Research

Neuroscientists at EPFL identify the brain mechanism that we use to prepare a timely action while suppressing premature execution.

Intense agricultural use is causing soil degradation in many areas. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a rapid test for measuring soil quality on site. This should allow farmers to monitor the health of their land themselves in the future.

It is a common misconception that trees grow in the daytime, when photosynthesis produces carbohydrates from CO₂. However, growth not only requires carbohydrates, but also highly depends on tree water tension. A study led by the Swiss Research Institute WSL has now shown that tree growth takes place primarily in the dark, mainly because in daylight, it is inhibited by dry air, even in moist soil conditions. Therefore, trees only grow for a small number of hours per day and per season. This finding may change the way we look at the impact of climate change on forests, in particular for predicting the carbon sink of forests.

EPFL engineers have developed a neural interface that disappears harmlessly in the body after several months and allows natural tissue to grow back. What’s more, it can be implanted in a patient’s blood vessel rather than inside the brain, thereby avoiding the need for invasive surgery.

A cultural landscape reflects the combined activity of nature and humans. Where has the equilibrium of this union been lost? And how can we restore the balance? 

Athina Anastasaki joined ETH Zurich in 2019. Her research focuses on the next generation of polymers and recycling processes for these. She wants to recover all the starting materials and use them to produce new materials for other applications.

Is natural always good and artificial always bad? We talked to psychologist Angela Bearth and biotechnologist Sven Panke about science, scepticism, misunderstandings and how language influences the way we think.

Formerly widespread, native crayfish in Switzerland are now highly endangered. With support from Eawag, experts are doing everything they can to preserve the secretive river dwellers.

EPFL scientists in a European collaboration propose a personalized protocol for optimizing stimulation of optic nerve fibers, for the blind, which takes into account feedback from the viewer’s brain. The protocol has been tested on artificial neural networks known to simulate the physiology of the entire visual system, from the eye to the visual cortex. The stimulation protocol will be tested in clinical trials with partners in Rome.

For mathematician Joaquim Serra, sketches are a gateway to insight. Sketching out geometric relationships helps him unlock the abstract reasonings required to prove his theorems. On Sunday, he is being honoured for his research into partial differential equations.

A research consortium has deciphered the mechanism of CCR5 receptor activation, providing insights for the development of CCR5 drug antagonists for AIDS, cancer, and inflammatory diseases.

EPFL has just opened a new imaging center to serve as a hub for state-of-the-art technology in imaging systems. The only one of its kind in Switzerland, the center pools the imaging expertise that is currently housed at nearly a hundred laboratories in five EPFL schools. The goal is to facilitate cross-disciplinary research and anchor EPFL’s position at the cutting edge of imaging technology for research applications.

The level of self-sufficiency indicates the extent to which agricultural performance ensures food security. But it’s not geared to the challenges that confront agriculture today, says Roman Hüppi.

The most ancient ice in the Alps will be preserved in Antarctica: During its expedition to the Monte Rosa massif, the international Ice Memory team has extracted two ice cores over 80 metres long from Colle Gnifetti, at 4,500 metres. The cores are to be preserved in the ice core archive for future generations of researchers.

An EPFL Master’s student has shown that artificial intelligence can be used to further automate the process of land-use classification in Switzerland, especially for rare and complicated land categories that until now have been classified manually. A stretch of land in Valais Canton served as the sample for her research.