Research

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

New theory overcomes a longstanding polymer problem

Technique for calculating elasticity could aid design of new materials.

September 15, 2016

MIT spinout EverVest has built a data-analytics platform that gives investors rapid, accurate cash-flow models and financial risk analyses for renewable-energy projects.

Calculating the financial risks of renewable energy

Financial-modeling software for sustainable-infrastructure projects could boost investment in sector.

September 15, 2016

High-capacity nanoparticle

Particles that carry three or more drugs hold potential for targeted cancer therapy.

September 14, 2016

A team of MIT scientists has developed a strategy for delivering large numbers of beneficial bacterial to the human gut. The strategy involves coating bacteria with polymer layers that protect them from the acids and bile salts found in the digestive tract.

Delivering beneficial bacteria to the GI tract

Method that transports microbes through the stomach to the intestine may benefit human health.

September 14, 2016

Imaging scientist and social impact inventor Ramesh Raskar of MIT is the 2016 recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize.

Ramesh Raskar awarded $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Imaging scientist and inventor sets sights on launching peer-to-peer invention platforms for global impact.

September 13, 2016

Researchers have designed a new programming language that lets application developers manage memory more efficiently in programs that deal with scattered data points in large data sets. In tests on several common algorithms, programs written in the new language were four times as fast as those written in existing languages.

Faster parallel computing

New programming language delivers fourfold speedups on problems common in the age of big data.

September 13, 2016

Left to right: MIT Professor Franz-Josef Ulm, Aix-Marseille University President Yvon Berland, MIT President L. Rafael Reif, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) President Alain Fuchs, and CNRS research director and MIT senior research scientist Roland Pellenq at a signing ceremony extending a partnership behind MultiScale Material Science for Energy and Environment (MSE2), which ...

MIT and French research institutions collaborate on climate-conscious materials

MultiScale Material Science for Energy and Environment research partnership could reduce the carbon footprint of materials such as concrete.

September 12, 2016

A new imaging system can read closed books. “The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed a lot of interest in this, because they want to, for example, look into some antique books that they don’t even want to touch,” says Barmak Heshmat, a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab.

Judging a book through its cover

New computational imaging method identifies letters printed on first nine pages of a stack of paper.

September 9, 2016

“Our understanding of our environment is largely shaped by our memory for what’s currently out of sight,” says Caroline Robertson, a postdoc at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research and a junior fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. “What we were looking for are hubs in the brain where your memories for the panoramic environment are integrated with your current field of view....

How the brain builds panoramic memory

Neuroscientists identify brain regions key to linking different views of our surroundings.

September 8, 2016

In a new study, MIT biologists have deciphered the structure of one type of long noncoding RNA and used that information to figure out how it interacts with a cellular protein to control the development of heart muscle cells.

Linking RNA structure and function

Biologists have discovered how an enigmatic type of RNA helps to control cell fate.

September 8, 2016

This artist's depiction shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with its Touch-And-Go Sample Arm. The mission aims to return a sample of Bennu's surface coating to Earth and to return detailed information about the asteroid and its trajectory.

MIT’s REXIS is bound for asteroid Bennu

Instrument will help OSIRIS-REx mission identify locations for collecting an asteroid sample.

September 8, 2016

Summer Scholar Justin Cheng holds an experimental sample of nanostructured gold on silicon that has potential for use in sensors and display technologies based on its selective light absorption properties.

Tiny gold grids yielding secrets

Summer Scholar Justin Cheng explores process in Berggren group for making ordered metal nanostructures that display interesting new properties.

September 7, 2016

FastCAP Systems' ultracapacitors (pictured) can withstand extreme temperatures and harsh environments, opening up new uses for the devices across a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, aerospace and defense, and electric vehicles.

New applications for ultracapacitors

Startup’s energy-storage devices find uses in drilling operations, aerospace applications, electric vehicles.

September 7, 2016

“The ocean has been the only true sink for anthropogenic emissions since the industrial revolution,” says MIT graduate student Sophie Chu, pictured here. “Right now, it stores about 1/4 to 1/3 of the anthropogenic emissions from the atmosphere. We’re expecting at some point the storage will slow down.”

Study finds increased ocean acidification due to human activities

More anthropogenic carbon in the northeast Pacific means weaker shells for many marine species.

September 7, 2016

A new technique invented at MIT can precisely measure the growth of many individual cells simultaneously. “The device provides new insights into how cells grow and respond to drugs,” MIT professor Scott Manalis says.

Microchip enables fast, precise measurement of single-cell growth

Device that measures growth of many individual cells simultaneously could lead to rapid tests for antibiotics.

September 5, 2016

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New theory overcomes a longstanding polymer problem

Calculating the financial risks of renewable energy

High-capacity nanoparticle

Delivering beneficial bacteria to the GI tract

Ramesh Raskar awarded $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Faster parallel computing

MIT and French research institutions collaborate on climate-conscious materials

Judging a book through its cover

How the brain builds panoramic memory

Linking RNA structure and function

MIT’s REXIS is bound for asteroid Bennu

Tiny gold grids yielding secrets

New applications for ultracapacitors

Study finds increased ocean acidification due to human activities

Microchip enables fast, precise measurement of single-cell growth

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