Tiny plastic particles in the environment

The images leave no one cold: giant vortices of floating plastic trash in the world's oceans with sometimes devastating consequences for their inhabitants – the sobering legacy of our modern lifestyle. Weathering and degradation processes produce...
4-May-2021 9:25 AM EDT Add to Favorites

Heavy charge against water germs

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 pathogenic microorganisms...
29-Apr-2021 6:05 AM EDT Add to Favorites

Vision test for autonomous cars

Cars that autonomously navigate from A to B are expected to be a common sight in a few years from now. But road approval is still a long way off. One important aspect: How can we tell a self-driving car has become "blind" with age, i.e., its sensors...
27-Apr-2021 5:05 AM EDT Add to Favorites

Sprint – A new NEST unit under construction

At NEST, the research and innovation platform of Empa and Eawag, the new Sprint unit is currently under construction – an office unit built largely from recycled materials. Sprint aims to set new standards for circular construction. However, the...
13-Apr-2021 10:05 AM EDT Add to Favorites

Tailor-made power grids

Empa researcher Cristina Dominguez is developing a computer model, which can be used to plan electricity grids in developing countries. To collect data, she travelled to Kenya to get an idea of how people live without electricity and what...
1-Apr-2021 3:05 AM EDT Add to Favorites

Knitting roads

Empa scientists are investigating how roads could be reinforced with simple means and recycled easily after use. Their tools are a robot and a few meters of string.
23-Mar-2021 8:55 AM EDT Add to Favorites

The invisible keyhole

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.
18-Mar-2021 8:05 AM EDT Add to Favorites

Voltage from the parquet

Researchers at Empa and ETH Zurich have made wood compressible and turned it into a micro-generator. When it is loaded, an electrical voltage is generated. In this way, the wood can serve as a bio-sensor - or generate usable energy. The latest...
15-Mar-2021 11:55 AM EDT Add to Favorites

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