Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been named one of three winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots, tiny particles that have fueled innovations in nanotechnology from televisions to mapping different tissues in the body,” reports Andrew Joseph for STAT. “Bawendi invented a method for making the dots with high-quality consistency,” explains Joseph.
Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the discovery and development of quantum dots, reports Emma Bubola and Katrina Miller for The New York Times. Prof. William Tisdale described Bawendi’s prizewinning results as a “key enabling advance, after which the field of quantum dots exploded.”
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Prof. Moungi Bawendi, Prof. Louis Brus of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., for their work in the discovery and development of quantum dots, reports Christian Edwards, Katie Hunt and Ed Upright for CNN. Bawendi “changed the chemical production of quantum dots, resulting in what the [Nobel] committee called ‘almost perfect particles,’” they write. “This development allowed dots to be used in applications.”
Science reporter Daniel Clery spotlights Prof. Moungi Bawendi, one of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the advancement of quantum dots. “The process devised by Bawendi’s team led to the wide commercialization of quantum dots, with many companies competing to produce nanocrystals cheaply,” writes Clery.
Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “fundamental discoveries in nanotechnology, particles once considered impossibly small to make,” reports Mark Johnson for The Washington Post. “In 1993, Moungi revolutionized the process, devising a way to create ‘seed,’ or beginner particles that could then be carefully controlled using temperature,” writes Johnson. “The method allowed him to stop the process to achieve particles of just the right size and quality.”
Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been named one of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the study and development of quantum dots, “tiny molecules that interact with light in unusual ways,” reports Katharine Sanderson for Nature. “I didn’t think it would be me that would get this prize because we’re all working together on this,” says Bawendi. “There’s still a lot of exciting work to be done in this field.”
Prof. Moungi Bawendi, Prof. Louis Brus of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in the development of quantum dots, which are “now used to create color in flat screens, light emitting diode (LED) lamps and devices that help surgeons see blood vessels in tumors,” reports Niklas Pollard and Ludwig Burger for Reuters. “In 1993, Bawendi revolutionized the production of quantum dots, made up of clusters ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand atoms,” writes Pollard and Burger.
In an article about how researchers are exploring why ancient Roman and Mayan buildings are still standing, AP reporter Maddie Burakoff highlights how researchers from MIT found that an ancient Roman technique for manufacturing concrete gave the material “self-healing” properties. “We don’t need to make things last quite as long as the Romans did to have an impact,” says Prof. Admir Masic. “If we add 50 or 100 years to concrete’s lifespan, “we will require less demolition, less maintenance and less material in the long run.”
MIT researchers have found that user bias can drive interactions with AI chatbots, reports Nick Hilden for Scientific American. “When people think that the AI is caring, they become more positive toward it,” graduate student Pat Pataranutaporn explains. “This creates a positive reinforcement feedback loop where, at the end, the AI becomes much more positive, compared to the control condition. And when people believe that the AI was manipulative, they become more negative toward the AI—and it makes the AI become more negative toward the person as well.”
Jasmina Aganovic ’09 founded Future Society, a brand that uses sequenced DNA from extinct flowers to create new scents, reports Celia Shatzman for Forbes. “[With] plants that are from another time, never before have we been able to time travel through smell,” says Aganovic. “But now we can do that, thanks specifically to DNA sequencing. It’s an example of where we're starting off with this concept of limitless nature. It isn't just about stories; it's also about performance.”
Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, a Schmidt Science Fellow in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, writes for Times Higher Education about the need to eliminate barriers between different academic disciplines. “More work needs to be done to support interdisciplinary researchers more generally,” writes Cao. “The lack of funding, incentives and community support holds back the scientific breakthroughs they could otherwise be making.”
Prof. Emerita Evelyn Fox Keller, who was known for her work as a “theoretical physicist, a mathematical biologist and, beginning in the late 1970s, a feminist theorist who explored the way gender pervades and distorts scientific inquiry,” has died, reports Clay Risen for The New York Times. “Keller trained as a physicist and focused much of her early work on applying mathematical concepts to biology,” writes Risen. “But as the feminist movement took hold, she began to think critically about how ideas of masculinity and femininity had affected her profession.”
Prof. Thomas Kochan and Prof. Thomas Malone speak with Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray about the recent deal between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which will “protect movie screenwriters from losing their jobs to computers that could use artificial intelligence to generate screenplays.” Kochan notes that when it comes to AI, “where workers don’t have a voice through a union, most companies are not engaging their workers on these issues, and the workers have no rights, no redress.”
In an article for Tribal Business News, Chez Oxendine writes about the “seven new fellows in MIT Solve’s Indigenous Communities Fellowship, a sub-cohort of MIT’s larger Solve program, which provides grant funding, technical assistance, networking, and mentorship to entrepreneurs.” The fellows will now participate in a nine-month program, “working closely with MIT Solve’s team to identify how best the organization can support their burgeoning solutions.”
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have identified key cell types that may protect the brain against Alzheimer’s symptoms, reports Sara Reardon for Nature. “Most Alzheimer’s research has focused on excitatory neurons, which relay electrical signals to activate other neurons,” explains Reardon. “But the authors found that the cells with reelin or somatostatin were inhibitory neurons, which halt neuronal communication. These inhibitory cells might therefore have a previously unknown role in the types of cognitive function that are lost during Alzheimer’s.”