National Science Foundation (NSF)

Three MIT physicists win 2015 NSF and DOE early-career awards

Assistant professors Aram Harrow, Yen-Jie Lee, and Tracy Slatyer will share $2.1 million in research support.

May 13, 2015

Laser beams are precisely aligned before being sent into the vacuum chamber.

Researchers build new fermion microscope

Instrument freezes and images 1,000 individual fermionic atoms at once.

May 13, 2015

A suspended microchannel resonator (SMR) measures particles’ masses as they flow through a narrow channel. The original mass sensor consists of a fluid-filled microchannel etched in a tiny silicon cantilever that vibrates inside a vacuum cavity. As cells or particles flow through the channel, one at a time, their mass slightly alters the cantilever’s vibration frequency. This illustration depi...

Faster, smaller, more informative

Device can measure the distribution of tiny particles as they flow through a microfluidic channel.

May 12, 2015

Twelve Summer Scholars selected

Highly qualified group of undergraduates brings prior lab experience, variety of interests, to pursue research opportunities in MIT labs.

May 4, 2015

MIT sensor detects spoiled meat

Tiny device could be incorporated into “smart packaging” to improve food safety.

April 14, 2015

An illustration of T Lymphocytes on a Cancer Cell.

Recruiting the entire immune system to attack cancer

Stimulating both major branches of the immune system halts tumor growth more effectively.

April 13, 2015

As a mix of cancer cells and white blood cells flows through the microfluidic channel, sound waves from the transducers located on both sides of the channel guide them into separate channels, allowing the rare cancer cells to be isolated.

Using sound waves to detect rare cancer cells

Acoustic device can rapidly isolate circulating tumor cells from patient blood samples.

April 6, 2015

This image illustrates the entanglement of a large number of atoms. The atoms, shown in purple, are shown mutually entangled with one another.

Thousands of atoms entangled with a single photon

Result could make atomic clocks more accurate.

March 25, 2015

Images show calcium ion influx into neurons as a result of magnetothermal excitation with alternating magnetic fields in the presence of magnetic nanoparticles.

Magnetic brain stimulation

New technique could lead to long-lasting localized stimulation of brain tissue without external connections.

March 12, 2015

Researchers have been running large-scale experiments on the Internet, where people of any age can become research subjects. Their websites feature cognitive tests designed to be completed in just a few minutes. Shown here is a "pattern completion test" inspired by their website, testmybrain.org.

The rise and fall of cognitive skills

Neuroscientists find that different parts of the brain work best at different ages.

March 6, 2015

Individual cows can produce up to 500 liters of methane a day; the species accounts for about one-third of total methane emissions. The structures shown represent the structure of methane.

New detector sniffs out origins of methane

Instrument identifies methane’s origins in mines, deep-sea vents, and cows.

March 5, 2015

This Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 1275 reveals the fine, thread-like filamentary structures in the gas surrounding the galaxy. The red filaments are composed of cool gas being suspended by a magnetic field, and are surrounded by the 100-million-degree Fahrenheit gas in the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster. The filaments are dramatic markers of the feedback process through which e...

Why isn’t the universe as bright as it should be?

Study explains why galaxies don’t churn out as many stars as they should.

March 4, 2015

Simulations show the effects of dislocations in cerium dioxide on the redistribution of differently sized dopant atoms, replacing a cerium atom in the crystal lattice. The results reveal different amounts of segregation around the dislocation caused by the differently sized elements. The sizes of the other atoms are compared to a cesium atom (left, in black). The white dashed line shows the plane ...

New analysis shows ion slowdown in fuel cell material

Dislocations in oxides seen as promising electrolytes create a “traffic jam” for charged ions.

March 2, 2015

MIT researchers have created a new model of how much urban travel is based on social activity, which may help urban planners estimate how people move around cities.

Social circles

MIT study details the degree to which urban movement is linked to social activity.

February 26, 2015

Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have identified two optical structures within the blue-rayed limpet’s shell that give its blue-striped appearance.

A mollusk of a different stripe

Optical features embedded in marine shells may help develop responsive, transparent displays.