#epfl

[ohdeargodwhy]

RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments)

EPFL researchers have built a drone that can walk, hop, and jump into flight with the aid of birdlike legs

(Its hops and its little toes are too cute 😭)

[wildcat2030]

Imagine ordering drone delivery for your takeout, and then, after eating your food, you eat the delivery drone for dessert. The first part has been happening for a while; the second – the edible robot – could be coming soon, according to scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). “Bringing robots and food together is a fascinating challenge,” said Dario Floreano, director of the EPFL’s Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) and the lead author of a recently published perspective article that considered how far we are from the reality of edible robots. “We are still figuring out which edible materials work similarly to non-edible ones.” At first glance, food and robots appear to be at opposite ends of the scientific spectrum. But, according to the article’s authors, edible robots are not just a novelty you���d pay a ridiculous amount of money to see on a plate at a high-end restaurant. They have a wide range of potential applications in areas like human health and nutrition, wildlife preservation and animal welfare, and the environment.

[sspacegodd]

Light is both a wave and a particle.

Right. Sounds like cognitive dissonance, or non-dualistic Hinduism ("Atman is Brahman"), or maybe Shimmer ("it's a floor wax AND a dessert topping.")

Albert Einstein suggested that light is not only a wave but is also a stream of particles.

But the damn duo would never pose for photos. Until now.

Now, using electrons to image light, scientists at EPFL have succeeded in capturing the first-ever photo of this dual behavior of light behaving both as a wave and as a particle.

[herji]

On y est, "Utop'IA" a été vernie - et si bien !

Une superbe soirée en compagnie des ami.e.s, de la famille, et de toute l'équipe qui a permis à ce projet de se développer pendant ces 24 derniers mois. L'impact écologique de l'IA est un thème extrêmement actuel, appelé à devenir de plus en plus central dans nos choix de société ces prochaines années, et c'est un honneur d'avoir pu prêter ma plume à un tel édifice.

Merci au Centre Learn, à Sonia, Daniel et Alizé, à Francesco et Frédérique, à Julie et les autres. Merci à tou.te.s les membres du comité scientifique qui ont accompagné la réalisation de cette BD. Merci à EPFL Press qui l'édite et la promeut, à Lucas, à Manon.

Depuis hier, vous pouvez lire et/ou commander la BD en suivant ce lien : https://www.epflpress.org/product/1557/9782889156634/utop-ia

L'exposition sur les étapes de réalisation d'Utop'IA est visible jusqu'au 1er juin au R*lex Learning Center de l'EPFL.

Des ressources pédagogiques en lien avec la BD (des jeux, notamment) sont disponibles sur cette page : https://learn.epfl.ch/initiatives/bd-utopia/

"Utop'IA" va désormais vivre de ses propres ailes, grâce à vous. ❤️

Crédits photos : Julie Clerget/ 2025 Centre LEARN- EPFL

[radioeuroextasis]

🧬 Revolución Médica: El Gel que Regenera Huesos y Redefine la Ortopedia

🧠Un avance científico sin precedentes promete transformar el tratamiento de fracturas y lesiones óseas mediante un gel regenerativo que estimula la autocuración del cuerpo. En un hito para la medicina regenerativa, científicos de la Universidad Estatal Médica de Volgogrado, Rusia, han desarrollado un gel innovador capaz de regenerar huesos humanos dañados, incluso en casos de lesiones graves causadas por impactos de bala o metralla. Este gel contiene activadores de regeneración que penetran profundamente en las áreas lesionadas del hueso, facilitando que el cuerpo humano active sus mecanismos de autocuración ósea. Los ensayos preclínicos en animales demostraron que las áreas afectadas del hueso se regeneraron completamente, recuperando su estructura original. Además, se observó la formación de nuevos vasos sanguíneos en los huesos tratados, un signo claro de la recuperación completa y funcional del tejido óseo. Este avance no solo representa una revolución en el tratamiento de fracturas y lesiones óseas, sino que también abre nuevas puertas en la medicina regenerativa, con implicaciones significativas para la recuperación postquirúrgica y el tratamiento de enfermedades óseas degenerativas. En paralelo, investigadores de la Escuela Politécnica Federal de Lausana (EPFL), en colaboración con la empresa emergente Flowbone, han desarrollado un hidrogel inyectable capaz de aumentar rápidamente la densidad ósea en zonas vulnerables. Este tratamiento ha mostrado resultados alentadores en estudios preclínicos, aumentando la densidad ósea hasta 4,8 veces en pocas semanas, ofreciendo esperanza a pacientes con osteoporosis y reduciendo el riesgo de fracturas mortales. Estos desarrollos marcan un cambio de paradigma en la medicina regenerativa, ofreciendo soluciones menos invasivas y más efectivas para la regeneración ósea, y abriendo nuevas posibilidades para el tratamiento de diversas afecciones óseas. Read the full article

