"Living materials" could contribute to future building materials with their ability to sense and react to environmental changes, capture CO2, or self-repair. The field is still in its infancy, but at the Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering three research groups are exploring the potential of living materials. They combine living cells with conventional materials to develop living materials with innovative properties. An inside look at the ETH ALIVE initiative.

David Kammer’s research focuses on a rather unpopular phenomenon: fracture. He uses computer simulations and laboratory experiments to study fractures at all sizes – from nanoscale phenomena in collagen fibres all the way to tectonic processes in earthquakes. He is particularly interested in minimal changes that can have large effects on the properties of a material.