Eth Zürich - Blog Posts

Did you know that selenium deficiency is a thing? 

Up to a billion people around the globe are deficient, not getting enough of this trace element from their diet. This is why we are interested in understanding what controls selenium levels in soils. The atmosphere supplies Se to the soil environment - but where does this initially come from? I loved illustrating this study by Süss et al., (2019), investigating trace element sources using rainwater analyses. The data show that the terrestrial biosphere apparently has much more of an impact than we traditionally thought - at least during the summer. 

source: Elke Suess, Franziska Aemisegger, Jeroen E. Sonke, Michael Sprenger, Heini Wernli and Lenny H. E. Winkel (2019): Marine versus continental sources of iodine and selenium in rainfall at two European high-altitude locations. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b05533

This painting is already pretty old - it was the result of a short summer school about plankton ecology on a northern german island a couple of years ago. How time flies! About a year ago I (reluctantly) set my foot on Swiss grounds to start my masters at ETH in Zürich. Today I am leaving again, for some months at least - but before its time for new beginnings I want to cherish how much joy and warmth this past year has brought me! One of the many great experiences was certainly ArtSci (https://artsci.ethz.ch/), the first ETH art and science exhibition my friends and I organised this spring. Hans Thierstein was until 2009 full professor of Micropaleontology at ETH and has since then embarked on new creative adventures. Feel free to check out more of his work here - https://www.hansthierstein.ch/!  Hans was definitely one of the most involved participants in ArtSci this year, displaying his self-built quatroscope and a series of quatroscopies along with it. Apart from allowing us to display his very interesting artworks, he also actively helped making ArtSci happen whenever our logistics failed - he was just great!! The upper photo was made by him, it is a quatroscopy of my drawing from back at 2016. For me, this is a really nice illustration of how other people help us grow - I am so grateful for all the people that I have met here and elsewhere and for everything they have brought into my life. 

How ArtSci are you? Submission are open! 

I am super excited to invite you to participate in the inaugural ArtSci exhibition, La Rencontre, this spring at ETH Zürich, Switzerland! La Rencontre is an art exhibition for scientists by scientists - we encourage everyone to submit data, videos, illustrations, or any sort of artwork that conveys a scientific idea, message, or concept -- whether related to your research, side project or simply data by other scientists that you love and want to illustrate. The goal is to inspire scientists to think about and present their research in new, creative ways that promote science communication. Pieces will be displayed on the green floor in CHN in ETH Zentrum from 22nd April to 6th May, with a vernissage on the 22.04 and an official closing/award ceremony on the 06.05.18.  Submission are open - please contact artsci.ethz@gmail.com in case of questions, or check out our website: https://artsci.ethz.ch or our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArtSci.ETHZ/ I can’t wait to see what the magic of science and art sparks in you! <3