EPFL
“The change in forests' carbon role is a threat to the climate”
Research
EPFL
The Amazon rain forest may have reached a tipping point. According to a recent study, it now emits more CO2 than it absorbs, which could speed the pace of climate change. Charlotte Grossiord, an expert in forest ecosystems and the head of EPFL’s Plant Ecology Research Laboratory, spoke with us about the mechanisms behind this shift and why we should be worried.
Overcoming long-term trauma can be facilitated
Research
EPFL
Older traumatic experiences are harder to get over compared to recent ones, and EPFL scientists have started to understand why – at the level of brain circuits. The results point the way for treating long-term trauma.
EPFL works to address debris collision risk
Politics
EPFL
Space debris threatens human safety in space and puts at risk critical space-based infrastructure that supports services such as the internet, global navigation and climate monitoring. A new project from the EPFL International Risk Governance Center (IRGC), in collaboration with the EPFL Space Center (eSpace) and Space Innovation, is studying the governance of risks related to space debris and assessing policy options to ensure the safe and sustainable use of space.
Helping drone swarms avoid obstacles without hitting each other
Research
EPFL
Engineers at EPFL have developed a predictive control model that allows swarms of drones to fly in cluttered environments quickly and safely. It works by enabling individual drones to predict their own behavior and that of their neighbors in the swarm.
How healthy is your digital twin?
Research
EPFL
Digital twins – a savvy combination of artificial intelligence and personal data – have already begun to revolutionize the way healthcare is provided. But they raise a lot of ethical and legal questions, especially given the vast amounts of medical data that must be collected to train artificial intelligence algorithms. So should we be worried about the eventuality of a digital clone? We spoke with experts from a variety of fields to find out.
Contact-tracing apps prove that they save lives
Research
EPFL
A study published today in Nature shows that the NHS COVID-19 app for digital contact tracing, based on the DP3T protocol, averted between 300,000 and 600,000 COVID-19 cases in England and Wales. The researchers used data from the NHS to show and quantify the epidemiological impact of such privacy-preserving apps, which are now available around the globe to help control the pandemic.
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