When people hear “net zero”, they often think of targets far in the future or abstract policy debates. Managing the ETH Net Zero Programme, I experience it quite differently: as a daily, collective effort that touches infrastructure, laboratory work, travel decisions – and, above all, people.

That is why the ETH Net Zero Day has become such an important moment for us. Once a year, it creates space to pause, take stock and make visible what is otherwise spread across projects, departments, and campuses.

ETH Zurich launched the ETH Net Zero Programme in 2024 not as a short‑term reaction to regulation, but as an expression of its responsibility as a public university. The goal is clear: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions consistently and credibly, with an ambition to strive for net zero emissions across all relevant areas by 2040. This is not a single project, but a long‑term transformation process embedded in governance, infrastructure and everyday decision‑making.

What makes the Net Zero Day special is its diversity. The programme features more than 20 events: from campus tours showcasing state-of-the-art heat pump technology and modernized buildings to workshops on design thinking and sustainability handprints. There are talks, exhibitions, and informal exchange formats, spread across different locations and organised by a wide range of units and individuals.

For me, this diversity reflects the core idea behind the ETH Net Zero Programme: climate protection is not owned by one unit or working group. It emerges where technical solutions, organisational change and individual decisions intersect. The Net Zero Day creates space for exactly these encounters – between students, researchers, technical and administrative staff who all contribute in different ways.

The day is also an invitation to engage, ask questions and connect. Whether you are deeply involved in sustainability topics or simply curious to learn more, there is something to discover – and many opportunities to join the conversation.

If you are interested in seeing what institutional climate action looks like from the inside, I warmly encourage you to take part.

You can explore the programme and register for the events at www.ethz.ch/net-zero-day

I’m looking forward to the exchanges – and hope to see you there!

This summer, I took on something completely new: clustering algorithms. I had never worked with them before, but during a six-week internship at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), I had the chance to dive in and learn. I was part of the Hydrology and Climate Impacts in Mountain Regions (HYCLIMM) group, which focuses on understanding how hydrological extremes and climate interact in mountainous regions.

The topic of my internship built on something I knew a bit about – droughts in rivers – which I had explored during my bachelor’s thesis. But this time, the goal was to go a step further: develop a method to group drought events from the past 40 years based on how they were formed – their hydrometeorological generation processes. These can be a precipitation, storage or snowmelt deficit, high temperatures and increased evapotranspiration, or a combination thereof. After creating the clusters, I would then explore them in more detail: when and where do they happen? How long do they last? How severe are they? And how have they changed over time?

The internship took place in Davos, and I was able to stay there the whole time. That gave me the chance to get to know the team and get a better feel for how they work. It also meant being surrounded by mountains, which made for some great weekend hikes and quiet evening bike rides.

When I arrived, my supervisor Giulia Bruno welcomed me warmly and helped me settle in. The team was kind and open, and some routines – like regular lunches together or afternoon coffee and cake – helped me feel included. I appreciated these small things, and they helped me feel at home quickly.

One of the trickiest parts of my project was the explorative nature of it. There wasn’t a clear roadmap to follow. The first few weeks were all about figuring out what kind of data the clustering algorithm needed to do a good job. As I soon realized, a clustering algorithm is only as good as the data you give it. So, I spent a lot of time selecting and preparing data – trying to feed the algorithm with the “right food,” as I liked to think of it.

What helped was being able to talk things through with the team. They took time to discuss my questions and offered new perspectives. Slowly, things started to make more sense. The clusters began to show meaningful patterns from a process-oriented perspective, and I started asking more focused questions:

• What processes lead to certain clusters?
• Are some more common in specific areas or seasons?
• Has the frequency or severity of these clusters changed over time?

Getting to that point felt rewarding, especially after the initial uncertainties. It also made me more comfortable with the idea that exploration – and sometimes getting stuck – is part of the process.

Beyond the technical skills – like learning how to use clustering methods and improving my programming – this internship also taught me something more personal: how to deal with frustration. Some days were tough, especially when things didn’t work as expected. But over time, I learned to be patient and to trust the process. By the end of the internship, I felt a bit sad to leave. The team had been so welcoming, and I had learned much in such a short time. But I was also proud of what I had achieved. The work I did opened up some follow-up questions, and maybe I’ll get the chance to explore those further, possibly in a master’s thesis.

