news from the lab 2017

Media releases, information for representatives of the media Media Relations (E) Neutrinos and antineutrinos, sometimes called ghost particles because difficult to detect, can transform from one type to another. The international T2K Collaboration announces a first indication that the dominance of matter over antimatter may originate from the fact that neutrinos and antineutrinos behave differently during those oscillations.

Summer Series: Edward Honein has joined EPFL's Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology from the American University of Beirut.

Will the reinforced concrete bridge still be standing for years to come, or has corrosion already set in? ETH scientists have discovered that previous concrete samples were too small to allow a reliable statement on the condition of reinforced concrete. Taminabrücke opened in June this year following four years of construction.

In their final year of life, on average men cause more healthcare costs than women. Dying is more expensive in the Frenchand Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland than in the German-speaking part. These are the findings of an analysis of health insurance data that was conducted as part of the National Research Programme "End of life" (NRP 67).

Dehydration is one of the most common causes of death among young children in the developing world - particularly during the hot summer months.

EPFL scientists have made new insights into the control of cell senescence, which is intimately linked to the development of cancer and ageing. Cells in the body or in cultures eventually stop replicating. This phenomenon is called "senescence" and is triggered by shortening of telomeres, oxidative stress or genetic damage to the cells, either acute or simply due to the cell growing "old".

Science and the IT industry have high hopes for quantum computing, but descriptions of possible applications tend to be vague. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now come up with a concrete example that demonstrates what quantum computers will actually be able to achieve in the future. Specialists expect nothing less than a technological revolution from quantum computers, which they hope will soon allow them to solve problems that are currently too complex for classical supercomputers.

Answering a long-standing question, EPFL scientists have determined that the sense of body ownership is not affected in schizophrenia patients. Image: In the Full Body Illusion participants view their own backs being stroked, and when the seen and perceived stroking is synchronous a bodily illusion occurs causing them to feel illusory ownership over the viewed body.

Climate change is leading to ever higher temperatures and aridity in many areas, making efficient room cooling increasingly important.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death worldwide. Until recently, the chances of cure for patients suffering from metastatic cancer were low, as with such cancer the surgical removal of dista

Researchers from EPFL, together with other institutes, have developed a robotic eel that swims through contaminated water to find the source of the pollution.

ETH microbiologists led by Markus Künzler have discovered a remarkable enzyme in a fungus. They now want to use it to develop new drugs.

First-time 3D imaging of internal magnetic patterns Magnets are found in motors, in energy production and in data storage. A deeper understanding of the basic properties of magnetic materials could therefore impact our everyday technology. A study by Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Switzerland, the ETH Zurich and the University of Glasgow has the potential to further this understanding.

The frequency of inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis has been on the rise in many Western countries for decades.

EPFL scientists have discovered gene variants that make children life-threatening susceptible to common-cold viruses. Although most children can handle viral respiratory infections like the common cold, about 2% of children become sick enough to require hospitalization. There are some known risk factors for this, but severe illness still affects 1 in 1000 previously healthy kids.

Researchers funded by the SNSF have discovered mutations that worsen respiratory infections among children. Their study explain the mechanism involved. Colds that are not linked to influenza are generally benign. Still, 2% of each generation of children have to go to hospital following a virulent infection.

In order to allow solar and wind energy to make a greater contribution to our future energy supply, it must be possible to store this energy efficiently, for instance in the form of hydrogen. This is done by means of the electrical cleavage of water in an electrolyser. Thanks to a new catalyst material developed by researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, this process may become cheaper and more efficient in the future.

The CRISPR-Cas system is an immune system that is found in many bacteria. It provides protection from viruses and other molecular parasites that can invade the bacterium and take over its genome. In these systems, the immunity is mediated by a complex multi-protein molecular machinery that uses RNA molecules as molecular guides to recognize the invader and target it for destruction.

If European countries cooperated better in the field of wind energy, wind power output would fluctuate less. This is the conclusion reached by a group of energy and climate researchers at ETH Zürich and Imperial College London, who for the first time have combined a long-term analysis of predominant weather patterns with Europe-wide wind electricity generation.

EPFL scientists have developed a ligand molecule that connects peptide drugs to blood-serum albumin and keeps them from being cleared out by the kidneys too soon. The ligand is easy to synthesize and can extend the half-life of therapeutic peptides from minutes to several days. Peptides are biological molecules, made up of short sequences of amino acids.