News 2018

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...
Jul 11, 2018 | Cooperation between Daetwyler and Empa Spin-off
CTsystems, a spin-off of Empa, and Daetwyler, the Swiss specialist for sealing solutions, partner up to market and industrialize polymer transducer technology. CTsystems has already presented the first prototype of...
Jul 4, 2018 | Dalhousie University appoints Empa researcher
Empa researcher Thijs Defraeye has been appointed adjunct professor at Dalhousie University in Canada within the Department of Engineering and the Faculty of Agriculture. His new position and the associated collaboration...
Jul 3, 2018 | Particulate matter: some more concerning than others
Current legal limits for fine dust in the air are based on the mass and size of the particles. For health effects, however, not only the mass of dust is decisive, but also its chemical composition. Empa researchers have...
Showing 21 - 40 of 90 results.