My name is Lauren, and I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems at the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich. Our research focuses on magnetic materials – systems that underpin many technologies we rely on in our daily lives. These span from computers to sensors and radio-frequency electronics. One of our lab’s central missions is to develop new magnetic materials and architectures for more efficient data storage and processing, which is what attracted me here back in 2022.

Before I joined, a former lab member, Zhaochu Luo, developed a remarkable method to pattern magnetic anisotropy—that is, to control the direction of the magnetization. Traditionally, the magnetization aligns along a single axis (for example, south-north), but his work demonstrated that it could also be engineered on the same surface along an orthogonal direction (for example, east-west). Beyond the fundamental interest, this opened the door to storing and processing information in the same physical location – an approach that could significantly reduce energy consumption and accelerate computation. The work sparked significant excitement in the community and led to a patent.

At the heart of this breakthrough was a clever material trick: selectively oxidizing the surface of the material using through a lithographic mask. With this trick, we realized that, with this single material change, one can achieve fascinating things. However, while very impactful, this method is limited to a relatively small class of materials, which are largely outside of the technologically relevant materials. When I arrived in Zurich, my goal was to expand this concept to a broader range of systems, particularly for applications in magnonics, a field that uses spin waves to carry and process information, offering a potential low-energy alternative to conventional electronics.

I had a clear vision, supported by an ETH fellowship—but one critical question remained: How could we pattern magnetic properties without relying only on oxidation?

The answer emerged unexpectedly. After weeks of thinking about this question, I gathered my colleagues in our meeting room to brainstorm. During that discussion, a simple but unconventional idea surfaced: What if we used our direct laser writer—not for lithography, as intended—but to locally heat the material? It sounded pretty crazy. The tool was designed to pattern light sensitive resists for further lithography processes, not to locally heat materials. Yet the tool allows precise control of laser power, and therefore of the heat induced in the material.

Curious, we decided to give it a go. Within days, together with my colleague Jeff, we tested the idea on different materials we had prepared so far. To our surprise, it simply worked. Instead of heating entire samples in an oven for hours to anneal them, we could now modify properties on nanometer length scales and on nanosecond timescales. Over the following months, we expanded this approach to new material systems and even developed grayscale patterning, where magnetic properties vary continuously across the surface and in complex patterns. This opens up new possibilities for device design and could be readily adopted by other researchers using similar tools. Looking back, what stands out is not just what we achieved, but the process we went through to get to the final result. Our progress came from open discussions, from being willing to challenge conventional wisdom, and from exploring simple ideas in unusual ways. Stepping outside one’s comfort zone and engaging with others can be just as important as having technical expertise. And often the most effective solutions are not the most complex ones, but rather the simplest ones, seen from a different perspective.

Some Global Lectures stay with you long after the Audimax has emptied and the final applause has faded. The recent special edition of the ETH Global Lecture Series, Choices, was one of those evenings. Conceived as a tribute to our colleague Chris Luebkeman on the occasion of his retirement from ETH Zurich, this lecture also became a thoughtful reflection on agency, foresight and how the future is shaped by the choices we make.

Chris Luebkeman: choosing to matter

In his lecture, Chris invited us to see choice not as a single decisive moment, but as a continuous and cumulative force shaping individual lives, institutions and societies. Moving between historical moments, professional inflection points and personal stories, he argued that while we do not control all the forces acting on us, we are never without agency.

Drawing on examples ranging from the mid‑19th century to his own journey across engineering, architecture and strategic foresight, Chris showed how many of today’s realities emerged from decisions taken without certainty of outcome. Futures, he reminded us, are rarely inevitable; they are the result of layered choices, made consciously or unconsciously, inherited or hard‑won.

A recurring theme was the idea of “normal”. What we experience as normal, Chris suggested, is deeply contextual; it is shaped by geography, culture, history and circumstance. There is no single baseline from which the future unfolds. This insight lies at the heart of his approach to foresight: not as prediction, but as a disciplined practice of paying attention, identifying weak signals and expanding the range of possible responses.

