wire - news in brief

Formazione continua e aggiornamento per giuristi: Legge sull'esecuzione e fallimenti (SchKG), Rodrigo Rodriguez Faculty of Economics Seminario IdEP "Dynamic Vertical Foreclosure" - Chiara Fumagalli F

Visiting Alumni: Ktimene Axetell, VP Insights, Arrivalist Visiting Alumni: Valeria Croce, Manager International Relations and Insights, Eurail BV Fall Semester Projects Presentations 2019 Faculty of

Computer scientist David Dao develops intelligent algorithms that use satellite and drone images of rainforests to predict where the next sites of deforestation will be.

The first-ever image of a black hole was unveiled to the public this past April. It was produced by a team of 200 scientists as part of the Event Horizon Telescope Project.

The series of talks "Quattro chiacchiere con l'esperto", organised by USI Ideatorio Cadro, continues with Luca Gambardella, Director of Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence USI-SUPSI. An informal chat with the expert about the human brain vs artificial intelligence. Computer scientist Luca Gambardella is the Director of Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (USI-SUPSI), for which he began working in 1988.

Hackers are increasingly exploiting weaknesses in IT system hardware rather than software. To close this gap, we are introducing a new open source project based on Google's Titan security technology and the "Ibex" open source processor from ETH. Luca Benini, Professor at the Institute for Integrated Systems, explains how.

Official statistics can benefit from new analysis methods arising from its data innovation strategy. The automation of certain tasks, especially data preparation, seems to be particularly promising. Although the first results from the FSO's pilot projects are encouraging, according to an initial assessment published on the "experimental statistics" microsite, they still need fine-tuning before they can be fully implemented in ongoing production.

EPFL-based startup Droople has developed a smart flow meter that can measure buildings' water consumption and identify potential savings in energy.

An aerodynamic bike that was designed using software from Neural Concept, a spin-off from the Computer Vision Laboratory (CVLab) in the EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences, has broken two world records for cycling speed.

Self-driving cars, the automatic detection of cancer cells, online translation: deep learning makes it all possible. The ETH spin-off Mirage Technologies has developed a deep learning platform that aims to help start-ups and companies more quickly develop and optimise their products. The name has a fairytale feel to it, with its reference to mirages and the suggestion of illusion.

These days, Microsoft officially opens a lab in Zurich dedicated to researching mixed reality technologies and artificial intelligence.

Four Swiss organisations, including UNIGE, receive funding from the European Union (EU) through OPENQKD, a secure quantum communication infrastructure.

Deepfakes - or fake videos produced to look real through the use of artificial intelligence - pose a growing challenge.

The ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research of the University of Bern is the recipient of a grant from JDRF, the leading global funder for type 1 diabetes research.

EPFL scientists have successfully tested new neuroprosthetic technology that combines robotic control with users' voluntary control, opening avenues in the new interdisciplinary field of shared control for neuroprosthetic technologies. EPFL scientists are developing new approaches for improved control of robotic hands - in particular for amputees - that combines individual finger control and automation for improved grasping and manipulation.

Universities play an increasingly important role in society creating an environment where talents, like graduate student David Yenicelik, thrive.

Until a few years ago, experts in Switzerland spoke of around 20 species. Now a major project by Eawag, the University of Zurich, the Swiss Centre for the Cartography of the Fauna (CSCF) and the Swiss Entomological Society (SEG) has researched over 40 clearly different species.

Are there limits to what computers are actually able to compute, and do quantum computers really solve more problems than conventional computers' Computer scientist Scott Aaronson will discuss these kinds of fundamental questions during the Paul Bernays Lectures 2019. In 2007, something unusual happened: an ad spot ran on Australian TV that involved two models in a dressing room discussing quantum mechanics.

Over the next three years, researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Cambridge, École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI-Paris) and Empa will be working together with the Dutch Polymer manufacturer SupraPolix on the next generation of robots: (soft) robots that 'feel pain' and heal themselves.

(Summer Series): Mathieu Clavel, a master's student in the College of Humanities (CDH) Digital Humanities Institute, is bringing musical heritage from Afghanistan to life using tools from data science and virtual reality.

Emmanuel Abbé is the new Chair of Mathematical Data Science at EPFL. His work answers fundamental questions in machine learning and information theory, and in particular on community detection. Sociologists study the patterns of everyday social interactions and relationships by structuring society in a network.

On May 28, the EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) and Science Outreach Department (SPS) organized the final of the first Swiss edition of the Alkindi Competition, where more than 40 secondary school students from across the country put their code-cracking skills to the test.

The Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology has announced the appointment of 7 professors at EPFL.

Empa CEO Gian-Luca Bona on the opportunities and risks of digitalization - and the question as to how a materials research institute needs to gear itself up for this future.

Researchers have identified a widespread computer security vulnerability affecting laptop, desktop and server hardware. Last year, the so-called Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities made headlines when it was discovered that they affect the Intel central processing units (CPUs) in most laptop and desktop computers and servers.

A beekeeper teamed up with the Signal Processing Laboratory 5 and a group of EPFL students to develop an app that counts the number of Varroa mites in beehives.

A new EU regulation that went into effect in May has prompted consumers to pay more attention to how websites use the personal data they collect. With Polisis, an AI-based program developed at EPFL, consumers can get quick, easy-to-read summaries of websites' data protection policies. And the program is becoming highly popular - EPFL's Technology Transfer Office has received numerous license requests.

Last fall, EPFL introduced a new continuing education program whereby participants earn a Certificate of Open Studies (COS) - the only one of its kind in Switzerland. The first COSs were handed out at a ceremony this past Thursday. Switzerland's very first Certificates of Open Studies (COSs) were handed out this past Thursday at a ceremony at EPFL.

Creating and modifying a virtual reality environment just got a lot easier thanks to software being released today by Imverse, an EPFL spin-off.

EPFL scientists will soon be heading off to Antarctica, where they will spend four months collecting reams of meteorological data at Australia's Davis research station.

The Affinity Map showing cross-laboratory collaboration among faculty at EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) is now available to the general public. One of its creators will soon be heading off to MIT on a grant to expand his idea to a global scale. Scientists around the world are excited about the new possibilities being offered by advanced data collection and processing methods.