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Engineers at EPFL's Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory have developed a revolutionary method for detecting and locating partial discharges, which disrupt the functioning of power transformers. Transformers play a central role in power distribution systems, making it possible to carry electric power over long distances with minimal risk and losses.

An international research team led by drone expert Mirko Kovac of Empa and Imperial College London has taken bees as a model to develop a swarm of cooperative, 3D-printing drones. Under human control, these flying robots work as a team to print 3D materials for building or repairing structures while flying, as the scientists report in the cover story of the latest issue of Nature.

A new device for diagnosing bone fragility invented by the HUG and the UNIGE has been approved for marketing in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. A new device for diagnosing bone fragility invented by the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) and the University of Geneva has been approved for marketing in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

Researchers from the University of Bern and Inselspital provide an overview of the latest technologies in precision oncology. Translating these into clinical application is still a major challenge. With research projects, the Bern Center for Precision Medicine (BCPM) contributes to bringing technological progress to the patient.

Scientists from EPFL, the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the University of Göttingen have successfully created electron-photon pairs for the first time in a controlled way, using integrated photonic circuits on a chip. Using a new technique, they could precisely detect the involved particles.

Empa, together with EBP and Fussverkehr Schweiz, analyzed in spring 2022 in Thalwil (ZH) how pedestrians react to automated vehicles. The automated parking assistant that had been used is the first system approved in Switzerland that moves a vehicle without a person sitting in it. The findings of the research project, which was co-financed by AXA's Foundation for Prevention, create an important basis for prevention measures and design principles for sustainable road spaces.

An ETH risk researcher has concluded that Energy Strategy 2050 doesn't work. The Energy Science Center at ETH Zurich disagrees: extensive research shows that the energy transition is feasible and makes sense, writes Gabriela Hug together with her ESC colleagues. Earlier this month, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper reported that huge dependence on electricity imports in winter was imminent if the Swiss federal government went through with the Energy Strategy including nuclear phase-out.

Cancer immunotherapy is a successful form of treatment in oncology, but it doesn't work for every patient. One problem may be the lack of a specific type of immune cell in the tumor, researchers in the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel have found. The researchers were able to partially replace the cell's function using a signaling molecule.

Researchers have used swarms of drones to measure city traffic with unprecedented accuracy and precision. Algorithms are then used to identify sources of traffic jams and recommend solutions to alleviate traffic problems. Given the wealth of modern technology available - roadside cameras, big-data algorithms, Bluetooth and RFID connections, and smartphones in every pocket - transportation engineers should be able to accurately measure and forecast city traffic.

On 15 September, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, an Eawag Info Day will be held once again, dedicated to new technologies for monitoring surface waters. Physicist Damien Bouffard, Head of the Aquatic Physics Group at Eawag, was involved in its conception and explains in an interview what new opportunities and challenges these technologies bring.

Coordinated by the CSEM, the large European quantum project macQsimal, included in the FET Flagship on Quantum Technologies initiative, is nearing its end and reveals very promising results.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable textile exomuscle that serves as an extra layer of muscles. They aim to use it to increase the upper body strength and endurance of people with restricted mobility. Improved endurance thanks to the exomuscle The researchers have recently tested this prototype for the first time in a study featuring 12 participants: ten people without any physical impairments, one person with muscular dystrophy (Michael Hagmann) and one person with a spinal cord injury.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and TU Delft have developed a model to generate hundreds of ways in which Europe's energy system can become green and self-sufficient by 2050. They have made their results available on an interactive platform to provide a clearer picture of all the various options and their associated trade-offs.

EPFL's Platform of Hydraulic Constructions has been commissioned to model a future hydropower plant in Australia. As part of its work, the team has built an outsize replica on campus. In the modeling world, 1:25 is an extremely useful scale factor. It's what lets you display your favorite toy cars or tin soldiers in your living-room window.

A team of EPFL engineers has developed a 3D-printing method that uses light to make objects out of opaque resin in a matter of seconds. Their breakthrough could have promising applications in the biomedical industry, such as to make artificial arteries. Back in 2017, engineers at EPFL's Laboratory of Applied Photonic Devices (LAPD), within the School of Engineering, designed a 3D printer capable of fabricating objects almost instantaneously.

Engineers at EPFL and the University of Geneva believe they hold the key to automated drone mapping. By combining artificial intelligence with a new algorithm, their method promises to considerably reduce the time and resources needed to accurately scan complex landscapes. Three-dimensional (3D) mapping is a very useful tool, such as for monitoring construction sites, tracking the effects of climate change on ecosystems and verifying the safety of roads and bridges.

Very thin wires made of a topological insulator could enable highly stable qubits, the building blocks of future quantum computers. Scientists see a new result in topological insulator devices as an important step towards realizing the technology's potential. An international group of scientists have demonstrated that wires more than 100 times thinner than a human hair can act like a quantum one-way street for electrons when made of a peculiar material known as a topological insulator.

To get closer to quantum technology we need to develop non-classical light sources that can emit a single photon at a time and do so on demand.

Technological devices have become constant companions in our daily lives. For the first time, researchers at the University of Basel have now collected data to investigate whether smartwatches can be used to help with compulsive hand washing. Initial results are -cautiously promising. Regular hand washing is important.

EPFL spin-off Leman Biotech has developed a protein that can improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs used to treat some types of cancer. The firm has just completed its first funding round, in the amount of $11 million. Immunotherapy is a promising new weapon in the fight against some types of cancer.