He also spoke movingly about the role of universities. Beyond advancing knowledge, institutions like ETH Zurich serve as compasses for society: places where difficult conversations about uncertainty, responsibility and long‑term impact can be held thoughtfully. Through the Strategic Foresight Hub and the Global Lecture Series, Chris has helped open such spaces, encouraging more courageous engagement with what lies ahead.

On foresight, bias and collective agency

In conversation with Aaron Maniam, Fellow of Practice and Director of Digital Transformation Education at the University of Oxford, these ideas were sharpened and expanded. Together, we explored what foresight really entails, and what it does not.

Both stressed that foresight is firmly rooted in the present. It is not about forecasting or crystal‑ball gazing, but about creating awareness and preparedness. One idea that resonated strongly was that good foresight should help leaders and institutions avoid being shocked by change. Surprise often triggers reactive decision‑making; preparation preserves optionality and enables more deliberate action.

We also spoke candidly about bias. Neither choice nor foresight is neutral. The goal is not to eliminate bias but to surface it, question it and counterbalance it through collective reflection. Productive discomfort, as Aaron noted, can be a sign that futures work is doing its job.

Finally, we touched on one of the defining choices facing societies today: how to navigate the unequal effects of technological change, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence. While new technologies promise significant gains in productivity, those benefits will not be evenly distributed. Choosing to engage with these tools without addressing their social implications risks deepening existing inequalities.

Chris closed our exchange with a reflection that felt both personal and universal: time is the most finite resource we have. How — and with whom — we choose to spend it shapes not only our own futures, but the world we help bring into being.

Choices was not a farewell, but an invitation: to remain attentive, collaborative and intentional about the futures we continuously co‑create, one choice at a time.

Check out the pictures from the event here: Meet ETH Flickr

And in case you missed it, watch the talk here:

I hope this glimpse encourages you to join us at a future event. I find that with our Global Lecture Series, we begin a new journey every time, giving ourselves pause to reflect on key topics on the global agenda and learning from individuals with remarkable clarity and foresight. I invite you all to come and join us!

In November 2025, during the final edition of the long-standing public dialogue series Treffpunkt Science City at ETH Zurich, I had the opportunity to listen to a deeply personal and moving talk by Daniel Albertin, the mayor responsible for the small mountain village of Brienz in the canton of Graubünden. His story stayed with many in the audience that afternoon. Today it resonates even more strongly. The residents of Brienz can finally return to their homes after more than a year of evacuation. The danger of a major rockfall has eased for now. It is a moment of joy for the community and for the authorities who carried this responsibility.

When a mountain begins to move

Albertin opened his talk with a simple yet powerful question: What does a mayor do when his entire village must leave its homes?

Brienz is a small village of around 80 residents in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. For generations the mountain above the village moved slowly. A few centimetres per year felt normal to those who lived there. Monitoring began around the year 2000 to observe the slope. The situation changed in 2017 when the speed of the landslide suddenly increased. Movement that once measured six or seven centimetres accelerated to forty centimetres per year. Later it reached more than two metres annually.

Scientists and authorities realised that something unusual was happening. Beneath the mountain lies a massive sliding layer around 150 metres deep. Millions of cubic metres of rock move slowly across this surface. Over time, measurements, drilling projects and geological studies helped experts understand the scale of the phenomenon.

Researchers from ETH Zurich played an important role in analysing this complex situation. Using advanced computer simulations and hazard modelling, scientists helped authorities better understand how the mountain might behave and what risks the village could face.

Still, knowledge does not remove uncertainty. It only helps people prepare.

The difficult decision to evacuate

Albertin described the moment when theory turned into reality. In 2023 authorities ordered the first evacuation of Brienz. Residents had to leave their homes within a strict deadline. The mayor walked through the village with local firefighters to confirm that everyone had gone.

A place filled with familiar faces suddenly felt empty. Closed shutters replaced daily life. For Albertin it was one of the most difficult moments of his public service.

