Nanoscience and nanotechnology

Cooling towers of a nuclear power station

At the nanoscale, concrete proves effective for nuclear containment

New research shows concrete is a strong choice for the long-term confinement of nuclear waste.

November 19, 2015

Close-up image of part of the shell of a chiton (Acanthopleura granulata) shows the two kinds of sensory organs that cover the shell surface. The eyes are the dark bumps with shiny centers. The exact function of other sensory organs called aesthetes (small bumps with black centers) is not yet known.

Armor plating with built-in transparent ceramic eyes

Tiny sea creatures feature transparent optical systems as tough as their shells.

November 19, 2015

During excavation for MIT.nano, the Department of Facilities unearthed an unexpected relic between buildings 12 and 26: a time capsule buried on June 5, 1957, to commemorate the opening of the Karl Taylor Compton Laboratories.

Relic from last century

Time capsule buried in 1957 unearthed during excavation for MIT.nano.

November 17, 2015

MIT chemists have created a new type of gel by linking metal organic cages with long polymer strands (blue). The red polymer strands, which loop back to the cages, can be used to further customize the gels by adding other molecules.

Chemists create adaptable metallic-cage gels

New materials could be tuned for applications including drug delivery and water filtration.

November 17, 2015

Jacopo Buongiorno, professor and associate head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems

Jacopo Buongiorno: Bringing outside knowledge to the nuclear industry

November 13, 2015

Why MIT.nano?

Doug Spreng ’65 believes nanotechnology could hold the biggest payoffs — for everyone.

November 13, 2015

Engineered hydrogel being pulled away from a glass surface. The material shows a property called “tough wet adhesion” comparable to tendon and bone interface. The wavy edge instability at the interface is a hallmark of strongly adhered soft material on a rigid surface.

Hydrogel superglue is 90 percent water

New “water adhesive” is tougher than natural adhesives employed by mussels and barnacles.

November 9, 2015

Harvesting more energy from photons

Quantum process increases the number of electrons produced when light strikes a metal-dielectric interface.

November 5, 2015

Shown here is a ferritin protein complex. MIT researchers are using protein engineering the boost the magnetic characteristics of the protein to track cells.

Engineers design magnetic cell sensors

New protein nanoparticles allow scientists to track cells and interactions within them.

November 2, 2015

New MIT School of Engineering faculty for 2015-2016

New engineering faculty for 2015-2016

The School of Engineering welcomes 18 new faces.

October 28, 2015

Researchers found that sections of metal can be made to either promote bubbling (the two rectangles at the edges) or to inhibit bubbling (center rectangles), simply by switching the polarity of voltages applied to the metal.

Bubble, bubble, at the flick of a switch

Researchers find a way to control the bubbles of boiling water using a small electric charge.

October 26, 2015

This image shows abrupt de-pinning and de-stabilization of a line defect due to repeated cyclic loading. Figure (a) shows the evolution of nominal tensile stress during two loading and unloading cycles. Figures (b) to (f) are still frames from a video that correspond to the stress state marked in (a), where the white dashed lines indicate the original defect location, and the colored dashed lines ...

Metal defects can be eliminated by cyclic loading

Finding shows small amounts of repeated stretching can eliminate crystal defects in nanoscale metal parts.

October 21, 2015

Alan Stern, principal investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to the Kuiper belt, spoke at ScienceWriters2015 about mission results from a Pluto flyby in July and communications strategies.

Bringing “the greatest show in the universe” to the people

MIT hosts national ScienceWriters2015 conference.

October 15, 2015

Rendering of a virus used in the MIT experiments. The light-collecting centers, called chromophores, are in red, and chromophores that just absorbed a photon of light are glowing white. After the virus is modified to adjust the spacing between the chromophores, energy can jump from one set of chromophores to the next faster and more efficiently.

Quantum physics meets genetic engineering

Researchers use engineered viruses to provide quantum-based enhancement of energy transport.

October 14, 2015

Researchers created pores in a graphene sheet (in purple) and then placed it over a layer of silicon nitride (in blue) that had been punctured by an ion beam. This allows specific hydrated ions, which are surrounded by a shell of water molecules, to pass through.

Big range of behaviors for tiny graphene pores

Like biological channels, graphene pores are selective for certain types of ions.

October 5, 2015

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