news 2024

MIT engineers developed AI frameworks to identify evidence-driven hypotheses that could advance biologically inspired materials. Crafting a unique and promising research hypothesis is a fundamental skill for any scientist. It can also be time consuming: New PhD candidates might spend the first year of their program trying to decide exactly what to explore in their experiments.

Innosuisse, the Swiss innovation promotion agency, supports research-based innovation to strengthen the international competitiveness of Swiss industry. In projects, companies work together with universities or research institutes such as Empa to bring innovative ideas to the market. Empa is currently involved in around 80 such projects.

A team from the universities of Basel and Geneva has assessed which policy measures provide the best incentives for green technologies. How can we ensure that as many Swiss households as possible install solar panels, their own battery to store solar energy, a heat pump or adopt an electric car? Scientists from the universities of Basel and Geneva have been looking into this question.

The transition to low-emission technologies such as electric vehicles and photovoltaic systems is central to climate protection and also brings major benefits for public health, e.g. through less air pollution. However, these technological solutions use materials such as so-called technologically critical elements (TCEs), some of which are potentially harmful to the environment and human health.

A team from the universities of Basel and Geneva has assessed which policy measures provide the best incentives for green technologies. How can we ensure that as many Swiss households as possible install solar panels, their own battery to store solar energy, a heat pump or adopt an electric car? Scientists from the universities of Basel and Geneva have been looking into this question.

Contactless diagnosis: research team develops innovative measurement technology to determine vital signs A research team from TU Ilmenau and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has jointly developed an optical measurement system that can be used to monitor the health status of chronically ill or highly contagious people using vital parameters such as body temperature, respiratory rate or oxygen saturation without contact.

A groundbreaking navigation device can help people with visual impairment perform a location task as well as sighted people, new research shows. Researchers from Imperial College London, working with the company MakeSense Technology and the charity Bravo Victor, have developed a shape-changing device called Shape that helps people with visual impairment navigate through haptic perception - the way people understand information about objects through touch.

A study by the University of Geneva and the United Nations suggests that we should focus on citizen participation processes to achieve sustainability and strengthen multilateralism Using collective intelligence to solve a problem: that's what hackathons are all'about. Historically dedicated to developing IT solutions, these events now also focus on global issues, particularly those related to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Scientists from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), together with a research team from Ericsson and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, have developed an artificial intelligence-based software programme that can search for information and make recommendations for biomedical image analysis.

Key Takeaways Experts estimate there are hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells in the United States that are not formally documented or owned. Undocumented oil and gas wells can potentially leak chemicals into the water and air, including methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Researchers have found oil and gas wells not listed in states' records by using AI to comb through 45 years of USGS maps in California and Oklahoma.

The human mouth holds a wealth of information about overall health. From body temperature to head and jaw movements during sleep, this data can be essential for understanding health conditions and dental issues. However, collecting such data is often cumbersome and uncomfortable. Researchers from TU Delft, in collaboration with Radboudumc, have developed a groundbreaking new technology: Densor, a battery-free sensor platform that can be worn in the mouth via a standard dental brace or a -bite splint.

The human mouth holds a wealth of information about overall health. From body temperature to head and jaw movements during sleep, this data can be essential for understanding health conditions and dental issues. However, collecting such data is often cumbersome and uncomfortable. Researchers from TU Delft, in collaboration with Radboudumc, have developed a groundbreaking new technology: Densor, a battery-free sensor platform that can be worn in the mouth via a standard dental brace or a -bite splint.

When asked in Arabic about the number of civilian casualties killed in the Middle East conflict, ChatGPT gives significantly higher casualty numbers than when the prompt was written in Hebrew, as a new study by the Universities of Zurich and Constance shows. These systematic discrepancies can reinforce biases in armed conflicts and encourage information bubbles.

Microscopic, single cell differences found in the lungs of COVID-19 patients in Malawi demonstrate the value and importance of cutting-edge infectious disease research in Sub-Saharan Africa. The new study - the first of its kind in a Sub-Saharan population - is published in Nature Medicine and reveals previously unobserved differences in the inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in patients who live in Malawi, compared to those who live in western countries.

Google Quantum AI and quantum physicists at Freie Universität Berlin publish groundbreaking results on Hamiltonian operators A research team from Freie Universität Berlin and Google Quantum AI has developed an innovative method for the precise determination of Hamiltonian operators. These are essential for understanding and simulating physical systems and play a key role in quantum technology.

An AI method developed by Professor Markus Buehler finds hidden links between science and art to suggest novel materials. Imagine using artificial intelligence to compare two seemingly unrelated creations - biological tissue and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9." At first glance, a living system and a musical masterpiece might appear to have no connection.

As part of the LIMITLESS project, scientists from EPFL, HEIG-VD and Swisspod have completed the longest-ever vacuum capsule journey in Europe's first operational Hyperloop test facility.

Scientists have taken inspiration from the way sunlight passes through clouds to discover an entirely new way of controlling and guiding light. The breakthrough research, led by physicists from the University of Glasgow, allows light waves to be guided around curved paths tunnelled through opaque materials which would normally scatter them in all directions.

Innovation tackles long-standing challenge in cataract procedures by making surgical materials visible under blue light Cataracts-a condition that causes clouding of the eye's lens and deteriorating vision-will affect nearly everyone who lives long enough. Now Johns Hopkins scientists have pioneered a new color-changing hydrogel that could reduce complications from cataract surgery, one of the world's most commonly performed procedures.

We can use them to alter lighting, smooth out our complexion and even change our hair colour, but now researchers have found that AI facial filters, when used in real time, could even have the power to influence who we are attracted to. The latest research, led by the University of Glasgow and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), used AI to create real time face transformations in order to investigate the social signals that influence the beginnings of romantic attraction.