A massive rockfall soon followed. Nearly two million cubic metres of debris rushed down the slope and stopped about fifty metres before the village school building. The evacuation had been the correct decision.

Scientific modelling helped guide these critical decisions. Jordan Aaron, an expert in engineering geology at ETH Zurich, ran thousands of simulations using a computer model he developed to assess how far and how fast a potential rockfall could travel. The results were incorporated into the risk assessment used by authorities in Graubünden and the municipality of Albula/Alvra when deciding whether evacuation was necessary.

A second evacuation began in 2024 as the situation remained uncertain. Residents lived away from their homes for more than a year. Some families found temporary housing elsewhere. Children moved to different schools. The community learned to live with waiting.

Science, monitoring and difficult choices

Throughout the crisis, cooperation between scientists, engineers and local authorities proved essential. Monitoring systems track the movement of the slope day and night. Sensors measure ground displacement and provide early warning if conditions change.

Another important contribution came from the research of Johan Gaume, professor of Alpine Mass Movements at ETH Zurich and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF. Together with his team, Gaume developed simulation software to estimate how far landslides and rock avalanches could travel. Shortly before the major rockfall in 2023, his team produced a blind prediction of where the sliding mass might come to rest. When the event occurred, the outcome closely matched the model’s forecast. The result provided rare empirical confirmation of the model’s accuracy.

Such research highlights how scientific expertise can support communities facing natural hazards. Data, simulations, and field observations help decision-makers evaluate risks and prepare for events that cannot be controlled but can sometimes be anticipated.

Albertin spoke with great respect about the role of research and scientific advice. Experts from universities and geological institutes worked closely with cantonal authorities and the municipality.

A major technical solution also emerged. Engineers constructed a drainage tunnel designed to reduce water pressure inside the mountain. Early results show that the movement of the landslide has slowed significantly. What once moved more than two metres per year now moves only a few centimetres.

Even so, Albertin emphasised caution. Technical structures can stabilise a slope for decades or perhaps longer. No solution can control nature forever.

Between staying and starting again

One of the most sensitive questions concerns the future of the village. Some residents want to remain in Brienz and rebuild their lives there. Others prefer to start again somewhere else.

Authorities therefore created an additional option. Residents who do not wish to return permanently can move to a new location with financial support before disaster strikes. This preventive relocation model recognises that safety and peace of mind mean different things to different families.

Albertin explained that both choices deserve respect. Those who stay must feel that their home still has a future. Those who leave must receive support and dignity in their decision.

A day of return

Today the story of Brienz enters a new chapter. Geological assessments show that the immediate threat of a major rockfall has decreased. The movement of the slope has slowed to millimetres per year. Authorities have lifted the evacuation order.

For many people the moment is emotional. Some homes reopen after months of silence. Others remain closed for now while families consider their next steps. Life does not return overnight. Communities need time to rebuild routines, restore services and rediscover the rhythm of daily life.

Albertin described it as a day of joy for the people of Brienz and for the authorities who guided the village through years of uncertainty.

Lessons from a mountain village

The story of Brienz offers lessons far beyond one Alpine valley.

• First, it shows the importance of trust between science, authorities and citizens. Research from institutions such as ETH Zurich helped authorities evaluate risks and prepare for potential disaster.
• Second, it highlights the human side of natural hazards. Evacuation is not only a technical measure. It touches identity, home and belonging.
• Finally, it reminds us that resilience grows through cooperation. Engineers, geologists, researchers, local officials and residents worked together to face a challenge that none of them could solve alone.

During his talk, Albertin spoke with honesty about uncertainty, responsibility and hope. Now, as the village opens its doors again, those words feel even more meaningful.

For the people of Brienz, the mountain remains part of daily life. Yet today the village breathes again. And that alone is a reason to celebrate.

Watch the talk below in German:

In January, I packed my bags and flew to Pasadena, California, to start a six-month adventure at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I joined the team working on a future Mars rotorcraft, contributing to a project aimed at pushing the boundaries set by Ingenuity, the pioneering Mars helicopter. This marked the start of an unforgettable chapter, both as an engineer and as a person.

