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MIT's Killian Court and Great Dome at night

Environmental Solutions Initiative awards seed grants to advance collaborative progress on environmental challenges

Grants of up to $200,000 will fund environmental partnerships over the next two years.

April 10, 2015

This illustration depicts phonons "tunneling" from one lattice of sodium chloride to another. New research shows that phonons can reach across a gap as small as a nanometer, “tunneling” from one material to another to enhance heat transport.

Tunneling across a tiny gap

“Phonon tunneling” explains heat flow across nanometer-wide gaps, study finds.

April 7, 2015

This image illustrates the entanglement of a large number of atoms. The atoms, shown in purple, are shown mutually entangled with one another.

Thousands of atoms entangled with a single photon

Result could make atomic clocks more accurate.

March 25, 2015

Artist impression of rings around a dark moon far from the sun

A second minor planet may possess Saturn-like rings

Researchers detect features around Chiron that may signal rings, jets, or a shell of dust.

March 17, 2015

Individual cows can produce up to 500 liters of methane a day; the species accounts for about one-third of total methane emissions. The structures shown represent the structure of methane.

New detector sniffs out origins of methane

Instrument identifies methane’s origins in mines, deep-sea vents, and cows.

March 5, 2015

This Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 1275 reveals the fine, thread-like filamentary structures in the gas surrounding the galaxy. The red filaments are composed of cool gas being suspended by a magnetic field, and are surrounded by the 100-million-degree Fahrenheit gas in the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster. The filaments are dramatic markers of the feedback process through which e...

Why isn’t the universe as bright as it should be?

Study explains why galaxies don’t churn out as many stars as they should.

March 4, 2015

Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have identified two optical structures within the blue-rayed limpet’s shell that give its blue-striped appearance.

A mollusk of a different stripe

Optical features embedded in marine shells may help develop responsive, transparent displays.

February 26, 2015

Earth’s magnetosphere is depicted with the high-energy particles of the Van Allen radiation belts (shown in red) and various processes responsible for accelerating these particles to relativistic energies indicated.

For the first time, spacecraft catch a solar shockwave in the act

Solar storm found to produce “ultrarelativistic, killer electrons” in 60 seconds.

February 19, 2015

Power efficiency in the violin

New study identifies key design features that boost violins’ acoustic power.

February 10, 2015

Splash down

High-speed images capture patterns by which raindrops spread pathogens among plants.

February 3, 2015

Waves in the deep

New study examines role of acoustic-gravity waves as ocean transport, early warning of tsunamis.

February 3, 2015

MIT researchers have developed a mathematical equation that predicts how surface patterns form on curved objects. Pictured is a sphere with a combination of hexagons and labyrinthine patterns, and a more complex, torus-shaped object with hexagonal dimples.

Wrinkle predictions

New mathematical theory may explain patterns in fingerprints, raisins, and microlenses.

February 2, 2015

Sequestration on shaky ground

Study finds a natural impediment to the long-term sequestration of carbon dioxide.

January 20, 2015

An artist’s rendering of a protoplanetary impact. Early in the impact, molten jetted material is ejected at a high velocity and breaks up to form chondrules, the millimeter-scale, formerly molten droplets found in most meteorites. These droplets cool and solidify over hours to days.

A twist on planetary origins

New study finds meteorites were byproducts of planetary formation, not building blocks.

January 14, 2015

Rainfall can release aerosols, study finds

High-speed imaging captures raindrops releasing clouds of aerosols on impact.