School of Science

How the brain keeps time

Study reveals neuron-firing patterns that underlie time measurement.

October 8, 2015

Antiparallel beta-sheet structure of the enzyme catalase: The antiparallel hydrogen bonds (dotted) are between peptide NH and CO groups on adjacent strands. Arrows indicate the chain direction, and electron density contours outline the non-H atoms.

Analyzing protein structures in their native environment

Enhanced-sensitivity NMR could reveal new clues to how proteins fold.

October 8, 2015

Alumnus Paul Modrich wins Nobel Prize in chemistry

Biochemist who graduated from MIT in 1968 is honored for his work on DNA repair mechanisms.

October 7, 2015

3Q: The massive impact of neutrino research

Physicist Joseph Formaggio discusses the significance of this year’s Nobel Prize in physics, MIT’s involvement in neutrino research.

October 6, 2015

Researchers have found that neuron firing patterns in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex, highlighted here, correlate strongly with success in object-recognition tasks.

How the brain recognizes objects

Neuroscientists find evidence that the brain’s inferotemporal cortex can identify objects.

October 5, 2015

Microbe sleuth

Tanja Bosak examines how life and the Earth evolved in tandem during their early history together.

October 5, 2015

MIT President L. Rafael Reif and Gianfelice Rocca sign documents renewing a partnership between the Institute and Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Italy's top engineering school.

Significant foundation grant extends two-way partnership with Italy through 2020

Agreement will support a number of joint research projects, seminars, lectures, and other programming.

October 2, 2015

A top-down view of a photo-excited disordered molecular film.

Solar excitement

Modeling electron excitation in organic photovoltaic material could change the future of solar energy.

October 1, 2015

Flickr users tagged a photograph similar to this one
“architecture," “tourism," and "travel.” A machine-learning system that
used a novel training strategy developed at MIT proposed “sky," “roof,”
and “building”; when it used a conventional training strategy, it came up
with “art," “sky,” and "beach.”

More-flexible machine learning

Giving machine-learning systems “partial credit” during training improves image classification.

October 1, 2015

An ''atmospheric brown cloud'' of manmade aerosols produced by agricultural (marked in red) and other fires may reduce monsoon-related rainfall and crop yields in central India.

Messing with the monsoon

Study: Manmade aerosols can alter rainfall in the world’s most populous region.

September 30, 2015

MIT faculty spoke about the effects of climate change at the Boston Athenaeum's "Sink or Swim" event.

MIT faculty inspire climate change dialogue at Boston: Sink or Swim symposium

September 29, 2015

Alexei Borodin receives the 2015 Henri Poincaré Prize

Mathematics professor honored for contributions to mathematical physics that lay the groundwork for new developments in the field.

September 28, 2015

Color-corrected photograph of bacteria "spelling" B12, when the vitamin-B12-dependent photoreceptor protein, CarH, senses light.

A natural light switch

MIT scientists identify and map the protein behind a light-sensing mechanism.

September 28, 2015

Kristen Bergmann, Davesh Maulik, Michael McDonald, Andrei Neguţ, and Aaron Pixton.

Five professors join the School of Science this fall

September 25, 2015

MIT freshman conquer New Hampshire's Mount Washington as part of the DEAPS orientation program.

Experiencing extreme Earth

Freshmen discover the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences through weather and climate demonstrations and a trip to Mt. Washington.