2014 – Science That Made Headlines (2)
© 2014 EPFL
This year a great deal of research done at EPFL made the headlines in newspapers. Here are a few that marked the months of May to August.
May 5 - 33 million to rehabilitate white blood cells
Multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes ... When the immune system gets out of control consequences can be dramatic. The Anokion start-up will ensure the development of EPFL’s research aiming to rehabilitate rogue white blood cells. Private investors have injected CHF 33 million to this new company.
May 12 – The incredibly fast robotic arm
Robots’ movements often seem slow and clumsy. But in Aude Billard’s Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory, an artificial arm can catch objects thrown at it in less than 5 hundredths of a second: a bottle, a tennis ball and even a racket!
May 25 - Encryption once thought unbreakable
This last generation encryption seemed to be the ideal candidate to protect the security of Internet transactions. It was estimated that it would take 40’000 times the age of the Universe for all the computers in the world to break it. Arjen Lenstra’s team decrypted it in only two hours ...
July 7 - Identifying allergies in seconds
Researchers have developed an effective technique to determine the exact proteins responsible for allergies. They first focused on lactose intolerance. The principle was to isolate the desired antibody using a complex device and to detect it through mass spectroscopy. This procedure is potentially applicable to a number of allergies.
August 8 - A fake oil spill
Researchers have produced a (very small) oil spill in the North Sea. The goal: to understand how hydrocarbons are distributed