MT180: First place for the artificial ligaments of Alvaro Charlet

The winner of the fourth annual My Thesis in 180 Seconds competition, held last night at the Rolex Forum, was Alvaro Charlet - a PhD student in materials science. In just three minutes he explained to the 600 people in the audience how his hydrogels receipes could one day replace ligaments in the human body. His presentation - perfectly orchestrated and seasoned with humor - won over the jury. Scientific discoveries can wow an audience - if they are explained with passion and panache. And that's exactly what happened last night at the finals of EPFL's My Thesis in 180 Seconds competition, held at the Rolex Forum. All of the auditorium's 600 seats were filled as people watched in earnest while the 14 finalists discussed their research on topics ranging from medical imaging and the inner workings of watches to nuclear energy. Charlet's work on developing flexible yet resistant hydrogels paves the way to a next generation of artificial ligaments, which can help people recover faster from skiing accidents, for example.