Materials science and engineering

Graduate student Seongjun Park holds an example of a new flexible fiber, which is no bigger than a human hair and has successfully delivered a combination of optical, electrical, and chemical signals back and forth into the brain.

Tiny fibers open new windows into the brain

Three-in-one design allows genetic, chemical, optical, and electrical inputs and outputs.

February 21, 2017

Letter to the MIT community regarding the death of Mildred Dresselhaus

February 21, 2017

Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86

“Queen of carbon science” and recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Science led US scientific community, promoted women in STEM.

February 21, 2017

Researchers have found that the hydrogel’s mostly watery environment helps keep nutrients and programmed bacteria alive and active. When the bacteria reacts to a certain chemical, the bacteria are programmed to light up, as seen on the left.

Living sensors at your fingertips

Cell-infused gloves and bandages light up when in contact with certain chemicals.

February 15, 2017

MIT Pappalardo Fellow in physics Itamar Kimchi studies unusual behavior of electrons in transition metal oxides. Frustration of electrons in some materials at extremely low temperatures can force them to abandon their preference for classical magnetic states and instead enter unusual states of collective quantum superposition.

Motivated by the thrill of discovery

Itamar Kimchi studies the physics underlying unusual behavior of electrons in compounds such as transition metal oxides.

February 14, 2017

This high-resolution transmission electron micrograph of particles made by the research team shows the particles’ highly uniform size and shape. These are iron oxide particles just 3 nanometers across, coated with a zwitterion layer. Their small size means they can easily be cleared through the kidneys after injection.

A new contrast agent for MRI

New iron oxide nanoparticles could help avoid a rare side effect caused by current contrast agents.

February 14, 2017

Left to right: Gabriela Schlau-Cohen, Rafael Jaramillo, David Hsu, Nuno Loureiro

New faculty strengthen, broaden MIT’s energy expertise

MIT's newest faculty bring a wide array of energy interests and developments to the Institute.

February 7, 2017

MIT professor of physics Senthil Todadri seeks to understand unusual metals that defy the textbook description. “We’ve been making slow but steady progress, not just I, myself, but the community as a whole, but I would really like that progress to accelerate,” he says.

Faculty highlight: Senthil Todadri

A quest to understand superconductivity leads MIT theoretical physicist Senthil Todadri to discoveries about new magnetic materials called quantum spin liquids.

February 6, 2017

Canan Dagdeviren has been appointed to direct the Media Lab’s new research group, Conformable Decoders.

Canan Dagdeviren joins the Media Lab

Assistant professor leads new Conformable Decoders research group, with a mission to convert patterns of nature and the human body into beneficial signals and energy.

February 3, 2017