Academic Research Centers
Microwave cooks up solar cell materials
May 6, 2013 12:56 pm | News | Comments
University of Utah metallurgists have used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant, and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, and atomic spectroscopy all helped confirm that the CZTS (copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur) semiconductor was suitable for use in a solar cell.
Record-breaking high-energy particles detected by telescope buried in Antarctic
May 17, 2013 12:26 pm | News | Comments
A massive telescope buried in the Antarctic ice has detected 28 extremely high-energy...
Tiny camera in Illinois offers bug's eye view
May 17, 2013 9:47 am | News | Comments
A tiny new camera developed at an Illinois university is giving researchers a bug's...
Secret of efficient photosynthesis is decoded
May 15, 2013 9:25 am | News | Comments
Purple bacteria are among Earth’s oldest organisms, and among its most efficient in...
Study: Earth's iron core is surprisingly weak
May 17, 2013 10:54 am | News | CommentsThe massive ball of iron sitting at the center of Earth is not quite as "rock-solid" as has been thought, say two Stanford University mineral physicists. By conducting experiments that simulate the immense pressures deep in the planet's interior, the researchers determined that iron in Earth's inner core is only about 40% as strong as previous studies estimated.
Stacking 2D materials produces surprising results
May 17, 2013 7:46 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsGraphene has dazzled scientists ever since its discovery more than a decade ago. But one long-sought goal has proved elusive: how to engineer into graphene a property called a band gap, which would be necessary to use the material to make transistors and other electronic devices. New findings by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are a major step toward making graphene with this coveted property.
A new laser paradigm: An electrically injected polariton laser
May 16, 2013 9:45 am | News | CommentsEngineering researchers at the University of Michigan have demonstrated a paradigm-shifting "polariton" laser that's fueled not by light, but by electricity. Polaritons are particles that are part light, and part matter. The new device requires at least 1,000 times less energy to operate, compared with a conventional laser.
A nano solution in the fight against diabetes
May 16, 2013 9:38 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsInjectable nanoparticles developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology may someday eliminate the need for patients with Type 1 diabetes to constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin. The nanoparticles were designed to sense glucose levels in the body and respond by secreting the appropriate amount of insulin.
Computer research project shows shift in English language
May 16, 2013 7:38 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Illinois English professor Ted Underwood recently wrapped up a research project involving more than 4,200 books. Since that work revealed dramatic shifts in the English language between the 18th and 19th centuries, he’s now expanding his research to include more than 470,000 books—almost every English language book written during that era and preserved in a university library.
Ultraresponsive magnetic nanoscavengers could usher next-generation water purification
May 15, 2013 3:43 pm | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsAmong its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers.
Engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin flexible 'skin'
May 15, 2013 3:21 pm | News | CommentsEngineers combine layers of flexible materials into pressure sensors to create a wearable heart monitor thinner than a dollar bill. The skin-like device could one day provide doctors with a safer way to check the condition of a patient's heart.
Cells as living calculators
May 15, 2013 3:00 pm | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology engineers have transformed bacterial cells into living calculators that can compute logarithms, divide, and take square roots, using three or fewer genetic parts. Inspired by how analog electronic circuits function, the researchers created synthetic computation circuits by combining existing genetic “parts,” or engineered genes, in novel ways.
Groundwater unaffected by shale gas production in Arkansas
May 15, 2013 11:46 am | News | CommentsScientists sampling 127 shallow drinking water wells in areas overlying Fayetteville Shale gas production in north-central Arkansas found no evidence of groundwater contamination. The team of scientists at Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) analyzed the samples for major and trace elements and hydrocarbons, and used isotopic tracers to identify the sources of possible contaminants.
Making frequency-hopping radios practical
May 15, 2013 7:45 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsThe way in which radio spectrum is currently allocated to different wireless technologies can lead to gross inefficiencies. Cognitive radio serves as a solution. Different proposals for cognitive radio place different emphases on hardware and software, but the chief component of many hardware approaches is a bank of filters that can isolate any frequency in a wide band. Researchers have developed a new method for manufacturing such filters.
"Makers" 3D print shapes created using new design tool, bare hands
May 14, 2013 4:38 pm | News | CommentsA new design tool interprets hand gestures, enabling designers and artists to create and modify 3D shapes using only their hands as a "natural user interface" instead of keyboard and mouse. The tool, called Shape-It-Up, uses specialized computer algorithms and a depth-sensing camera to observe and interpret hand movements and gestures.
Fracking brings economic boost, but risks raise concerns
May 14, 2013 2:42 pm | News | CommentsMost Michigan and Pennsylvania residents say fracking is good for the economy, but have concerns about chemicals used and other environmental risks, according to a University of Michigan survey. Fracking is the common term for hydraulic fracturing, which involves injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals deep into the ground through encased wells at high pressure to create and expand fractures in the shale rock.
