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Featured video: Getting into MIT

Alumni look back on their experiences applying to, waiting to hear from, and getting accepted into MIT.

August 17, 2017

Tuesday night, at the inaugural Play Labs demo event, 13 startups presented products they’ve developed in the accelerator. Afterward, the crowd was treated to live demonstrations of the technologies.

Demo day showcases serious innovation in “playful” tech

Play Labs startups include virtual pets, nausea-reducing virtual reality games, and augmented-reality paintballing.

August 17, 2017

This series of photographs shows the chemical reaction that occurs during the charging of a lithium oxygen battery using lithium iodide as an additive.

Researchers clarify mystery about proposed battery material

Study explains conflicting results from other experiments, may lead to batteries with more energy per pound.

August 15, 2017

MIT Professor Saman Amarasinghe’s undergraduate course on initiating and managing open-source development projects had no exams or problem sets. Assignments included consulting with mentors, interviewing users, writing a promotional plan — and, of course, leading the development of an open-source application.

Open-source entrepreneurship

New project-based course lets undergrads lead the development of open-source software.

August 11, 2017

From left: Nelson Olivier, veteran, former MIT postdoc, and student in the MIT Sloan School of Management’s executive MBA program; Sidney T. Ellington, executive director of the Warrior Scholar Project; and Bill Kindred, veteran, EMBA student, and human resources manager at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.

MIT hosts STEM boot camp for veteran students

Warrior-Scholar Project helps vets transition to college with intensive summer program.

August 11, 2017

Members of the Buyukozturk group pose on the skydeck of the Engineering Building of Bogazici University, in Istanbul. Left to right: Murat Uzun, Justin Chen, MIT Professor Oral Buyukozturk, Hao Sun, and Steven Palkovic. The group traveled to Turkey to present their research as part of a collaborative workshop.

Using energy-based designs to enhance earthquake hazard resistance

International workshop funded by new MISTI Global Seed Fund showcases the potential of energy-based structural analysis and sensing.

August 10, 2017

Left to right: Infinite Cooling researchers graduate student Karim Khalil, associate professor of mechanical engineering Kripa Varanasi, and graduate student Maher Damak.

Infinite Cooling wins Cleantech University Prize competition

Startup is meeting global environmental needs by changing the way power plants use water.

August 8, 2017

New hybrid gas-to-electric drones from MIT spinout Top Flight Technologies offer an order-of-magnitude increase in range, payload size, and power over battery-powered counterparts. The drones may pave the way for package delivery and human flight.

Hybrid drones carry heavier payloads for greater distances

Startup’s gas-electric engines may pave way for package delivery and human flight.

August 4, 2017

A three-day hackathon on campus brought together students and researchers from MIT and around Boston who developed functional fabric concepts to solve major issues facing soldiers in combat or training, first responders, victims and workers in refugee camps, and many others.

Hacking functional fabrics to aid emergency response

MIT and other innovators design novel solutions for the battlefield, disaster sites, and other dangerous environments.

August 1, 2017

Brenda Stern ’17 carves marble with a mallet and chisel, traditional Italian tools, during the MIT Materials in Art, Archaeology and Architecture program in Italy.

Exploring ancient engineering to inform the future

Materials in Art, Archaeology and Architecture program takes students to Italy for unique fieldwork experience.

July 31, 2017

A new flexible graphene solar cell developed at MIT is seen in the transparent region at the center of this sample. Around its edges are metal contacts on which probes can be attached during tests of device performance.

Transparent, flexible solar cells

Researchers develop a novel technique using graphene to create solar cells they can mount on surfaces ranging from glass to plastic to paper and tape.

July 28, 2017

Graduate students Samantha Dale Strasser and Greg Stein are among the trained advisors working in the EECS Communication Lab.

Talk science to me

In the EECS Communication Lab, peer coaches provide guidance on papers, posters, presentations, and more.

July 27, 2017

This vacuum chamber with apertures for several laser beams was used to cool molecules of sodium-potassium down to temperatures of a few hundred nanoKelvins, or billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Such molecules could be used as a new kind of qubit, a building block for eventual quantum computers.

Ultracold molecules hold promise for quantum computing

New approach yields long-lasting configurations that could provide long-sought “qubit” material.

July 27, 2017

Agriculture is one of the industry sectors identified by the charter of MIT, and is inscribed inside the dome of Lobby 7 on campus. The MIT Professional Education short program Innovation and Technology in Agriculture and the Environment furthers this connection between research at MIT and industry practitioners.

Back to our roots

MIT short program, Innovation and Technology in Agriculture and the Environment, unifies industry and academia.

July 24, 2017

Troy Van Voorhis is the Haslam and Dewey Professor of Chemistry.

Laying the foundation for new energy technology

Theoretical chemist Troy Van Voorhis probes big energy-related questions, scrutinizing electrons and chemical bonds to improve sustainable energy solutions.