Life at JPL

Life at JPL was unlike anywhere else I’ve worked before. On any given day, you might walk past engineers testing new rover prototypes in the courtyard or catch a glimpse of hardware being readied for launch in the clean rooms. I even got to meet the astronauts from the Artemis crew when they dropped by to visit! All of this felt extraordinary at first, but gradually became part of everyday life. I was part of the software team developing algorithms for an Earth-based demonstrator drone, which serves as a testbed for technologies that could one day guide a future Mars rotorcraft. My main focus was on the autonomy side: designing and refining the software that allows the drone to plan missions, execute waypoint navigation, and make real-time decisions during flight. This is critical, since a drone on Mars cannot be controlled in real time due to communication delays among other things. I also contributed to perception algorithms that detect safe landing sites in rough terrain which is a crucial capability for future planetary flying vehicles. Beyond coding, a big part of the work was integrating and testing everything on real hardware, ensuring the algorithms performed just as well in the lab and outdoors as they did in simulation. Beyond developing algorithms, a big part of the experience was bringing them to life through real drone tests. Our lab had an indoor drone testing room where we could fly whenever needed, and the campus also featured an outdoor drone yard which is essentially a large netted area designed specially for safe flight testing. Supervisors and senior engineers, many of whom had actually worked on Ingenuity itself, stopped by regularly to give guidance and feedback. It was a great environment to learn and develop in, and it was extremely motivating and inspiring.

Testing in the Desert

A particularly memorable part of the internship was a field trip to Death Valley National Park, where our team tested our drones in Mars-like terrain. The goal was to evaluate how well our algorithms handled challenging, unstructured environments which is a valuable step before moving to more advanced trials. The setting, with its dry valleys and rugged rock formations, offered a striking reminder of what exploration on another planet might feel like and the challenges it posed for our perception algorithms. It was demanding work under the sun, but a great opportunity to see our software perform outside the lab. Being out there also made me realize how, while small errors are part of testing on Earth, a similar mistake millions of kilometers away on Mars could mean the end of an entire mission. This makes Ingenuity’s success even more impressive.

Beyond the Lab

Of course, California itself was a whole other adventure. Pasadena quickly became home, even if finding a place to live wasn’t easy when wildfires swept through Los Angeles in January. Daily life was quite different to Switzerland with the car-centric culture, the long distances, and the contrasts of city life. Luckily, it was easy to settle in thanks to the people I met, especially the other interns and students from Caltech in the neighborhood. Together, we filled our weekends with road trips and new experiences: hiking through Joshua Tree, Zion, and Sequoia National Parks; catching sunsets and learning to surf in Malibu, sometimes accompanied by dolphins; exploring San Diego and San Francisco; and even flying to Hawaii. Standing on a surfboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by turtles, is a memory that will stay with me forever.

Reflections

Looking back, my time at JPL was as much about algorithms and drones as it was about people and places. I met brilliant engineers, many of whom had shaped historic missions, and shared adventures with interns from around the world. I learned that true engineering isn’t about complex solutions, but about making things simple, reliable and robust, especially when they need to work flawlessly millions of kilometers away. Most importantly, I left California hungry for more. More travel, more exploration, and more opportunities to work at the frontier of robotics and autonomy. Whether I continue in industry or one day pursue a PhD, one thing is clear: this internship confirmed that I love the blend of research, teamwork and experimentation that pushes technology and robotics forward.

Closing Thought

Back in Zurich, I’m grateful for how much this experience broadened my perspective: on technology and science, teamwork, and what it means to explore. The mindset I took from JPL stays with me every day, pushing me to keep learning, improving, and reaching further, not only in robotics, but also personally.

The ENHANCE Alliance is a network of ten leading European technical universities (Chalmers, TU Delft, Gdańsk Tech, NTNU, Polimi, RWTH Aachen, TU Berlin, UPV, WUT, and ETH Zurich), founded as part of the European Universities Initiative. ETH Zurich joined the Alliance in November 2022 (see ETH news).

