news

EPFL researchers have developed an optical fiber capable of detecting what sort of material or liquid they have come into contact with. Their research has been published. In recent years optical fibers have served as sensors to detect changes in temperature, like a thermometer, and pressure, like an artificial nerve.

Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields may have adverse effects on the development of memory performance of specific brain regions exposed during mobile phone use. These are the findings of a study involving nearly 700 adolescents in Switzerland. The investigation, led by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), will be published on Monday, 23 July 2018 in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Your torso is more intuitive - and more precise - than joysticks for piloting drones, both simulated and real, according to a recent study by EPFL scientists. Work is already underway to implement this new body-machine-interface technology for search and rescue with drones. Imagine piloting a drone using the movements of your torso only and leaving your head free to look around, much like a bird.

The CrowdWater project, developed by doctoral candidates from the Department of Geography of the University of Zurich, is a citizen science project in the area of hydrology, the science of water. The project collects hydrological data on water levels, streamflows and soil moisture from all over the world.

People using brain-computer interface are more efficient when both human and machine are allowed to learn. EPFL researchers trained two tetraplegic users to compete in the international Cybathlon BCI race. Both incrementally learned how to control the BCI, and obtained the best performances at the competition, confirming researchers' hypothesis that mutual learning plays a fundamental role in BCI training.

FocalView is a new app developped by Novartis and designed to help ophthalmic clinical trials, making them more accessible and flexible. Using patients' self-recorded measurements, FocalView aims to enable more sensitive trial endpoints and more accurate patient-reported outcomes. The app is freely available to the scientific community.

Pollen season: The new app called Ally Science has been designed for the two million or so allergy sufferers in Switzerland Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) and University Hospital Zurich (USZ) are launching the free smartphone app Ally Science on the 24th of April 2018.

Algorithms are used to personalize our newsfeed on social media. But the risk is that the points of view we are presented with become increasingly limited and extreme. EPFL researchers have developed a solution that would make users' personalized content more balanced, and their project has already generated interest among human rights campaigners.

The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), an international committee headed by an EPFL professor, has just unveiled JPEG XS. With this new format, the image-compression process uses less energy, and higher-quality images can be sent with low latency over broadband networks like 5G. JPEG XS will have applications in areas such as virtual reality, augmented reality, space imagery, self-driving cars and professional movie editing.

Researchers from ETH Zurich are using a new method for digital timber construction in a real-world project for the first time.

Researchers from ETH Zurich are using a new method for digital timber construction in a real-world project for the first time. The load-bearing timber modules, which are prefabricated by robots, will be assembled in the "DFAB HOUSE" unit at Empa and Eawag's NEST research and innovation building, thus combining architecture with robotics and craftsmanship.

It's a safe bet that some of the websites and apps you use collect and subsequently sell your personal data.

All today's commercial drones use GPS, which works fine above building roofs and in high altitudes. But what, when the drones have to navigate autonomously at low altitude among tall buildings or in the dense, unstructured city streets with cars, cyclists or pedestrians suddenly crossing their way?

25 spin-offs were founded at ETH Zurich last year. This equals the previous year's record level for new ETH spin-offs.

For the very first time, the "Innovation Lab", a special exhibition for digital transformations in the construction industry, will be held at Swissbau 2018 from 16 to 20 January. NEST, the modular research and demonstration platform from Empa and Eawag, will be presenting with its partners (in hall 1.1, booth L88) how digital construction is implemented in reality and exactly what kind of potential for digital innovation is offered by the set of demonstrators on the Empa campus in Dübendorf.

EPFL researchers have shown how human operators can maintain control over a system comprising several agents that are guided by artificial intelligence. In artificial intelligence (AI), machines carry out specific actions, observe the outcome, adapt their behavior accordingly, observe the new outcome, adapt their behavior once again, and so on, learning from this iterative process.

EPFL researchers have come up with a fact-based system to measure urban cleanliness. Municipal authorities will now be able to draw on objective assessments when planning their street cleaning - a sector with multi-million-franc budgets. The concept is straightforward: on one hand, vehicles equipped with video cameras to record the city streets, and on the other, a computer able to spot waste, identify it and classify it - in the blink of an eye.

Technis, an EPFL spin-off, has developed a system that combines a connected floor surface with artificial intelligence to track people's trajectories as they walk through a shopping mall or convention center, for example.

Students from EPFL and HEC have just launched an app that streamlines how you organize a meal out with friends.

EPFL researchers have shown that a simple camera can detect and track flying drones. Plus, the lightweight, energy-efficient and inexpensive technology could be installed directly on the drones themselves and enhance safety in the skies. The rising number of drones in air space poses numerous challenges.