Microtechnology in Space Bioreactors

Space biology is a young and rapidly developing discipline comprising basic research and biotechnology. In the next decades it will play a prominent role in the International Space Station (ISS). Therefore, there is an increasing demand for sophisticated instrumentation to satisfy the requirements of the future projects in space biology. Bioreactors will be needed to supply fresh living material (cells and tissues) either to study still obscure basic biological mechanisms or to develop profitable bioprocesses which will take advantage of the peculiar microgravity conditions. Since more than twenty years, the Space Biology Group of the ETHZ is carrying out research projects in space (Space Shuttle/Spacelab, MIR Station, satellites, and sounding rockets) that involve also the development of space-qualified instrumentation. In the last ten years we have developed, in collaboration with Mecanex SA, Nyon, and the Institute of Microtechnology of the University of Neuchatel, a space bioreactor for the continuous culture of yeast cells under controlled conditions. Sensors, pH control, nutrients pump and fluid flowmeter are based on state-of-the-art silicon technology. After two successful space flights, a further improved version is presently prepared for a flight in the year 2000

Science in the Swiss public: the state of science communication and public engagement with science in Switzerland

Science communication and public engagement with science have repeatedly been called for in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, die Swiss Academies of the Arts and Sciences have set up an expert group to assess the state of science communication in Switzerland, and to provide recommendations for how to improve it. The expert group report is based on a comprehensive review of the available interdisciplinary scholarship analyzing science communication and public engagement with science in Switzerland. Selectively, it also incorporates original data, international findings, and secondary analyses where little or no published scholarly work was available. The report covers a wide range of facets of science communication and public engagement in Switzerland, from public attitudes towards science over individuals and organizations engaging in science communication and engagement formats to news and social media representations of science. On this basis, it formulates 20 recommendations for improving science communication in Switzerland

Methodik

Die vegetationskundliche und strukturelle Zuordnung der Lebensraumtypen erfolgt nach der vorrangig von Braun-Blanquet entwickelten Vegetationsklassifizierung, einer hierarchischen Gliederung der Vegetationstypen (Syntaxonomie), die die Ebenen der Assoziation, des Verbandes, der Ordnung und der Klasse umfasst. Hierbei ist die Assoziation die grundlegende Einheit, in der die Pflanzengesellschaften zusammengefasst werden, die sich durch gleiche charakteristische Arten(gruppen)kombinationen auszeichnen. Der Verband vereinigt ähnliche Assoziationen. Das sind bereits umfassendere, jedoch standörtlich noch recht einheitliche Vegetationseinheiten. In Ordnungen werden ähnliche Verbände zusammengefasst. Die Klasse vereinigt ähnliche Ordnungen

Zur speziellen Pathologie des feinsten Gefäßabschnittes beim Menschen

von Otfried Mülle