Research

Researchers are systematically exploring a variety of alternative packaging materials and containers to see which work best, and most cost-effectively, at reducing losses in food aid. Pictured are food aid bags in a Texas warehouse.

Reducing spoilage in food aid shipments

Large-scale tests compare damage from insects and moisture using a variety of containers.

January 6, 2017

Left: An artist’s conception of the Lucy spacecraft flying by the Trojan Eurybates — one of the six diverse and scientifically important Trojans asteroids to be studied. Right: Psyche, the first mission to a metal asteroid, will map features, structure, composition, and magnetic field, and examine a landscape unlike anything explored before.

Twin wins for planetary exploration

MIT scientists and alumni well represented on newly announced NASA asteroid missions Psyche and Lucy.

January 5, 2017

Decision points for the first player in an “envelope game” are graphed like the branches of a tree. In a game with two players, each has a potential payoff, but the first one’s actions determine the second one’s payoff in each round. Choices whether to gather more information by looking in an envelope that contains either a high or a low temptation and whether to cooperate or defect from t...

Using evolutionary dynamics and game theory to understand personal relations

MIT biophysicists apply mathematics from evolutionary biology to describe a surprising aspect of human behavior.

January 5, 2017

A team of neuroscientists has found that people are biased toward hearing and producing rhythms composed of simple integer ratios — for example, a series of four beats separated by equal time intervals.

How the brain perceives rhythm

Study finds the brain is biased toward rhythms based on simple integer ratios.

January 5, 2017

“Compared to the developed world, the state of transportation systems in China is less well-understood, and because it’s such a large, populous country, unrestricted or poorly guided growth could lead to significant negative consequences for the environment and climate,” says Paul Kishimoto, a recent recipient of a fellowship from the Martin Family Society of Graduate Fellowships in Sustaina...

Rethinking how we get around

Paul Kishimoto, a PhD student in IDSS, probes the future of transportation in China.

January 4, 2017

New collaboration explores the future of urban housing in Brazil

Initiative links MIT with São Paulo research centers to study affordability and accessibility.

January 4, 2017

A new MIT system first creates a graph of vehicles (circles) and ride requests (stars) in a city, and then uses a method called “integer linear programming” to compute the best assignment of vehicles to trips.

How ride-sharing can improve traffic, save money, and help the environment

Study shows carpooling apps could reduce congestion by a factor of three while still serving the same number of people.

January 4, 2017

MIT chemical engineers discovered that they could force antibodies and other proteins to form layers by attaching each protein to a polymer tail. The proteins and polymers repel each other, so the molecules arrange themselves in a structure that minimizes the interactions between the protein and polymer segments.

3-D antibody arrays offer better sensing

New tool could help diagnose malaria and other diseases.

January 4, 2017

“Understanding how our innate immune system works is important for thinking about the development of new ways to treat infectious disease,” says MIT associate professor of chemistry Elizabeth Nolan.

Exploring the tug-of-war over metals during infection

Chemist Elizabeth Nolan studies the battle between microbes and hosts for essential metals.

January 4, 2017

MIT scientists have found that extreme precipitation events in California should become more frequent as the Earth’s climate warms over this century.

Study finds more extreme storms ahead for California

New technique predicts frequency of heavy precipitation with global warming.

January 3, 2017

MIT researchers describe a way to make atom interferometry with Bose-Einstein condensates even more precise by eliminating a source of error endemic to earlier designs.

Hyperprecise measurement with Bose-Einstein condensates

New atom interferometer could measure inertial forces with record-setting accuracy.

December 27, 2016

On Dec. 8, 151 SuperUROP students presented their work at the SuperUROP Research Review.

Bots, bit flips, and catching the bus

Engineering undergrads showcase their research after one semester of yearlong SuperUROP projects.

December 22, 2016

Debris and damage from Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola, Florida, Sept. 17, 2004

New approach calculates benefits of building hazard-resistant structures

Calculation developed by MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub shows that when building in areas prone to natural disasters, it pays to make informed decisions.

December 21, 2016

Researchers have discovered that in people with dyslexia the brain has a diminished ability to acclimate to a repeated input — a trait known as neural adaptation.

Distinctive brain pattern may underlie dyslexia

Study suggests reduced plasticity could account for reading difficulties.

December 21, 2016

MIT postdoc Jörn Venderbos (left) and graduate student Vladyslav Kozii co-authored a new paper with Biedenharn Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics Liang Fu proposing that a class of superconducting materials can host Majorana fermions near absolute zero, and their existence can be verified using nuclear magnetic resonance.

Majorana fermions predicted in a superconducting material

MIT researchers propose a new method for verifying the existence of a theoretical quasiparticle.

December 21, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Reducing spoilage in food aid shipments

Twin wins for planetary exploration

Using evolutionary dynamics and game theory to understand personal relations

How the brain perceives rhythm

Rethinking how we get around

New collaboration explores the future of urban housing in Brazil

How ride-sharing can improve traffic, save money, and help the environment

3-D antibody arrays offer better sensing

Exploring the tug-of-war over metals during infection

Study finds more extreme storms ahead for California

Hyperprecise measurement with Bose-Einstein condensates

Bots, bit flips, and catching the bus

New approach calculates benefits of building hazard-resistant structures

Distinctive brain pattern may underlie dyslexia

Majorana fermions predicted in a superconducting material

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