News

© 2024 iStock / janiecbros

Catastrophically warm predictions are more plausible than we thought

— EPFL researchers developed a rating system to evaluate the plausibility of climate model simulations in the IPCC’s latest report, and show that models that lead to potentially catastrophic warming are to be taken seriously.

EPFL scientists travel to the Arctic to measure the consequences of climate change - 2024 EPFL/SENSE- CC-BY-SA 4.0

From clouds to fjords, the Arctic bears witness to climate change

— Climate change is particularly intense in the Arctic. To assess its consequences and determine what role this region plays in global warming, two teams of scientists from EPFL have visited the area. One to gain a better understanding of the region's air composition, the other to quantify the greenhouse gases sequestered in Greenland fjords sourced by glacial water.

Licor device in the Kermes oak woodland in Spain (Valencia). © Charlotte Grossiord / EPFL

New research shows how trees cope with extreme heat

— Extreme heatwaves are on the rise. When do they become critical for forest trees? In the hot summer of 2023, a research team led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) investigated this in Switzerland, southern France and Spain.

In winter, dust and sand from the Sahara, blown westwards over the Atlantic Ocean, saturate the air off Cape Verde and the Canary Islands. © NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

Opening a window on environmental phenomena

— Data collected by satellites, drones, radars and microscopes provide a goldmine of information to better understand our environment. And when these data are coupled with artificial intelligence (AI), they can unlock the secrets of phenomena taking place at all levels. 

EPFL researcher Shannon David in the Laboratory of Experimental Virology (LEV) at EPFL.© 2024 EPFL/Alain Herzog - CC-BY-SA 4.0

Scientists reveal why some people with the flu may be more contagious

— EPFL scientists have discovered that in indoor spaces, droplets containing the flu virus will remain infectious for longer when they also contain certain types of bacteria found in our respiratory tract. This finding provides important insight into how respiratory infections are transmitted and can enhance estimates of exposure risk.

Schmale strives to give students the teaching they expect . © 2024 EPFL/E4S - CC-BY-SA 4.0

“The variety of backgrounds in my classroom is to everyone's benefit”

— Julia Schmale is just as comfortable in an EPFL lecture hall as on an icebreaker in the Arctic. This adventurous spirit – along with the specific know-how of her students – enhances her cutting-edge research.

A group of EPFL and ETH Zurich scientists have mapped the biodiversity in forests worldwide.© 2024 EPFL

Scientists map biodiversity changes in the world's forests

— A group of EPFL and ETH Zurich scientists have mapped the biodiversity in forests worldwide. Their data, when combined with climate projections, reveal trends that could support ecosystem conservation and restoration efforts.

© 2024 EPFL

Tribute to Andrii Romanenko

— Andrii Romanenko passed away on 23 May 2024. He was a doctoral student at the Laboratory of environmental virology (LEV) of ENAC.

Photo caption and credit are indicated in the text below © City of Lausanne digitization workshop.

On the trail of pollution in Lausanne

— A team of researchers from EPFL, UNIL, and Unisanté have published a report that goes through the legacy of pollution from a trash incinerator that burned in the Lausanne Vallon neighborhood from 1958 to 2005. On March 27, they presented their research to the residents of the Vallon neighborhood.

The cameras are placed on a structure that allows data to be taken from a wide range of corals. © LWimages

AI-powered system maps corals in 3D in record time

— An artificial intelligence system developed at EPFL can produce 3D maps of coral reefs from camera footage in just a few minutes. It marks a major leap forward in deep-sea exploration and conservation capabilities for organizations like the Transnational Red Sea Center (TRSC).

Time to celebrate © Adobe Stock image

Meret Aeppli receives the Jin Jingfu Memorial Lecture Award

— Tenure track assistant professor in environmental engineering at EPFL, Meret Aeppli was awarded the Jin Jingfu Memorial Lecture by the International Association of Geochemistry.

A glacier in Ecuador studied by the "Vanishing Glaciers" project. © EPFL/Vincent de Stark

Glacier shrinkage is causing a “green transition”

— Glacier-fed streams are undergoing a process of profound change, according to EPFL scientists in a paper appearing in Nature Geoscience. This conclusion is based on the expeditions to the world’s major mountain ranges by members of the Vanishing Glaciers project.

Urs von Gunten has always combined research with practice. © Alain Herzog / 2024 EPFL

Urs von Gunten, the unsung hero of water treatment

— For a scientist who’s won numerous international honors for his research, Urs von Gunten, a professor at EPFL and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), is disarmingly modest.

Fieldwork mission to Union Glacier, Antarctica 2022, in collaboration with antarcitca.cl (Universidad de Santiago Chile, USACH). © José Jorquera

Mapping the blue ice in Antarctica from the sky

— Antarctica’s blue ice is a gold mine of information for scientists. Yet it’s scattered across areas making up just 1% of the continent’s surface – so it’s not easy to find. But now, researchers have generated a map of blue ice areas by combining artificial intelligence with satellite data.

Au mois de septembre, où la banquise arctique atteint son minimum, elle était à son cinquième niveau le plus bas jamais enregistré, décrit Julia Schmale © iStock

Polar ice holds the key to our future on Earth

— The world’s ice shelves, glaciers and ice caps are melting at an alarming rate. The extent of polar sea ice in both the Arctic and the Antarctic is unusually low this year. Protecting the cryosphere is essential to life on Earth – which is why scientists are pulling out all the stops to understand the complex dynamics

© Laurence Piaget-Dubuis

“Valais is an ideal laboratory to study climate change impacts”

— Exploring the climate crisis with Jérôme Chappellaz, environmental scientist and academic director of ALPOLE at EPFL.

EPFL scientists have developed METEOR – a chameleon application that can train algorithms to recognize new objects after being shown just a handful of images © iStock

Chameleon AI program classifies objects in satellite images faster

— An AI program can train neural networks, using just a handful of images, to rapidly characterize in satellite and drone data new objects like ocean debris, deforestation zones, urban areas and more.

© 2023 EPFL

Devis Tuia elected IEEE Fellow

— Professor Devis Tuia has been elected as Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) “for his for contributions to artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to Earth Observation data”.

Permafrost covers 22% of the Earth’s land surface. © iStock

Permafrost: a ticking time bomb beneath our feet

— Nearly a quarter of the Earth’s land surface is permanently frozen. These areas, known as permafrost, are found in northern polar regions and at high altitudes. But the permafrost is now starting to thaw – with potentially disastrous consequences for the climate. Here, we look at what scientists currently know about this potential threat.

Durban's beach after a flood on 13 April 2022, two years after the one of 2019. © iStock/Antonio BlancoDR

AI helps detecting plastic in oceans

— A research team from EPFL and Wageningen University has developed a new artificial intelligence model that recognises floating plastics much more accurately in satellite images than before. This could help to systematically remove plastic litter from the oceans with ships.