Archive News

December 4, 2020The mobile and automated MS2field mass spectrometer allows measurements to be taken of harmful substances in surface waters with high temporal resolution. The initial measurements using the device are revealing the extent to which peak concentrations of pesticides, for example, have been underestimated by traditional methods.

December 4, 2020The University of Bern has appointed the political scientist Manuel Fischer from the Eawag Department of Environmental Social Sciences (ESS) as titular professor.

December 1, 2020The analysis of DNA fragments and their assignment to individual species – an increasingly well‑established approach – is transforming biodiversity assessment. Samples collected from waterbodies permit rapid biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems. However, environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is not without pitfalls. For this reason, guidelines for practitioners have now been developed by a group of experts – including Eawag scientists – coordinated by the Federal Office for the Environment. These guidelines, covering the whole process from sampling to data interpretation, should help to ensure that eDNA applications produce reliable results.

November 26, 2020Sprawling carpets of floating plants are the result of too many nutrients. However, they could become part of solution strategies, Eawag researchers show.

November 19, 2020At Eawag, the aquatic research institute, numerous scientists are conducting research into toilets. In short videos, seven of them explain what fascinates them about the topic and what exactly their research is all about.

November 19, 2020A factsheet from the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) shows: Too much nitrogen and phosphorus is released into the Swiss environment. There they damage biodiversity, forests and water bodies, exacerbate climate change and affect human health. Actually the causes are known.

November 18, 2020Researchers Juliane Hollender, Ole Seehausen, Bernhard Truffer and Urs von Gunten from the aquatic research institute Eawag are among the "highly cited researchers 2020".

November 12, 2020In the journal ZooKeys, a group of scientists from Eawag and Bern University have described seven whitefish species endemic to the Bernese Oberland lakes – including four not previously described scientifically, two of which have only been identified as distinct species in the last few years. In Switzerland, the whitefish diversity of Lakes Thun and Brienz is possibly matched only by that found in Lake Lucerne; and in deep lakes of this kind further surprises cannot be ruled out.

November 3, 2020In agricultural areas, large volumes of water from fields, roads and paths drain directly into streams via manholes and other forms of artificial drainage. These shortcuts also transport pesticides into surface waters – and, according to a new study, in significantly larger quantities than was previously assumed.

October 29, 2020When the wind on Lake Biel blows from the south-west and it rains heavily, large quantities of sediment are washed out of the River Aare into the lake. Since the south-west wind also influences the circulation in the lake, the wind direction determines to a large extent where the sediment is deposited in the lake, namely along the eastern shore towards Biel – an important finding for identifying areas at risk of landslides.