Nanoscience and nanotechnology

By tethering hundreds of tiny particles to the surfaces of tumor cells in the presence of a mechanical force, an MIT team made the cells much more vulnerable to attack by a drug that triggers cancer cells to commit suicide.

Tethered nanoparticles make tumor cells more vulnerable

New strategy could improve performance of some immune-based drugs.

March 20, 2017

MIT aerospace researchers have demonstrated that some randomness in the arrangement of carbon atoms makes materials that are lighter and stronger, shown at lower right in illustration, compared to a more densely packed and tightly ordered structure, shown lower left. They formed a type of disordered graphite-like carbon material that is often called glassy carbon by “baking” a phenol-formadehy...

Disorder can be good

Researchers discover that chaos makes carbon materials lighter and stronger.

March 17, 2017

Mapping the effects of crystal defects

Study sheds light on interactions that change the way heat and electricity move through microchips.

March 14, 2017

Researchers at MIT have discovered new way of using laser light to tune electronic energy levels in two-dimensional films of crystal. The discovery could ultimately pave the way for the development of so-called “valleytronic” devices, which harness the way electrons gather around two equal energy states, known as valleys.

Toward “valleytronic” devices for data storage or computer logic systems

Researchers have discovered a new way to tune electronic energy levels in some 2-D materials.

March 9, 2017

Researchers have developed a type of steel with three characteristics that help it resist microcracks that lead to fatigue failure: a layered nanostructure, a mixture of microstructural phases with different degrees of hardness, and a metastable composition. They compared samples of metal with just one or two of these key attributes (top left, top right, and bottom left) and with all three (bottom...

Conquering metal fatigue

Novel laminated nanostructure gives steel bone-like resistance to fracturing under repeated stress.

March 9, 2017

New research shows that electrons passing through a narrow constriction in a piece of metal can move much faster than expected, and that they move faster if there are more of them — a seemingly paradoxical result. In this illustration, the orange surface represents the potential energy needed to get an electron moving, and the “valley” at center represents the constricted portion.

Electrons go superballistic

Newly discovered phenomenon accelerates electrons as they enter a viscous state.

March 6, 2017

Mild heating of graphene oxide sheets makes it possible to bond particular compounds to the sheets’ surface, a new study shows. These compounds in turn select and bond with specific molecules of interest, including DNA and proteins, or even whole cells. In this image the treated graphene oxide on the right is nearly twice as efficient at capturing cells as the untreated material on the left.

Graphene sheets capture cells efficiently

New method could enable pinpoint diagnostics on individual blood cells.

March 3, 2017

William Oliver appointed Lincoln Laboratory Fellow and associate director of MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics

March 2, 2017

Graduate student Seongjun Park holds an example of a new flexible fiber, which is no bigger than a human hair and has successfully delivered a combination of optical, electrical, and chemical signals back and forth into the brain.

Tiny fibers open new windows into the brain

Three-in-one design allows genetic, chemical, optical, and electrical inputs and outputs.

February 21, 2017

Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86

“Queen of carbon science” and recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Science led US scientific community, promoted women in STEM.

February 21, 2017

"We now have the ability to have a second-order nonlinearity in silicon, and this is the first real demonstration of that, says Michael Watts, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.

New resource for optical chips

Study: Silicon can reproduce physical phenomena exploited by high-end telecommunications devices.

February 20, 2017

This high-resolution transmission electron micrograph of particles made by the research team shows the particles’ highly uniform size and shape. These are iron oxide particles just 3 nanometers across, coated with a zwitterion layer. Their small size means they can easily be cleared through the kidneys after injection.

A new contrast agent for MRI

New iron oxide nanoparticles could help avoid a rare side effect caused by current contrast agents.

February 14, 2017

A team of researchers from MIT, Georgia Tech, and the University of Florida has devised a way to rapidly test different nanoparticles to see where they go in the body.

Nanoparticle screen could speed up drug development

New test helps identify particles for gene delivery or RNA interference.

February 7, 2017

MIT chemical engineers have developed an extremely sensitive detector that can track single cells’ secretion of dopamine. These video stills show a single cell releasing dopamine.

Sensor traces dopamine released by single cells

New technology could help neuroscientists understand how dopamine influences brain activity.

February 6, 2017

MIT spinout Manus Bio has created a low-cost process for engineering microbes with complex metabolic pathways borrowed from plants, which can produce an array of rare and expensive ingredients used to manufacture noncaloric beverages, perfumes, toothpastes, detergents, pesticides, and even therapeutics, among other products.

Microbial manufacturing

Engineered bacteria produce rare and commercially useful compounds in large quantities.

February 3, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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