Research

Aerosols can lower surface temperatures either directly, by reflecting sunlight skyward, or indirectly, by increasing the reflectivity of clouds.

How aerosols drive the rain

Study finds human-made aerosols exert strong influence on the geography of precipitation.

January 21, 2016

MIT researchers scanned the brains of children who were not depressed but had a parent who had suffered from the disorder. Such children are three times more likely to become depressed later in life, usually between the ages of 15 and 30.

Diagnosing depression before it starts

Brain scans may identify children who are vulnerable to depression, before symptoms appear.

January 21, 2016

Governments usually provide subsidies based on overall adoption targets, such as the number of cars or solar panels they would like to see purchased over a period of time. But green technologies are often new products, and no one really knows how many consumers are waiting to buy them.

Sensible subsidies

Study: How should backing for clean technology be designed?

January 21, 2016

New finding may explain heat loss in fusion reactors

Solving a longstanding mystery, MIT experiments reveal two forms of turbulence interacting.

January 21, 2016

This diagram shows how an electrical voltage can be used to modify the oxygen concentration, and therefore the phase and structure, of strontium cobaltites. Pumping oxygen in and out transforms the material from the brownmillerite form (left) to the perovskite form (right).

Switchable material could enable new memory chips

Small voltage can flip thin film between two crystal states — one metallic, one semiconducting.

January 20, 2016

In a forest simulation, algorithms segment space into “obstacle-free regions” and then link them together to find a single collision-free route.

Drones dodge obstacles

Motion-planning algorithms allow drones to do donuts, figure-eights in object-filled environments.

January 19, 2016

Missed opportunities

Health problems for children prevent families from moving to higher-income neighborhoods.

January 19, 2016

For both his master’s and his doctoral theses, Michael Watts (pictured) developed a photonic circuit that could align the polarizations of light traveling through an optical chip.

Local boy makes good

Michael Watts took two decades to make the 20-mile trip from suburban Hingham to tenure at MIT.

January 19, 2016

MIT neuroscientists discovered that the protein CPG2 connects the cytoskeleton (represented by the scaffold of the bridge) and the endocytic machinery (represented by the cars) during the reabsorption of glutamate receptors. Each "car" on the “bridge" carries a vesicle containing glutamate receptors.

How neurons lose their connections

Scientists identify protein that allows brain cells to dampen their sensitivity.

January 14, 2016

Engineers at MIT have developed a queuing model that may help air traffic controllers direct departures more efficiently, minimizing runway congestion.

Cutting down runway queues

Model that predicts time from gate departure to takeoff could cut airport congestion, fuel waste.

January 14, 2016

The atomic-force microscopy (AFM) image on the left demonstrates the physical binding between fibrinogen proteins and single walled carbon nanotubes. The right shows a trace of the AFM image with the fibrinogen in green and nanotubes in light blue.

Synthetic antibody detects proteins

New nanosensors recognize fibrinogen; may detect insulin, other biomarkers as well.

January 13, 2016

MIT releases institutional greenhouse gas inventory

Data set a baseline for campus climate action.

January 13, 2016

“I think the flexibility of having the opportunity to discover what you're interested in, to pursue these things, and to create a space for yourself where you can feel comfortable was what drove me to MIT,” Larissa Senatus says.

Larissa Senatus learns about the world by doing

Mechanical engineering major hopes to bring hands-on learning opportunities home to Haiti.

January 13, 2016

Donald Sadoway (right) of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, David Bradwell MEng ’06, PhD ’11, and their collaborators have developed a novel molten-metal battery that is low-cost, high-capacity, efficient, long-lasting, and easy to manufacture — characteristics that make it ideal for storing electricity on power grids today and in the future.

A battery made of molten metals

New battery may offer low-cost, long-lasting storage for the grid.

January 12, 2016

The regulation of the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase allows for just the right levels of deoxynucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to be produced in the cell.

Supply chain

Chemists discover how a single enzyme maintains a cell’s pool of DNA building blocks.

January 12, 2016

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How aerosols drive the rain

Diagnosing depression before it starts

Sensible subsidies

New finding may explain heat loss in fusion reactors

Switchable material could enable new memory chips

Drones dodge obstacles

Missed opportunities

Local boy makes good

How neurons lose their connections

Cutting down runway queues

Synthetic antibody detects proteins

MIT releases institutional greenhouse gas inventory

Larissa Senatus learns about the world by doing

A battery made of molten metals

Supply chain

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