My first assignment as the ENHANCE Core Officer at ETH Zurich took place in May 2022 at the Leadership Meeting in Warsaw, following the decision by ETH Zurich’s Executive Board to join the ENHANCE Alliance. The focus there was the proposal for the four-year ENHANCE+ project. Following intensive brainstorming and negotiations, my colleagues and I visited the botanical garden. Inspired by the exotic plants and the colourful flowers, we reflected: ETH’s engagement in ENHANCE will flourish if the institution, its students and staff all benefit from it. ENHANCE should become a garden of innovative education, where ideas can grow.

As the Core Officer, I had the privilege of being one of the gardeners. Among other things, my task was to prepare Rector Günther Dissertori, and Vice-Rector Jan Vermant, for the governance meetings and to accompany them. When ten universities sit down to negotiate, there will be twenty different opinions. Nevertheless, we always managed to reach compromises because we are all working towards the same goal: to prepare our students for their future challenges in business and society. I experienced that ETH’s commitment in the European Higher Education Area is highly valued. ETH is often looked upon as a role model. Of course, we can also learn from our partners, who are pursuing many initiatives, such as digitalisation, with just as much drive and innovation.

The seed of ENHANCE has been sown. It is growing and the first buds are beginning to bloom. Thanks to Julia Wussler and her colleagues, there are now more opportunities for short-term mobility, which enables students to learn and collaborate in an international context. Thanks to project funding from Movetia, the National Agency for Exchange and Mobility, students have access to scholarships. ETH faculty also contributes to attractive learning opportunities, such as the Summer School in Transdisciplinary or in Urban Planning.

The entire Swiss higher education sector benefits from the European Universities Initiative. We exploit synergies in the digitalisation of administrative processes. Florian Hilfinger from RWTH Aachen and David Sichau from ETH Zurich jointly lead the IT Infrastructure & Services work package. They have carried out a feasibility study on the use of verifiable credentials for digital data transfer between universities. We have shared these findings with swissuniversities and launched a national project for issuing digital credentials.

The benefits for ETH go beyond academic collaboration. It is the many personal connections between people that bring significant individual and institutional value – they are the “fertiliser” for trust, ongoing collaboration and development. I now hand over the “rake and hoe” to my successor, Anna-Katharina Lautenschütz. I would like to express my gratitude for all the wonderful encounters with the people who contribute to the garden of ENHANCE, ensuring that it continues to flourish and bear fruit.

Almost a year ago, I stumbled upon an Instagram post from ETH Zurich about an internship offer for the United Nations Office in Bangkok, more precisely at UNDRR (Disaster Risk Reduction). The 21-year-old, applied Maths master’s student I was at the time, with close to no professional experience, did not think for a minute I had a chance. For some reason I decided to I read the offer and noticed met all the requirements, so I gave it a shot.

I applied internally with the ETH Studios, passed this first screen, then with the UN, got the interview, did the interview, got the position, each step being a complete surprise for me and I still was a bit baffled (and jet-lagged) on my first day in office in September. Everything was new (and a bit scary) to me and the onboarding process was a lot to assimilate.

I would describe this internship as a double way learning and teaching experience: I learned from my supervisors and my team (the Tech & Design team of UNDRR) how a big international agency works, and what current technologies are used in disaster mitigation. In turn, I got to teach them a bit about I learned at ETH: neural networks, LLMs, reinforcement learning… and how these tools can be used in the organisation.

As I was the first ever data and AI intern, I had to build from scratch with minimal resources and no pre-existing workflows. We figured out a lot of things on the go. The arrival of two other new interns at the same position as me, one of whom is also an ETH student, helped to speed up our work.

I primarily worked on two projects: a machine learning based catastrophic model for fragility assessment during seismic events, which I did alone, and a RAG chatbot based on UNDRR, with 3 other people. We were able to deliver working Proof Of Concepts for both, which was a big success given our modest beginnings. I was also the first presenter of a series of webinars about AI related topics, which are still delivered weekly to the entire UNDRR staff to this day. 

