Sarah Lewin writes for Wired about research by Professor Pedro Reis and a team of MIT mathematicians on the formation of wrinkles in materials. “What’s beautiful about this work is the collaboration between experimentalists and theorists,” says Reis. “We challenged them with results we didn’t understand, and they went somewhere new.”
Sindya Bhanoo writes for The New York Times that MIT researchers have discovered how the bombardier beetle produces blasts of a hot, lethal toxin to fend off predators. “The beetle has a really complicated explosion system that’s all connected together,” explains Prof. Christine Ortiz.
MIT researchers have figured out how the bombardier beetle can fire off chemicals when threatened, writes Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman. Feltman explains that the researchers used “high-speed x-ray imaging” to examine the beetle’s defense mechanisms in action.
By examining X-ray images, MIT researchers have uncovered how bombardier beetles are able to produce “machine-gun style” blasts of chemicals to fend off predators, reports Andy Coghlan for New Scientist. “The researchers were surprised to find that a passive mechanism generates the pulses,” Coghlan explains.
New MIT research offers a detailed look at how the bombardier beetle produces the scalding black liquid it expels as a defense mechanism, writes Brooks Hays for UPI. “The process operates almost like an assembly line of chambers and valves -- chemicals mixed, pressure builds, chemical released in jet-like spray through valve, relax and repeat.”
Lindsay Kalter reports for The Boston Herald that MIT researchers are developing a device that can be implanted into a tumor to help determine the best course of cancer treatment. “We wanted to bring the laboratory into the human body,” says Langer.
In an article for Bloomberg Businessweek about batteries, Christopher Martin highlights how Prof. Donald Sadoway’s liquid metal battery will be deployed this year. The batteries, which are being commercialized by Sadoway’s startup Ambri, will power solar and wind farms and store surplus energy for a power company in Manhattan.
Conor Gaffey writes for Newsweek about new body armor being developed by researchers at MIT and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The design is based on fish scales and “mimics the overlapping layers of hard scales and soft tissues found in certain fish, using 3D printers,” reports Gaffey.
A team of researchers from MIT and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has designed a flexible body armor inspired by fish scales, reports Kelsey D. Atherton for Popular Science. “The researchers were able to greatly increase the strength of the armor while only modestly reducing its flexibility,” writes Atherton.
Mo Costandi reports for The Guardian on how Prof. Polina Anikeeva has developed a new technique to activate brain cells using nanoparticles. Costandi explains that, “research like this may eventually allow for wireless and minimally invasive deep brain stimulation of the human brain.”
Jim Nash of Scientific American speaks with Professor W. Craig Carter about why snow squeaks when it’s stepped on. Carter explains that the breaking of tiny bonds formed between individual snowflakes could cause the squeaking noise. “I believe the squeak depends on the fallen snow forming the welds to sinter together,” says Carter of his theory.
Kevin Hartnett of The Boston Globe looks at Professor Christine Ortiz’s work to develop better body armor technology by mimicking the tough qualities of fish scales. “Armored fish have multi-hit capability,” explains Ortiz. “Basically, when it gets hit, it just cracks locally in a circle.”
Jon Chesto writes for The Boston Globe about a new battery technology from Professor Don Sadoway’s company, Ambri, that allows for more efficient grid-level power storage: “The goal is to allow electric utilities or big industrial plants to store power so it can be released at times of high usage.”
According to The Economist, a battery design “being developed by Donald Sadoway of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would use two sorts of liquid metal, separated by a liquid electrolyte.” Using metals of varying densities, Sadoway’s design would allow the substances to float as separate layers in a container.
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus speaks with Julianna Goldman of CBS Evening News about her career at MIT and what continues to inspire her to come to work seven days a week. "Every year there's something new that comes along that's too exciting to quit," says Dresselhaus.