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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.

Scientists at EPFL's Swiss Plasma Center and DeepMind have jointly developed a new method for controlling plasma configurations for use in nuclear fusion research. EPFL's Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) has decades of experience in plasma physics and plasma control methods. DeepMind is a scientific discovery company acquired by Google in 2014 that's committed to 'solving intelligence to advance science and humanity.

EPFL spin-off nu glass has successfully tested a portable system that makes the window panes on railcars permeable to mobile communications. This can bring significant environmental and cost benefits to railway companies and mobile-phone operators, since they'll no longer have to install signal boosters to provide wireless connectivity for passengers.

In a unique collaboration with ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne , researchers have developed an algorithm designed to generate some of the world's first Chinese typefaces, using machine learning. One-thousand years ago during the medieval Song dynasty, the artist and engineer Bi Sheng invented the first movable type printing technology, using porcelain and wood pieces arranged and organized for printed Chinese characters.

Intelligent packaging with sensors that monitor goods, such as vegetables, on long transport routes is a trend for the future. Yet printed and disposable electronics also cause problems: Metals in printing inks are expensive - and disposing of them in an environmentally sound manner is costly and exacerbates the problem of electronic waste.

Questions about finances, savings accounts, or retirement planning: More and more interactions with the bank are taking place via low-threshold, digital communication channels. Almost half of customers can imagine communicating with their bank via chat or chatbot. This is shown by the Conversational Banking study conducted by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have discovered major vulnerabilities in DRAM memory devices, which are widely used in computers, tablets and smartphones. The vulnerabilities have now been published together with the National Cyber Security Centre, which for the first time has assigned an identification number for it.

Spalted wood is a highly sought-after material in the high-end furniture industry. In a newly developed process, scientists have succeeded at controlling the spread of fungi in native wood types to create elaborate marblewood pictures - and even taught the fungi to write some words. Fine black lines spread elegantly across the clock face made from pale, fine-grained timber of ash, beech and maple.