Imaging

MIT researchers have developed a deep-learning model “capable of predicting the precise movements, divisions, and restructuring of thousands of cells during the embryo’s transition from a simple cluster to a complex organism,” reports Mrigakshi Dixit for Interesting Engineering. “This model currently provides a sneak peek into the fruit fly’s earliest developmental stage,” explains Dixit. “In the future, it could be used to predict how more complex tissues, organs, and organisms develop.” 

Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, speaks with WBUR’s Here & Now host Indira Lakshmanan about his work developing a longevity index. “In our studies at the AgeLab, believe it or not, 70 percent of us believe that our significant other, or adult children are going to take care of us, [but] only 30 percent of us had the conversation.” 

Researchers at MIT have developed “a new imaging technique that could allow quality control robots in warehouses to peer into closed boxes,” reports Chris Young for Interesting Engineering. “Using this new technology, robots could peer into a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a mug is broken, for example,” explains Young. “This new method could revolutionize warehouse quality control and streamline the shipping and delivery process.”  

Researchers at MIT have successfully captured the first images of individual atoms interacting freely in space, reports Georgina Jedikovska for Interesting Engineering. “The images, which show interactions between free-range particles that had only been theorized until now, will reportedly allow the scientists to directly observe quantum phenomena in real space,” writes Jedikovska.  

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new robot aimed at assisting first-responders called SPROUT (short for Soft Pathfinding Robotic Observation Unit), reports WHDH. The robot has a built-in camera and motion sensors so that first responders could “scope out a site, before sending rescue teams in to save survivors.” The robot operates with a “soft, air-inflated tube that unfolds into small spaces,” explains WHDH. “It can maneuver around sharp corners in disaster zones.” 

Researchers from MIT have “identified genes that the tuberculous bacteria rely on to survive and spread,” reports Allison DeAngelis for STAT. “Until now, very little was known about how tuberculous bacteria survived temperature changes, oxygen levels, humidity, and other environmental factors during the journey from one person’s lungs to another’s,” explains DeAngelis. 

Researchers at MIT have developed a new chip-based system capable of improving “how terahertz (THz) waves pass through silicon chips,” reports Rupendra Brahambhatt for Interesting Engineering. The researchers “applied a principle called matching, which involves reducing the difference between silicon (dielectric constant is 11) and air (dielectric constant is 1) so that more waves can travel through,” writes Brahambhatt. 

Profs. Canan Dagdeviren and Hugh Herr speak with CNN discuss their work aimed at empowering patients and doctors. Inspired by her aunt’s experience with breast cancer, Dagdeviren and her students are developing new wearable devices that could help detect cancer at an earlier stage. Says Herr of his work developing prosthetics that can be controlled by the human nervous system: “There will be a point where technology is so sophisticated that we can actually rebuild limbs after amputation that will be as good and, ultimately, they will be better than intact biological limbs.” Herr adds that in the future he hopes “the conversation will not be about human limitation anymore. It will be about human ability and human expression.”

CNN visits the lab of Prof. Canan Dagdeviren to learn more about her work developing wearable ultrasound devices that could help screen for early-stage breast cancer, monitor kidney health, and detect other cancers deep within the body. “Wearable technology will grow rapidly in the near future,” says Dagdeviren. “But in the far future, they will be one of the most powerful tools that we will be seeing in our daily life.” 

Prof. Xuanhe Zhao speaks with Amerigo Allegretto of AuntMinnie.com about his work developing a new ultrasound sticker that can measure the stiffness of internal organs and could one day be used for early detection and diagnosis of disease. “Due to the huge potential of measuring the rigidity of deep internal organs, we believe we can use this to monitor organ health,” Zhao explains.

Forbes contributor William Haseltine spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a flexible ultrasound patch that can be used to help estimate bladder volume. “The applications for long-term therapeutic and regenerative medicine for the ultrasound patch are innumerable, only to be limited by the imagination of those implementing their use,” writes Haseltine. “Among the most forthcoming are situations where someone may be unable to visit their physician for a medically-administered ultrasound.”

MIT researchers have developed a new cell imaging technique that offers “the ability to observe up to seven different molecules simultaneously,” writes Amal Jos Chacko for Interesting Engineering. “This could open the door to a deeper understanding of cellular functions, aging, and diseases.”

MIT researchers have developed a new machine-learning technique that can identify which pixels in an image represent the same material, which could help with robotic scene understanding, reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “Since an object can be multiple materials as well as colors and other visual aspects, this is a pretty subtle distinction but also an intuitive one,” writes Wiggers.

MIT researchers have developed “a programmable wireless device that can control light orders of magnitude more quickly than commercial devices,” reports Susannah Sudborough for Boston.com. “The device, which is called a spatial light modulator (SLM), will have impactful practical uses beyond creating holograms,” writes Sudborough.

A stamp-sized reusable ultrasound sticker developed by researchers in Prof. Xuanhe Zhao’s research group has been named one of the best inventions of 2022 by TIME. “Unlike stretchy existing ultrasound wearables, which sometimes produce distorted images, the new device’s stiff transducer array can record high-resolution video of deep internal organs (e.g. heart, lungs) over a two-day period,” writes Alison Van Houten.