Reflex magazine: Water – the new stakes

For all questions concerning water, a global reference is the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) located in Dübendorf (ZH). Its American Director, Janet Hering, explains the challenges – both social and technical – that access to drinking water presents. A new research center is looking for solutions that will enable the monitoring of micropollutants, industrial products that can be found in tiny quantities, but whose long-term effects are still poorly understood. Some start-ups are presenting innovative solutions for purifying water, while big industrial groups are entering the lucrative market of the desalination of sea water.

Waves and tides represent a very important source of renewable energy, and the British – leaders in this field – are determined to make full use of them. By absorbing CO2, the oceans put a brake on the increase in the greenhouse effect, but their acidity also increases, putting in jeopardy the whole marine food chain. Two teams of scientists have left for the Antarctic, and are preparing to unveil the hidden secrets of enormous underground lakes, separated from the land surface for dozens of millions of years.

The Swiss scientist Christoph Frei runs the world’s largest energy network. In an exclusive interview, he balances the need for development with the fight against global warming, and emphasizes the impact that newly discovered gas reserves will have on energy. In addition, our American correspondent sheds some light on the Singularity movement, led by the futurologist Ray Kurzweil; an article presents the very expensive but very fragile successor of the Hubble telescope; and we inquire into why science is being largely ignored by the parties, prior to October’s federal elections.

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