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Can mobile phones predict our behavior? Three students accurately predicted the place where phone users were likely to go next.

The use of composite materials is rapidly entering into the automotive industry thanks to a technique developed by a spin-off. This technique promises lighter cars that burn less fuel and, consequently, emit less CO2. In 2013, we may see car bumpers, doors, and frames made from composite materials, which are engineered or naturally occurring materials such as fiberglass made from two or more constituents with different physical or chemical properties.

All in one: A new electricity generating building component is being developed.

A research team has identified a molecule naturally present in milk and other foods, nicotinamide riboside, that has extraordinary health benefits. Their findings indicate it could play an important role in preventing weight gain and diabetes and improving muscular performance. Many natural foods, including milk and perhaps even beer, contain a molecule whose effects on metabolism are nothing short of astonishing.

Scientists have proven that light intensity influences our cognitive performance and how alert we feel, and that these positive effects last until early evening. Tests conducted at EPFL have confirmed the hypothesis that light influences our subjective feeling of sleepiness. The research team, led by Mirjam Münch, also showed that the effects of light exposure last until the early evening, and that light intensity has an impact on cognitive mechanisms.

Using the most recent generation windows, architects and lighting designers can to control daylight, directing it where they want within a room.

With less than a 0.5 mm margin of error, Neuroglide, the robot developed by researchers allows for the placement of screws in small vertebrae with unequaled precision.

In an experiment carried out with rats, it was observed that aggressive behavior passed from one generation to the other, even without any between the parent and its offspring. Researchers are exploring several approaches to explain the results. Childhood traumas alone do not explain the development of domestic violence - at least in the case of rats.

Engineers have developed a new imaging technique that lets them see the insides of massive concrete bridges. Much like a sonogram, this technique provides quick, easy-to-interpret images, so that the health of these expensive structures can be assessed and monitored. The patient weighs several tons and is hundreds of meters long.

Researchers are studying the effects of climate change on the degradation of organic matter in the soil. First results underline the importance of the thermal insulation provided by an intact layer of snow on the dynamics of soil microorganisms. You'd think that during the winter, all life trapped beneath a layer of snow would shut down and wait for warmer days.

It could be the tiniest armor-piercing weapon in the biological universe: Scientists have measured a one-nanometer needle-like tip that viruses use to attack bacteria. Grouped together under the unassuming name φ92, a family of bacteriophage viruses has perfected its specialty: they attack salmonella and coliform bacteria.

Researchers have developed a miniature on-chip gastrointestinal tract in order to observe the effects of various nutrients on health. The "NutriChip" project's in vitro tests have already begun, on dairy products. What happens in our bodies when we have eaten something? Are "healthy" food products actually good for us, once they have been digested and absorbed? Supported by Nano-Tera and Nestlé, the NutriChip project developed by Martin Gijs's team at the Laboratory of Microsystems at EPFL provides new insights to these questions.

The connections between neurons might play a role in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD). In a pioneering approach to studying how neurodegenerative diseases like AD spread within the brain, researchers have developed a novel in vitro experimental method that allows them to connect healthy neurons with "infected" neurons and then observe the results.

Elucidating the role of C-terminal post-translational modifications using protein semisynthesis strategies: α-synuclein phosphorylation at tyrosine 125.

A start-up company is putting on the market a thermal regulator that uses neural networks to learn about your house as the seasons change, allowing for savings of up to 65% on fuel.

A single fiber-optic can light up computer screens. This innovation put in place by a spin-off, brings energy savings of 30% while boosting processors.

Scientists have succeeded in modelling what happens when two bodies slide against each other and thereby release the pressure; a discovery that has implications for the understanding of the magnitude of earthquakes. David Kammer from EPFL has developed a digital model that explains what happens at the interface between two materials when they slide against each other; like a book on a table, rubber soles on linoleum, or - more to the point - tectonic plates.

The proliferation of debris orbiting the Earth - primarily jettisoned rocket and satellite components - is an increasingly pressing problem for spacecraft, and it can generate huge costs.

Researchers have demonstrated a microscopic system in which light can be converted into a mechanical oscillation and back.

Photovoltaic panels made from plant material could become a cheap, easy alternative to traditional solar cells. An entirely novel approach to photovoltaics has been developed. By taking the very protein in plants that allows for photosythesis and engineering it to produce electrical current, researcher Andreas Mershin has opened the door for potentially cheap and easy to reproduce solar energy.