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
May 14, 2013 12:24 pm | News | CommentsIt’s a familiar scenario—a patient receives a medical implant and days later, the body attacks the artificial valve or device, causing complications to an already compromised system. Expensive medical devices and surgeries often are thwarted by the body’s natural response to attack something in the tissue that appears foreign. Now, University of Washington engineers have demonstrated in mice a way to prevent this sort of response.
Study identifies key protein for cell death
May 14, 2013 10:49 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsWhen cells suffer too much DNA damage, they are usually forced to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis. However, cancer cells often ignore these signals, flourishing even after chemotherapy drugs have ravaged their DNA. A new finding may offer a way to overcome that resistance: A team has identified a key protein involved in an alternative death pathway known as programmed necrosis.
Team observes real-time charging of a lithium-air battery
May 13, 2013 9:07 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsOne of the most promising new kinds of battery to power electric cars is called a lithium-air battery. But progress has been slow. Researchers have used transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging to observe, at a molecular level, what goes on during a reaction called oxygen evolution as lithium-air batteries charge; this reaction is thought to be a bottleneck limiting further improvements to these batteries.
Nano-breakthrough: Solving the case of the herringbone crystal
May 13, 2013 7:54 am | News | CommentsLeading nanoscientists created beautiful, tiled patterns with flat nanocrystals, but they were left with a mystery: Why did some sets of crystals arrange themselves in an alternating, herringbone style? To find out, they turned to experts in computer simulation at the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Revising Darwin's sinking-island theory
May 13, 2013 7:41 am | by Genevieve Wanucha, Oceans at MIT | News | CommentsThe three different formations of South Pacific coral-reef islands, fringing, barrier, and atoll, have long fascinated geologists. The question of how reefs develop into these shapes over evolutionary time produced an enduring conflict between two hypotheses, one from Charles Darwin and the other from Reginald Daly. But in a recently published paper, researchers use modern measurements and computer modeling to resolve this old conundrum.
Bacteria organize according to "rich-get-richer" principle
May 10, 2013 11:16 am | News | CommentsBacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities known as biofilms. It turns out that they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. economy, according to a new study.
Potential flu pandemic lurks
May 10, 2013 10:36 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsIn the summer of 1968, a new strain of influenza appeared in Hong Kong. This strain, known as H3N2, spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated 1 million people. A new study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals that there are many strains of H3N2 circulating in birds and pigs that are genetically similar to the 1968 strain and have the potential to generate a pandemic if they leap to humans.
Exotic atoms hold clues to unsolved physics puzzle
May 9, 2013 7:47 am | News | CommentsAn international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear-shaped nuclei in exotic atoms. The findings could advance the search for a new fundamental force in nature that could explain why the Big Bang created more matter than antimatter—a pivotal imbalance in the history of everything.
Biomaterial shows promise for Type 1 diabetes treatment
May 8, 2013 3:13 pm | News | CommentsResearchers have made a significant first step with newly engineered biomaterials for cell transplantation that could help lead to a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 3 million Americans. Georgia Institute of Technology engineers and Emory University clinicians have successfully engrafted insulin-producing cells into a diabetic mouse model, reversing diabetic symptoms in the animal in as little as 10 days.
One order of steel; hold the greenhouse gases
May 8, 2013 2:52 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsAnyone who has seen pictures of the giant, red-hot cauldrons in which steel is made—fed by vast amounts of carbon, and belching flame and smoke—would not be surprised to learn that steelmaking is one of the world’s leading industrial sources of greenhouse gases. But remarkably, a new process developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers could change all that.
Bioengineers simplify fluid flows by removing complex math
May 8, 2013 8:42 am | News | CommentsA research team led by UCLA bioengineers has developed a way to program and control the shape of fluids flowing through pipes or conduits without the need to solve complex and time-consuming fluid-motion equations. This strategy could allow researchers to tap the vast, unrealized potential of fluid-flow applications.
Research makes advance in nanotech gene sequencing technique
May 8, 2013 8:09 am | News | CommentsThe allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. One promising technique involves reading DNA bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole. Now, a team led by University of Pennsylvania physicists has used solid-state nanopores to differentiate single-stranded DNA molecules containing sequences of a single repeating base.
New technique to improve quality control of lithium-ion batteries
May 8, 2013 7:56 am | News | CommentsResearchers have created a new tool to detect flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured, a step toward reducing defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that affect battery life and reliability. The Purdue researchers have developed a system that uses a flashbulb-like heat source and a thermal camera to read how heat travels through the electrodes.
