Scientists from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a plant-based gel that can be used to deliver effective doses of antimicrobial drugs around the world, reports Ed Cara for Gizmodo. The gels “can be produced cheaply and combined with edible materials like beeswax to create different textures and viscosity, ranging from something like a protein shake to yogurt,” writes Cara.
Researchers from MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) are working on making commercial nuclear fusion a reality, reports Juandre for Popular Mechanics. “CFS will build [the tokamak] SPARC and develop a commercial fusion product, while MIT PSFC will focus on its core mission of cutting-edge research and education,” says Prof. Dennis G. Whyte, director of the PSFC.
Incoming first-year student Robbie Khazan founded Kiddo Byte, an organization that offers coding classes for kids, which is now branching out to help young Ukrainian refugees, reports Jim Morelli for Boston 25 News. “It [coding] really gets the mind going,” says Khazan. “It gets critical thinking going, which is a super important skill nowadays. The more coders that they have in Ukraine, the better suited they’ll be to rebuild.”
Katie Spies ’14, founder and CEO of Maev (a company that produces human-grade, raw dog food brand), speaks with Fortune editor Rachel King about what inspired her to start Maev, the company’s development process, and where Spies sees the company expanding in the future. “Among other exciting expansion initiatives, we’re really looking forward to expanding our product portfolio; our goal is to be a trust brand for dog essentials, especially product categories that are currently lacking in healthy, well-made options,” says Spies.
Prof. Lydia Bourouiba speaks with BBC CrowdSource presenter Marnie Chesterton about her work in understanding how bodily fluids such as snot and spittle spread after leaving the body using high speed cameras. “What is very clear is that we emit… droplets of a continuum of sizes but they are not coming out alone,” explains Bourouiba. “They are coming out with an air that is in our lungs, that is hot and moist and turbulent, which changes the physical dynamics of the emission and how the drops will evolve.”
MIT researchers have developed a new drug-delivering gel that could make it easier for children and adults to swallow their medicine, reports Gwen Egan for Boston.com. The gel could be made in a variety of different textures and can be stored without refrigeration.
Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a gel that can be mixed into medicine to make it easier to swallow, reports CBS Boston. “The gel is made out of plant-based oils and doesn’t have to be refrigerated,” says CBS Boston. “The hope is that it can one day be used to help children and adults who have trouble swallowing pills.”
Researchers from MIT and the University of Waterloo have found a way to test the Unruh effect, a phenomenon predicted to arise from objects moving through empty space, reports Joanna Thompson for Scientific American. “If scientists are able to observe the effect, the feat could confirm some long-held assumptions about the physics of black holes,” writes Thompson.
The Boston Globe honored a number of MIT faculty and alumni in their Tech Power Players 50, a list of the “most influential – and interesting – people in the Massachusetts technology scene.” MIT honorees include Professor Yet-Ming Chiang, Senior Lecturer Brian Halligan, Professor Tom Leighton, Professor Silvio Micali, Katie Rae (CEO and managing partner for The Engine), and Professor Daniela Rus (director of CSAIL and deputy dean of research for the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing).
Researchers at MIT have built a highly efficient thermophotovoltaic cell that converts incoming photons to electricity, reports Kevin Hurler for Gizmodo. “We developed this technology—thermal batteries—because storing energy as heat rather than storing it electrochemically is 10 to 100 times cheaper," explains Prof. Asegun Henry.
Julie Chen ’86, SM ’88, PhD ’91 has been named the next chancellor of UMass Lowell, reports Shirley Leung for The Boston Globe. “With three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has been a fixture on campus for 25 years,” writes Leung. “Chen is considered one of the region’s leading experts in nanotechnology, earning her the nickname ‘nanoqueen’ in a field that builds structures and devices working at an atomic scale.”
Forbes reporter Trond Arne Undheim spotlights the “Manufacturing at MIT Symposium: 2022 and Beyond” conference. “MIT appears to be renewing its manufacturing research and innovation efforts at a pivotal time, with a four-fold focus on technology, workforce development, policy efforts and innovation,” writes Undheim.
Julie Chen '86, SM '88, PhD '91 has been named the next chancellor of UMass Lowell, reports the AP. “I am honored to be selected by President Meehan and the board of trustees as the university’s next chancellor, and I’m excited to work with our great faculty, staff, supporters and partners to provide growing numbers of students with this UMass Lowell advantage in the years ahead,” said Chen.
Robots constructed by 32 students competed in the annual 2.007 Robot Competition, which was held in person for the first time in three years, reports Lisa Gresci for 7 News. “The atmosphere is absolutely electric,” explains third year student Joshua Rohrbaugh. “It’s really amazing we can celebrate this kind of academic competition in this kind of way. It’s almost like a sporting event and that gets me hyped up.”
Financial Times reporter William D. Cohan profiles Robert Joseph Scaringe SM ’07, PhD ’09 and his personal and professional career in developing Rivian, an electric vehicle technology company dedicated to building vehicles that change the way we consume fossil fuels. “Scaringe has been pining to run his own car company since he was a 17-year-old growing up on the Atlantic coast of Florida, just south of Cape Canaveral. ‘If you were to go in my bedroom as a kid, you’d find [car] hoods under the bed and windshields in the closet,’ he says.”