Research

As an international team of researchers discovered, the old Italian masters Stradivari and Guarneri relied on unexpected chemical additives in making violins.

An EPFL scientist has found that brain fingerprints – or maps of the neural connections within our brain – can be used to detect a decline in cognitive ability. That’s because the fingerprints are harder to detect in people who already have mild cognitive impairment.

Some physical systems, especially in the quantum world, do not reach a stable equilibrium even after a long time. An ETH researcher has now found an elegant explanation for this phenomenon.

EPFL researchers have found that a form of neuron-to-neuron communication that has long been dismissed as ‘background noise’ is required to keep nerve junctions intact as animals age. The finding suggests that defects in this type of neural communication could contribute to neurodegenerative disorders and other brain conditions.

Researchers at ETH Zurich working together with an international team have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. They measured the crust, mantle and core and narrowed down their composition. The three resulting articles are being published together as a cover story in the journal Science.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. Marsquakes recorded by NASA’s InSight lander provided information about the structure of the planet’s crust, mantle and core.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a cell culture test to detect substances that are directly or indirectly harmful to embryos. Based on an existing test used for developing new drugs and chemicals, the augmented version is designed to help reduce the number of animal experiments.

EPFL scientists have devised a new method that can speed up the real-time observation capabilities of cryo-electron microscopy.

In this episode of the ETH podcast Didier Queloz talks about the quandaries of being a young Nobel Laureate. He also talks about his plans at ETH and tells us what he would ask a Martian if he met one.

Together with international colleagues, PSI researchers have now been able to make correlated metals more readily usable for applications in superconductivity, data processing, and quantum computers.

A comprehensive inventory of Swiss glacial lakes shows how the lake landscape in the high mountains has changed since the end of the Little Ice Age.

3D printing can be used to build load-bearing concrete structures that require significantly less material and no steel reinforcement or mortar. ETH architects and engineers from the Block Research Group in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects and other partners from industry showed how this works with a footbridge in Venice.

Although a very promising solution for capturing solar energy, perovskite solar cells contain lead, which is toxic to the environment and a serious health hazard. EPFL scientists have now found a very elegant and efficient solution by adding a transparent phosphate salt that doesn’t interfere with light-conversion efficiency while preventing lead from seeping into the soil in cases of solar panel failure.

An international research team of cryptographers completed a detailed security analysis of the popular Telegram messaging platform identifying several weaknesses in its protocol that demonstrate the product falls short of some essential data security guarantees.

The Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and EPFL teamed up to develop a new test that’s sensitive enough to measure the amount of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies present in the bloodstream. The scientists’ discovery, published in the prestigious Science Translational Medicine, opens promising new avenues for tracking immunity acquired by infection or vaccination. With this test, experts can measure the level of protection against variants of the virus and monitor their prevalence over time.