News

A new home for Sustainability Robotics

Published:21.11.24 — Flying robots capable of inspecting and repairing building envelopes, interacting with natural ecosystems, and monitoring climate change and biodiversity are being developed and tested at the DroneHub at Empa's NEST. This cutting-edge facility was inaugurated in partnership with Imperial College London, UK. The DroneHub will support Mirko Kovac's new Chair in Sustainable Robotics, a partnership between Empa and EPFL.

Tree Phenoplasticity transcribed into a choreography

Published:20.11.24 — Supported by EPFL Sustainability, an exhibition at the EPFL Pavilions brings together art and science based on the work of the Plant Ecology Research Laboratory (PERL). Using human bodies, one of the featured artists chose to represent how trees adapt to their environment.

Catastrophically warm predictions are more plausible than we thought

Published:11.10.24 — 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.

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

Published:22.08.24 — 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.

New research shows how trees cope with extreme heat

Published:07.08.24 — 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.

Opening a window on environmental phenomena

Published:23.07.24 — 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. 

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

Published:26.06.24 — 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.

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

Published:18.06.24 — 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.

Scientists map biodiversity changes in the world's forests

Published:31.05.24 — 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.

Tribute to Andrii Romanenko

Published:27.05.24 — Andrii Romanenko passed away on 23 May 2024. He was a doctoral student at the Laboratory of environmental virology (LEV) of ENAC.

On the trail of pollution in Lausanne

Published:24.04.24 — 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.

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

Published:19.03.24 — 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).

Meret Aeppli receives the Jin Jingfu Memorial Lecture Award

Published:11.03.24 — Tenure track assistant professor in environmental engineering at EPFL, Meret Aeppli was awarded the Jin Jingfu Memorial Lecture by the International Association of Geochemistry.

Glacier shrinkage is causing a “green transition”

Published:01.03.24 — 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, the unsung hero of water treatment

Published:13.02.24 — 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.

Mapping the blue ice in Antarctica from the sky

Published:07.02.24 — 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.

Polar ice holds the key to our future on Earth

Published:26.01.24 — 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

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

Published:26.01.24 — Exploring the climate crisis with Jérôme Chappellaz, environmental scientist and academic director of ALPOLE at EPFL.

Chameleon AI program classifies objects in satellite images faster

Published:16.01.24 — 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.

Devis Tuia elected IEEE Fellow

Published:21.12.23 — 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”.