EmpaNews – Magazine for Research and Innovation

EMPA - Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science & Technology
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What are the hot topics in research? What is Empa’s role in all this? Our research magazine EmpaNews provides answers to these questions with interviews, portraits and exciting reports from the lab.

  1. 04/29/2015

    Backache – a matter of mechanics - No. 48 April 2015)

    Some say that back pain is the price we pay for walking upright. Others claim that the problem only really started when humankind sat down to reflect and contemplate. Thanks to a collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh and Balgrist University Hospital, Empa is beginning to decode the mechanics of the lower vertebrae. Researchers soon will be able to reveal how wear and tear comes about on vertebral bodies and spinal disks. This will make choosing the appropriate therapy much easier.

  2. 01/08/2015

    Graphene – the material dreams are made of - No. 47 (January 2015)

    Using adhesive tape and graphite as it is found in pencil lead, two physicists proved that graphene, the “miracle material of the future”, actually exists – and won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work only a few years later. Scientists are also researching the properties of graphene at Empa. For instance, they are investigating how molecules can be used to produce well-defined graphene nanostructures that could one day serve as electronic components.

  3. 10/29/2014

    Atmospheric research - global and local - No. 46 (October 2014)

    CFCs are still harming the ozone layer; industrial gases with a high greenhouse potential heat up the atmosphere. The polluters don't go undiscovered, though. Empa scientists are tracking the trace gases with highly sensitive instruments and identify the sources of pollution with the help of meteorological data.

  4. 09/26/2014

    Future Mobility - No. 45 (July 2014)

    Empa is in the midst of establishing the Future Mobility Demonstrator on ist Dübendorf campus. This ambitious Projekt should reveal how excess electricity, generated by solar and wind-power, can be converted to fuel in the most sensible way. After all, this could slash Switzerland's carbon dioxide emissions by over 4 million tons – which would match perfectly the Swiss contribution to the Kyoto protocol. Empa will evaluate methods to fuel electric vehicles, hydrogen powered vehicles as well as natural gas cars.

  5. 04/30/2014

    Programmable materials - No. 44 (April 2014)

    For some time, Empa has settled between university and the market and, together with its industrial partners, endeavored to get new technologies “on the road” – highly successfully, too, as the examples in the current issue of EmpaNews on the topic of technology transfer demonstrate. And also in this issue: Programmable materials: Phononic crystals – a revolution in mechanical engineering? --- Air cushions can save lives: Insulating gear for extreme conditions. --- Diamonds are poor kissers: A failed experiment as cover story.

  6. 01/08/2014

    Researching the house of tomorrow – No. 43 (Jan. 2014)

    Around half of the energy demand in Switzerland is generated by buildings and every year ten tons of construction materials per capita are being used up. If we want to import fewer fossil fuels and reduce raw material consumption, we simply have to develop and test novel buildings in practice. The Empa research platform NEST has been conceived to do just this. And also in this issue: Hightech for soft skin: Swiss entepreneur manufactures Lingerie made of pure gold. --- Hangover for the "cat": Bioethanol in gasoline damages catalytic converters. --- Interim storage for green electricity: Excess power is converted into climate-neutral natural gas.

  7. 11/07/2013

    Motion without grease – No. 42 (Nov. 2013)

    Empa physicist René Rossi conducts research into the clothing of the future. What is it supposed to do? What is feasible? And how can 1.8 square meters of human skin be used to transfer data? One of the projects aiming in this direction is the "Weight-watcher-T-shirt": a tailor-made vest, which helps overweight people to watch their waistlines. And also in this issue: The death knell for joints: compliant mechanisms – lighter, cheaper and more hygienic. --- "Lifejackets" for deep-sea drills: special ceramics help to tap into new crude oil and gas sources.

  8. 08/05/2013

    Gian-Luca Bona sets course – No. 41 (Aug. 2013)

    50 years ago the Empa campus was literally carved out of a green field in Dübendorf on the outskirts of Zurich. The exterior of the buildings has hardly changed. However, inside the walls it is a completely different story. A metamorphosis has taken place... And also in this issue: Shaken, not stirred: Vibration tests on a wooden house provide data for architects. --- Dioxin from the particle filter: Diesel engines sometimes generate Seveso toxin. Why? --- Blood pressure measurement ‘round the clock: A wrist sensor makes blood pressure monitoring easy.

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What are the hot topics in research? What is Empa’s role in all this? Our research magazine EmpaNews provides answers to these questions with interviews, portraits and exciting reports from the lab.

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