TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes that MIT researchers have developed self-powered robots the size of human cells that can float indefinitely in liquid or the air. Heater explains that the robots could be used to monitor hard to reach environments, such as pipelines or the human body.
In this video, VOA reporter Steve Baragona looks at different methods of harvesting water from fog. Baragona highlights a new system developed by MIT researchers, explaining that in some areas where the water supply is dwindling, “the technology is far cheaper than other options like desalination.”
By using “nanoparticle ‘backpacks’ with immune-stimulating drugs,” MIT researchers were able to enhance T cells and destroy solid tumors without harmful side effects, reports Allen Cone of UPI. "We found you could greatly improve the efficacy of the T cell therapy with backpacked drugs that help the donor T cells survive and function more effectively,"explains Prof. Darrell Irvine.
MIT researchers have developed a new waterproof coating method that is safer for both the environment and humans, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. Lab tests showed the coating, “works to waterproof a variety of fabrics and materials against a variety of liquids,” Hays explains.
MIT graduates Maher Damak and Karim Khalil discuss their startup Infinite Cooling and the new technique they developed to capture and recycle water expelled from power plant cooling towers on Bloomberg Baystate Business. Co-host Tom Moroney calls this energy efficient method that captures up to 80 percent of the water, an “idea that could change the world.”
Xinhua reports that MIT engineers have developed a new method of harvesting water from industrial cooling towers that could decrease the operating cost of power plants. Eventually the new method could also be used to harvest, “safe drinking water for coastal cities where seawater is used to cool local power plants.”
Writing for IEEE Spectrum, David Wagman spotlights a new technology from MIT researchers that could offer water-scarce cities, “a new source of the precious resource” by capturing and reusing water from cooling towers. Prof. Kripa Varanasi notes that their system, “can achieve on the order of 99 percent efficiency,” in capturing the water droplets.
MIT researchers have developed a system that captures water from power plant cooling towers, writes Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. Finucane explains that, “the captured water would be pure, distilled water and could be piped to a city’s water system or it could be used in the power plant’s boilers, which, unlike the cooling system, require clean water.”
MIT researchers developed an electrically charged fog collector that can attract and collect more water droplets than a regular fog harvester, writes Matt Simon for Wired. The technology could eventually be used to recover water from power plant cooling towers where it can, “capture the plumes and collect that water,” explains Prof. Kripa Varanasi.
In an article for The Verge, Angela Chen highlights a new technique developed by MIT researchers to harvest water from fog. In the future, the researchers hope to place the harvesters, “near cooling plumes to collect and reuse water that would otherwise be lost.”
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters writes that MIT researchers have developed a system that captures large amounts of water from the cooling towers used on power plants and data centers. Prof. Kripa Varanasi explains that he hopes this new technology can be used to address water scarcity: “We are thinking of each of these cooling towers as water farms.”
MIT spinout Ginkgo Bioworks is highlighted on the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, reports CNBC’s Andrew Zaleski. Zaleski notes that Ginkgo Bioworks, “has developed an automated process for combining genetic parts that has made it the largest designer of printed DNA in the world. That breakthrough has positioned the start-up to change the face of a variety of industries.”
MIT researchers have developed a method for turning plant leaves into a light source by injecting light-emitting nanoparticles into the leaves, reports Mark Ellwood for The Wall Street Journal. “Currently, researchers are able to make plants such as spinach, kale and watercress emit a dim light for about 4 hours,” says Ellwood, “up from 45 minutes when the project began in 2015.”
A team led by research scientist Ming Dao has made diamond nano-needles that can bend without breaking and snap back into to their original position, New Scientist reports. “The tiny needles had very little room for defects in their crystal structure, so they could bend without snapping,” the article explains.
Forbes contributor Brid-Aine Parnell describes new research from MIT and others who discovered that even though diamonds are hard and brittle, “needle nanodiamonds can stretch by as much as 9%.” Because of this, such nanodiamonds could “be biocompatible for vivo imaging, optoelectronics or even delivering drugs into cancer cells,” writes Parnell.