News EPFL

How will Swiss radioactive waste be disposed of?

Published:07.07.11 — If Switzerland does indeed abandon nuclear energy within the time-frame announced by the Swiss Confederation, the question of the burial and disposal of the accumulated waste needs to be addressed. EPFL’s Laboratory of Soil Mechanics has been working on this issue over the last 10 years. Apart from its geo-mechanical expertise, the LMS creates the materials – and develops the tools for – the verification of systems of multiple barriers, capable of containing the radioactivity for five hundred to a thousand years.

EPFL paves the way for PostBus to grow

Published:05.07.11 — A study commissioned by PostBus Switzerland Ltd. and carried out in three EPFL laboratories identifies the needs and expectations of the Swiss public regarding “combined” mobility, which currently exhibits the strongest potential for growth in transporting passengers in Switzerland’s metropolitan areas. The yellow PostBuses have a bright future in front of them if they manage to adapt to the requirements of contemporary society.

Tackling tumors with iron oxide

Published:01.07.11 — Detecting cancer cells and destroying them, injecting drugs with extreme precision into diseased cells in the human body – these are just two examples of what EPFL scientists are attempting to accomplish using iron oxide nanoparticles developed in the School’s Powder Technology Laboratory (LTP).

A new tool to help find housing

Published:29.06.11 — EPFL and UNIL have put a new application online to help students and property owners manage and consult housing listings. The application uses GPS positioning and calculates routes to avoid unpleasant commuting surprises.

Plasmas: The trouble with bubbles

Published:27.06.11 — Controlling a boiling plasma at several million degrees Celsius – that’s the challenge of nuclear fusion, our great energy hope for the future. EPFL’s Plasma Physics Research Center (CRPP) has just published two scientific articles that advance the state of knowledge in the domain.

Air quality sensors take a ride on city buses

Published:27.06.11 — Rather than installing stations on fixed towers, why not use mobile sensors spread out over the whole city to get better air quality measurements? OpenSense, a project run by four laboratories at EPFL and one at ETH Zurich, is studying the possibility of installing sensors on the roofs of buses and trams, thus taking advantage of already existing public transport and mobile phone networks. Testing is currently underway in Lausanne.

Back from Beijing – prize in hand

Published:23.06.11 — A group of EPFL students is returning from Beijing with the third place prize from the international iCAN micro- and nanotechnology contest. Contestants from 27 teams participated in the four-day competition.