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Researchers have used silk derived from ordinary silkworm cocoons, like those seen here, mixed with bacteria and nutrients, to make a coating for seeds that can help them germinate and grow even in salty soil.

Coated seeds may enable agriculture on marginal lands

A specialized silk covering could protect seeds from salinity while also providing fertilizer-generating microbes.

November 25, 2019

Illustration shows the apparatus used to create a thin layer of a transparent, electrically conductive material, to protect solar cells or other devices. The chemicals used to produce the layer, shown in tubes at left, are introduced into a vacuum chamber where they deposit a layer on a substrate material at top of the chamber.

Clear, conductive coating could protect advanced solar cells, touch screens

New material should be relatively easy to produce at an industrial scale, researchers say.

November 22, 2019

MIT Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart introduced the Community Forum on Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct.

At MIT forum, results of sexual misconduct survey, plans for action presented

Chancellor Barnhart and working groups describe findings and recommendations.

November 13, 2019

Oil and natural gas wells require concrete to seal the area between the well casing and the surrounding borehole, but because of the high temperatures and pressures at depth, it has been hard to study how these specialized cements harden. Now, a new method developed at MIT can help to fill in that missing knowledge.

New tools could improve the way cement seals oil wells

Techniques for observing concrete as it sets could facilitate the development of new cements.

November 12, 2019

An artist's impression of a light-induced charge density wave (CDW). The wavy mesh represents distortions of the material’s lattice structure caused by the formation of CDWs. Glowing spheres represent photons. In the center, the original CDW is suppressed by a brief pulse of laser light, while a new CDW appears at right angles to the first.

Using light to generate order in an exotic material

Physics experiment with ultrafast laser pulses produces a previously unseen phase of matter.

November 11, 2019

A new report from MIT outlines how companies in the fossil fuel business can make better use of scenarios to show their vulnerabilities, as well as their opportunities, in a world facing major climate change.

MIT report provides guidance on climate-related financial disclosures

Recommendations could help companies deliver more useful disclosures to investors on risks they face due to climate change.

November 6, 2019

NASA’s official mission patch for the upcoming space biofilms experiment, developed at MIT and the University of Colorado, which is scheduled to be sent to the International Space Station.

3 Questions: How to control biofilms in space

MIT and University of Colorado researchers are collaborating on an experiment to be sent to the International Space Station.

November 1, 2019

Susanne Moser, director of Susanne Moser Research and Consulting, addresses MIT’s second Symposium on Climate Change. In the background are Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, and Richard Schmalensee, the Howard W. Johnson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who moderated the panel discussions.

Symposium explores challenges of adapting to climate change

“Uncertainty is a reason to act, not to wait,” panelists agree.

October 31, 2019

In a new method to produce hydrogen peroxide portably, an electrolyzer (left) splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen atoms initially form in an electrolyte material (green), which transfers them to a mediator material (red), which then carries them to a separate unit where the mediator comes in contact with oxygen-rich water (blue), where the hydrogen combines with it to form hydrogen...

New process could make hydrogen peroxide available in remote places

MIT-developed method may lead to portable devices for making the disinfectant on-site where it’s needed.

October 23, 2019

Photo shows two prototype assembler robots at work putting together a series of small units, known as voxels, into a larger structure.

Assembler robots make large structures from little pieces

Systems of tiny robots may someday build high-performance structures, from airplanes to space settlements.

October 16, 2019

Recent graduate student Karly Bast shows off the scale model of a bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci that she and her co-workers used to prove the design’s feasibility.

Engineers put Leonardo da Vinci’s bridge design to the test

Proposed bridge would have been the world’s longest at the time; new analysis shows it would have worked.

October 9, 2019

Traditional structure-based representations of the many forms of zeolites, some of which are illustrated here, provide little guidance as to how they can convert to other forms, but a new graph-based system does a much better job.

A new mathematical approach to understanding zeolites

Study of minerals widely used in industrial processes could lead to discovery of new materials for catalysis and filtering.

October 7, 2019

This diagram shows an edge-on view of the molecular structure of the new coating material. The thin layered material being coated is shown in violet at bottom, and the ambient air is shown as the scattered molecules of oxygen and water at the top. The dark layer in between is the protective material, which allows some oxygen (red) through, forming an oxide layer below that provides added protecti...

A new way to corrosion-proof thin atomic sheets

Ultrathin coating could protect 2D materials from corrosion, enabling their use in optics and electronics.

October 4, 2019

Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Chemistry at MIT, delivered the symposium's keynote address.

Experts urge “full speed ahead” on climate action

Panelists at MIT climate change symposium describe the state of knowledge in climate science and stress the urgent need for action.

October 3, 2019

Even relatively small differences in the duration, timing, and consistency of students' sleep may have significant effects on course test results, a new MIT study shows.

Study: Better sleep habits lead to better college grades

Data on MIT students underscore the importance of getting enough sleep; bedtime also matters.

October 1, 2019

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