Writing for IEEE Spectrum, David Wagman spotlights a new technology from MIT researchers that could offer water-scarce cities, “a new source of the precious resource” by capturing and reusing water from cooling towers. Prof. Kripa Varanasi notes that their system, “can achieve on the order of 99 percent efficiency,” in capturing the water droplets.
MIT researchers have developed a system that captures water from power plant cooling towers, writes Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. Finucane explains that, “the captured water would be pure, distilled water and could be piped to a city’s water system or it could be used in the power plant’s boilers, which, unlike the cooling system, require clean water.”
MIT researchers developed an electrically charged fog collector that can attract and collect more water droplets than a regular fog harvester, writes Matt Simon for Wired. The technology could eventually be used to recover water from power plant cooling towers where it can, “capture the plumes and collect that water,” explains Prof. Kripa Varanasi.
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters writes that MIT researchers have developed a system that captures large amounts of water from the cooling towers used on power plants and data centers. Prof. Kripa Varanasi explains that he hopes this new technology can be used to address water scarcity: “We are thinking of each of these cooling towers as water farms.”
Assistant Prof. Canan Dagdeviren speaks with Charles Q. Choi of The Atlantic about developing an implantable device that can produce electricity from internal movements of the muscles and organs. As the movements generate what is known as piezoelectricity, the implant can “run biomedical devices like cardiac pacemakers instead of changing them every six or seven years when their batteries are depleted,” Dagdeviren explains.
For his blog “In the Pipeline”, Science writer Derek Lowe discusses the potentials of graphene as a superconductor, highlighting research led by associate Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero. He goes on to mention the same technology as enabling MIT’s “tokamak-design fusion reactor that is far more compact than any previous attempts.”
MIT startup Ministry of Supply has developed a jacket that utilizes AI to keep its wearer warm. “The jacket…can also be voice-controlled through devices like the Amazon Echo or manually with an app,” writes Erin Black for CNBC.
Prof. Michael Strano has developed a new device that generates electricity by harnessing energy from temperature changes. Elements that usually hinder the effectiveness of solar panels, like clouds or sand, “wouldn’t affect [this device's] ability to harness power from the ever-changing temperatures,” explains Sydney Pereira of Newsweek.
New research shows that using volcanic ash in cement mixtures could enable “stronger and more environmentally friendly” construction in future cities, reports Sydney Periera for Newsweek. “There may be a tremendous implication of energy savings at the city scale,” Prof. Oral Büyükoztürk tells Periera.
MIT researchers have designed a new chip that could advance the development of computers that operate like the human brain, reports James Vincent for The Verge. The development could, “lead to processors that run machine learning tasks with lower energy demands — up to 1,000 times less. This would enable us to give more devices AI abilities like voice and image recognition.”
AP reporter Lauran Neergaard writes that MIT researchers have developed a hair-thin implant that can deliver medications to specific regions of the brain. Neergaard writes that the device, “could mark a new approach to treating brain diseases — potentially reducing side effects by targeting only the hard-to-reach circuits that need care.”
WCVB reporter Mike Wankum visits Embr Labs, an MIT spinoff that has developed a wristband that can make wearers feel warmer or colder. Wankum explains that after a few minutes of wearing the wristband, “you feel more comfortable. Much like holding a warm cup of coffee to take the chill off a winter morning.”
In an article for NBC News about solar power, Corey Powell highlights Prof. Jeffrey Grossman’s work developing a material for a new chemical heat battery that could release energy on demand. “We’re creating materials that store thermal energy in completely new ways,” Grossman explains.
Scientific American reporter Prachi Patel writes that a new study by Prof. Elsa Olivetti found that demand for cobalt, which is critical to electric vehicle batteries, could soon outstrip supply. “The best lithium battery cathodes [negative electrodes] all contain cobalt, and its production is limited,” Olivetti explains.
Researchers at MIT have developed a process that can produce strong ultrafine nanofibers that can potentially be used in armor, reports Xinhua. The newly developed fibers “combine the desirable qualities of strength, stiffness and toughness in ways that outperform glass fibers or steel wire,” the article explains.