science wire

A joint study by EPFL, the Idiap Research Institute and the University of Lausanne's Institute of Psychology has provided us with a unique snapshot of how Swiss residents experienced the partial lockdown measures resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The findings include gender disparities, doubts about the future and hopes for change.

An interactive video game created by researchers and students in the College of Humanities (CDH) and UNIL Gamelab, in collaboration with the Initiative for Media Innovation (IMI) and Le Temps, allows

Two EPFL students have compared the ability of a forest in Vaud Canton to protect against avalanches before and after it was ravaged by fire in 2018.

Summer series: science as a vocation. Kumar Varoon Agrawal, a tenure-track assistant professor who holds the Gaznat Chair for Advanced Separations at EPFL Valais-Wallis, is developing advanced membranes for the molecular separation of industrial product streams, mainly for CO2 capture.

Summer series: Careers in research. Florian Breider, who heads EPFL's Central Environmental Laboratory (CEL), knew from a young age that he wanted to become a scientist.

Summer series - A calling for research.

Summer Series: Science as a vocation. Christophe Galland, the head of EPFL's Laboratory of Quantum and Nano-Optics, believes that teaching and research are inextricably linked.

Maryna Viazovska, who holds the Chair of Number Theory at EPFL, has resolved the problem of sphere packing in 8 and 24 dimensions.

An EPFL laboratory has developed DataShare Network, a decentralized search engine paired with a secure messaging system that allows investigative journalists to exchange information securely and anonymously.

EPFL's first-year architecture students usually have the chance to build full-scale versions of their designs.

EPFL professor Anthony Davison and co-authors provide a mathematical basis for concerns about ethical implications of AI. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly deployed around us and may have large potential benefits. But there are growing concerns about the unethical use of AI. Professor Anthony Davison, who holds the Chair of Statistics at EPFL, and colleagues in the UK, have tackled these questions from a mathematical point of view, focusing on commercial AI that seek to maximize profits.

EPFL scientists have coupled a new material with light at the level of a single photon. The achievement opens up prospects for better controlling and understanding the properties of quantum-correlated systems, where theoretical calculations are difficult.

Students from EPFL's EAST laboratory have installed recycled lights and restrooms at the Bex & Arts sculpture triennial - set to run from 22 June to 18 October - and repurposed parts of a disused tram depot in Bern.

In a study for the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment EPFL's International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) has brought together a group of global experts to point the way forward for international policymakers grappling with the risks and benefits posed by Carbon Dioxide Removal and Solar Radiation Modification.

Graphene doped with sodium can be a key player in making cheap batteries and spintronic devices, EPFL scientists discover.

After Australia, Siberia is burning, indicating that the frequency of such events is on the rise, with myriad dire consequences: devastated ecosystems, risk of desertification, CO2 emissions, toxic particles, further climate impacts.

The lockdown has been a real headache for most EPFL startups. All but a few were forced to halt their development.

The French startup will use the injection of capital to ramp up marketing of a building life cycle assessment (LCA) method developed at EPFL Fribourg.

The Lauzhack hackathon gave students a chance to redirect their semester projects towards issues related to the coronavirus.

EPFL researchers have modeled the effects of measures taken in the country to slow the spread of coronavirus. According to their estimates, the contamination rate has fallen by between 53% and 92%, depending on the canton, and people's movements have been reduced by 30% to 80%. Have the Swiss government's lockdown measures been effective in stemming the pandemic? That's the question a team of EPFL researchers set out to answer by analyzing data dating back to 28 February, the day the Swiss government banned groupings of over 1,000 people.

The Canton of Vaud has selected a technology developed by EPFL's IBOIS Laboratory for the construction of new pews for Lausanne's Cathedral of Notre Dame.

For his thesis, an EPFL PhD student has enhanced the accuracy and reliability of drone mapping - a technique that is gaining traction across many sectors of society.

EPFL's new Center for Intelligent Systems (CIS) will act as a research promotion platform for bringing together experts in machine learning, data science, computer vision, cyberphysical systems, and robotics.

EPFL scientists have developed a gel that can locally reinforce bones weakened by osteoporosis. The startup they created, called Flowbone, has just made it through the second round of the Venture Kick competition. Femoral neck fractures occur frequently among the elderly, and are usually caused by osteoporosis - a disease that weakens the bone structure.

The German research icebreaker Polarstern has been drifting through the frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean since September last year.

Over the past two weeks, EPFL computer scientists have been testing and refining the smartphone-based system developed by the international Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing project (DP3T), with the help of the Swiss Army. Their goal: to optimize the app's ability to alert users after they've been in contact with someone contagious with COVID-19, while building trust around the open system.

While backcountry ski racers are disappointed that they won't be starting the Patrouille des Glaciers, one disabled skier is happily strapping on the climbing skins once again.

Using the famous computer game Minecraft, Mathematicians at EPFL have developed a video game around Eulerian Cycles.

Secure contact tracing could be a powerful tool to fight the spread of COVID-19. A unique, decentralized system developed as part of an international consortium, including EPFL and ETH Zurich, will soon be launched with the support of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health.

The Square Kilometre Array, or SKA, will be the biggest radio telescope ever built. Thanks to this ambitious tool, some of the universe's greatest mysteries will be resolved.