[engineeringpu]

Innovation in Engineering Education | Plaksha University

Dr. Joelyn de Lima is a scientist and pedagogical advisor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Trained in the biological sciences, she transitioned to being a discipline-based education researcher and currently her research and practice are focused on enhancing the higher educational experience for students. In a hands-on workshop facilitated by Dr. de Lima and hosted by Plaksha University's Center for Innovation in Education, faculty got a professional development opportunity and found the activities to be valuable in influencing their teaching practice.

[blogapart3bis]

Japan Impact 2025

Aujourd'hui sur Blog à part – Japan Impact 2025 La nouvelle année a à peine commencé que voici la première convention Japon-cosplay-geek: Japan Impact, seizième édition, toujours en son fief de l’EPFL. #Convention #Japon #Cosplay #Geek

La nouvelle année a à peine commencé que voici la première convention Japon-cosplay-geek: Japan Impact, qui en est à sa seizième édition, toujours en son fief de l’EPFL. Japan Impact, c’est la deuxième plus grosse convention du genre en Suisse romande, derrière Polymanga (plus de 12 000 spectateurs en 2024). Elle est organisée par des étudiants de l’EPFL et met beaucoup l’accent sur les cultures…

[younes-ben-amara]

المهارة الرئيسية التي يتّسم بها جميع الفاعلين الناجحين في البحث العلميِّ [هي الفضول!]

[mistralfont]

[laimelady]

Arrow by Giuliano Belli Via Flickr: Swiss Tech Convention Center.

[dsserted]

sérieusement les français devraient se tuer comme tu dois accepter que l'anglais est la langue franca de la monde. Techniquement c'est les suisse mais c'est tout la même à moi

[sspacegodd]

Light is both a wave and a particle.

Right. Sounds like cognitive dissonance, non-dualistic Hinduism ("Atman is Brahman"), or Shimmer ("it's a floor wax AND a dessert topping.")

Albert Einstein suggested that light is not only a wave but is also a stream of particles.

But the damn duo would never pose for photos. Until now.

Now, using electrons to image light, scientists at EPFL have succeeded in capturing the first-ever photo of this dual behavior of light behaving both as a wave and as a particle.

[herji]

Quelques extraits de ma dernière BD "Utop'IA" qui sort le 20 mai 🎉

SPOILER : l'intelligence artificielle n'est ni intelligente, ni artificielle. On vous explique tout ça dans la BD - à découvrir dès mardi au format papier ou, gratuitement, en ligne !

[skjonsberg]

unit jazz trio_opening day MAS 2020-23

https://mas-utd.arch.ethz.ch/

[mortalislabs]

Trigonelline is a methylated form of niacin and is a recently isolated molecule that could be the secret ingredient in your stack. This form of the B vitamin is involved in the generation of NAD+, a cofactor for over 500 metabolic processes in cells. Trigonelline promotes cellular repair and energy, and as we’ll see, exerts quite a few benefits that are specifically useful for anyone training seriously.

