST Aerial Robotics Hub" of Empa and Imperial College London is all about autonomous, soft-material drones. The aim of the new cooperation is to integrate functional materials into robot technology. As...
Nov 20, 2018 | Technology Briefing at Empa in Thun
Industry representatives met at Empa's Thun campus last week to get information on the latest high-tech trends in industrial coatings. The partnership with the Hightech Zentrum Aargau strengthens the transfer of...
Nov 16, 2018 | World premiere: the first HYDRO_BOT ski jacket
The Swiss sportswear manufacturer KJUS presented the world's first ski jacket with an integrated electronic user-controlled membrane on November 15. Thanks to the HYDRO_BOT technology developed together with Empa, the...
Nov 12, 2018 | Nationaler Zukunftstag 2018
Am Nationalen Zukunftstag 2018 begeisterten sich rund 100 Kinder für die Forschung an der Empa. Durch die spannenden Workshops in Dübendorf und St. Gallen sollte auch das Interesse an MINT-Fächern bei den Schülerinnen...
Nov 12, 2018 | Searching for traces in the atmosphere
35,000 tons of undeclared carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) are released into our atmosphere every year - although applications in which this substance is released into the environment have been officially banned by the...
Nov 7, 2018 | Sandwich structure of nanocrystals as quantum light source
Excited photo-emitters can cooperate and radiate simultaneously, a phenomenon called superfluorescence. Researchers from Empa and ETH Zurich, together with colleagues from IBM Research Zurich, have recently been able to...
Nov 5, 2018 | Swiss Aerosol Award 2018 for Maria Muñoz
This year's Swiss Aerosol Award goes to Maria Muñoz. The Empa researcher investigated the emission behavior of so-called GDI engines (gasoline-direct injection). Her results are alarming: GDI vehicles emit up to 17 times...
Nov 1, 2018 | Novel protective mask for medical personnel
Laughter is the best medicine, says medical research. But how are patients supposed to feel like smiling if the faces of the nursing staff and even their beloved ones are covered with masks? Researchers from Empa and...
Oct 29, 2018 | High-performance components made by electroplating
What happens when something keeps getting smaller and smaller? This is the type of question Empa researcher Johann Michler and his team are investigating. As a by-product of their research completely novel watch springs...
Oct 26, 2018 | 2nd Resources Forum Switzerland at Empa
On 25 October, the second edition of the Swiss Resource Forum took place at the Empa Academy in Dübendorf. The motto of this year's edition of the Forum was «Science, business and cities working together for greater...
Oct 25, 2018 | Processing titanium for pacemakers
Using laser technology Empa scientists optimized a technique to weld the electronics of implantable pacemakers and defibrillators into a titanium case. The medtech company Medtronic is now using the method worldwide to...
Oct 23, 2018 | Memory Steel
A new building material developed at Empa is about to be launched on the market: "memory-steel" can not only be used to reinforce new, but also existing concrete structures. When the material is heated (one-time),...
Oct 18, 2018 | 3D lung model
Graphene has been hailed as the material of the future. As yet, however, little is known about whether and how graphene affects our health if it gets into the body. A team of researchers from Empa and the Adolphe Merkle...
Oct 17, 2018 | The “Norman Foster Solar Award” goes to NEST
At the 28th Swiss Solar Awards Ceremony on 16 October 2018, the NEST unit "Solar Fitness & Wellness" received one of the three coveted "Norman Foster Solar Awards". The solar-powered fitness and wellness facility in the...
Oct 15, 2018 | Auszeichnung für Lehrlingsausbildung
Auszeichnung für die Empa: Das Forschungsinstitut ist nicht nur ein guter Ort für erstklassige Wissenschaft; die Empa ist auch einer der besten Lehrbetriebe der Schweiz. Dies wurde ihr kürzlich vom Beratungsunternehmen...
Oct 11, 2018 | Empa and BeAM
Empa and BeAM, a manufacturer of machines for metal 3D printing, are glad to announce an extensive research and development agreement. This partnership focuses on powder-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) and aims at...
Oct 11, 2018 | Drug equipped polymer fibers
Drug-releasing textiles could, for instance, be used to treat skin wounds. Empa researchers are currently developing polymer fibers that can be equipped with drugs. The smart fibers recognize the need for therapy all by...
