MIT researchers have found that two types of turbulence within plasma could explain the heat loss that takes place in fusion reactors, reports Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. “With the mystery solved, researchers can now better understand how the plasma reacts and then in turn start working on fundamental ways to combat it.”
Researchers at MIT have developed an incandescent light bulb that vastly improves the device’s energy efficiency, The Economist reports. The modified bulb “maintains the technology’s advantages while vastly improving its energy credentials, giving it the potential to trounce CFLs and LEDs.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that MIT researchers are developing a more efficient incandescent light bulb. Griggs explains that the prototype “is already as energy efficient as some LEDs and fluorescent bulbs currently on the market.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique to increase the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. "We have this huge challenge that the world is facing right now, global warming and energy efficiency and this gives you one more tool," says Prof. Marin Soljačić.
Prof. Jessika Trancik writes for The Christian Science Monitor that cutting greenhouse gas emissions can lower the cost of further cuts. Trancik explains that Paris climate talk pledges, “will support the development of cheaper low-carbon technologies, allowing industrialized nations to increase their commitments.”
In an article for the Financial Times, Martin Sandbu argues that renewable energy should be seen as an opportunity for investment, highlighting an MIT report on renewable energy costs. The report documents the “extraordinary fall in renewable electricity generation costs and the good reason to expect them to continue to fall.”
Writing for Popular Science, Lindsey Kratochwill reports that MIT researchers have discovered that the hundreds of eyes on a chiton's shell can see. Kratochwill explains that the researchers hope that by “understanding how these eyes work and the materials that make them up could lead to manmade materials that are both protective and perceptive of their environments.”
Atlantic reporter Ed Yong writes that MIT researchers have found that chitons, a type of mollusk, have a suit of armor dotted with hundreds of eyes that can perceive objects. The researchers found that chitons could “detect the shape of a 20-centimeter fish from a few meters away.”
Scientific American reporter David Biello writes about the growth of clean energy technologies, highlighting a new MIT report that finds that commitments from the U.S., Europe and China to cut greenhouse gas emissions could drive cost reductions in wine and solar technologies.
Researchers with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have found that fertilizing the ocean to create plankton blooms could lead to erratic rainfall patterns, reports Audrey Tan for The Straits Times. “This would have a drastic impact on the water cycle, the environment and human livelihoods,” writes Tan.
Olga Kharif writes for Bloomberg Businessweek that MIT researchers have proposed a new design for a smaller and cheaper fusion reactor. The prototype "builds on the design of fusion reactors that use magnetic fields to squeeze superhot plasma, fusing atoms of hydrogen to produce energy."
Don Willmott writes for The Huffington Post about a theoretical design for a compact fusion reactor created by MIT researchers. “The MIT reactor should ultimately be able to produce five to six times the energy it consumes, MIT's scientists say, about 190 megawatts,” explains Willmott.
WGBH reporter Mike Deehan writes that MIT will play a key role in a new public-private partnership aimed at expanding the use of photonics in manufacturing. Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet explains that MIT will coordinate the "education and workforce development program for the entire nation in this area.”
Andrew Revkin writes for The New York Times about a compact design for a fusion reactor that could make fusion power a possibility within a decade. Revkin highlights how the research originated from an MIT course, writing, “it’s exciting to see academia integrating directly with innovation on this scale.”
Professor Yet-Ming Chiang’s company 24M has devised a manufacturing process that cuts the cost of producing batteries in half using liquid-battery technology, writes Brooks Hays for UPI. “The new method brings the benefits of liquid technology to big batteries—but without the baggage.”