News EPFL

A key role for quantum entanglement

Published:28.07.22 — A method known as quantum key distribution has long held the promise of communication security not possible in conventional cryptography. For the first time, an international team of scientists, including researchers from EPFL, has demonstrated experimentally an approach to quantum key distribution based on high-quality quantum entanglement — offering much broader security guarantees than previous schemes.

Brain stimulation improves motor skill learning at older age

Published:27.07.22 — Non-invasive brain stimulation can restore optimal motor skill acquisition in people with diminished learning capabilities, e.g. due to age. The study was carried out by scientists at EPFL.

The physics of snow slab avalanches similar to that of earthquakes

Published:26.07.22 — Scientists from EPFL and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF have gained deeper insight into how snow slab avalanches form, paving the way to more effective risk assessment measures for these catastrophic events that induce more avalanche accidents and fatalities every year than other types of avalanches.

Turning plastic waste into building bricks

Published:25.07.22 — SUMMER SERIES - Master's project (4). For her Master’s project in civil engineering, Selina Heiniger took on a challenge that’s aligned with her desire to help preserve the environment. She’s developing a new building material that’s made from plastic waste, concrete and terracotta.

EPFL lab to digitize 1,000m2 'Swiss national treasure'

Published:21.07.22 — Sarah Kenderdine, head of the Laboratory for Experimental Museology, is leading the digitization and valorization of the Panorama of the Battle of Murten – a 100 x 10-meter work created in 1893 by German panorama painter Louis Braun – in an undertaking that promises to yield one of the largest digital images ever produced.

One step closer to providing customized climate control in the office

Published:20.07.22 — EPFL researchers have shown that people’s perception of office temperature can vary considerably. Personalized climate control could therefore help enhance workers’ comfort – and save energy at the same time.

Computer genetic metrics of fly brain reveal sex differences

Published:19.07.22 — Thanks to genetic tools that allow computers to accurately count neurons from microscopy images, EPFL researchers have estimated with unprecedented accuracy the number of neurons and other types of cells in the brain of fruit fly larvae—and discovered that females have substantially more neurons than males.