National Science Foundation (NSF)

After making several upgrades, scientists have restarted the twin detectors of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. The Livingston detector site, located near Livingston, Louisiana, is pictured here.

LIGO back online, ready for more discoveries

Upgrades make detectors more sensitive to gravitational waves.

November 30, 2016

Given a still image from a scene, new deep-learning algorithm can create a brief video that simulates the future of that scene.

Creating videos of the future

Given a still image, CSAIL deep-learning system generates videos that predict what will happen next in a scene.

November 29, 2016

A destructive wildfire burned through Canada’s Northern Alberta region, razing neighborhoods in Fort McMurray and displacing tens of thousands of residents.

Climate models may be overestimating the cooling effect of wildfire aerosols

Study finds accounting for year-to-year variability enables more accurate projections of climate change and its impacts.

November 29, 2016

Dust blowing through the Sahara Desert in 2012. Researchers have found that the plume was far less dusty between 5,000 and 11,000 years ago, containing only half the amount of dust that is transported today.

Saharan dust in the wind

Scientists find huge reduction in African dust plume led to stronger Saharan monsoons 11,000 years ago.

November 23, 2016

Images produced from computer simulations show the response of a graphene surface as a silicon tip slides over it. Relative forces of atomic friction on the surface are shown by colors: Red points are “pushing” sites that help propel the tip along the surface, while blue points are “pinning” sites of greater friction that inhibit the tip’s motion.

The science of friction on graphene

Sliding on flexible graphene surfaces has been uncharted territory until now.

November 23, 2016

To demonstrate Foundry, MIT researchers designed and fabricated skis with retro-reflective surfaces, a ping-pong paddle, a helmet, and even a bone that may someday be used for surgical planning.

Designing for 3-D printing

“Foundry” tool from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab lets you design a wide range of multi-material 3-D-printed objects.

October 11, 2016

To demonstrate the supercapacitor's ability to store power, the researchers modified an off-the-shelf hand-crank flashlight (the red parts at each side) by cutting it in half and installing a small supercapacitor in the center, in a conventional button battery case, seen at top. When the crank is turned to provide power to the flashlight, the light continues to glow long after the cranking stops, ...

New kind of supercapacitor made without carbon

Energy storage device could deliver more power than current versions of this technology.

October 10, 2016

These images, taken from a transmission electron microscope, show a perovskite material oscillating as it is exposed to water vapor and a beam of electrons.

Water vapor sets some oxides aflutter

Newly discovered phenomenon could affect materials in batteries and water-splitting devices.

October 3, 2016

MIT researchers outfitted their cube robot with shock-absorbing “skins” (left) that transfer less than half of the energy that would normally be transferred to the ground.

3-D-printed robots with shock-absorbing skins

By “programming” customized soft materials, CSAIL team can 3-D print safer, nimbler, more durable robots.

October 3, 2016

Improving microparticle arrays for engineering applications: A new technique using tiny microwells pushes the precision and scalability of microparticle arrays to a new extreme. The assembly includes empty porous microwell arrays (top left) and unassembled microparticles (top middle). A close view of the microparticles in arrays appears at top right, and a wide view of the assembly appears below.

A better way to assay

New design of large-scale microparticle arrays can make materials science and bioengineering applications more scalable, precise, and versatile.

September 30, 2016

Ocean engineers from MIT, the University of Minnesota at Duluth, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have accurately simulated the motion of internal tides along a shelf break called the Middle Atlantic Bight — a region off the coast of the eastern U.S. that stretches from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

Researchers find explanation for interacting giant, hidden ocean waves

Better simulations of internal tides may benefit sonar communications, protect offshore structures, and more.

September 28, 2016

This computational illustration shows a graphene network structure below a layer of water.

How to power up graphene implants without frying cells

New analysis finds way to safely conduct heat from graphene to biological tissues.

September 23, 2016

MIT research scientist Stephanie Dutkiewicz in her office with a display of her phytoplankton model simulation

Computing the ocean’s true colors

Stephanie Dutkiewicz’ phytoplankton models project the future of the ocean as food source and carbon sink.

September 15, 2016

“Learning from this model, we can understand what’s really going on in these superconductors, and what one should do to make higher-temperature superconductors, approaching hopefully room temperature,” says Martin Zwierlein, professor of physics and principal investigator in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.

For first time, researchers see individual atoms keep away from each other or bunch up as pairs

Observations of atomic interactions could help pave way to room-temperature superconductors.

September 15, 2016

$Polymers, or long chains of repeating molecules, are found in many objects that we encounter every day, including anything made of plastic or rubber. In many materials, however, a significant fraction of these chains bind to themselves, forming defects.$

New theory overcomes a longstanding polymer problem

Technique for calculating elasticity could aid design of new materials.

September 15, 2016

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LIGO back online, ready for more discoveries

Creating videos of the future

Climate models may be overestimating the cooling effect of wildfire aerosols

Saharan dust in the wind

The science of friction on graphene

Designing for 3-D printing

New kind of supercapacitor made without carbon

Water vapor sets some oxides aflutter

3-D-printed robots with shock-absorbing skins

A better way to assay

Researchers find explanation for interacting giant, hidden ocean waves

How to power up graphene implants without frying cells

Computing the ocean’s true colors

For first time, researchers see individual atoms keep away from each other or bunch up as pairs

New theory overcomes a longstanding polymer problem

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National Science Foundation (NSF)