With Perseverance and a little MOXIE, MIT is going to Mars
Led by MIT researchers, one of the experiments aboard the next mission to the Red Planet aims to generate oxygen from Martian air.
Ila Fiete studies how the brain performs complex computations
The MIT professor takes a mathematical approach to exploring memory, navigation, and other neural functions.
Looking into the black box
Recent advances give theoretical insight into why deep learning networks are successful.
Shining a light on the quantum world
With funding from MISTI, physicists at MIT and in Israel collaborate to improve understanding and use of quantum light.
An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites
Study suggests the rare objects likely came from an early planetesimal with a magnetic core.
Gene-controlling mechanisms play key role in cancer progression
Study finds “epigenomic” alterations evolve as lung tumors become more aggressive and metastasize.
3 Questions: Ibrahim Cissé on using physics to decipher biology
A physicist employs super-resolution microscopy to peer inside living cells and witness never-before-seen phenomena.
Chemists make tough plastics recyclable
New method for producing thermoset plastics allows them to be broken down more easily after use.
Mapping the brain’s sensory gatekeeper
New analysis could help uncover potential drug targets for attention deficits and sensory hypersensitivity.
How to grow a cosmic magnetic field
Graduate student Muni Zhou shows how tiny magnetic seed fields can expand to cosmic proportions.
Neural vulnerability in Huntington’s disease tied to release of mitochondrial RNA
Unique survey of gene expression by cell type in humans and mice reveals several deficits affecting the most vulnerable neurons.
In his element in the chem lab and the kickboxing ring
PhD student Levi Knippel is dedicated to making the Department of Chemistry “a community that everyone wants to be a part of.”
Seemingly similar, two neurons show distinct styles as they interact with the same muscle partner
Diversity in how cells talk to the muscle they innervate reveal distinct propensities for change, or “plasticity.”
A mechanical way to stimulate neurons
Magnetic nanodiscs can be activated by an external magnetic field, providing a research tool for studying neural responses.
In a first, astronomers watch a black hole’s corona disappear, then reappear
A colliding star may have triggered the drastic transformation.