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Life Sciences - Physics - 16.09.2022 
Nanotubes illuminate the way to living photovoltaics
Scientists at EPFL have gotten bacteria to spontaneously take up fluorescent carbon nanotubes for the first time. The breakthrough unlocks new biotechnology applications for prokaryotes, such as near-infrared bacteria tracking and "living photovoltaics" - devices that generate energy using light-harvesting bacteria.
Physics - Innovation - 24.08.2022 
New quantum technology combines free electrons and photons
Scientists from EPFL, the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the University of Göttingen have successfully created electron-photon pairs for the first time in a controlled way, using integrated photonic circuits on a chip. Using a new technique, they could precisely detect the involved particles.
Health - Physics - 23.08.2022 
Cell receptors: of voids and void fillers
Nearly all vital functions in the human body are regulated by so-called G protein-coupled receptors on the cell surface. These receptors thus serve as attractive drug targets to treat various diseases. Researchers have now discovered that empty spaces inside these receptors are important for their activation and thus for relaying messages to the inner cell.
Physics - 19.08.2022 
Strong adhesion thanks to cavitation bubbles
Canadian researchers have discovered that they can stick hydrogel plasters to the skin very effectively using ultrasound. ETH Zurich professor Outi Supponen has now explained the underlying mechanism: imploding bubbles that form within the adhesive located between the plaster and the skin anchor the one on the other.
Physics - Chemistry - 09.08.2022 
In control of chaos
Crystals consisting of wildly mixed ingredients - so-called high-entropy materials - are currently attracting growing scientific interest. Their advantage is that they are particularly stable at extremely high temperatures and could be used, for example, for energy storage and chemical production processes.
Physics - Mathematics - 28.07.2022 
A key role for quantum entanglement
A method known as quantum key distribution has long held the promise of communication security not possible in conventional cryptography. For the first time, an international team of scientists, including researchers from EPFL, has demonstrated experimentally an approach to quantum key distribution based on high-quality quantum entanglement - offering much broader security guarantees than previous schemes.
Physics - 26.07.2022
Physics - Chemistry - 19.07.2022 
Attosecond measurement on electrons in water clusters
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that enables time-resolved measurements of electron motion in water clusters lasting only a few attoseconds. The technique can be used for more detailed studies of water as well as faster electronics. Virtually all vital chemical processes take place in aqueous solutions.
Physics - 11.07.2022 
Researchers remeasure gravitational constant
Researchers at ETH Zurich have redetermined the gravitational constant G using a new measurement technique. Although there is still a large degree of uncertainty regarding this value, the new method offers great potential for testing one of the most fundamental laws of nature. The gravitational constant G determines the strength of gravity - the force that makes apples fall to the ground or pulls the Earth in its orbit around the sun.
Chemistry - Physics - 05.07.2022 
Making it easier to differentiate mirror-image molecules
Using a new method, scientists are better able to distinguish between mirror-image substances. This is important amongst others in drug development, because the two variants can cause completely different effects in the human body. Researchers from Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, EPF Lausanne (EPFL), and the University of Geneva describe the new method in the scientific journal Nature Photonics .
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 04.07.2022 
The Higgs boson, ten years after its discovery
Geneva, 4 July 2022. Ten years ago, on July 4 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) announced the discovery of a new particle with features consistent with those of the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. The discovery was a landmark in the history of science and captured the world's attention.
Physics - Innovation - 27.06.2022 
New miniature atomic clocks to be released soon
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.
Physics - 23.06.2022 
Quantum network nodes with warm atoms
Communication networks need nodes at which information is processed or rerouted. Physicists at the University of Basel have now developed a network node for quantum communication networks that can store single photons in a vapor cell and pass them on later. In quantum communication networks, information is transmitted by single particles of light (photons).
Mathematics - Physics - 22.06.2022 
As they search for beauty
At its heart, is mathematics an aesthetic discipline? Or what does it mean if someone finds a proof -beautiful- And what does mathematical beauty say about physical connections? To this day, mathematics includes beautiful facts that are also familiar to us in everyday life. The golden ratio, for example, has been revered since antiquity as representing the most aesthetically pleasing proportions.
Materials Science - Physics - 22.06.2022 
Colour vision
Colours can be created in surprisingly different ways. And in addition to being pleasing to the eye, colour can also serve a useful purpose. -Asking why chocolate is brown is like asking why the sky is blue,- says Ralph Spolenak, Professor of Nanometallurgy in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich.
Environment - Physics - 17.06.2022
Physics - Electroengineering - 17.06.2022 
Boosting light power revolutionizes communications and autopilot
Scientists have built a compact waveguide amplifier by successfully incorporating rare-earth ions into integrated photonic circuits. The device produces record output power compared to commercial fiber amplifiers, a first in the development of integrated photonics over the last decades. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are devices that can provide gain to the optical signal power in optical fibers, often used in long-distance communication fiber optic cables and fiber-based lasers.
Earth Sciences - Physics - 16.06.2022 
An underrated factor
How the plates of the Earth's crust move depends largely on the behaviour of the rocks below them in the mantle. A new ETH study now shows that the grain size of these rocks is a key factor. The face of our planet is shaped by forces deep within its interior. These push the plates of the Earth's crust against each other, causing mountains and volcanoes to form along the collision zones.
Physics - 13.06.2022 
Twin photons from unequal sources
Identical light particles (photons) are important for many technologies that are based on quantum physics. A team of researchers from Basel and Bochum has now produced identical photons with different quantum dots - an important step towards applications such as tap-proof communications and the quantum internet.