Trigonelline is found in several plant-based foods, notably coffee beans and fenugreek seeds. Green coffee beans contain trigonelline concentrations ranging from 0.6% to 1.0% by weight. However, traditional dietary sources don’t provide sufficient amounts to elicit significant physiological effects. For instance, the average trigonelline content in a cup of coffee is approximately 53 mg, and about 50-80% of trigonelline decomposes during the roasting process, leaving virtually nothing for your body to make use of.

Recent research published on this naturally occurring alkaloid highlights its potential in enhancing muscle function and combating age-related decline. A 2024 study published in Nature Metabolism identified trigonelline as a novel precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a molecule essential for energy metabolism and mitochondrial function. The study demonstrated that trigonelline supplementation improved muscle strength and reduced fatigue in aged mice, suggesting that it can head off the natural muscle decline seen in aging, even in those who are already training at capacity.

NAD+ gets discussed a lot in the longevity space because of its natural and steep decline over the years, tied to all the diseases of aging. It's a metabolic linchpin that determines how efficiently your cells convert fuel into usable energy. For athletes, that efficiency translates into faster recovery, better performance under load, and greater resilience under metabolic stress. Or, you know, complete lack of those things if you don’t have enough of it.

NAD+ is required for redox (oxidation–reduction) reactions in mitochondrial energy production and is a cofactor and substrate for longevity-promoting sirtuins and other enzymes involved in muscle repair and adaptation. During intense physical activity, NAD+ levels drop as demand for ATP surges. Replenishing intracellular NAD+ is critical not only for restoring mitochondrial output but also for initiating the cellular programs that rebuild and reinforce muscle tissue [1].

Trigonelline offers a direct path to NAD+—one that bypasses the liver and supports muscle tissue specifically. In a landmark 2024 study, researchers at EPFL and Nestlé Health Sciences (yes, that Nestlé, but there aren’t any conflicts of interest, we checked) demonstrated that trigonelline functions as a previously unidentified NAD+ precursor, rapidly taken up by skeletal muscle cells and converted into NAD+ via a salvage pathway independent of the traditional NR or NMN routes [2]. This muscle-specific uptake is particularly important for athletes, who require localized replenishment in the very tissues under stress.

Most NAD+ precursors—including nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)—undergo hepatic metabolism before entering systemic circulation. This creates a bottleneck at your liver for targeted muscle repair. Trigonelline appears to bypass that constraint by delivering precursors directly where they're needed most: the muscle fibers responsible for performance and endurance.

This shift in delivery has implications beyond simple NAD+ restoration. In the same Nature Metabolism study, aged mice supplemented with trigonelline showed significant improvements in grip strength and fatigue resistance—outcomes tightly linked to muscle NAD+ availability. Unlike systemic precursors that may elevate circulating NAD+ levels without improving localized bioenergetics, trigonelline drives changes in muscle mitochondrial density and function.

For athletes, this is the difference between feeling recovered and actually being rebuilt.

Mitochondria Make Muscles Move

Endurance Starts in the Electron Transport Chain

Every sprint, every lift, every set depends on one thing: mitochondrial output. The ability to generate ATP on demand—efficiently and cleanly—is the defining line between sustained power and early fatigue. Trigonelline’s value lies not just in elevating NAD+ levels, but in what that elevation enables at the level of mitochondrial performance.

NAD+ drives oxidative phosphorylation, the mitochondrial pathway responsible for converting nutrients into ATP. When NAD+ is depleted, electron transport slows, reactive oxygen species accumulate, and mitochondrial output tanks—resulting in performance collapse and prolonged recovery. Replenishing NAD+ restores mitochondrial throughput, enhances metabolic flexibility, and allows cells to switch between carbohydrate and fat oxidation with minimal friction [3].

Trigonelline’s role as a direct NAD+ precursor in muscle tissue makes it especially powerful in this context. By bypassing hepatic metabolism and restoring NAD+ where it's most needed, it kickstarts mitochondrial biogenesis—activating pathways like PGC-1α that drive the formation of new mitochondria and increase the efficiency of existing ones [4]. This isn’t theoretical: in the 2024 Nature Metabolism study, trigonelline supplementation significantly boosted mitochondrial content and activity in aged mice, restoring performance metrics typically lost with age and overtraining [2].