This goes in hands with what I would consider as my biggest accomplishment during this internship: planting the seeds of a proper machine and deep learning service at UNDRR (which was the vision our team’s boss had in mind when creating the internship offers). By the end of my six months, the proof of concept opened up opportunities for potential partnerships and funding to continue the work. A new ETH student is also starting her internship right when I finish and I personally see a real potential in a closer ETH/UNDRR partnership.

On a personal level, those past 6 months were an amazing adventure, full of new people from all over the world and travels around Thailand and Asia in general. Bangkok ended up feeling like home and coming back to Switzerland and its 9 million people (half of the population of metropolitan Bangkok) will certainly be quite the change; that and the price of groceries!

It feels like I took off for BKK airport only two weeks ago but in the meantime, the person I am now is fundamentally different from the student who arrived a bit late to work with his brand-new suit in September. I guess this is how growing up feels like.

ETH Studios

ETH Studios are global innovation outposts where ETH students tackle real-world challenges alongside companies, researchers, and startups. Whether in New York, Heilbronn, Davos, or at the experimental StudioX, students gain entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary experience while contributing to sustainable and tech-driven solutions.

Contact eth-studios@ethz.ch if you are interested in more information on and about the ETH Studios.

Co‑moderating our Global Lecture last week on “The Search for Life in the Universe” felt a bit like opening a window onto the cosmos. Together with my colleague Chris Luebkeman, we had the pleasure of welcoming two exceptional guests: Sir Pete Worden, Executive Director of the Breakthrough Initiatives, and Professor Sascha Quanz of ETH Zurich, who leads the visionary LIFE Space Mission.

In an hour that passed at orbital velocity, we explored what may be the most compelling question of all: 

“Are we alone?“

Pete Worden’s Cosmic Perspective

Sir Pete brought the kind of perspective only a career spent at the frontiers of astronomy, space policy, and technological disruption can provide. With characteristic wit, he framed the central dilemma quoting Arthur C. Clarke:

“Either we’re alone in the universe, or we’re not, and both possibilities are equally terrifying.”

Pete walked us through why the coming decades may finally allow us to resolve this dilemma. His work with the Breakthrough Initiatives spans the search for technosignatures, the development of next‑generation telescopes, and even early concepts for interstellar probes. A few of his points stayed with me:

• The nearest stars matter most. Alpha Centauri remains a scientific and symbolic target, close enough that one day a probe might realistically get there.
• Not all signals are created equal. He told the story of a supposed detection from Proxima Centauri: champagne briefly opened, only for the signal to be revealed as interference. A reminder that discovery requires rigour, patience and humility.
• The technological landscape is shifting fast. Private investment, falling launch costs, and rapid iteration are transforming space science. As Pete put it, much of what once looked like science fiction “now simply looks like a very ambitious engineering project”.

He also emphasised the value of asking daring questions. Could we one day use the Sun itself as a gravitational lens to image a distant world in detail? The idea sounds wildly futuristic, yet it is grounded in real physics. Listening to him, one had the sense that the horizon of the possible is still expanding.

The LIFE Mission: Reading the Heat of Other Worlds

Professor Quanz introduced LIFE, ETH Zurich’s bold proposal for a space observatory designed to detect the heat signatures of exoplanets in the mid‑infrared.

This technique would allow scientists to probe atmospheric composition, surface temperature and pressure, and other factors essential for assessing habitability. As he explained:

“Thermal emission lets us look much deeper into an atmosphere than reflected light ever can.”

If even one planet shows the right combination of gases or thermal patterns, it could point to biological processes. This would be a milestone that could reshape science and society.

When Finding Nothing Still Teaches Us Everything

One of the most thought‑provoking themes came from Professor Quanz: the scientific value of a “null result”.

Searching dozens of planets and finding no biosignatures would still tell us something profound about Earth’s rarity, resilience, and fragility.

“If you look at enough planets and still find no signatures of life, at some point you are no longer just unlucky; you have learned something fundamental.”

Pete agreed, noting that truly alien life may be so different from anything we can currently detect that we will only recognise it in hindsight.

A Journey That Outlasts Us All

Both speakers insisted that the search for life is more than a scientific challenge; it is a civilisational one. It spans disciplines, cultures, and generations. Sir Pete phrased it simply:

“This is our future… and we need everyone’s help.”

