wire - news in brief

An app developed by an EPFL doctoral student suggests outings you're sure to like - from sporting events to culture and outdoor fun.

Digitalisation simplifies many aspects of our everyday life, but it also creates new risks. Srdjan Capkun, Professor for Information Security, explains how to find the right balance between convenience and security.

The ETH Board appointed new professors at ETH Zurich as part of its meeting of 5/6 July 2017, in accordance with the application submitted by ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella.

At the age of 29, Professor of Computer Science Mohsen Ghaffari is one of the youngest professors at ETH Zurich.

At the Empa and Eawag NEST building in Dübendorf, eight ETH Zurich professors are collaborating with business partners to build the three-storey DFAB HOUSE.

Die Digitalisierung verändert grundlegend immer mehr Lebensbereiche. Für ETH-Präsident Lino Guzzella ist klar: Dieser Wandel ist für die Schweiz eine grosse Chance, denn sie hat ideale Voraussetzungen, eine leistungsfähige Digitalindustrie aufzubauen.

After an extensive hardware upgrade at the end of last year, the CSCS supercomputer Piz Daint is now the most powerful mainframe computer outside Asia.

The data constantly collected and reported by smartphones can find numerous applications. An SNSF-funded project devoted to crowdsensing has found ways to improve privacy and localisation accuracy as well as reduce the impact on hardware. Connecting data from the world's smartphones could put a global supercomputer into all of our pockets.

ETH Meets New York to explore Blockchain technologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence with academia and industry.

A secure and reliable internet generates trust. Just how the internet creates trust is a matter for debate between ETH computer scientists and social scientists - for example, in a public session on 9 May 2017.

A start-up formed by a group of IT specialists at ETH has come up with a simple and user-friendly way to enhance network security.

Sometimes it's the questions, rather than the answers, that show how the world is changing. For example, questions about the moral consequences of machines and computers becoming more intelligent.

In the quest for reliable artificial intelligence, EPFL scientist Marcel Salathé argues that AI technology should be openly available.

Could we soon be working alongside robots' Treffpunkt Science City will focus on this and other questions at the Experience Sundays dedicated to "Working in the World 4.0".

Federal Councillor Alain Berset was invited by Lino Guzzella to visit ETH Zurich on Friday. Berset seemed very impressed by what he saw at the Disney Research Zurich research laboratory.

The SNSF is launching the National Research Programme 'Big Data', which aims to develop novel methods of information analysis, to create specific applications and to suggest solutions to the ethical and legal challenges posed by big data. Several billion gigabytes of data are created each day. This mass of information offers new opportunities, but also raises many questions for society.

Researchers at EPFL and UNIL have discovered a faster and more efficient gait, never observed in nature, for six-legged robots walking on flat ground. Bio-inspired gaits - less efficient for robots - are used by real insects since they have adhesive pads to walk in three dimensions. The results provide novel approaches for roboticists and new information to biologists.

EPFL hosted the first OpenFood Hackdays this past Friday and Saturday. The event attracted 110 participants, whose goal was to brainstorm technological solutions to food-related challenges.

Switzerland is creating a National Center for Data Science to foster innovation in data science, multidisciplinary research and open science.

EPFL is asking Android users who visit or live in Canton of Geneva to record the sounds around them with a special app.

EPFL is asking Android users who visit or live in Geneva Canton to record the sounds around them with a special app.

Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, has had a substantial impact on our lives. While his invention was a resounding success and the Internet has developed unexpectedly fast, he is anything but satisfied with today's situation.

How will digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotics change the world of work? This question was discussed by numerous experts from business and academia at the 'Global Talent Summit' before an audience of more than 300 in the Audi Max room at ETH Zurich.

A new world record for acceleration, a timber roof built by construction robots, and a unique competition for people with disabilities: in 2016, research and campus life at ETH Zurich were dominated by innovation and premieres.

Before an operation, surgeons have to obtain the most precise image possible of the anatomical structures of the part of the body undergoing surgery.

EPFL is launching openfood.ch, a website that provides the public with data on more than 14,000 food products sold in Switzerland.

Visitors are flocking to Treffpunkt Science City. Around 3,600 captivated visitors attended the Sunday Special 'Die Roboter sind los' (Robots on the loose) to see ETH Zurich's various robotics projects in action.

Self-driving cars, talking robots and intelligent houses: the autumn edition of the Treffpunkt Science City series begins next Sunday and will focus on everyday life in the World 4.

This week, the Swiss National Computing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano celebrates its 25 th anniversary. Christoph Schär, ETH professor with the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, was there from the very start.

Scientists at EPFL and Penn State have trained a computer-learning algorithm to identify crop diseases with extremely high accuracy.

With the help of artificial intelligence, chemists from the University of Basel in Switzerland have computed the characteristics of about two million crystals made up of four chemical elements. The researchers were able to identify 90 previously unknown thermodynamically stable crystals that can be regarded as new materials.

One day, quantum computers will perform rapid calculations and solve complex tasks for us. However, there are a few hurdles to overcome along the way.

Computer scientists at the University of Basel have developed a new method for conducting image and video database searches based on hand-drawn sketches. The user draws a sketch on a tablet or interactive paper, and the system searches for a matching image in the database. The new method is free to access for researchers.

20. The first Swiss Cyber Risk Research Conference, being held today at EPFL, brings together Swiss and international IT security specialists.

11. What would you say to having your selfie turned into a Van Gogh or Matisse painting? That's exactly what you can do with DeepArt, an algorithm that can generate a digital painting from any photo.

30. Public Release of Platforms Will Help Advance Collaborative Research in Neuroscience, Medicine, and Computing The Human Brain Project (HBP) is pleased to announce the release of initial versions of its six Information and Technology (ICT) Platforms to users outside the Project.

It is now easier to obtain a clear and transparent overview of the thousands of scientific research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Johann Schneider-Ammann visited the ETH Zurich stand at this year's CeBIT.

15. Twelve years after it was designed at EPFL, the Scala programming language is used by more than a half million developers around the world and by companies like Twitter, Netflix and Swisscom.

He has sold his own paintings on the Internet, launched a number of websites and opened for Lenny Kravitz.

01. Image processing tools can improve our ability to monitor the soundness of infrastructure like bridges and gas pipelines. They increase the precision of optical-fiber measurements by a factor of 100. How can we constantly monitor the stability of a bridge or detect a leak in a gas pipeline in real time? A method based on optical fibers has become the norm in recent years.

Augmented creativity can encourage children towards a new-found sense of creativity, cooperation and interaction with their environment.

Last week, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the winners of the Consolidator Grants for talented young researchers.

24. The new president of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) was announced this morning by the Swiss Federal Council, which confirmed the proposal submitted by the ETH Board.

Founded in 2015, the new Turing Centre at ETH Zurich brings together researchers and students of science, engineering and humanities.

Researchers at the University of Zurich, the Università della Svizzera italiana, and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland have developed software enabling drones to autonomously detect and follow forest paths.

Lorenz Meier, a doctoral student in computer science at ETH Zurich, created the PX4 software that is already being used to pilot many drones.