It’s a negative on negative absolute temperatures
New research shows negative absolute temperatures — and perpetual motion machines — are still out of reach.
Biologists find clues to a parasite’s inconsistency
Certain strains of Toxoplasma provoke inflammation that can damage host cells, while others are harmless.
New technique measures mass of exoplanets
Method will help scientists determine the mass of exoplanets that are not measurable in any other way.
Crossing disciplines, and international borders
Rhodes Scholar John Mikhael, who calls both the U.S. and Lebanon home, is also comfortable in many scientific fields.
Unusual suspects
Computer models plus observations of RNA inside a cell help scientists home in on a short list of interesting RNA ‘machines.’
Homing in on stressed coral
Sulfurous chemical known as ‘smell of the sea’ serves as clarion call for coral pathogens.
For the good of the colony
Research shows the success of a bacterial community depends on its shape.
Even when test scores go up, some cognitive abilities don’t
MIT neuroscientists find even high-performing schools don’t influence their students’ abstract reasoning.
New sensor tracks zinc in cells
Shifts in zinc’s location could be exploited for early diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Balancing old and new skills
MIT model explains how the brain can learn novel tasks while still remembering what it has already learned.
Michael Sipser named interim dean of the School of Science
Mathematician has been a member of the faculty since 1980 and department head since 2004.
You can’t get entangled without a wormhole
MIT physicist finds the creation of entanglement simultaneously gives rise to a wormhole.
Storing carbon in the Arctic
While the Arctic Ocean is largely a carbon sink, researchers find parts are also a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide.