news

Researchers have developed a light-based approach to read out superconducting circuits, overcoming the scaling-up limitations of quantum computing systems. In the last few years, several technology companies including Google, Microsoft, and IBM, have massively invested in quantum computing systems based on microwave superconducting circuit platforms in an effort to scale them up from small research-oriented systems to commercialized computing platforms.

A study published today in Nature shows that the NHS COVID-19 app for digital contact tracing, based on the DP3T protocol, averted between 300,000 and 600,000 COVID-19 cases in England and Wales. The researchers used data from the NHS to show and quantify the epidemiological impact of such privacy-preserving apps, which are now available around the globe to help control the pandemic.

Scientists have used a novel algorithmic approach on cancer cells to understand how changes in histone marks (H3K27ac) induce repositioning of chromatin regions in the cell nucleus, and described how modifications of local contacts between regulatory elements (enhancers and promoters) influence oncogene expression.

With the help of their custom-built super-resolution microscope, EPFL biophysicists have discovered where and why mitochondria divide, putting to rest controversy about the underlying molecular machinery of mitochondrial fission. Mitochondria either split in half or cut off their ends to self-regulate.

Scientists are beginning to understand why corals in the Gulf of Aqaba, along with their symbiotic algae and bacteria, resist higher temperatures particularly well. Even under the most optimistic scenarios, most of the coral reef ecosystems on our planet - whether in Australia, the Maldives or the Caribbean - will have disappeared or be in very bad shape by the end of this century.

Antibody testing can be a powerful tool for tracking the spread of SARS-CoV2 infections, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of scientists from EPFL, UNIGE and HUG have now developed a reliable and cheap antibody test that can analyze more than 1,000 samples at once and requires a small drop of blood, such as that from a finger prick.

A team of EPFL engineers has completed proof-of-concept tests for the new Massongex-Bex-Rhône hydropower dam. The tests, involving both a physical scale model and computer simulations, enabled the engineers to fine-tune their design. Engineers at EPFL's Platform of Hydraulic Constructions (PL-LCH) in Lausanne have just finished testing the design for the new Massongex-Bex-Rhône (MBR) hydropower dam.

Mechanical engineers and mathematicians at EPFL have joined forces to gain a better understanding of the geometry and mechanics of two filaments in contact - as in the cases of knots and woven fabrics. Pedro Reis, head of EPFL's Flexible Structures Laboratory, and John Maddocks, head of EPFL's Laboratory for Computation and Visualization in Mathematics and Mechanics, have something in common: a fascination with ropes and knots.

Scientists have developed an algorithm that can work out the spatial pattern of gene expression inside the body without the need for microscopes and complicated equipment used currently. As we accumulate more and more gene-sequencing information, cell-type databases are growing in both size and complexity.

Scientists have developed ultralow-loss silicon nitride integrated circuits that are central for many photonic devices, such as chip-scale frequency combs, narrow-linewidth lasers, coherent LiDAR, and neuromorphic computing. Encoding information into light, and transmitting it through optical fibers lies at the core of optical communications.

GenoRobotics is an interdisciplinary EPFL project to develop a portable, automated device for extracting and sequencing DNA in any type of environment. The project team hopes their invention will make it easier and faster to map our planet's biodiversity. Preserving the Earth's biodiversity is a crucial challenge.

Physical chemists and chemical engineers led by EPFL have used a chemical tweak to push the power-conversion efficiency and operational stability of perovskite solar cells to 25.6% and at least 450 hours respectively. Perovskites are hybrid compounds that can be made from metal halides and organic constituents.

Scientists have found that streams and rivers - or "running waters" - emit on average four times more CO2 at night than during the day. That matters because most estimates of global CO2 emissions are made using measurements taken during the day, thereby introducing a potential bias into the calculation of the global carbon cycle.

Water can freeze from liquid to solid ice or boil into a gas. In the kitchen these "phase transitions" aren't smooth, but their discontinuous nature is smoothed out at high pressure. An international team of physicists led by EPFL has now discovered the same behavior in certain quantum magnets, which may have consequences for the technology of qubits.

Researchers have shed new light on one of the earliest color photography techniques, G. Lippmann's Nobel Prize-winning multispectral imaging method. It is often said that before air travel our skies were bluer yet how, in the 21 st century, could we ever know what light and colors were like one hundred years ago? Recently, a group of researchers from EPFL's Audiovisual Communications Laboratory , in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC), had a unique opportunity to try to find out.

Scientists have developed an injectable gel that can attach to various kinds of soft internal tissues and repair tears resulting from an accident or trauma.

Scientists have developed algorithms that, combined with wearable sensors, could help clinicians to monitor the progression of Parkinson's disease and assess the effects of medications commonly used by people with this neurodegenerative disorder. Parkinson's disease affects neurons in an area of the brain that controls movement, causing tremors, difficulty walking and other motor problems.

A new study published in Science Translational Medicine by EPFL professor Johan Auwerx and scientists from EPFL start-up Amazentis highlights the effectiveness of mitophagy-stimulating molecule Urolithin A in mice to cure a disease similar to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. And points to a possible treatment for affected people.

Scientists have developed AI-powered nanosensors that let researchers track various kinds of biological molecules without disturbing them. The tiny world of biomolecules is rich in fascinating interactions between a plethora of different agents such as intricate nanomachines (proteins), shape-shifting vessels (lipid complexes), chains of vital information (DNA) and energy fuel (carbohydrates).

Scientists, together with local startup L2F, have developed a robust model that can predict when a systemic shift is about to occur, based on methods from a branch of mathematics called topological data analysis. Topological data analysis (TDA) involves extracting information from clouds of data points and using the information to classify data, recognize patterns or predict trends, for example.