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Physics - Life Sciences - 07.06.2023 
Scientists unlock new horizons for cryogenic microscopy
Scientists have developed a new research instrument for observing biological tissue samples prepared using a method discovered about forty years ago by Nobel Prize winner Jacques Dubochet, emeritus professor at the University of Lausanne. Their instrument - the only one of its kind in the world - opens up promising new avenues of research.
Physics - Chemistry - 05.06.2023 
Slow electrons for more efficient reactions
Researchers have managed to produce slow electrons in a solution. In the future, such electrons could help make certain chemical reactions more efficient. What the international team of researchers actually set out to do was to detect a mysterious chemical object: a dielectron in solution. A dielectron is made up of two electrons, but unlike an atom, it has no nucleus.
Physics - 31.05.2023 
Actively reducing noise by ionizing air
Scientists show that a thin layer of plasma, created by ionizing air, could be promising as an active sound absorber, with applications in noise control and room acoustics. Did you know that wires can be used to ionize air to make a loudspeaker? Simply put, it's possible to generate sound by creating an electric field in a set of parallel wires, aka a plasma transducer, strong enough to ionize the air particles.
Physics - Life Sciences - 30.05.2023
Physics - 30.05.2023 
Breaking the ice over a 40-year problem of supercooled water
Researchers at EPFL have found a way to study water in "no man's land," a subzero temperature range where water crystallizes rapidly. Historically, the inability to access "no man's land" has prevented researchers from unriddling the anomalous nature of water, but the breakthrough method can now change that.
Physics - 26.05.2023 
Scepticism about Microsoft results
In March 2022, Microsoft published research results about the realisation of a special type of particle that might be used to make particularly robust quantum bits. Researchers at the University of Basel are now calling these results about so-called Majorana particles into doubt: through calculations they have shown that the findings can also be explained differently.
Health - Physics - 24.05.2023 
New production process for therapeutic nanovesicles
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed an efficient method for the preparation of therapeutic nanovesicles, thereby fulfilling a key prerequisite for industrial production. The method also paves the way for research into areas such as immunotherapy treatments for cancer. Particles known as extracellular vesicles play a vital role in communication between cells and in many cell functions.
Physics - 10.05.2023 
Entangled quantum circuits
Researchers have succeeding in demonstrating that quantum mechanical objects that are far apart can be much more strongly correlated with each other than is possible in conventional systems. For this experiment, they used superconducting circuits for the first time. A group of researchers led by Andreas Wallraff, Professor of Solid State Physics at ETH Zurich, has performed a loophole-free Bell test to disprove the concept of "local causality" formulated by Albert Einstein in response to quantum mechanics.
Physics - Materials Science - 09.05.2023 
Closer to next-generation electronics
EPFL engineers have found a way to control the interactions between excitons - quasiparticles that may one day transport data and replace the electrons in electronic devices. The engineers' method involves applying an electric field to a two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material. Electronic devices have become an essential feature of just about all aspects of modern society.
Physics - Chemistry - 20.04.2023 
Fat quantum cats
Researchers at ETH Zurich have created the heaviest Schrödinger cat to date by putting a crystal in a superposition of two oscillation states. Their results could lead to more robust quantum bits and help to explain why quantum superpositions are not observed in everyday life. Even if you are not a quantum physicist, you will most likely have heard of Schrödinger's famous cat.
Chemistry - Physics - 17.04.2023 
A solar hydrogen system that co-generates heat and oxygen
Researchers have built a pilot-scale solar reactor that produces usable heat and oxygen, in addition to generating hydrogen with unprecedented efficiency for its size. A parabolic dish on the EPFL campus is easily overlooked, resembling a satellite dish or other telecommunications infrastructure. But this dish is special, because it works like an artificial tree.
Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 04.04.2023 
A new measurement could change our understanding of the Universe
When it comes to measuring how fast the Universe is expanding, the result depends on which side of the Universe you start from. A recent EPFL study has calibrated the best cosmic yardsticks to unprecedented accuracy, shedding new light on what's known as the Hubble tension. The Universe is expanding - but how fast exactly? The answer appears to depend on whether you estimate the cosmic expansion rate - referred to as the Hubble's constant, or H0 - based on the echo of the Big Bang (the cosmic microwave background, or CMB) or you measure H0 directly based on today's stars and galaxies.
