National Science Foundation (NSF)

Numerical simulation of the last instances of a neutron star and black hole merger, as the neutron star is destroyed by the tidal pull of the black hole (at the center of the disk).

Could gravitational waves reveal how fast our universe is expanding?

Signals from rare black hole-neutron star pairs could pinpoint rate at which universe is growing, researchers say.

July 12, 2018

Based on measurements taken at more than 100,000 wells around the country, the MIT researchers identified these locations, indicated by green dots, that have a combination of a severe shortage of freshwater, and a large reserve of brackish groundwater that could potentially be desalinated and used.

Study finds potential in brackish groundwater desalination

Water-starved areas could find new sources by desalinating water that’s much less salty than seawater.

July 4, 2018

Summer Scholar Abigail Nason (left) and graduate student Takian Fakhrul peer into a pulsed laser deposition chamber for creating thin films that combine magnetic properties and infrared light transparency to serve in waveguides and isolators for integrated photonic chips.

Summer projects in motion

Lab assignments for MIT Materials Research Laboratory undergraduate researchers and teachers cut across disciplines.

July 3, 2018

PPC neurons, engineered to glow when active, flicker in response to a mouse seeing a visual stimulus and deciding whether to respond with a licking motion.

Study shows where brain transforms seeing into doing

MIT neuroscientists find posterior parietal cortex region is crucial to connecting perception to action.

July 3, 2018

This diagram depicts the configuration of the complex tropoelastin molecule, which forms the basis for the elastin that gives tissues like skin and blood vessels their elasticity. The molecule’s atom-by-atom structure was decoded by a team of researchers from MIT, Australia and the UK.

Researchers decode molecule that gives living tissues their flexibility

Study reveals atomic structure of tropoelastin, showing what goes wrong in some diseases.

June 25, 2018

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope orbits the Sun in concert with the Earth, slowly drifting away from Earth.

Nearly 80 exoplanet candidates identified in record time

Search considered successful “dress rehearsal” for exoplanet hunter TESS.

June 20, 2018

A new computer chip, smaller than a U.S. dime and shown here with a quarter for scale, helps miniature drones navigate in flight.

Chip upgrade helps miniature drones navigate

Low-power design will allow devices as small as a honeybee to determine their location while flying.

June 20, 2018

From left to right: Yoonho Kim, Xuanhe Zhao, Hyunwoo Yuk

Magnetic 3-D-printed structures crawl, roll, jump, and play catch

New printing technique could be used to develop remotely controlled biomedical devices.

June 13, 2018

MIT researchers developed a transmitter that frequency hops data bits ultrafast to prevent signal jamming on wireless devices. The transmitter’s design (pictured) features bulk acoustic wave resonators (side boxes) that rapidly switch between radio frequency channels, sending data bits with each hop. A channel generator (top box) each microsecond selects the random channels to send bits. Two tra...

Novel transmitter protects wireless data from hackers

Device uses ultrafast “frequency hopping” and data encryption to protect signals from being intercepted and jammed.

June 11, 2018

A new algorithm developed by MIT researchers helps keep data fresh within a simple communication system, such as multiple drones reporting to a single control tower.

Keeping data fresh for wireless networks

Algorithm provides networks with the most current information available while avoiding data congestion.

June 4, 2018

This cloaking grenade, used for hiding troop operations from view on the battlefield, is an example of nanoparticles that reflect a particular color of light based on their exact size and composition. New work by MIT researchers provides a way to predict the light-scattering properties of layered nanoparticles – or to design particles to match a desired type of light-scattering behavior.

AI-based method could speed development of specialized nanoparticles

Neural network could expedite complex physics simulations.

June 1, 2018

A new MIT program will provide regular summer research opportunities in the lab of Assistant Professor Rafael Jaramillo to students from neighboring community colleges. Seen here, Noon Farsab, from Bunker Hill Community College, conducted research in Jaramillo’s lab during the summer of 2017.

GAIN program to connect community college students to career opportunities

Jaramillo lab launches a summer program to broaden the horizons of local students interested in materials science and engineering.

May 31, 2018

Engineers at MIT have developed pressure-sensing photonic fibers that they have woven into a typical compression bandage

Engineers design color-changing compression bandage

Bandage is threaded with photonic fibers that change color to signal pressure level.

May 29, 2018

MIT engineers have designed an ingestible sensor equipped with bacteria programmed to sense environmental conditions and relay the information to an electronic circuit.

Ingestible “bacteria on a chip” could help diagnose disease

Ultra-low-power sensors carrying genetically engineered bacteria can detect gastric bleeding.

May 24, 2018

MIT researchers have designed brain-tumor-targeting nanoparticles that can carry two different drugs, one in the core and one in the outer shell.

Tiny particles could help fight brain cancer

Nanoparticles carrying two drugs can cross the blood-brain barrier and shrink glioblastoma tumors.