Moderating this conversation was a reminder of how powerful curiosity can be. In looking outward to the stars, we inevitably reflect inward on our own place in the universe, and the responsibilities we carry here on Earth.

Whether Earth 2.0 turns out to be just next door, or impossibly rare, the search itself is a unifying journey. And it has only just begun.

Check out the pictures from the event here: Meet ETH Flickr

And in case you missed it, watch the talk here:

I hope this glimpse encourages you to join us at a future event. I find that with our Global Lecture Series, we begin a new journey every time, giving ourselves pause to reflect on key topics on the global agenda and learning from individuals with remarkable clarity and foresight. I invite you all to come and join us!

To mark the upcoming International Women’s Day on 8 March 2026, and inspired by this year’s theme Give to Gain, we are shining a light on some of the remarkable women whose perspectives and experiences enrich the ETH Ambassadors blog. By giving our attention to their stories, we gain a deeper appreciation of the curiosity, creativity and commitment that shape our community.

Below, we invite you to revisit a selection of their posts. Each one offers a unique window into the people and ideas that make ETH Zurich a vibrant, diverse and forward‑looking place.

1. NASA JPL: Building a Researcher in Turbulent Times

“I can confidently say that during my time at JPL, I grew both as a researcher and as a person.” In this article, Tenzin Tsultrim shares how a four-month internship at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory shaped her. 

As part of the inaugural Space Systems Master’s programme at ETH Zurich, launched by former NASA Head of Science Thomas Zurbuchen, Tenzin stepped straight into the heart of planetary research. From numerically simulating Venusquakes to field-testing infrasound sensors, she contributed to work that could one day help detect seismic activity on Venus.

At the same time, she witnessed the realities of turbulent times in the U.S., including visa delays, budget cuts, and uncertainty at JPL. What stayed with her most was the resilience, humility, and optimism of the people around her.

Read more: NASA JPL: Building a Researcher in Turbulent Times

2. Trust, Transparency, and the EU AI Act

In the piece as captured by Viktoria Österdahl, Liisa-Ly Pakosta, Estonia’s Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs, and ETH Professor Effy Vayena, a leading voice in digital ethics, explore how trust, transparency, and practical regulation are shaping AI governance in Europe.

Drawing on Estonia’s digital-first model and Switzerland’s sectoral approach, they discuss the implementation challenges of the EU AI Act, the importance of citizen data ownership, accountability, and clear limits for AI systems, and the need to balance innovation with protection. The conversation highlights that building trustworthy AI requires courage, cross-border learning, and regulatory frameworks that earn public confidence while keeping pace with rapid technological change.

Read more: Trust, Transparency, and the EU AI Act

3. From Pilot to Practice: Building Plant-Based Value Chains at ETH Zurich

In the blog piece, Daniela Hoffmann shares how she is leading the transdisciplinary Plant4Value project at ETH Zurich to accelerate the shift toward sustainable, plant-based food systems in Switzerland. 

By bringing together 24 partners across the entire value chain, from farmers to policymakers, the project pilots practical solutions such as farmer support schemes, technological innovation, and demand-generation strategies, all rigorously evaluated for their social, economic, and environmental impact. Hosted at the Albert Einstein School of Public Policy, Plant4Value demonstrates how collaboration between science, policy, and practice can unlock scalable pathways to a more resilient food future.

Read more: From Pilot to Practice: Building Plant-Based Value Chains at ETH Zurich

4. From Olympian to Cookbook Author

What does it mean to balance excellence in sport, academia, and beyond? Few people embody that question more fully than Emma Pooley, ETH alumna, Olympic silver medalist, world-class endurance athlete, and now engineer and author.

In this piece based on a recent We Are ETH podcast, Emma Pooley shares her extraordinary path from Cambridge mathematics student to elite endurance athlete, a PhD in engineering at ETH Zurich, and authoring and publishing a cookbook – Oat and Joy. 

Read more: From Olympian to Cookbook Author

Want to listen to more content instead? We have curated a list of all the women guests of the We Are ETH Podcast.