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“Our whole goal was to monitor how materials evolve when exposed to radiation,” associate professor Michael Short explains, “but do it in a way that’s online,” without requiring samples to be extracted from that environment and tested in outside devices.

New method enables real-time monitoring of materials during irradiation

Technique will enable continuous measurement of damage to materials in high-radiation environments.

May 30, 2017

Researchers at MIT have explored the secrets behind the conch shell’s extraordinary impact resilience. The findings are reported in a new study by MIT graduate student Grace Gu (right), postdoc Mahdi Takaffoli (left), and McAfee Professor of Engineering Markus Buehler.

Conch shells spill the secret to their toughness

Three-tiered structure of these impact-resistant shells could inspire better helmets, body armor.

May 26, 2017

Dean Kamen: “The magic is out there!”

Noted inventors Kamen and Flowers urge students to unleash their imagination on world’s problems.

May 18, 2017

An Imperial Snowtrooper inspects a competitor’s entry at the 2017 MIT Mechanical Engineering 2.007 Student Design Final Robot Competition.

The Force was strong in this robot competition

MechE class ends semester with ingeniously designed robots battling on a “Star Wars”-themed playing field.

May 15, 2017

Researchers have developed a new method for removing even extremely low levels of unwanted compounds from water. The new method relies on an electrochemical process to selectively remove organic contaminants such as pesticides, chemical waste products, and pharmaceuticals.

MIT researchers develop new way to clear pollutants from water

Electrochemical method can remove even tiny amounts of contamination.

May 10, 2017

“The most interesting thing about these materials is they function at temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius,” says MIT graduate student Jessica Swallow, pictured with the equipment used for testing the new materials.

High-temperature devices made from films that bend as they “breathe”

Mechanical actuators developed by MIT team expand and contract as they let oxygen in and out.

May 8, 2017

A new website, Energize_MIT, provides to the MIT community a broad swath of detailed information about energy use and carbon emissions on campus.

MIT opens its energy-use data to the community

Campus energy “dashboard” will provide detailed information to Institute’s faculty, staff, and students.

May 7, 2017

MIT researchers have designed a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building. The system consists of a tracked vehicle that carries a large industrial robotic arm, which has a smaller, precision-motion robotic arm at its end.

3-D printing offers new approach to making buildings

Technology developed at MIT could enable faster, cheaper, more adaptable building construction.

April 26, 2017

A new system developed by MIT engineers could make it possible to control the way water moves over a surface, using only light.

Using light to propel water

With new method, MIT engineers can control and separate fluids on a surface using only visible light.

April 25, 2017

Researchers at MIT have found that climate change may drastically increase the variability in Nile’s annual output.

Nile faces greater variability

Climate change could lead to overall increase in river flow, but more droughts and floods, study shows.

April 24, 2017

“There are many thousands of combinations of materials and interfaces that we can create,” says associate professor Geoffrey Beach. “So with this wealth of material structures, rather than relying on the few materials that nature has given us, we can now design materials and their magnetic properties to exhibit the characteristics that we want.”

Geoffrey Beach: Drawn to explore magnetism

Materials researcher is working on the magnetic memory of the future.

April 24, 2017

Researchers may have determined why fairly brittle electrode materials in batteries don’t crack under the strain of expansion and contraction cycles when they are used and recharged.

How some battery materials expand without cracking

Brittle electrodes handle expansion by going glassy, study shows.

April 12, 2017

Researchers have found a way to make tiny particles that can be injected into the body, where they emit short-wave infrared light. The advance may open up a new way of making detailed images of internal body structures such as fine networks of blood vessels.

Nanoparticles open new window for biological imaging

“Quantum dots” that emit infrared light enable highly detailed images of internal body structures.

April 10, 2017

Researchers have developed a rubber-like fiber, shown here, that can flex and stretch while simultaneously delivering both optical impulses, for optoelectronic stimulation, and electrical connections, for stimulation and monitoring.

Stretching the boundaries of neural implants

Rubbery, multifunctional fibers could be used to study spinal cord neurons and potentially restore function.

March 31, 2017

The many genetic variations of the tiny bacteria called Prochlorococcus are distributed in a layered structure, with each variant adapted to the particular mix of sunlight and nutrients found in that layer of seawater.

Tiny bacterium provides window into whole ecosystems

Ubiquitous marine organism has co-evolved with other microbes, promoting more complex ecosystems.

March 27, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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