MIT researchers have developed a microscope that can generate close to real-time images on nanoscale processes, reports Kevin Hartnett for The Boston Globe. The microscope allows “microscopic worlds that had appeared static suddenly leap into motion,” Hartnett explains.
Dana Guth reports for Boston Magazine on a new bandage developed by Prof. Xuanhe Zhao that can deliver medication directly to a wound. “The bandage is filled with tiny pathways, so that drugs can flow through its gel-like material, providing relief for burns and other minor skin conditions,” writes Guth.
MIT researchers have developed a new bandage that can detect infection and automatically release medication, reports Jordan Graham for The Boston Herald. “We are trying to design long-term, high-efficiency interfaces between the body and electronics,” explains Prof. Xunahe Zhao.
NBC News reporter Maggie Fox writes that MIT researchers have developed a stretchy, wet bandage that can deliver medications. The device could “carry a thermometer to continuously measure skin temperature, or tiny devices to keep an eye on blood sugar levels for someone with diabetes.”
Alvar Saenz-Otero, director of the Space Systems Laboratory, speaks with WGBH Radio’s Edgar Herwick about the problem of space debris. Otero and his team are “refining a system that would enable a spacecraft to match the spin of a piece of space junk, capture it, and haul it out of orbit.”
MIT researchers have developed a new hydrogel that is 90 percent water, reports Carmen Drahl for Forbes. The new hrydogel “adheres to surfaces like glass, titanium, aluminum, and ceramics with a toughness approximating that of nature’s interfaces between tendons and bone."
In this video, FOX News reporter Douglas Kennedy speaks with MIT researchers about the robot they developed, called HERMES, that is controlled by a human operator and could aid rescuers in disaster situations. “We wanted to send a robot into a disaster situation so we don’t risk human life,” explains graduate student Albert Wang.
Bret Stetka writes for The Atlantic about how MIT researchers have studied how harbor seals are able to use their whiskers to track prey. Prof. Michael Triantafyllou explains that his team’s findings could be used to develop new technologies that, for example, could “detect plumes underwater, such as in oil spills, or other plumes polluting the environment.”
Anna Nowogrodzki reports for New Scientist on Hyrdoswarm, a company founded by graduate student Sampriti Bhattacharyya that is designing autonomous robots to map the oceans. “A network of autonomous drones could be used for disaster response, coral reef monitoring, surveillance for port security and finding places to drill for oil and gas,” writes Nowogrodzki.
Scientific American reporter Michael Lombardi writes about a new robotic hand developed by MIT researchers that allows the user to sense what the robotic hand feels. The goal of the hand is to allow “people to work in extreme locations, including chemical, thermal or nuclear environments.”
MIT researchers have developed a self-sustaining water-purification system for a remote Mexican village, according to The Guardian. “The villagers are able to operate and maintain the water purification system themselves,” The Guardian reports.
Graduate student Sampriti Bhattacharyya speaks with Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham about her startup Hydroswarm, which is developing teams of underwater drones to map the ocean. “There is so much potential out there. We had a space era. With all the subsea robotics, it could be a new era in ocean exploration,” says Bhattacharyya.
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that MIT researchers have uncovered how seals use their whiskers to sense their surroundings. The findings could “help aquatic vehicles track schools of fish or sources of pollution.”
MIT researchers have engineered viruses that take advantage of quantum physics, mimicking the process of photosynthesis, to enhance energy transfer, reports Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. The work could result in “solar panels that transmit energy with unprecedented efficiency,” writes Ossola.
MIT researchers have developed a new material that mimics the cuttlefish’s ability to change texture, reports Gian Volpicelli for Wired. "We used ordinary plastic," explains graduate student Mark Guttag. "The important thing was figuring out the right difference in stiffness between the matrix and particles."