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 31.05.2022 
The Sun is spinning round again
An international team led by astronomers from the UNIGE has succeeded in developing a model to solve part of the 'solar problem'. All was amiss with the Sun! In the early 2000s, a new set of data brought down the chemical abundances at the surface of the Sun, contradicting the values predicted by the standard models used by astrophysicists.
Physics
Results 41 - 60 of 618.
Scientists at EPFL have gotten bacteria to spontaneously take up fluorescent carbon nanotubes for the first time. The breakthrough unlocks new biotechnology applications for prokaryotes, such as near-infrared bacteria tracking and "living photovoltaics" - devices that generate energy using light-harvesting bacteria.
Scientists from EPFL, the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the University of Göttingen have successfully created electron-photon pairs for the first time in a controlled way, using integrated photonic circuits on a chip. Using a new technique, they could precisely detect the involved particles.
Nearly all vital functions in the human body are regulated by so-called G protein-coupled receptors on the cell surface. These receptors thus serve as attractive drug targets to treat various diseases. Researchers have now discovered that empty spaces inside these receptors are important for their activation and thus for relaying messages to the inner cell.
Canadian researchers have discovered that they can stick hydrogel plasters to the skin very effectively using ultrasound. ETH Zurich professor Outi Supponen has now explained the underlying mechanism: imploding bubbles that form within the adhesive located between the plaster and the skin anchor the one on the other.
Crystals consisting of wildly mixed ingredients - so-called high-entropy materials - are currently attracting growing scientific interest. Their advantage is that they are particularly stable at extremely high temperatures and could be used, for example, for energy storage and chemical production processes.
A method known as quantum key distribution has long held the promise of communication security not possible in conventional cryptography. For the first time, an international team of scientists, including researchers from EPFL, has demonstrated experimentally an approach to quantum key distribution based on high-quality quantum entanglement - offering much broader security guarantees than previous schemes.
The physics of snow slab avalanches similar to that of earthquakes
Scientists from EPFL and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF have gained deeper insight into how snow slab avalanches form, paving the way to more effective risk assessment measures for these catastrophic events that induce more avalanche accidents and fatalities every year than other types of avalanches.
Scientists from EPFL and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF have gained deeper insight into how snow slab avalanches form, paving the way to more effective risk assessment measures for these catastrophic events that induce more avalanche accidents and fatalities every year than other types of avalanches.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that enables time-resolved measurements of electron motion in water clusters lasting only a few attoseconds. The technique can be used for more detailed studies of water as well as faster electronics. Virtually all vital chemical processes take place in aqueous solutions.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have redetermined the gravitational constant G using a new measurement technique. Although there is still a large degree of uncertainty regarding this value, the new method offers great potential for testing one of the most fundamental laws of nature. The gravitational constant G determines the strength of gravity - the force that makes apples fall to the ground or pulls the Earth in its orbit around the sun.
Using a new method, scientists are better able to distinguish between mirror-image substances. This is important amongst others in drug development, because the two variants can cause completely different effects in the human body. Researchers from Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, EPF Lausanne (EPFL), and the University of Geneva describe the new method in the scientific journal Nature Photonics .
Geneva, 4 July 2022. Ten years ago, on July 4 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) announced the discovery of a new particle with features consistent with those of the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. The discovery was a landmark in the history of science and captured the world's attention.
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.
Communication networks need nodes at which information is processed or rerouted. Physicists at the University of Basel have now developed a network node for quantum communication networks that can store single photons in a vapor cell and pass them on later. In quantum communication networks, information is transmitted by single particles of light (photons).
At its heart, is mathematics an aesthetic discipline? Or what does it mean if someone finds a proof -beautiful- And what does mathematical beauty say about physical connections? To this day, mathematics includes beautiful facts that are also familiar to us in everyday life. The golden ratio, for example, has been revered since antiquity as representing the most aesthetically pleasing proportions.
Colours can be created in surprisingly different ways. And in addition to being pleasing to the eye, colour can also serve a useful purpose. -Asking why chocolate is brown is like asking why the sky is blue,- says Ralph Spolenak, Professor of Nanometallurgy in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich.
From price shock to independence from fossil fuels
Oil and gas prices are currently on the rise, raising questions about the security of Switzerland's energy supply. In a policy brief, researchers from the Energy Science Center at ETH Zurich have now shown what Switzerland can do to make its energy system independent of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas.
Oil and gas prices are currently on the rise, raising questions about the security of Switzerland's energy supply. In a policy brief, researchers from the Energy Science Center at ETH Zurich have now shown what Switzerland can do to make its energy system independent of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas.
Scientists have built a compact waveguide amplifier by successfully incorporating rare-earth ions into integrated photonic circuits. The device produces record output power compared to commercial fiber amplifiers, a first in the development of integrated photonics over the last decades. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are devices that can provide gain to the optical signal power in optical fibers, often used in long-distance communication fiber optic cables and fiber-based lasers.
How the plates of the Earth's crust move depends largely on the behaviour of the rocks below them in the mantle. A new ETH study now shows that the grain size of these rocks is a key factor. The face of our planet is shaped by forces deep within its interior. These push the plates of the Earth's crust against each other, causing mountains and volcanoes to form along the collision zones.
Identical light particles (photons) are important for many technologies that are based on quantum physics. A team of researchers from Basel and Bochum has now produced identical photons with different quantum dots - an important step towards applications such as tap-proof communications and the quantum internet.
An international team led by astronomers from the UNIGE has succeeded in developing a model to solve part of the 'solar problem'. All was amiss with the Sun! In the early 2000s, a new set of data brought down the chemical abundances at the surface of the Sun, contradicting the values predicted by the standard models used by astrophysicists.
