Research

Neurons from 19-month-old mice (bottom row) show much higher rates of oxidative stress than neurons from 9-week-old mice (top row). Lipofuscin, a molecule associated with aging-related oxidative stress, appears red.

Biologists discover an unusual hallmark of aging in neurons

Snippets of RNA that accumulate in brain cells could interfere with normal function.

November 27, 2018

Building the ultimate record of the ocean

Carl Wunsch continues to expand his foundational framework for understanding the behavior of worldwide oceans as a whole.

November 21, 2018

A new MIT plane is propelled via ionic wind. Batteries in the fuselage (tan compartment in front of plane) supply voltage to electrodes (blue/white horizontal lines) strung along the length of the plane, generating a wind of ions that propels the plane forward.

MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts

The silent, lightweight aircraft doesn’t depend on fossil fuels.

November 21, 2018

Throughout the MIT Joint Program’s agriculture workshop, attendees from industry, government, and academia engaged in detailed discussions with Joint Program agriculture specialists.

The future of food production amid global change

MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change workshop explores risks and opportunities for the agriculture sector.

November 20, 2018

Photos show a solar installation from 1988 (left) and a present-day version. Though the basic underlying technology is the same, a variety of factors have contributed to a hundredfold decline in costs. Now, researchers have identified the relative importance of these different factors.

Explaining the plummeting cost of solar power

Researchers uncover the factors that have caused photovoltaic module costs to drop by 99 percent.

November 20, 2018

Water droplets are inserted into the microhydraulic actuator, which rotates when voltage is applied to electrodes that pull the droplets in one direction. This disc-shaped actuator's inner diameter is 5 millimeters.

Using electricity and water, a new kind of motor can slide microrobots into motion

Microhydraulic actuators, thinner than one-third the width of human hair, are proving to be the most powerful and efficient motors at the microscale.

November 19, 2018

Neural representations of task rules are maintained in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for planning action.

How the brain switches between different sets of rules

When you slow down after exiting the highway, or hush your voice in the library, you’re using this brain mechanism.

November 19, 2018

The common model of gene regulation imagines the nucleus of the cell as a large space in which molecules involved in DNA transcription float around seemingly at random.

Activating a new understanding of gene regulation

Study reveals the role of the activation domain, a part of transcription factors previously shrouded in mystery.

November 16, 2018

MIT researchers have found that bacteria can affect a bubble’s longevity.

Bursting bubbles launch bacteria from water to air

Study illuminates new mode of bacteria dispersal.

November 15, 2018

MIT Media Lab researchers have developed a wireless system that leverages the cheap RFID tags already on hundreds of billions of products to sense potential food contamination.

Putting food-safety detection in the hands of consumers

Simple, scalable wireless system uses the RFID tags on billions of products to sense contamination.

November 14, 2018

Using a high-resolution system called electron tomography, researchers probed a tiny sample of kerogen to determine its internal structure. At left, the sample as seen from the outside, and at right, the detailed 3-D image of its internal pore structure.

Structure of fossil-fuel source rocks is finally decoded

Detailed 3-D imaging of kerogen, a source of petroleum and natural gas, could improve estimates of recoverable amounts.

November 12, 2018

Illustration shows how hydrogen ions (red dots), controlled by an electric voltage, migrate through an intermediate material to change the magnetic properties of an adjacent magnetic layer(shown in green).

Study opens route to ultra-low-power microchips

Innovative approach to controlling magnetism could lead to next-generation memory and logic devices.

November 12, 2018

MIT students participating in the Advanced Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program include: (clockwise from top left) Haripriya Mehta, Rohil Verma, Christabel Jemutai Sitienei, Andy Wei, Gabriel Margolis, and Mattie Wasiak.

The many interfaces of computing

A roundup of MIT student research projects offers a glimpse of where computing is going next.

November 11, 2018

Silvija Gradečak, MIT professor in materials science and engineering, addresses the promise and the problems of perovskite solar cells. She spoke during the MIT Materials Research Laboratory Materials Day Symposium on Oct. 10.

Improving materials from the nanoscale up

At the Materials Day Symposium, researchers focus on tools that probe atomic structures in action to yield better designs for metals, solar cells, and polymers.

November 8, 2018

Researchers demonstrating the ability of aluminum to repel oil underwater.

Extending the life of low-cost, compact, lightweight batteries

New design could greatly extend the shelf life of single-use metal-air batteries for electric vehicles, off-grid storage, and other applications.