Newsletter January 2023 (1/2)
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ETH Domain News
January 12, 2023
 
 
 
According to the new quadrennial assessment report of the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades. Image: Unsplash
Ozone layer recovery on track and helping curb global warming
The ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades, with the global phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals already benefitting efforts to mitigate climate change. This is the conclusion of a UN-backed panel of experts – including Empa researcher Stefan Reimann –, presented on Monday at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting. Examining novel technologies such as geoengineering for the first time, the panel warns of unintended impacts on the ozone layer.

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Solar-powered artificial leaf © 2023 EPFL / Alain Herzog
A step towards solar fuels out of thin air
EPFL chemical engineers have invented a solar-powered artificial leaf, built on a novel electrode which is transparent and porous, capable of harvesting water from the air for conversion into hydrogen fuel. The semiconductor-based technology is scalable and easy to prepare.

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Car brake. Photo: Pixabay
Further optimising car brakes
Researchers at PSI have joined forces with employees of the technology transfer centre ANAXAM and the industrial partner Audi Sport to shed light on a potential sticking point: they have used neutrons to examine a brake calliper in action and reveal ways of optimising it.

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 People enjoy themselves on a slope of artificial snow, pictured on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, in Wildhaus, Switzerland. The Swiss alps are confronted with a lack of snow and warm temperatures. (Image: KEYSTONE/Gian Ehrenzeller)
A snow-free Switzerland?
There has been a great deal of media focus on the near-total lack of snow in Swiss ski resorts at the beginning of the year. ETH professor Sonia Seneviratne explains why we will have to get used to this scenario and what needs to be done about it.

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Aerosols that are coughed up rapidly absorb gaseous acids from the air. This makes the suspended particles more acidic and inactivates viruses traveling in them. (Photograph: AdobeStock)
Acids help against airborne viruses
A new study by various Swiss universities shows that aerosols in indoor air can vary in acidity. This acidity determines how long viruses remain infectious in the air – with profound implications for virus transmission and strategies to contain it.

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In the presence of fungal hyphae (bottom-row images), the differently coloured bacterial strains form different patterns when they spread spatially than without fungal hyphae (top-row images). (Images from original publication, with permission from Elsevier)
How fungi promote bacterial diversity
In theory, the genetic diversity of populations should decrease as they expand across space. But this is not true for bacteria. Researchers at Eawag are now showing that fungi play an important role in this context. They make it easier for bacteria to spread and thus also promote genetic exchange between different bacteria.

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