Mechanical Engineering

At an IAP workshop in the new nuclear makerspace, "MIT Nucleus," participants created fusors, devices that use an electric field to accelerate ions to energies high enough to fuse nuclei, giving off a purple glow.

Fusor workshop inaugurates nuclear makerspace

Building devices to study fusion at the new (and highly controlled) “MIT Nucleus” makerspace generates enthusiasm — and a purple glow.

February 24, 2020

Mirrored chip could enable handheld dark-field microscopes

Simple chip powered by quantum dots allows standard microscopes to visualize difficult-to-image biological organisms.

February 24, 2020

How can an institution like MIT grow, and simultaneously work to lessen its greenhouse gas emissions and contributions to climate change?

MIT continues to advance toward greenhouse gas reduction goals

Investments in energy efficiency projects, sustainable design elements essential as campus transforms.

February 21, 2020

Lyndie Mitchell Zollinger (left) and Charlotte Minsky have been named 2020 Gates Cambridge Scholars.

Charlotte Minsky and Lyndie Mitchell Zollinger named 2020 Gates Cambridge Scholars

MIT seniors will pursue graduate studies at Cambridge University.

February 18, 2020

A new disposable, affordable “smart” diaper embedded with an RFID tag is designed by MIT researchers to sense and communicate wetness to a nearby RFID reader, which in turn can wirelessly send a notification to a caregiver that it’s time for a change.

Low-cost “smart” diaper can notify caregiver when it’s wet

Design combines a common diaper material with RFID technology.

February 13, 2020

A center of excellence powered by MIT.nano, SENSE.nano received substantial interest in its 2019 call for proposals, making for stiff competition.

SENSE.nano awards seed grants in optoelectronics, interactive manufacturing

The mission of SENSE.nano is to foster the development and use of novel sensors, sensing systems, and sensing solutions.

February 13, 2020

Tagup's industrial equipment monitoring platform is currently being used by energy companies to monitor approximately 60,000 pieces of equipment around North America and Europe. That includes transformers, offshore wind turbines, and reverse osmosis systems for water filtration.

Maintaining the equipment that powers our world

By organizing performance data and predicting problems, Tagup helps energy companies keep their equipment running.

February 12, 2020

In a beaker with a constant stream of bubbles, inserting a piece of the new textured material developed by the MIT team (gray object extending into the surface at top) causes the foam buildup at the top of the beaker to dissipate almost completely within ten minutes.

Bubble-capturing surface helps get rid of foam

Bubbly buildup can hinder many industrial processes, but a new method can reduce or even eliminate it.

February 11, 2020

Tests on an MIT building rooftop showed that a simple proof-of-concept desalination device could produce clean, drinkable water at a rate equivalent to more than 1.5 gallons per hour for each square meter of solar collecting area.

Simple, solar-powered water desalination

System achieves new level of efficiency in harnessing sunlight to make fresh potable water from seawater.

February 6, 2020

Perovskites, a family of materials defined by a particular kind of molecular structure as illustrated here, have great potential for new kinds of solar cells. A new study from MIT shows how these materials could gain a foothold in the solar marketplace.

Researchers develop a roadmap for growth of new solar cells

Starting with higher-value niche markets and then expanding could help perovskite-based solar panels become competitive with silicon.

February 6, 2020

With a new technique, MIT researchers can peel and stack thin films of metal oxides — chemical compounds that can be designed to have unique magnetic and electronic properties. The films can be mixed and matched to create multi-functional, flexible electronic devices, such as solar-powered skins and electronic fabrics.

Engineers mix and match materials to make new stretchy electronics

Next-generation devices made with new “peel and stack” method may include electronic chips worn on the skin.

February 5, 2020

A preserved heart muscle (1) is removed and replaced with a soft synthetic matrix (2). The two structures (inner cardiac tissue and synthetic matrix) (3) are bonded using a newly developed adhesive, TissueSil (4). The resulting piece is the biohybrid heart containing the preserved intracardiac structures and synthetic heart muscle (5).

Engineers design bionic “heart” for testing prosthetic valves, other cardiac devices

Device made of heart tissue and a robotic pumping system beats like the real thing.

January 29, 2020

MathWorks fellows with Anantha Chandrakasan (back row, center), dean of the MIT School of Engineering. Not pictured: Fellows Pasquale Antonante, Alireza Fallah, and Kate Reidy.

Accelerating the pace of engineering

The 2019-20 School of Engineering MathWorks Fellows are using MATLAB and Simulink to advance discovery and innovation across disciplines.

January 28, 2020

Currently, 90 percent of the world’s solar panels are made from crystalline silicon, and the industry continues to grow at a rate of about 30 percent per year.

For cheaper solar cells, thinner really is better

Solar panel costs have dropped lately, but slimming down silicon wafers could lead to even lower costs and faster industry expansion.

January 26, 2020

This sensor can measure blood glucose levels noninvasively by shining near-infrared light through the skin and measuring the chemical composition of the tissue below.

Researchers hope to make needle pricks for diabetics a thing of the past

Study suggests noninvasive spectroscopy could be used to monitor blood glucose levels.

January 24, 2020

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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