ETH Zurich

Vibration-absorbing, sound-damping materials such as sheets of rubber and expanded foam tend to be thick, bulky and soft. A new material is a big exception to that tendency, however, as it absorbs vibrations while staying stiff and thin.

The ANYmal quadruped robot not only walks on four legs, it can also roll on four wheels, stand up, throw boxes, and make its way up and down stairs. As if all that wasn't enough, the thing can now also climb ladders.

Gathering genetic material from treetops in tropical rainforests would be a near-impossible task to perform safely by hand. That's why scientists have developed a system that allows a drone to do the job, without even touching the trees itself.

While clay is widely used to build basic structures such as huts, we typically don't see it being utilized in large-scale construction projects. That could soon change, however, thanks to a recently developed process known as impact printing.

Doctors have successfully operated on a pig – from 9,300 km (5,780 miles) away. Surgeons in Switzerland used a game controller to perform an endoscopy in Hong Kong, paving the way for remote procedures in humans where local expertise isn’t available.

Researchers at Switzerland's ETH Zurich have devised a cheap and safe way to store hydrogen in ordinary steel-walled containers for months without losing it into the atmosphere – using iron.

We’ve all spent time and effort on pointless tasks so we look busy when the boss walks past. But now scientists have discovered a new type of fat cell in the body that does the same thing, burning energy and producing heat with pointless busywork.

When you live on the Moon, your only option for commuting back to Earth or on to Mars will be some kind of rocket. But each launch will kick up a hellstorm of debris. Building walls to contain the mess could be a perfect job for autonomous rovers.

If you want to run faster, it definitely helps if you know what it feels like to run faster. The Airshield was designed with that fact in mind, as it allows runners to train without experiencing any air resistance.

Bored of the regular chocolate varieties in your grocery store? Swiss scientists have invented a brand new kind of chocolate made of “cocoa fruit jelly.” The new concoction uses more of the cocoa fruit, making it healthier and more sustainable.

If you enjoy having a drink with friends every so often but don't want to get drunk, then a new gel may be just what you're looking for. The ingestible substance is said to help keep alcohol from entering the bloodstream, and from damaging the liver.

Leeches may be creepy, but many people find hypodermic needles even creepier. That's one of the reasons why scientists have developed a new leech-inspired blood collection device, which draws blood samples without the need for a big jab.