EPFL

The brain-machine interface race is on. While Elon Musk's Neuralink has garnered most of the headlines in this field, a new small and thin chip out of Switzerland makes it look downright clunky by comparison. It also works impressively well.

Taking cues from geckos, EPFL researchers have developed an unmanned aerial vehicle with an upturned nose that crashes into vertical poles, and then wraps its wings around to perch. The PercHug could find use in inspection and surveillance tasks.

Scientists have already made edible robotic components. The next challenge is integrating them together to create an entire robot snack that could be used in a wide range of applications, from delivering healthcare to monitoring the environment.

GPT-4 is already better at changing people's minds than the average human is, according to new research. The gap widens the more it knows about us – and once it can see us in real time, AI seems likely to become an unprecedented persuasion machine.

A new AI-based system allows coral reefs to be 3D-mapped faster and easier than ever before. It could prove integral to saving threatened reefs, by letting scientists study them both onsite and at their computers in their labs.

There are already a number of experimental prosthetic hands that provide users with the tactile sensation of touching an object. The MiniTouch system takes things further, as it allows users to sense the temperature of items that they're touching.

There have doubtless been times when you've had both hands full, and wished that you had a third arm. Well, scientists have discovered that a robotic third arm can in fact be quite easily controlled via movements of the diaphragm muscle.

A new form of immunotherapy helps immune cells “armor” themselves against exhaustion by releasing their own medicine to keep them going in the fight against cancer. The new method is faster and cheaper to produce than existing immunotherapies.

Peptide therapeutics – like insulin – are typically restricted to administration by invasive injection. Now, researchers have reached a "major milestone", creating an oral peptide that could revolutionize how disease treatment is delivered.

Soft robotic devices often need to sense both mechanical deformation and changes in temperature, requiring multiple integrated sensors. ChromoSense technology, however, combines both functions in one simple, robust, color-changing device.

Implants and tiny machines could eventually help treat disease or monitor activity, but communication is tricky. Now scientists at EPFL have developed a system whereby devices can communicate by releasing molecules into a patient’s bloodstream.

A new study has revealed that the body’s hormone stress response is why some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder following trauma exposure, and others don’t. The finding could lead to more targeted treatments for the condition.