Physics - Electroengineering - 29.03.2023
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 27.03.2023 
How football-shaped molecules occur in the universe
For a long time it has been suspected that fullerene and its derivatives could form naturally in the universe. These are large carbon molecules shaped like a football, salad bowl or nanotube. An international team of researchers using the Swiss SLS synchrotron light source at PSI has shown how this reaction works.
Life Sciences - Physics - 22.03.2023 
How vision begins
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have deciphered the molecular processes that first occur in the eye when light hits the retina. The processes - which take only a fraction of a trillionth of a second - are essential for human sight. The study has now been published in the scientific journal Nature .
Physics - 21.03.2023 
Scientists open door to manipulating ’quantum light’
Light particles, also called photons, do not normally interact with each other. An international research team has now demonstrated for the first time that a few photons can be manipulated and made to interact in a controlled manner. This could advance both medical imaging and quantum computing. Photons do not interact with each other in a vacuum; they can fly through each other undisturbed.
Physics - Electroengineering - 20.03.2023 
Sculpting quantum materials for the electronics of the future
An international team led by the University of Geneva has developed a quantum material in which the fabric of space inhabited by electrons can be curved on-demand. Artistic view. Curvature of the space fabric due to the superposition of spin and orbital states at the interface between lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO3) and strontium titanate (SrTiO3).
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 20.03.2023 
First detection of neutrinos made at a particle collider
A team including physicists of the University of Bern has for the first time detected subatomic particles called neutrinos created by a particle collider, namely at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The discovery promises to deepen scientists- understanding of the nature of neutrinos, which are among the most abundant particles in the universe and key to the solution of the question why there is more matter than antimatter.
Physics - Computer Science - 13.03.2023 
High-performance detectors to combat spies
A team from the University of Geneva and ID Quantique has developed single-photon detectors with unprecedented performance. These results open new perspectives for quantum cryptography. How can we combat data theft, which is a real issue for society? Quantum physics has the solution. Its theories make it possible to encode information (a qubit) in single particles of light (a photon) and to circulate them in an optical fibre in a highly secure way.
Materials Science - Physics - 09.03.2023 
Shape memory for nano-sized objects
Researchers at ETH Zurich achieved a shape memory effect for the first time with objects that are only a few nanometers in size. This can be used to manufacture tiny machinery and robotic devices on the nanoscale. Alloys that can return to their original structure after being deformed have a so-called shape memory.
Physics
Results 1 - 20 of 622.
Scientists have developed a new research instrument for observing biological tissue samples prepared using a method discovered about forty years ago by Nobel Prize winner Jacques Dubochet, emeritus professor at the University of Lausanne. Their instrument - the only one of its kind in the world - opens up promising new avenues of research.
Researchers have managed to produce slow electrons in a solution. In the future, such electrons could help make certain chemical reactions more efficient. What the international team of researchers actually set out to do was to detect a mysterious chemical object: a dielectron in solution. A dielectron is made up of two electrons, but unlike an atom, it has no nucleus.
Scientists show that a thin layer of plasma, created by ionizing air, could be promising as an active sound absorber, with applications in noise control and room acoustics. Did you know that wires can be used to ionize air to make a loudspeaker? Simply put, it's possible to generate sound by creating an electric field in a set of parallel wires, aka a plasma transducer, strong enough to ionize the air particles.
An algorithm for sharper protein films
Proteins are biological molecules that perform almost all biochemical tasks in all forms of life. In doing so, the tiny structures perform ultra-fast movements. In order to investigate these dynamic processes more precisely than before, researchers have developed a new algorithm that can be used to evaluate measurements at X-ray free-electron lasers such as the SwissFEL more efficiently.
Proteins are biological molecules that perform almost all biochemical tasks in all forms of life. In doing so, the tiny structures perform ultra-fast movements. In order to investigate these dynamic processes more precisely than before, researchers have developed a new algorithm that can be used to evaluate measurements at X-ray free-electron lasers such as the SwissFEL more efficiently.
Researchers at EPFL have found a way to study water in "no man's land," a subzero temperature range where water crystallizes rapidly. Historically, the inability to access "no man's land" has prevented researchers from unriddling the anomalous nature of water, but the breakthrough method can now change that.
In March 2022, Microsoft published research results about the realisation of a special type of particle that might be used to make particularly robust quantum bits. Researchers at the University of Basel are now calling these results about so-called Majorana particles into doubt: through calculations they have shown that the findings can also be explained differently.
