All posts tagged: Zurich

ETH Zurich researchers detect a possible fifth force of nature

ETH Zurich researchers detect a possible fifth force of nature

Published by Jenni Sidey

Precision measurements of calcium atoms revealed an unexpected pattern that cannot be explained by the simplest atomic physics calculations. Known effects inside atomic nuclei, especially nuclear polarization, could account for the anomaly, so the result is not evidence of a fifth force. The measurements still place some of the strongest limits yet from this method on a hypothetical particle linking electrons and neutrons. Calcium atoms have produced an unusually clear break from a pattern physicists expected to follow a straight line. The deviation is real, but its cause remains unresolved, sharpening a search for forces that may exist beyond known physics. The Standard Model of particle physics describes elementary particles and three of the four known fundamental forces with remarkable precision. Yet important gaps remain. It cannot provide a viable dark matter candidate, explain the universe’s matter-antimatter imbalance or account for neutrino masses inferred from oscillation measurements. “The Standard Model is currently the best explanation of the universe, but we know it cannot explain everything,” said Diana Prado Lopes Aude Craik, a physics professor at …

Curator Ingrid Schaffner Talks Hauser & Wirth’s Henry Taylor Show

Curator Ingrid Schaffner Talks Hauser & Wirth’s Henry Taylor Show

Published by Jenni Sidey

James Jarvaise, the late California modernist (1924—2015), cuts a slick silhouette in Henry Taylor’s vibrant impasto rendering of him. Jarvaise, wearing black shades, his shoulder-length hair combed back, sits slouched at the lower center of Taylor’s glowing, yellow canvas. “He had swag,” Taylor has said of his subject and first real art teacher, who encouraged him to enroll in art school and eventually embark on a path to become the luminous, lauded talent Taylor is today. Now, in keeping with Taylor’s long-held wish, that portrait he made of Jarvaise between 2015 and 2025, along with many more by both artists spanning seven decades, is on view at Hauser & Wirth in Zurich until September 5, 2026. The exhibition, which traveled from Los Angeles, is titled “James Jarvaise & Henry Taylor. Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked,” in reference to advice Jarvaise once gave Taylor. It is also a poetically apt way into Taylor’s soulful brushstrokes. Related Articles “Jarvaise saw something in me even before I saw it myself,” Taylor has said of their …

ETH Zurich scientists developed a new drug to slow Alzheimer’s development

ETH Zurich scientists developed a new drug to slow Alzheimer’s development

Published by Jenni Sidey

Alzheimer’s disease slowly strips brain cells of the energy they need to survive. However, one damaged enzyme may be doing more of that work than anyone realized. At ETH Zurich, a team led by molecular pharmacologist Ursula Quitterer says it has identified a new protein target linked to the disease’s progression. They also designed an experimental compound that interrupts the process in mice. The compound, known as CPD10 or “compound 10,” did not cure the disease. Nevertheless, it slowed nerve-cell loss, reduced key signs of damage in the brain, and helped the animals live longer. The work points to a different way of thinking about Alzheimer’s treatment. This approach focuses less on clearing debris after damage has piled up. Instead, it aims to stabilize a protective system inside cells before the damage spirals. Graphical abstract of the study. The G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) exerts essential functions in cell growth and survival. (CREDIT: Cell Reports Medicine) When a protective enzyme turns harmful The central player is an enzyme called GRK2, a regulatory protein active in …

ETH Zurich scientists create perfect randomness for the first time

ETH Zurich scientists create perfect randomness for the first time

Published by Jenni Sidey

Perfect randomness sounds simple, until you try to make it. A die can be polished, balanced and rolled thousands of times. Yet, one face may still land up a little more often than the others. In daily life, that slight tilt hardly matters. However, in cryptography, it can become a serious weakness. A barely detectable pattern in a stream of random numbers can make private keys easier to predict. That can open the door to broken encryption. That problem is what drove a team at ETH Zurich to a result that sounds almost paradoxical: using flawed randomness to create perfect randomness. In a study published in Nature, researchers led by Renato Renner and Andreas Wallraff showed that quantum physics can amplify weak random input into a string of bits that is fully unbiased. Moreover, they argue, the output is certifiably unpredictable. The advance centers on a simple but stubborn truth. Random-looking numbers are not always truly random. Some generators produce outputs that pass statistical tests but still carry hidden structure. That matters because, as the …

