science wire

(Summer Series): Mathieu Clavel, a master's student in the College of Humanities (CDH) Digital Humanities Institute, is bringing musical heritage from Afghanistan to life using tools from data science and virtual reality.

Using similar propulsion technology, the Hyperloop pods developed by EPFL and ETH Zurich turned in a solid performance in Los Angeles: EPFLoop topped out at 238 km/h in the airless tube set up by SpaceX, while Swissloop peaked at 259km/h.

The finals of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition will take place this Sunday. The crowning race will play out in an airless tube, and EPFL's student team is among the top three contenders.

DePoly, a startup based at EPFL's Valais-Wallis campus, has developed a chemical-based method for recycling PET containers.

Last week, nearly 70 experts from around the world gathered at EPFL for a workshop on potential threats arising from synthetic biology.

Emmanuel Abbé is the new Chair of Mathematical Data Science at EPFL. His work answers fundamental questions in machine learning and information theory, and in particular on community detection. Sociologists study the patterns of everyday social interactions and relationships by structuring society in a network.

The 11 th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) is being held in Lausanne this week, attracting some 1,200 visitors to our city.

On 17 June, students from EPFL and 12 other European universities headed to Zermatt as part of the IGLUNA project.

EPFL's Laboratory for Ultrafast Microscopy and Electron Scattering has received a grant from Google to use shaped electron beams in the cutting-edge field of Nuclear Excitation by Electron Capture (NEEC). Dr Fabrizio Carbone's Laboratory for Ultrafast Microscopy and Electron Scattering (LUMES) today announced that Google has funded a 4-year research project in the lab.

EPFL biophysicists have taken a systematic look into how bacterial biofilms are affected by fluid flow. The findings can give us clues about the physical rules guiding biofilm architecture, but also about the social dynamics that shape evolution. Although we tend to think of them as solitary sojourners of the world, bacteria are actually very social organisms.

On May 28, the EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) and Science Outreach Department (SPS) organized the final of the first Swiss edition of the Alkindi Competition, where more than 40 secondary school students from across the country put their code-cracking skills to the test.

Researchers at EPFL have developed a machine that turns seawater into drinking water in a more environmentally friendly and economical way than existing systems.

Sending manned missions to Mars is essential, according to Pierre Brisson, the president of Mars Society Switzerland, "because we can." We spoke with him about this challenge while he was at EPFL recently to give a talk. Pierre Brisson, a planetology enthusiast who heads the Swiss chapter of the Mars Society, believes in the need to send people to Mars.

A new website, www.meteolakes.ch , provides up-to-date information - such as water temperature, current speed, the chances of a storm and the presence of algae and whirlpools - on Switzerland's main lakes.

The Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology has announced the appointment of 7 professors at EPFL.

A system developed by EPFL spin-off TreaTech can turn sludge from wastewater treatment plants into mineral salts - which could be used in fertilizer, for example - and biogas.

EPFL's Digital Epidemiology Lab held its first food DNA sequencing workshop last Saturday, in association with SwissDeCode and Hackuarium.

Physics enthusiasts will descend on Switzerland for this year's tournament, as the School defends the gold medal it won in 2018 - this time on its home turf.

Jamie Paik, the head of EPFL's Reconfigurable Robotics Lab, will present her reconfigurable robots at the TED2019 conference in Vancouver on 18 April.

Tech4Impact, founded in 2017, is EPFL's pioneering multi-stakeholder platform where students, researchers, large enterprises, NGOs and startups come together to enhance the university's social and environmental impact in the areas of education, research and innovation.

Engineers working on the CleanSpace One project at EPFL's Space Center have come up with a way of capturing and destroying the space debris that has built up over 60 years of low-orbit activities. That team has now founded a startup, ClearSpace, to further develop and market the technology. Since 2012, engineers at EPFL's Space Center have been hard at work on a new junk-clearing satellite to capture debris orbiting the earth.

Professors Pierre Gönczy and Douglas Hanahan (School of Life Sciences), and Professor Tobias J. Kippenberg (School of Basic Sciences/School of Engineering) have been awarded ERC Advanced Grants.

When both parents face lengthy commutes to work, how do families handle the additional stress' An EPFL scientist took an in-depth look at the strategies these parents use for managing their time wisely and dealing with unexpected challenges. "Most studies on long-distance commuters focus on high-ranking executives who live and work in different countries.

Researchers have identified a widespread computer security vulnerability affecting laptop, desktop and server hardware. Last year, the so-called Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities made headlines when it was discovered that they affect the Intel central processing units (CPUs) in most laptop and desktop computers and servers.

Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), announced on Tuesday Switzerland's support for EPFL's project to create a "Transnational Red Sea Research Center".

For his thesis at EPFL, Fernando Simas studied how cable cars could be an appealing transportation option for city commuters, and how they could be incorporated into tomorrow's urban landscapes.

EPFL has adopted an Open Access Policy clearly setting out its position on open access to EPFL publications.