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."
Prof. Kripa Varanasi was named to the Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40” list, which honors “business and civic leaders who are making a major impact in the community while also improving the civic health of the Boston area through volunteer work and other forms of philanthropy.”
Prof. John Lienhard and Dr. Kenneth Strzepek write for The New York Times about the need for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to successfully share water from the Nile. “The world needs to get good at sharing water, and right away,” they write. “The alternative is frequent regional conflicts of unknowable proportions.”
In this video, Ben Gruber reports for Reuters on an MIT robot that is controlled by an operator wearing an exoskeleton. Prof. Sangbae Kim explains that his motivation was to develop “the best robot for disasters where we can actually use robots instead of risking human life.”
Richard Waters of The Financial Times reports that Toyota is funding new research centers at MIT and Stanford to research technologies that could enable computer-assisted driving. Waters explains that the goal behind the new centers is to give “drivers the choice one day of handing over full control to the AI ‘brains’ in their vehicles.”
In an effort to spur breakthroughs in autonomous driving technology, Toyota is funding new research centers at MIT and Stanford, the Associated Press reports. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that MIT researchers will be working on developing technology that would make it possible to build a car, “that is never responsible for a collision.”