Research

This desalination plant in Israel, called Sorek, is currently the world's largest, producing 625,000 cubic meters of fresh water per day. Boris Liberman, chief technology officer of IDE Technologies, the company that built this and several other huge desalination plants in Israel and California, was among the speakers at MIT's Low Carbon Desalination Workshop, which explored the potential for redu...

How to achieve “green” desalination

Workshop explores ways to reduce or eliminate the carbon footprint of seawater desalination plants.

October 19, 2016

(Left to right): M. Nafi Toksöz, professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS); Oral Buyukozturk, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE); and Hao Sun, a postdoc in CEE. The Green Building, behind them, has 36 accelerometers that record vibrations and movements on selected floors, from the building’s foundation to its roof.

With new model, buildings may “sense” internal damage

System predicts how MIT’s tallest structure responds to vibrations, may help monitor stress over time.

October 18, 2016

“One thing you realize working in this lab is that we are really far away from the robot apocalypse,” says MIT senior Sarah Hensley, who is working with a team of researchers to prepare Valkyrie, a humanoid robot, for future space missions.

Prepping a robot for its journey to Mars

Senior Sarah Hensley aims to improve Earth's most advanced humanoid robot, in advance of its trip to the Red Planet.

October 18, 2016

Scientists have identified two key groups of neurons within the hypothalamus that help regulate appetite.

A new player in appetite control

Brain cells that provide structural support also influence feeding behavior, study shows.

October 18, 2016

“MIT is wonderful because in addition to [finding] an amazing home in economics, I can talk with and learn from a lot of people on the science side,” says Heidi Williams, the Class of 1957 Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Economics.
MIT professor Heidi Williams

Making a splash in health care economics

Heidi Williams builds all-new data sets to answer questions about innovation and biomedical research.

October 18, 2016

A new study from MIT finds that positive and negative emotions are controlled by two populations of neurons that are genetically programmed to encode memories of either fearful or pleasurable events.

A delicate balance between positive and negative emotion

Neuroscientists identify two neuron populations that encode happy or fearful memories.

October 17, 2016

MIT researchers have developed a stretchy optical fiber in which they have injected multiple organic dyes (yellow, blue, and green regions). In addition to lighting up, the dyes act as a strain sensor, enabling researchers to quantify where and by how much a fiber has been stretched.

Stretchy optical fibers for implanting in the body

Biocompatible fibers could use light to stimulate cells or sense signs of disease.

October 17, 2016

Robert Macfarlane, the AMAX Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, holds vials of gold nanoparticles. Macfarlane designs nanoscale crystal structures whose assembly is activated by mutually attractive “sticky ends.”

Faculty highlight: Robert Macfarlane

MIT chemist constructs nanoparticle-based crystals by programming interactions of synthetic polymers and biopolymers at the molecular level.

October 14, 2016

Electing to vote — or not

Assistant Professor Ariel White is looking to understanding how government, policies, and people affect voting behavior.

October 14, 2016

The interior of the fusion experiment Alcator C-Mod at MIT recently broke the plasma pressure record for a magnetic fusion device. The interior of the donut-shaped device confines plasma hotter than the interior of the sun, using high magnetic fields. Postdoc Ted Golfinopoulos, shown here, is performing maintenance between plasma campaigns.

New record for fusion

Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor sets world record on final day of operation.

October 14, 2016

Alex Tingly (right), a graduate student in the Department of Physics, and senior research scientist Earl Marmar, head of the Alcator C-Mod project since 2002, review data on synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons in plasma.

High-intensity fusion

MIT’s Alcator C-Mod nuclear reactor winds down — and defines its legacy on its final run.

October 14, 2016

In a time-lapse sequence, infrared imaging shows the temperature changes within a droplet of water as it moves across a treated silicon surface in response to temperature differences on that surface.

Temperature difference propels droplets

Method for moving fluids on a surface may find uses in condensers, microfluidics, and de-icing.

October 14, 2016

President Barack Obama speaks with the Office of Science and Technology Policy Social and Behavioral Sciences team in the Oval Office.

White House releases report on applying behavioral science to government policy

October 13, 2016

Women and children in rural Uganda look on as a service provider from a nearby health center provides malaria tests for communities on the lake's edge.

MIT-USAID program releases supply chain evaluation of malaria diagnostics

Study of malaria rapid diagnostic tests in Uganda assesses scalability, identifies supply chain challenges.

October 13, 2016

MIT researchers have found that interactions between electrons and heat-carrying particles called phonons can play a significant role in preventing heat dissipation in microelectronic devices.

Electron-phonon interactions affect heat dissipation in computer chips

Study shows particle collisions may explain overheated circuits, improve thermoelectric devices.

October 12, 2016

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How to achieve “green” desalination

With new model, buildings may “sense” internal damage

Prepping a robot for its journey to Mars

A new player in appetite control

Making a splash in health care economics

A delicate balance between positive and negative emotion

Stretchy optical fibers for implanting in the body

Faculty highlight: Robert Macfarlane

Electing to vote — or not

New record for fusion

High-intensity fusion

Temperature difference propels droplets

White House releases report on applying behavioral science to government policy

MIT-USAID program releases supply chain evaluation of malaria diagnostics

Electron-phonon interactions affect heat dissipation in computer chips

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