Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A new look at prolonged radiation exposure
May 15, 2012 3:42 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA new study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists suggests that the guidelines governments use to determine when to evacuate people following a nuclear accident may be too conservative. The study found that when mice were exposed to radiation doses about 400 times greater than background levels for five weeks, no DNA damage could be detected.
First light from a super-Earth spotted
May 9, 2012 5:53 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsScientists on a planetary-heat-seeking mission have detected the first infrared light from a super-Earth—in this case, a planet some 40 light-years away. And according to their calculations, 55 Cancri e, a planet just over twice the size of Earth, is throwing off some serious heat.
Robots that reveal the inner workings of brain cells
May 7, 2012 3:38 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsResearchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a way to automate the process of finding and recording information from neurons in the living brain. The researchers have shown that a robotic arm guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm can identify and record from neurons in the living mouse brain with better accuracy and speed than a human experimenter.
New technique predictably generates complex, wavy shapes
May 3, 2012 3:33 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsResearchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Arizona State University are studying the mechanics of shape-shifting hydrogels: Looking for relationships between a hydrogel structure's initial shape, and the medium in which it transforms, in order to predict its final shape. The researchers report that they can now create and predict complex shapes from hydrogels.
Sensor tests fruits' ripeness
May 1, 2012 10:27 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsEvery year, U.S. supermarkets lose roughly 10% of their fruits and vegetables to spoilage, according to the Department of Agriculture. To help combat those losses, Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemistry professor Timothy Swager and his students have built a new sensor that could help grocers and food distributors better monitor their produce.
Researchers create anti-fogging, self-cleaning glass
April 26, 2012 4:22 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsOne of the most instantly recognizable features of glass is the way it reflects light. But a new way of creating surface textures on glass, developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare—and whose surface causes water droplets to bounce right off, like tiny rubber balls.
Through a glass, clearly
April 25, 2012 1:25 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsOne of the most instantly recognizable features of glass is the way it reflects light. But a new way of creating surface textures on glass, developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare—and whose surface causes water droplets to bounce right off, like tiny rubber balls.
New material mimics graphene
April 24, 2012 3:39 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsGraphene, a single-atom-thick layer of carbon, has spawned much research into its unique electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. Now, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found another compound that shares many of graphene's unusual characteristics—and in some cases has interesting complementary properties to this much-heralded material.
Pinpointing how antibiotics work
April 20, 2012 4:36 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsPenicillin and other antibiotics have revolutionized medicine, turning once-deadly diseases into easily treatable ailments. However, while antibiotics have been in use for more than 70 years, the exact mechanism by which they kill bacteria has remained a mystery. Now a new study reveals the killing mechanism behind all three major classes of antibiotics.
New Life for 3D Printing
April 19, 2012 12:03 pm | by James F. Bredt, PhD, Chief Materials Scientist, Viridis3D LLC, Lowell, Mass. | Articles | CommentsMature additive manufacturing technologies present new opportunities for R&D prototypes, high-end manufacturing facilities, and hobbyists alike.
New multicore chip hardware models avoid “deadlock”
April 13, 2012 4:49 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMulticore chips are common, but chips of the future are likely to have hundreds or even thousands of cores. Software simulations will work up to a point, but hardware models facilitated by programmable chips that won’t get bogged down by resource requests will be required to test designs. A new system to improve the efficiency of such model has been developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientists.
Chips as mini Internets
April 10, 2012 3:37 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsThe data-routing techniques that undergird the Internet could increase the efficiency of multicore chips while lowering their power requirements, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology research.
Clean energy could lead to scarce materials
April 9, 2012 3:35 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsAs the world moves toward greater use of low-carbon and zero-carbon energy sources, a possible bottleneck looms, according to a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study: The supply of certain metals needed for key clean-energy technologies.
Study shows unified process of evolution in bacteria
April 6, 2012 10:50 am | by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering | News | CommentsBacteria adapt to habitats through random genetic mutations and gene exchange. But how does an advantageous mutation spread from a bacterium to a population? Does the gene sweep through a population or does an individual bacterium obtain the gene, then replicate its genome to form an adapted population? Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology show that genes can sweep through populations, indicating that the process of evolution in bacteria is very similar to that of sexual eukaryotes.
Model predicts how sand flows
April 6, 2012 4:57 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher has come up with a model that predicts the flow of granular materials under a variety of conditions. The model improves on existing models by taking into account one important factor: How the size of a grain affects the entire flow.
How to corner the MEMS market
April 5, 2012 5:17 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsGovernment investment in the manufacture of micromachines could pay huge dividends, but in the meantime, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are developing new fabrication techniques to aid in the commercial success of MEMS technology.
A tough calculation
April 4, 2012 5:11 am | by Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office | News | CommentsWhy don't more women enter the male-dominated profession of engineering? Some observers have speculated it may be due to the difficulties of balancing a demanding career with family life. Others have suggested that women may not rate their own technical skills highly enough. However, a recent paper, based on a four-year study of female engineering students, offers a different story.
Easy robotic design and production
April 3, 2012 9:11 am | News | CommentsAn ambitious new project to reinvent how robots are designed and produced is being funded by a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation. A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania aims to develop a desktop technology that would make it possible for the average person to design, customize, and print a specialized robot in a matter of hours.
Study suggests additional approaches to energy efficiency
April 3, 2012 8:49 am | by Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA new study done on Massachusetts Institute of Technology buildings reveals some data that could help designers and building managers, on campuses or in the commercial sector, optimize energy usage, and suggests a template for conducting more research on the subject.
Self-sculpting sand
April 2, 2012 4:01 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsNew algorithms developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers could enable heaps of 'smart sand' that can assume any shape, allowing spontaneous formation of new tools or duplication of broken mechanical parts.
A woven cloth: The brain is not as tangled as it appears
March 30, 2012 6:43 am | News | CommentsThe conventional image about the inside of the brain is that it resembles a bowl of spaghetti noodles. A research team say they have now discovered that a more uniformed grid-like pattern makes up the connections of the brain, and the pathways can be described as woven sheets of fiber running two directions.
Oscillating gel acts like artificial skin
March 30, 2012 5:26 am | by B. Rose Huber, University of Pittsburgh | News | CommentsSooner or later, robots may have the ability to "feel." In a recently published paper, a team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated that a nonoscillating gel can be resuscitated in a fashion similar to a medical cardiopulmonary resuscitation, paving the way for development of new applications that sense mechanical stimuli and respond chemically.
Moving microfluidics from the lab bench to the factory floor
March 29, 2012 4:56 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMicrofluidic devices have the potential to be fast, cheap, and portable diagnostic tools. But for the most part, the technology hasn't yet made it to the marketplace. While scientists have made successful prototypes in the laboratory, microfluidic devices—particularly for clinical use—have yet to be manufactured on a wider scale. However, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's David Hardt is working to move microfluidics from the laboratory to the factory.
A new dimension for solar energy
March 27, 2012 5:05 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsIntensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surface. Now, a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers has come up with a very different approach.
A faster way to probe proteins
March 26, 2012 4:21 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new way to analyze proteins that doesn't require any pretreatment. The technique is extremely fast, allowing scientists to see, for the first time, how a protein changes its shape over picoseconds.
