Making clean, high-quality fuels from low-quality oil
New insights into a promising approach to fuel production that would reduce costs, energy use, and carbon dioxide emissions.
Siting wind farms more quickly, cheaply
New model predicts wind speeds more accurately with three months of data than others do with 12.
Long-sought phenomenon finally detected
Weyl points, first predicted in 1929, observed for the first time.
Solving mysteries of conductivity in polymers
Materials seen as promising for optoelectronics and thermoelectric devices finally yield their secrets.
3 Questions: Richard Binzel on New Horizons’ closest view of Pluto
Spacecraft’s close-up images reveal a complex, frozen world.
Researchers identify zebra-like stripes of plasma in a patch of space
The structure may help scientists identify radiation-remediation strategies in space.
3 Questions: Jennifer Light on new media and democracy
MIT historian of technology discusses new work examining “digital citizenship.”
Computing at the speed of light
Graduate student Sergio Cantu studies lasers to increase computational speed and security.
Cutting cost and power consumption for big data
New network design exploits cheap, power-efficient flash memory without sacrificing speed.
What buyers want
MIT professors’ choice-modeling software predicts customer preferences for retailers.
Computer program fixes old code faster than expert engineers
What takes coders months, CSAIL’s “Helium” can do in an hour.
Researchers develop basic computing elements for bacteria
Sensors, memory switches, and circuits can be encoded in a common gut bacterium.
J-WAFS awards $1.8 million in first round of seed-grant funding
Nine grants of $200,000 for two years have been awarded to researchers from 11 MIT departments.
Q&A: Catching Pluto’s shadow
MIT scientists assist as a NASA mission chases Pluto’s shadow to catch details of its atmosphere.