News EPFL

Train windows that combine mobile reception and thermal insulation

Published:29.08.16 — EPFL researchers have developed a type of glass that offers excellent energy efficiency and lets mobile telephone signals through. And by teaming up with Swiss manufacturers, they have produced innovative windows. Railway company BLS is about to install them on some of its trains in order to improve energy efficiency.

World expert in neurorehabilitation joins EPFL's Valais Wallis team

Published:26.08.16 — EPFL and the Defitech Foundation are committed to putting technology to work for disabled people. At the Clinique Romande de Réadaptation in Sion, EPFL has created a chair for Friedhelm Hummel, a globally renowned expert in post-stroke rehabilitation.

An effective and low-cost solution for storing solar energy

Published:25.08.16 — Solar energy can be stored by converting it into hydrogen. But current methods are too expensive and don’t last long. Using commercially available solar cells and none of the usual rare metals, researchers at EPFL and CSEM have now designed a device that outperforms in stability, efficiency and cost.

A new path for killing pathogenic bacteria

Published:24.08.16 — Bacteria that cause tuberculosis, leprosy and other diseases, survive by switching between two different types of metabolism. EPFL scientists have now discovered that this switch is controlled by a mechanism that constantly adapts to meet the bacterium’s survival needs, like a home’s thermostat reacting to changes in temperature.

A tiny wire with a memory to diagnose cancer

Published:17.08.16 — EPFL researchers have used a nanowire to detect prostate cancer with greater accuracy than ever before. Their device is ten times more sensitive than any other biosensor available.

Identifying pesticides in hair

Published:15.08.16 — Summer series on student projects – For her Master’s project in environmental sciences, Christelle Oltramare collected 110 hair samples in Burkina Faso and came up with a process for identifying several types of pesticides.

All brawn, little brains: EPFL students' table-football robot

Published:11.08.16 — A robot developed by EPFL students was able to compete against human players with average skills in table football. The next step will be to program the robot with some strategy and organise a competition among robots.