How MIT’s fab labs scaled around the world
Now a global community of builders of all skill levels and backgrounds, the fab lab network grew from a single maker facility at MIT.
Gravitational-wave detectors start next observing run to explore the secrets of the universe
The next run will be the most sensitive search yet for gravitational waves.
Helping robots handle fluids
Researchers create a new simulation tool for robots to manipulate complex fluids in a step toward helping them more effortlessly assist with daily tasks.
A better way to match 3D volumes
By mapping the volumes of objects, rather than their surfaces, a new technique could yield solutions to computer graphics problems in animation and CAD.
Tiny diamond rotor could improve protein studies
A new way of machining microscale rotors from diamond crystal can enable ultrasensitive NMR devices for probing proteins and other materials.
Team uses 3D printing to strengthen a key material in aerospace, energy-generation applications
The approach could improve the performance of many other materials as well.
A better way to study ocean currents
A new machine-learning model makes more accurate predictions about ocean currents, which could help with tracking plastic pollution and oil spills, and aid in search and rescue.
Study reveals new ways for exotic quasiparticles to “relax”
A perovskite-based device that combines aspects of electronics and photonics may open doors to new kinds of computer chips or quantum qubits.
Chemists’ technique reveals whether antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2
The method could enable a rapid test to determine whether individuals are producing antibodies that help protect against Covid-19.
Using reflections to see the world from new points of view
A new computer vision system turns any shiny object into a camera of sorts, enabling an observer to see around corners or beyond obstructions.
Advocating for science budget and policy
MIT’s Science Policy Initiative sends students and postdocs to Capitol Hill to advocate for continued and increased federal support for scientific research.
Training machines to learn more like humans do
Researchers identify a property that helps computer vision models learn to represent the visual world in a more stable, predictable way.
An unprecedented view of gene regulation
MIT engineers’ new technique analyzes the 3D organization of the genome at a resolution 100 times higher than before.
In a first, astronomers spot a star swallowing a planet
Earth will meet a similar fate in 5 billion years.
How to untangle a worm ball: Mathematicians solve a knotty mystery
California blackworms tangle themselves up by the thousands, then separate in a split second. Their trick may inspire the design of self-detangling materials and fibers.