ETH Zurich built an ultra-stable quantum gate across 17,000 qubit pairs

ETH Zurich built an ultra-stable quantum gate across 17,000 qubit pairs

Published by Jenni Sidey

Quantum computing still stumbles on fragility, where tiny disturbances can wreck calculations. ETH Zurich researchers built a geometric swap gate with neutral atoms that stayed remarkably stable across 17,000 qubit pairs, hinting at a sturdier path toward large-scale quantum machines. Quantum computers promise to solve problems that would overwhelm even the world’s fastest supercomputers. They could help researchers design new medicines, improve climate models and crack scientific mysteries that remain out of reach today. But one stubborn problem continues to slow progress: quantum systems are fragile. Even tiny disturbances can disrupt a quantum calculation. A slight vibration, a fluctuation in laser intensity or a stray magnetic field may introduce errors that spread through the system. Building reliable quantum hardware has therefore become one of the greatest challenges in modern physics. Now, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new kind of quantum gate that may bring scientists closer to large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers. Their work demonstrates an extremely stable “swap gate” using neutral atoms trapped in laser light. The system achieved a precision of 99.91% …

Fitzpatrick Brothers Post a Tournament-Record 57 and Take a 4-Shot Lead in the Zurich Classic

Fitzpatrick Brothers Post a Tournament-Record 57 and Take a 4-Shot Lead in the Zurich Classic

Published by Sam Flores

AVONDALE, La. (AP) — Matt Fitzpatrick and his younger brother Alex shot a tournament-record 15-under 57 in better-ball play on Saturday, giving them a four-shot lead heading into the final round of the Zurich Classic. “Amazing day. Probably not kind of sunk in how well we played today, if I’m honest,” Matt Fitzpatrick said. “It was just hole after hole.” The Englishmen were at 30-under 186 through 54 holes — also a record at the PGA Tour’s only team event. Matt Fitzpatrick continued to deliver after arriving as arguably the hottest player in golf with two wins this spring, including last weekend at Harbour Town. The elder brother, ranked third in the world, highlighted his round with a chip-in birdie on the first hole and a 33 1/2-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 seventh. His 210-yard approach with a 5-iron on No. 12 settled 4 feet from the hole, setting up a birdie that gave the Fitzpatricks a lead they maintained for the rest of the day. Alex Fitzpatrick, who plays on the European …

Zurich Transfers Ownership of Looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Zurich Transfers Ownership of Looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Published by José Betancourt

Switzerland’s Museum Rietberg has transferred ownership of 11 looted artifacts to Nigeria, according to the city of Zurich, which oversees the museum. They are just a few of the estimated thousands of works of art taken when British forces raided Edo, the capital of the Kingdom of Benin (now Edo state in modern-day Nigeria), in 1897. Dispersed among collections in the West, these objects have been the focus of a long—and in recent years, highly publicized—effort to retrieve them on the part of the Nigerian government. Though known as collectively as the Benin Bronzes, the artifacts, which date from the 16th to the 19th centuries, were fashioned in a variety of materials, including wood, ivory, brass, and bronze. All were looted from Edo’s royal palace, which was ransacked during the British raid. Related Articles The objects returned by the Rietberg include a commemorative bronze head from around 1850 depicting the ancestor of a chief, and an ivory tusk that tells the story of a king, or oba, of the 17th or 18th century. Both would …

What is Davos 2026, who is attending and what is on the agenda?

What is Davos 2026, who is attending and what is on the agenda?

Published by Sam Flores

Davos, an exclusive ski resort near Zurich in Switzerland, is hosting the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum which began on Monday. Delegates from big business, governments, civil society, academia and media will be spending the week discussing the biggest global challenges. Here is all you need to know about the event. What is the World Economic Forum? The World Economic Forum (WEF) was founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab with the aim of encouraging collaboration between the private and public sectors. The WEF generally focuses on emerging and established global problems. One of its primary stated goals is to work towards improving “the state of the world”, despite the inevitable differences of opinion on how this should and can be achieved. Importantly, the WEF issued a Davos Manifesto in 2020 which stated it is formally guided by “stakeholder capitalism”. This declared corporations should deliver value and benefits to employees, society and the planet, as well as shareholders. For both politicians and corporate leaders, Davos is not only an opportunity to engage …

Zurich to Honor ‘Late Shift’ Director Petra Volpe at Oscar Screening

Zurich to Honor ‘Late Shift’ Director Petra Volpe at Oscar Screening

Published by Daniella Wilson

In an unusual festival and award season collaboration, the Zurich Film Festival has unveiled that it will present its Golden Eye Award to Swiss director Petra Volpe at a FYC screening of her Oscar-contending film Late Shift. The Zurich Festival will present Volpe with her trophy at an AMPAS screening at the Soho House in Los Angeles on Monday. The Zurich festival is hosting the screening together with Late Shift’s U.S. distributor, Music Box Films. Volpe will accept her prize in person. The film, which premiered in Berlin last year, is Switzerland’s official entry for the Best International Feature Oscar. Volpe’s drama follows Leonie Benesch (September 5, The Teacher’s Lounge) playing an overextended nurse struggling through a demanding night shift at a Swiss hospital. Late Shift has been a cross-over hit in Europe, where it grossed more than $4 million. “Petra Volpe has once again succeeded with Late Shift in creating a socially realist auteur film that is firmly rooted in the present, shedding light on the precarious working conditions in the nursing profession while …