Silencing the brain with light
MIT neuroengineers find a new way to quickly and reversibly shut off neurons with multiple colors of light, which could lead to new treatments for epilepsy and chronic pain.
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Straining forward
Nanowires made of ‘strained silicon’ — silicon whose atoms have been pried slightly apart — show how to keep increases in computer power coming.
3 Questions: Making unemployment work
With large numbers of Americans out of work, economist Ivan Werning suggests some better ways to make unemployment insurance operate
Poverty's researcher
MacArthur Foundation "genius" Esther Duflo, PhD '99, field-tests aid programs to find out which ones work-and why.
New and improved RNA interference
Researchers use RNA interference to silence multiple genes at once. The advance, which one expert calls a ‘substantial breakthrough,’ could lead to new treatments for liver diseases.
HHMI lists Tsai team’s advance among 10 biggest stories of 2009
Howard Hughes Medical Institute honors discovery of gene protein that could lead to safer drug treatments for Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
Putting the squeeze on data
In work that could make it easier to handle huge data sets, MIT researchers improve data compression's fidelity without sacrificing speed
Not easy being green
MIT historian Harriet Ritvo explains how a battle to save an English lake helped found modern environmentalism — but might worry greens today
Closing in on dark matter?
Physicists detect two candidate dark matter interactions, but say the data are not conclusive.
Reporter’s Notebook: How to spur energy storage innovations
Proposed X-Prizes for energy storage could produce key enabling technologies to make renewable energy development more practical
MIT’s big wheel in Copenhagen
New bicycle wheel not only boosts power, but also can keep track of friends, fitness, smog and traffic
Reporter’s Notebook: Where do we go from here?
At MIT forum, former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine and other aerospace experts discuss the future of human spaceflight.