In order to thwart forgeries, EPFL researchers propose a new miniaturized authentication system. By combining both, moire patterns and microlithography techniques, it can be easily recognized by the naked eye and impossible to reproduce through currently existing printer or scanner technology. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Scientists at EPFL have developed a quick and simple method for connecting and assembling new molecules together, paving a new road for synthetic chemistry, material science, chemical biology, and even drug discovery. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
(Phys.org) —Superconductors can radically change energy management as we know it, but most are commercially unusable because they only work close to absolute zero. A research group at EPFL has now published an innovative approach that may help us understand and use superconductivity at more realistic temperatures. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
(Phys.org) —Identify the type of cancer for patients with breast cancer in a few minutes. This is the challenge that EPFL researchers successfully met by presenting their new “microfluidic chip.” Their research is written up in PNAS. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Humans are veritable chemical factories—we manufacture thousands of substances and transport them, via our blood, throughout our bodies. Some of these substances can be used as indicators of our health status. A team of EPFL scientists has developed a tiny device that can analyze the concentration of these substances in the blood. Implanted just beneath the skin, it can detect up to five proteins and organic acids simultaneously, and then transmit the results directly to a doctor’s computer. This method will allow a much more personalized level of care than traditional blood tests can provide. Health care providers will be better able to monitor patients, particularly those with chronic illness or those undergoing chemotherapy. The prototype, still in the experimental stages, has demonstrated that it can reliably detect several commonly traced substances. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Salamandra robotica II is a last generation amphibious robot developed by the Biorobotics Laboratory at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). It is the guest of honor at the booth of Syrobo, the founder of Innorobo, which is the largest European exhibition of service robotics, and takes place in Lyon from 19 to 21 March 2013. Among the many robots inspired by natural designs, the Salamandra robotica II is the only one able to swim, crawl and walk—all by combining robotics, evolution and neurobiology. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Thanks to sensors installed on trams that send data live to mobile phones, people can check air pollution levels around the city with just one click and in real time. This new app developed by EPFL researchers was recently tested in Zurich. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Flocks of birds, schools of fish, and groups of any other living organisms might have a mathematical function in common. Studying aquatic microorganisms, Andrea Giometto, a researcher EPFL and Eawag, showed that for each species he studied, body sizes were distributed according to the same mathematical expression, where the only unknown is the average size of the species in an ecosystem. His article was published in in PNAS in March 2013. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Models boost the significance of image and measurement data from space missions and help to understand our solar system. A simulation of a double impact that occurred on the proto-planet Vesta one billion years ago allowed scientists to describe precisely the inner structure of the asteroid. A joint research from EPFL, Bern University, France and the United States is on the cover of Nature this week. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
In the world of microscopy, this advance is almost comparable to the leap from photography to live television. Two young EPFL researchers, Yann Cotte and Fatih Toy, have designed a device that combines holographic microscopy and computational image processing to observe living biological tissues at the nanoscale. Their research is being done under the supervision of Christian Depeursinge, head of the Microvision and Microdiagnostics Group in EPFL‘s School of Engineering. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
(Phys.org)—Researchers have discovered a method that allows for the controlled release of an active agent on the basis of a magnetic nanovehicle. The research, conducted by EPFL, the Adolphe Merkle Institute and the University Hospital of Geneva, opens up new possibilities for the develop-ment of target.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
