Prof. Kerry Emanuel's new research indicates that the risk of catastrophic hurricane disasters could increase ten-fold this century due to climate change, writes Eric Holthaus for Slate. Holthaus explains that the researchers embedded a “high-quality hurricane model into a broader scale climate change model” to examine the impact of future extreme storms.
Huffington Post contributor Derrick Crowe writes about a new MIT study that examines how increasing ocean acidification is impacting phytoplankton populations. The study showed how ocean acidification, “can throw off the balance of the plankton population, causing significant changes with profound implications for other species that depend on them.”
WGBH reporter Mike Deehan writes that MIT will play a key role in a new public-private partnership aimed at expanding the use of photonics in manufacturing. Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet explains that MIT will coordinate the "education and workforce development program for the entire nation in this area.”
Writing for the Huffington Post, Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman highlights an MIT study that shows different mental processes peak at different ages. The study “examined a number of different brain processes that make up intelligence, rather than viewing intelligence as a single measure as has traditionally been done.”
According to Matt Kaplan of The Economist, Professor Ju Li has devised a method of producing lithium-ion batteries using nanoparticles. “If the process of making the nanoparticles can be industrialized," writes Kaplan, "then the lifetimes of lithium-ion batteries might be considerably extended.”
Andrew Revkin writes for The New York Times about a compact design for a fusion reactor that could make fusion power a possibility within a decade. Revkin highlights how the research originated from an MIT course, writing, “it’s exciting to see academia integrating directly with innovation on this scale.”
MIT researchers have found that different parts of the human brain work best at different ages, reports Susan Pinker for The Wall Street Journal. “Some abilities mature early, such as how fast we recall names and faces. Others, like vocabulary and background knowledge, are late bloomers,” Pinker explains.
A new study on cancer drug development by MIT researchers found that pharmaceutical firms overlook drugs for early-stage tumors, writes Jordan Graham for The Boston Herald. “There’s dramatically more investments in the late-stage treatments,” says Prof. Benjamin Roin.
MIT researchers have found that increasing ocean acidification will impact phytoplankton species worldwide, reports Michelle Toh for The Christian Science Monitor. Toh explains that the researchers found, “the balance of various plankton species will radically change as the world’s oceans increase in acidity over the next 85 years.”
UPI reporter Brook Hays writes about new MIT research examining how ocean acidification will impact phytoplankton. The researchers found that “more acidic waters could allow some species to outcompete and wipe out entire other species" of phytoplankton.
MIT physicists have cooled molecules to just above absolute zero, reports Macrina Cooper-White for The Huffington Post. “The team hopes to cool molecules to an even lower temperature, study the interactions between them, and learn more about the limits on their lifetime,” Cooper-White explains.
Jesse Emspak of Live Science writes that MIT researchers have successfully cooled molecules to just above absolute zero. The researchers found that when the molecules were cooled to 500 nanokelvins they “were quite stable, and tended not to react with other molecules around them.”
A team led by Professor Markus Buehler has created a device that can produce spider silk, writes Andrea Alfano for the Tech Times. Buehler explains that silk produced by this new device is, “a lot more modifiable than spider silk,” and could be used to create synthetic organs.
Huffington Post reporter Jacqueline Howard writes about how MIT researchers have uncovered what causes the rapid draining of the meltwater lakes atop Greenland’s ice sheet. Howard explains that, “the finding could help scientists better predict how much meltwater from the ice sheet is contributing to rising sea levels, especially as the climate in the region becomes warmer.”
Professor Vladan Vuletić and his colleagues have successfully developed a new technique for simulating friction between two surfaces at the nanoscale, reports Davide Castelvecchi for Nature. The research “could bring enormous savings by reducing friction between the moving parts of machines,” writes Castelvecchi.