wire - news in brief

Cellestia Biotech, an EPFL spin-off, can now carry out clinical trials on its new cancer treatment after raising CHF 8 million in seed money.

The H0LiCOW collaboration, a cosmology project led by EPFL and Max Planck Institute and regrouping several research organizations in the world has made a new measurement of the Hubble constant, which indicates how fast the universe is expanding. The new measurement challenges some of the most recent ones, potentially pointing towards new physics beyond the standard cosmological model.

As buildings evolve from energy consumers to energy producers, architecture is seeing a major paradigm shift, with building renovations becoming a real challenge.

EPFL researchers are supporting this Himalayan country's efforts to expand its hydropower capacity. At a time when dams in Switzerland are up for sale, another small mountainous country intent on preserving its natural environment is looking to further tap into its hydroelectric potential.

Slowing the aging process, improving data security, enabling paraplegics to walk again, transporting vaccines at room temperature to warm countries, creating jobs with the CHF 400 million raised by spin-offs - those are just some of the many areas where EPFL scientists have made a lasting contribution.

Health, energy, maths and chocolate: no field of research has been neglected last year by EPFL's scientists. Cheaper solar cells with 20.2% efficiency Some of the most promising solar cells today use light-harvesting films made from perovskites. However, perovskite-based solar cells use expensive 'hole-transporting' materials, whose function is to move the positive charges that are generated when light hits the perovskite film.

In October, EPFL and Médecins Sans Frontières joined forces in an unprecedented effort to predict how the cholera epidemic in Haiti will spread.

Whether it's for drying time, hardness, or uniformity, a new additive developed at EPFL can give concrete, mortar, and cement the desired consistency, all in one shot.

The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), the first project run by the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI), will set sail this evening from South Africa.

From the Saint Loup Chapel in Pompaples to the soon-to-be-completed Vidy Theatre Pavilion in Lausanne, the lab run by Yves Weinand is developing new innovations based on an age-old material: wood.

EPFL student Oriane Etter and 48 other students from universities around the globe just completed the ACE Maritime University.

A drone has been equipped with feathers to increase its precision during flight. The bio-inspired device can spread or close its wings while flying, making it easier to maneuver and more resistant in high winds.

Start-ups linked to EPFL raised almost CHF 400 million this year - that's over 50% more than in 2014, the last record year.

QGel is a startup that makes a synthetic gel for growing cells as if they were in the human body. This breakthrough enhances the reliability of research into anti-cancer drugs.

A highly innovative mechanical clock invented, designed and set in motion by EPFL will soon be installed in the Neuchâtel city hall.

Patrick Aebischer and Valais State Councilor Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten signing the agreement, in presence of Martin Vetterli and Jean-Michel Cina.

A window-glazing system developed by an EPFL team uses micro-mirrors to improve the lighting and visual comfort inside buildings and could also make window blinds obsolete one day.

EPFL's Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC) has installed an NMR system with the highest sensitivity and resolution in the world.

Maria Cristina Munari Probst created a database of examples of solar panels that either fit or do not fit harmoniously in their urban setting.

What does it feel like to recover from brain damage? Have you ever tricked your senses into sensing one thing but experiencing something entirely different? Walk inside a huge inflatable brain and play with optical illusions.

EPFL is launching openfood.ch, a website that provides the public with data on more than 14,000 food products sold in Switzerland.

High school science classes are taking on an added dimension. EPFL startup Nanolive will run a competition to select three local high schools that will be given the use of the company's microscope, which is capable of observing living cells in real time and 3D.

EPFL scientists have discovered a new receptor in the fruit fly immune system that detects bacterial infections. The finding opens up clues for our own immune responses. Our immune system has two phases: innate and adaptive. The first phase, innate, refers to the immediate defense mechanisms such as skin, blood chemicals and certain types of immune cells that constantly fight off foreign organisms to keep them from infecting us.

According to Koseki, Swiss people in the area stretching from Geneva to Bern and St. Gallen increasingly share interests.

Close to 35,000 people took advantage of EPFL's Open Days this past weekend to visit the school's campus, where the new ArtLab building also just opened.

Following the day-night cycle, the liver has its own metabolic rhythm. Using cutting-edge proteomics, scientists at EPFL and Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences have now identified over 500 liver proteins that change in abundance over the course of the day in the cell nucleus, opening a new dimension of metabolism.

An isolated chalet in the mountains is a dream for nature lovers. However, this dream is responsible for most of the problems that winter resorts face today.

EPFL scientists have developed a new type of composite thread that varies in stiffness depending on its temperature.

Coorpacademy, a startup based in EPFL's Innovation Park, has completed a 10 million euro round of financing.

Thanks to an exoskeleton developed at EPFL, people with paraplegia can stand up, walk and even climb steps.

Scientists at EPFL and Penn State have trained a computer-learning algorithm to identify crop diseases with extremely high accuracy.

The nanoparticles in the droplet encounter obstacles, they detach from the liquid and are captured by the holes©Valentin Flauraud/ 2016 EPFL 04. EPFL researchers have developed a method to place and position hundreds of thousands of nanoparticles very precisely on a one centimeter square surface. This will open new doors in nanotechnologies Whether it has to do with making pens or building space shuttles, the manufacturing process consists of creating components and then carefully assembling them.

30. EPFL scientists have stabilized perovskite solar cells by integrating rubidium into them. The innovation pushes power-conversion efficiency to 21.6%, ushering a new generation of perovskite solar cells.

28. Nine EPFL scientists have been included in the prestigious Thomson Reuters? list of Highly Cited Researchers.

26. EPFL researchers have printed nanometric-scale sensors capable of improving the performance of atomic force microscopes. Tiny sensors made through nanoscale 3D printing may be the basis for the next generation of atomic force microscopes. These nanosensors can enhance the microscopes? sensitivity and detection speed by miniaturizing their detection component up to 100 times.

23. The little Swiss satellite was launched on 23 September 2009 and continues to send back regular reports.

26. EPFL and the Defitech Foundation are committed to putting technology to work for disabled people.

!- 05. Summer series on student projects (5) - Charles Jeanbart's semester project brings the question of mobility into the Solar Decathlon, an inter-university competition to design an autonomous solar house.

!- 28. Cyberhaven is developing a new concept for information security. The EPFL spin-off is opening its second office in Boston and has raised more than 2 million dollars in venture capital.

25. The electric pedal cars with two seats known as Twikes will soon be a snap to drive thanks to a more efficient pedaling system and a compact onboard computer.

04. Montreux Heritage Lab2 is an immersive audiovisual experience that places nearly 6,000 hours of archive footage from the Montreux Jazz Festival at the fingertips of the public.

23. A new technique, developed at EPFL, combines microfluidics and lasers to guide cells in 3D space, overcoming major limitations to tissue engineering.

23. Driverless vehicles will be tested on public roads - a first for Switzerland - starting today. EPFL is the research partners on the project.

15. EPFL scientists are developing a new concept of a smart building that adjusts to your lifestyle, by allowing you to control your preferences.

13. The pavilion combines the outcome of twelve first-year architecture design studios into a single three-dimensional exploration of space.