They have discovered the key to optimizing information transfer

24. EPFL researchers have come up with a way to optimize information transfer, solving a problem that has confounded researchers for 60 years. Their breakthrough could enhance the quality of our , from smartphones to satellite transmissions and data storage. We all need to send and receive data, such as when ing a movie, saving photos to a hard drive and talking on the phone. But noise on these communication channels can lead to data loss. Is this avoidable? It may be hard to believe, but this problem has stymied researchers since the 1960s. EPFL researchers have now unlocked the mystery, and their work has won an award at the Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC 2016), which recently took place in the United States.