Solving the mystery of the Antarctic’s missing heat
New research may explain why sea temperatures around Antarctica haven’t risen as much as surface temperatures around the globe.
![“It’s very inspiring to see how these [hair-like] structures occur in nature and how they can achieve different functions,” says Jifei Ou, a graduate student in media arts and sciences at MIT. “We’re just trying to think how can we fully utilize the potential of 3-D printing, and create new functional materials whose properties are easily tunable and controllable.” Pictured is an examp...](/sites/default/files/styles/term_page__news_article/public/images/201606/MIT-PrintingHair.jpg?itok=3T6UnWhD)
Need hair? Press “print”
With fur, brushes, and bristles, Media Lab’s technique opens new frontier in 3-D printing.
A smart water grid for the Indus Basin
Architect and MIT Professor James Wescoat promotes institutional capacity building to manage a critical resource.
Eye-tracking system uses ordinary cellphone camera
Crowd-sourced data yields system that determines where mobile-device users are looking.
Air quality sensors track pollution
Research from MIT's Tata Center for Technology and Design is helping to quantify emissions in the world’s most polluted cities.
For second time, LIGO detects gravitational waves
Signal was produced by two black holes colliding 1.4 billion light years away.
Why do women leave engineering?
Study: Group dynamics of teamwork and internships deter many women in the profession.
New solar absorber could improve efficiency of solar thermal technology
Masdar Institute-MIT team develops device that harnesses more sunlight, enhancing efficiency of heat production.
![“Researchers and practitioners have struggled to compare the costs of different [energy] storage technologies, because of the multiple dimensions of cost and the fact that no technology dominates along all dimensions," says Jessika Trancik, the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Assistant Professor of Energy Studies at MIT.](/sites/default/files/styles/term_page__news_article/public/images/201606/MIT-Econ-Storage.jpg?itok=f7Nve4NG)
Energy storage for renewables can be a good investment today, study finds
Systems that bank energy can add value to solar and wind projects.
New approach to microlasers
Technique for “phase locking” arrays of tiny lasers could lead to terahertz security scanners.
Researchers find a way to extend life and improve performance of fuel cell electrodes
Surface treatment greatly reduces degradation of catalyst material.
Artificial intelligence produces realistic sounds that fool humans
Video-trained system from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab could help robots understand how objects interact with the world.
Researchers discover new way to turn electricity into light, using graphene
By slowing down light to a speed slower than flowing electrons, researchers create a kind of optical “sonic boom.”
Study: Molecular motors shape chromosome structure
By organizing chromosomes into many tiny loops, molecular motors play key role cell division.