Materials science and engineering

Lino Tagliapietra and his team work on a large multi-colored vessel in the MIT Glass Lab.

Master glassmaker finds design inspiration at MIT

Italian artist Lino Tagliapietra begins a new series of large-scale abstract glass vessels during a weeklong residency at the MIT Glass Lab.

May 20, 2016

A Massachusetts General Hospital surgeon demonstrates the Lincoln Laboratory’s near-infrared fluorescence imaging (NIRF) system.

Glowing tumors light a path to cancer treatment

Mechanism developed at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital shows promising results for improved ovarian cancer detection and removal.

May 20, 2016

C. Cem Tasan, the Thomas B. King Career Development Professor of Metallurgy in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Metals aficionado

A new faculty member in materials science and engineering is creating healable metals.

May 18, 2016

These images show the crystal configurations, or phases, within samples of metal alloys: a single-phase stable alloy (left) and a dual-phase alloy (right), which is metastable (has more than one stable configuration). The dual-phase material turns out to have better strength and ductility than the singe-phase material, the researchers found.

New metal alloys overcome strength-ductility tradeoff

Promising new approach overturns widespead metallurgical assumption.

May 18, 2016

Senior Frances Lenahan uses a drop tower to measure the impact-absorbing properties of materials like those in a bicycle helmet (seen here).

Making it real

Two new programs, MakerBucks and MakerLodge, for MIT freshmen will provide training, funds, and community for makers.

May 12, 2016

Since 2013, John Hart (standing, center) has been teaching the MIT graduate course 2.S998 (Additive Manufacturing), which explores the fundamentals of 3-D printing.

3-D Printing 101

As MIT course challenges students to reinvent 3-D printing, professor aims to share approach with others.

May 11, 2016

Arrows indicate the spin direction in the ferromagnetic insulator (EuS, shown in red) and topological insulator (Bi2Se3, shown in blue) at the interface between the two materials.

Researchers find unexpected magnetic effect

Combining two thin-film materials yields surprising room-temperature magnetism.

May 9, 2016

MIT postdoc Cui-Zu Chang works with equipment that can monitor topological insulator thin-film quality as it grows. The bright green vertical bar on computer screen is an indicator of very high-quality film growth. Chang led work in the Moodera group showing the first zero-resistance edge state in a circuit.

Achieving zero resistance in energy flow

MIT postdoc Cui-Zu Chang makes a spintronic breakthrough in the Moodera group.

May 6, 2016

MIT Senior Research Scientist Jagadeesh Moodera stands in front of a custom-built system used to fabricate ultrathin films. His work includes devices that exhibit resistance-free, spin-polarized electrical current; enabling memory storage at the level of single molecules; and the search for the elusive Majorana fermions sought for quantum computing.

Research highlight: Jagadeesh Moodera

Step-by-step, the Moodera Research Group is building the essential knowledge and hardware for next-generation quantum computers.

April 29, 2016

“I love the positive environmental impact of nuclear engineering. ... With the effects of climate change increasingly apparent, we need young people to contribute and help us move forward.” —Carolyn Coyle, PhD candidate in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Carolyn Coyle: Engineering CRUD for better nuclear reactors

In an effort to improve reactor safety and efficiency, new research aims to bring corrosive particle buildup out of the shadows.

April 29, 2016

MIT Energy Initiative awards nine seed fund grants for early-stage energy research

Winning teams will use grants to advance research in areas including fuel cells, solar-powered desalination, and impacts of electric vehicle charging on the power grid.

April 25, 2016

“When you look at coal as a material, and not just as something to burn, the chemistry is extremely rich,” says Jeffrey Grossman. In this photo, a sample of pulverized coal (right) is shown with several test devices made from coal by the MIT researchers.

Making electronics out of coal

Instead of burning up this complex hydrocarbon, let’s make devices from it, says Jeffrey Grossman.

April 19, 2016

An electron microscopy image shows many examples of nanoscrolls. The insert zooms in on a single nanoscroll and reveals its conical nature.

For stronger, lighter, cheaper materials, scroll up

Researchers create perfect nanoscrolls from graphene’s imperfect form.

April 12, 2016

Researchers have found a new kind of long-range interaction between particles, in a liquid medium, that is based entirely on their motion. Alfredo Alexander-Katz describes the kind of interactions his team found as being related to the research field of active matter. Example of active systems are the flocking behavior of birds or the schooling of fish. In this illustration, moving particles in a ...

Study finds unexpected long-range particle interactions

Spinning cells could attract each other across surprisingly long distances.

April 11, 2016

Using high-speed pulsed lasers, Nuh Gedik (pictured) has managed to observe a hybrid state between electrons and photons. These states had been theoretically proposed but never before experimentally observed in solids.

Nuh Gedik: Peering into the heart of matter

MIT physicist uses laser beams to study exotic electronic phenomena at high speeds.