science wire

EPFL is introducing three new Master's programs to widen the offer of the School's cross-disciplinary study programs in basic sciences and engineering: the Master's in Neuro-X, the Master's in Quantum Science and Engineering and the Master's in Statistics.

EPFL engineering student Lucas Froissart designed an exoskeleton capable of propelling robot explorers into subsurface tunnels on the moon.

In a four-year field research program led by EPFL, in association with several other Swiss institutions, scientists will aim to understand the ecosystem of Greenlandic fjords in the context of a changing climate.

Human biology is the research focus of a number of EPFL labs, where scientists conduct clinical trials with volunteers to design therapeutic interventions and to learn more about how the body functions.

According to an EPFL study, if we take immediate measures to reduce CO2 emissions, we could limit the rise in the temperature of Swiss rivers to 1°C between now and 2090 without drastically affecting their discharge.

Demographer and migration specialist Mathias Lerch has shown that Zurich owes as much of its industrial era development to international immigration as it does to the rural exodus.

EPFL startup SwissInspect has developed a novel bridge-inspection system that combines structural engineering with drone technology, artificial intelligence and computer vision.

Research and Innovation community urges European leaders to take action on Horizon Europe.

A system developed by Grégoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch now enables patients with a complete spinal cord injury to stand, walk and even perform recreational activities like swimming, cycling and canoeing. The images made headlines around the world in late 2018. David Mzee, who had been left paralyzed by a partial spinal cord injury suffered in a sports accident, got up from his wheelchair and began to walk with the help of a walker.

In advance of the AI & Ethics Week conference, co-organized by EPFL's College of Humanities and Center for Digital Trust, ethics expert Johan Rochel talks about the importance of international and cross-sector debate on the impacts of artificial intelligence.

As businesses grow increasingly reliant on data to make strategic decisions, more and more companies and organizations decide to collaborate and share information with each other.

With the launch of the Digital Trust Label, developed by the Swiss Digital Initiative with the help of EPFL experts, users can clearly identify trustworthy digital services.

A PhD candidate at EPFL studied the use of automated control systems for blinds and electric lighting to regulate the amount of daylight in an office, and found that such systems can cut a building's energy demand and stimulate occupants' circadian rhythms, improving their health and well-being.

Two EPFL research groups teamed up to develop a machine-learning program that can be connected to a human brain and used to command a robot.

Engineers at EPFL have studied the use of construction slabs that serve both as structural building elements and floor heating systems.

Three EPFL studies on the effects of Switzerland's first COVID-19 lockdown have just been published. The research was based on a survey of Swiss residents carried out during the confinement, and illustrate how the restrictions caused higher stress levels and changed the way people view housing. The Swiss federal government put the country in lockdown from 16 March to 19 June 2020 in order to stem the rapid increase in COVID-19 infection rates.

Common experience tells us that oil and water do not mix. Yet, it turns out that they can mix when oil is dispersed as small droplets in water. This strange behavior has long vexed scientists because there is no explanation for it. A team of EPFL and ICTP scientists have studied this question using novel optical technology and discovered the mechanism by which these two neutral and immiscible compounds can in fact mix together and form emulsions.

EPFL's newest postdoc fellowship program - EPFLeaders4impact - will fund innovative research projects that address the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Policymakers need to reconsider the European Union's heavy promotion of cross-border mobility if they want to preserve cohesion among member states, according to a new book by three researchers drawing on urban sociology studies carried out at EPFL.

Switzerland's two federal institutes of technology have teamed up to offer a new joint doctoral programme in the learning sciences.

Fully operational for two weeks, the Dubochet Center for imaging was presented to the press on November 22.

Work is underway at the Ecublens campus to install gender-neutral bathrooms designed to protect people's privacy.

The dire need of dialysis therapies in lowand middle-income countries has prompted the creation of an interdisciplinary and international alliance that brings together experts from key organizations including EPFL.

Digital twins are computer-based models of an object or even a human organ, and the technology behind them is advancing at a rapid pace.

An international collaboration led by EPFL chemical engineers has overcome a problem in the manufacturing of perovskites that reduces their efficiency as solar panels. The approach produced perovskite solar panels with an efficiency of 23.9% and operational stability longer than 1000 hours. Perovskites are hybrid compounds made from metal halides and organic constituents, and show great potential in a range of applications, e.g. LED lights, lasers, and photodetectors.

Thanks to the enhanced light-field technology developed by EPFL spin-off Creal, augmented-reality and virtual-reality images appear increasingly life-like with less strain on users' eyes.

In a study of transactions involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which represent digital works of art, scientists have found that the NFT market has much the same structure as interactions on social networks.

The CLIMACT center brings together experts in climate change from the University of Lausanne and EPFL.

It's an age-old question - who lives on in a society's collective memory after they die? New EPFL research has tracked the mentions of thousands of public figures in the year following their deaths, helping to reveal who is remembered, and who is not, after they are gone. Cleopatra, Genghis Khan and Elvis are just a few historical figures that make up an elite group of people who live on in our history books and collective memory.

The Artificial Swissness exhibit - a larger than life-sized "design brain" developed by EPFL's Media x Design Lab (LDM) - is currently on display at the Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism, which runs until 31 October 2021.

Encryption provides a solution to security risks, but its flipside is that it can hinder law enforcement investigations. A new technology called client-side scanning (CSS) would enable targeted information to be revealed through on-device analysis, without weakening encryption or providing decryption keys.