news from the lab 2011
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Results 41 - 60 of 69.
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that a relatively new memory technology, known as phase-change memory (PCM), can reliably store multiple data bits per cell over extended periods of time. This significant improvement advances the development of low-cost, faster and more durable memory applications for consumer devices, including mobile phones and cloud storage, as well as high-performance applications, such as enterprise data storage.
Rather than installing stations on fixed towers, why not use mobile sensors spread out over the whole city to get better air quality measurements?
Controlling a boiling plasma at several million degrees Celsius - that's the challenge of nuclear fusion, our great energy hope for the future. Two research project advance the state of knowledge in the domain. If plasmas can be controlled, then it may one day be possible to use nuclear fusion as an energy source.
Aelios is an application that was developed by Bachelor students. Two weeks after its launch, it topped download charts in Switzerland and Germany.
Researchers have developed a device only 4mm thick that can manage an urban power grid a thousand times faster than currently possible.
An ultrasound machine has been transformed into a telediagnosis tool. Specialists in other hospitals can see images in real time, pinpoint the exact zone they're coming from, and interact. Making a diagnosis using ultrasound images often requires advice from experts in other hospitals, particularly in neurology.
The international ITER project is setting out to store the energy of stars in a reactor. To meet this challenge, scientists must be able to measure the properties of matter in fusion. Researchers have just successfully tested some sensors that are necessary for the ITER prototype. The scientists' ambition is to keep matter with a temperature of several million degrees contained here on Earth.
An experiment has demonstrated the role played by micro-organisms in the degradation - without oxygen - of a very common pollutant: vinyl chloride. The traces of human industrial activity persist deep inside the ground. And sometimes for a long time! In Switzerland alone, the Federal Office for the Environment records no less than 50,000 polluted sites, including 4000 that have been declared “contaminated” and require clean-up operations.
Robots typically acquire new capacities by imitation. Now, EPFL scientists are doing the inverse - developing machines that can learn more rapidly and outperform humans by starting from failed or inaccurate demonstrations. A robot, unblinking, impassive, observes. Its instructor wants it to learn how to put a balloon in a basket 20 meters away.
Scientists have further boosted the energy conversion efficiency of flexible solar cells made of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (also known as CIGS) to a new world record of 18.7% - a significant improvement overt he previous record of 17.6% achieved by the same team in June 2010.
In an international comparison, Swiss companies spent substantial sums on their research and development (R&D) activities in 2008.
An evolutionary robotics experiment supports Hamilton's rule of altruism and improves swarm robotics collaboration as a result. Using simple robots to simulate genetic evolution over hundreds of generations, researchers shed light on one of the most enduring puzzles in biology: Why do most social animals, including humans, go out of their way to help each other?
Scientists have discovered neuronal connections which are formed in the brain when learning occurs, and which ensure the precision of memory.
Imagine: Your 6-year-old found a nail in the garage and drew pictures across the side of your new car.
Scientists now understand how the TRIM5 protein works and particularly how it temporarily blocks spread of the retrovirus in humans.
SwissCube is the first Swiss satellite in history and extremely small. It has been successfully launched from the Sriharikota space station in India in September 2009.
During the process of sight, light passes into the eye and triggers a whole series of chemical reactions.
Energy consumption poses a critical challenge in the development of next-generation supercomputers and IT systems.
Artificial turf is robust, durable and stands up to any weather. It allows to practise and to play all the year round and therefore became essential for today's football.
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