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed an efficient method for the preparation of therapeutic nanovesicles, thereby fulfilling a key prerequisite for industrial production. The method also paves the way for research into areas such as immunotherapy treatments for cancer. Particles known as extracellular vesicles play a vital role in communication between cells and in many cell functions.
Researchers have succeeding in demonstrating that quantum mechanical objects that are far apart can be much more strongly correlated with each other than is possible in conventional systems. For this experiment, they used superconducting circuits for the first time. A group of researchers led by Andreas Wallraff, Professor of Solid State Physics at ETH Zurich, has performed a loophole-free Bell test to disprove the concept of "local causality" formulated by Albert Einstein in response to quantum mechanics.
EPFL engineers have found a way to control the interactions between excitons - quasiparticles that may one day transport data and replace the electrons in electronic devices. The engineers' method involves applying an electric field to a two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material. Electronic devices have become an essential feature of just about all aspects of modern society.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have created the heaviest Schrödinger cat to date by putting a crystal in a superposition of two oscillation states. Their results could lead to more robust quantum bits and help to explain why quantum superpositions are not observed in everyday life. Even if you are not a quantum physicist, you will most likely have heard of Schrödinger's famous cat.
Researchers have built a pilot-scale solar reactor that produces usable heat and oxygen, in addition to generating hydrogen with unprecedented efficiency for its size. A parabolic dish on the EPFL campus is easily overlooked, resembling a satellite dish or other telecommunications infrastructure. But this dish is special, because it works like an artificial tree.
When it comes to measuring how fast the Universe is expanding, the result depends on which side of the Universe you start from. A recent EPFL study has calibrated the best cosmic yardsticks to unprecedented accuracy, shedding new light on what's known as the Hubble tension. The Universe is expanding - but how fast exactly? The answer appears to depend on whether you estimate the cosmic expansion rate - referred to as the Hubble's constant, or H0 - based on the echo of the Big Bang (the cosmic microwave background, or CMB) or you measure H0 directly based on today's stars and galaxies.
Magnon-based computation could signal computing paradigm shift
Thanks to a breakthrough in the field of magnonics, researchers have sent and stored data using charge-free magnetic waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The discovery could solve the dilemma of energy-hungry computing technology in the age of big data. Like electronics or photonics, magnonics is an engineering subfield that aims to advance information technologies when it comes to speed, device architecture, and energy consumption.
Thanks to a breakthrough in the field of magnonics, researchers have sent and stored data using charge-free magnetic waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The discovery could solve the dilemma of energy-hungry computing technology in the age of big data. Like electronics or photonics, magnonics is an engineering subfield that aims to advance information technologies when it comes to speed, device architecture, and energy consumption.
For a long time it has been suspected that fullerene and its derivatives could form naturally in the universe. These are large carbon molecules shaped like a football, salad bowl or nanotube. An international team of researchers using the Swiss SLS synchrotron light source at PSI has shown how this reaction works.
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have deciphered the molecular processes that first occur in the eye when light hits the retina. The processes - which take only a fraction of a trillionth of a second - are essential for human sight. The study has now been published in the scientific journal Nature .
Light particles, also called photons, do not normally interact with each other. An international research team has now demonstrated for the first time that a few photons can be manipulated and made to interact in a controlled manner. This could advance both medical imaging and quantum computing. Photons do not interact with each other in a vacuum; they can fly through each other undisturbed.
An international team led by the University of Geneva has developed a quantum material in which the fabric of space inhabited by electrons can be curved on-demand. Artistic view. Curvature of the space fabric due to the superposition of spin and orbital states at the interface between lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO3) and strontium titanate (SrTiO3).
A team including physicists of the University of Bern has for the first time detected subatomic particles called neutrinos created by a particle collider, namely at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The discovery promises to deepen scientists- understanding of the nature of neutrinos, which are among the most abundant particles in the universe and key to the solution of the question why there is more matter than antimatter.
A team from the University of Geneva and ID Quantique has developed single-photon detectors with unprecedented performance. These results open new perspectives for quantum cryptography. How can we combat data theft, which is a real issue for society? Quantum physics has the solution. Its theories make it possible to encode information (a qubit) in single particles of light (a photon) and to circulate them in an optical fibre in a highly secure way.
Researchers at ETH Zurich achieved a shape memory effect for the first time with objects that are only a few nanometers in size. This can be used to manufacture tiny machinery and robotic devices on the nanoscale. Alloys that can return to their original structure after being deformed have a so-called shape memory.