Oct 8, 2018 | Swiss-Swedish Innovation Initiative meeting at Empa
Empa underscores its leading role in the exchange of knowledge in the field of Additive Manufacturing (AM). On 25 September, around 150 researchers and industry representatives from Sweden and Switzerland met at the Empa...
Oct 4, 2018 | The "concrete disease"
When bridges, dam walls and concrete foundations form cracks, AAR is often the culprit: the alkali-aggregate reaction. It causes the concrete to swell and renders renovations or even reconstructions necessary. A project...
Oct 2, 2018 | Partnership with Optomec
Empa is expanding its Coating Competence Center (CCC) thanks to a new partnership in the field of printed electronics with US-based equipment manufacturer Optomec. Optomec is providing Empa with a new aerosol jetting...
Sep 27, 2018 | Empa Innovation Award for spin-off MycoSolutions
The use of pesticides is still widespread in Swiss agriculture – and the resulting damage to humans and the environment is immense. The Empa spin-off MycoSolutions has developed a method that enables plants and wood...
Sep 24, 2018 | Opening of the NEST “SolAce” unit
Anyone who spends most of their day indoors knows the importance of a comfortable atmosphere to work and live in. Researchers from EPFL’s Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory are searching for ways to maximize...
Sep 10, 2018 | Patches with a light switch
If drugs are to enter the body painlessly and efficiently, they can be administered via skin patches. Researchers at Empa and the University of Fribourg are currently developing nano-containers for therapeutic agents...
Sep 6, 2018 | Carbon fiber plasters for bridges
Empa scientists are saving iron bridges from the 19th century from collapse. Carbon fiber plasters are strengthening the crumbling structures. A railway bridge in Switzerland and a road bridge in Australia have already...
Aug 29, 2018 | Artificial intelligence in quality monitoring
Welding, printing, crushing concrete – an Empa team monitors noisy processes with the help of artificial intelligence. This way you can literally hear production errors and imminent accidents.
Aug 22, 2018 | New precision in joining with reactive foils
Reactive nano-multilayers are considered to be a revolution in joining technology. They are envisaged for joining heat-sensitive materials that would otherwise be damaged or even destroyed upon conventional soldering....
Aug 15, 2018 | Development of artificial tissues
For the replacement of animal testing with alternatives in medical research, complex microtissues need to be cultivated. Researchers from Empa have developed a special polymer scaffold for threedimensional cell cultures....
Aug 14, 2018 | Neue interdisziplinäre Bildungsinitiative
Nach über einem Jahr intensiver Vorbereitung hat der Verein Startfeld gestern Abend Smartfeld mit einem feierlichen Festakt lanciert. Die Initianten dieser interdisziplinären Bildungsinitiative – darunter die Empa -...
Aug 9, 2018 | Breakthrough in nanoresearch
Empa researchers, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and other partners, have achieved a breakthrough that could in future be used for precise nanotransistors or – in the...
Jul 27, 2018 | Empa Sommercamp 2018
Während des Sommercamps der Empa engagierten sich Nachwuchs-Ingenieurinnen und künftige Materialforscher bei der Konstruktion von Brücken und Druckluft-Autos. Während die Eltern im heissen Juli in den Labors forschten,...
Jul 27, 2018 | Digital fabrication in NEST
Researchers at ETH Zurich have fabricated an 80 m2 lightweight concrete slab at the DFAB House, making it the world’s first full-scale architectural project to use 3D sand printing for its formwork. The DFAB House will...
Jul 23, 2018 | Artificial intelligence in materials science
Mark Schubert modifies wood properties with the aid of the enzyme laccase. However, the search for suitable ingredients is complex – a bit like trying to find the key to an unknown lock. Instead of long, expensive series...
Jul 17, 2018 | Machine learning and society
AI is set to trigger a major transformation in society. As soon as algorithms influence our voting habits or design school curricula, it is up to politics to limit the damage. A new study on the opportunities and risks...
Jul 12, 2018 | Step by step to the perfect and sustainable pavement
The one ideal asphalt for all conditions does not exist: Climatic conditions, traffic frequencies and loads place different demands on the pavement. Another challenge: preparing old asphalt so that it can be used for new...