News archive

Precipitation varies substantially in terms of location and time. With climate change increasing this variability, urban stormwater systems are also affected – not least in Switzerland. How exactly their performance may change has been investigated by Eawag researcher Lauren Cook in the dissertation she has written at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA).

Geochemist Denise Mitrano received this year’s SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship. This fellowship enables her to establish her own research group at the ETH Zurich as an assistant professor. She would like to use this opportunity to get one step closer to her career goal: to become a full professor.

Degradation products of the fungal agent chlorothalonil are found widely in groundwater on the Swiss Plateau, even in places where it is used as drinking water. Dealing with these substances is becoming a challenge for waterworks. There is a wide range between rash immediate measures and concealing the problem. An Eawag fact sheet serves to contribute to an objective discussion and longer-term strategies.

Eawag and the Eawag spin-off Vuna have made urine fertiliser production mobile. Today, the Urine Express will be presented at a very special location in Biel: next to the first public grass tennis court in Switzerland. In future, the tennis court is to be fertilised with urine fertiliser.

Microbial communities are known to be indispensable for our planet. But surprisingly little is known about how they function. Researchers at the aquatic research institute Eawag are now shedding a little light on this subject: A new method enables them to observe the interaction between microorganisms.

Although use of the fungicide hexachlorobenzene has been banned since 2004, this compound is chemically stable – and accumulates in the polar regions where humpback whales replenish their fat reserves each year. Cell line studies conducted at Eawag have now shown that, while hexachlorobenzene does not have acute toxic effects, it can cause damage to DNA in humpback whale cells.

“Innovative and successful: the start-ups and spin-offs in the ETH Domain” – this is the motto which Eawag used to present itself at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

We at Eawag are particularly proud of the international composition of our employees. Dübendorf and Kastanienbaum are home to researchers, technicians, administrators and apprentices from over 40 different nations. We portray this diversity of cultures, languages and countries at our location in Kastanienbaum.

Pesticides in sediments cause adverse effects on benthic organisms. This was shown by a monitoring study conducted by the Ecotox Centre and Eawag on five streams in agricultural areas. Crustaceans were particularly affected. Concentrations of several insecticides, including chlorpyrifos and the pyrethroid cypermethrin, exceeded effect thresholds, indicating impaired sediment quality.

The lakes of East Africa are home to a surprising number of different cichlid species. This level of biodiversity has developed partly due to hybrids that managed to take over new ecological niches in their habitats, according to recent research carried out by scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Eawag, and the University of Bern.