Research

EPFL scientists have developed AI-powered nanosensors that let researchers track various kinds of biological molecules without disturbing them. 

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed fluorescent polymers whose colour can be easily tuned. Depending on their length, the polymers emit a different colour. Potential applications include biomedicine, security printing and solar energy.

EPFL 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.

There are more bats flying around Zurich at night than Paris or Antwerp. This is revealed by a new study led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), examining the diversity of nocturnal animals such as insects and bats in cities. The study shows that connecting green spaces and reducing light pollution are key to promoting such diversity.

EPFL scientists have been busy over the past two years collecting and analyzing samples from streams fed by the world’s biggest glaciers. We spoke with some of the researchers on the project about their globe-trotting adventure. Find out more about it on our brand new longreads website.

SwissFEL, the new large research facility at PSI, has been in regular operation since January 2019. And it turns out that this X-ray free-electron laser really is as compact, high-performance, and versatile as planned. "The Swiss Army knife of FELs" is what PSI researcher Henrik Lemke likes to call this large research facility. In an interview, he talks about the latest research successes.

The ease of creating fake virtual identities plays an important role in shaping the way information – and misinformation – circulates online. Could ‘pseudonym’ parties, that would verify proof of personhood not proof of identity, resolve this tension?

Uranus and Neptune both have a completely skewed magnetic field, perhaps due to the planets’ special inner structures. But new experiments by ETH Zurich researchers now show that the mystery remains unsolved.

Tarpaulins can be used to protect parts of glaciers from sunlight. In ski resorts, the resulting reduction in ice melt may make the measure economical at a local level. However, for financial reasons, it is not really feasible to cover large glaciers, as a study by glacier researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), ETH Zurich and the University of Fribourg has demonstrated.

Ecotoxicological tests need to be extremely accurate – which often poses challenges in research and practice. Eawag has now developed a computer model that enables even more accurate testing at high throughput; the model is simple, widely applicable and saves resources.

Even minor disruptions in infrastructure systems can have fatal consequences. Researchers and practitioners counter that risk by taking action on multiple levels. Four examples.

In a new monograph, Bruno Marchand and Pauline Schroeter document 25 years of architecture in the Canton of Vaud, from 1975 to 2000.

Power converters play an essential role in electric vehicles and solar panels, for example, but tend to lose a lot of power in the form of heat in the electricity conversion process. Thanks to a new type of transistor developed at EPFL, these converters can perform at substantially improved efficiencies, especially in high-power applications.

When it comes to debris avalanches and mudslides, there is usually very little warning. Using seismic monitoring and machine learning, researchers from ETH Zurich and WSL have developed an alarm system that can provide early warning of debris flows at Illgraben.

The risk of people being forced from their homes by flooding increases by half for each additional degree of global warming, as an international research team led by the Weather and Climate Risks Group at ETH Zurich demonstrate.