This cellular shift translates directly to the field, the track, and the gym. More mitochondria means more ATP per unit of oxygen consumed. This is the underpinning of higher VO₂ max, improved lactate clearance, and extended time-to-exhaustion. Trigonelline supports this adaptation at the source, which means athletes can train harder, go longer, and bounce back faster—without relying on stimulants or sketchy ergogenics.

More NAD+ in muscle equals better mitochondrial kinetics, which equals better athletic output. Period.

Strength and Muscle Health

Preserving Power, Not Just Mass

Strength isn’t only about size—it’s about contractile quality, neuromuscular precision, and the cellular capacity to resist breakdown under stress. Trigonelline’s impact on muscle tissue reaches beyond endurance. It supports structural integrity, performance output, and resilience across multiple pathways—especially in the context of aging or chronic training demand.

In the 2024 Nature Metabolism study, trigonelline supplementation restored muscle grip strength and improved fatigue resistance in aged mice, with outcomes exceeding those observed in control groups receiving traditional NAD+ precursors [2]. This effect was tied to increased NAD+ availability in skeletal muscle, which reactivated SIRT1- and PGC-1α-dependent pathways responsible for mitochondrial biogenesis, inflammation control, and protein maintenance—all critical for contractile performance and mass preservation [5].

NAD+ also plays a protective role against muscle wasting. It regulates the balance between anabolic and catabolic signaling, modulating FoxO transcription factors and suppressing atrophy-related genes like MuRF1 and atrogin-1 [6]. This anti-catabolic signaling becomes especially important during periods of calorie deficit, illness, or overreaching, when muscle degradation accelerates. Trigonelline, by supplying NAD+ directly to muscle cells, may help maintain lean mass even under systemic stress.

One overlooked aspect of muscle performance is neuromuscular junction (NMJ) stability, or, the connections between nerves and muscle fibers. These connections go both ways, with afferent signals carrying sensory feedback from muscle to brain, and efferent signals delivering motor commands from brain to muscle. Maintaining the integrity of this bidirectional communication is essential for coordination, strength, and rapid recovery from fatigue. NAD+ is required for the function of enzymes that protect NMJ architecture—particularly in aging or disease models where synaptic decline contributes to strength loss [7]. Trigonelline’s direct muscle delivery may therefore preserve the electrical signaling fidelity needed for explosive power and motor unit recruitment.

Muscle Fiber Type Preservation

Emerging evidence suggests that NAD+ availability influences muscle fiber type composition. High NAD+ levels favor the maintenance of fast-twitch (Type II) fibers—those responsible for strength, speed, and power—by enhancing mitochondrial support without triggering full transition to slow-twitch oxidative profiles [8]. This has implications for athletes seeking to maintain peak force output without compromising endurance. By elevating muscle NAD+ directly, trigonelline may help preserve this delicate fiber balance.

Trigonelline is formulated not to just support general energy—but to protect the architecture of athleticism at the cellular level.

For a reliable, pure form of trigonelline with zero additives, you can trust Mortalis Labs.

[blogapart3bis]

Japan Impact 2024

Aujourd'hui sur Blog à part – Japan Impact 2024 Le soleil était au rendez-vous de cette Japan Impact, pour le plus grand plaisir des cosplayeurs (qui ont souvent des costumes peu taillés pour le froid). #Cosplay #Japon #Convention #Geek

Ce n’est pas encore le printemps, mais le soleil était au rendez-vous de cette quinzième édition de Japan Impact, pour le plus grand plaisir des cosplayeurs (qui, il faut l’avouer, ont souvent des costumes peu taillés pour le froid). Japan Impact, c’est un des grands rendez-vous romands de la culture geek, principalement axé sur le Japon – comme son nom l’indique. Pas seulement le Japon des…