School of Engineering

MIT researchers have developed a superconducting circuit that can increase the speed of quantum processing, reports Aamir Khollam for Interesting Engineering. “This device is a superconducting circuit designed to produce extremely strong nonlinear interactions between particles of light (photons) and matter (qubits),” explains Khollam. “This breakthrough could make operations up to 10 times faster, bringing fault-tolerant, real-world quantum computing a major step closer.”   

Researchers at MIT believe they have demonstrated the strongest non-linear light-matter coupling in a quantum system, reports Bill Bell for Quantum Campus. “Their novel superconducting circuit architecture showed coupling about an order of magnitude stronger than prior demonstrations,” writes Bill. “It could significantly improve the measurements and error corrections needed to increase the accuracy and reliability of quantum computers.” 

Researchers at MIT have developed a “small, hopping robot designed to traverse challenging environments,” reports Emmett Smith for Mashable. “The robot utilizes a spring-loaded leg for propulsion and incorporates flapping wing modules for stability and control,” explains Smith. “This design enables movement across diverse surfaces and the ability to carry loads exceeding its own weight.” 

Six MIT faculty members – Prof. Emerita Lotte Bailyn, Prof. Gareth McKinley, Prof. Nasser Rabbat, Prof. Susan Silbey, Prof. Anne Whiston Spirn, and Prof. Catherine Wolfram – have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reports Sarah Mesdjian for The Boston Globe. “The academy aims to honor accomplished leaders in a wide array of fields and ‘cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people,’” explains Mesdjian. 

Materials World reporter Sarah Morgan spotlights how MIT researchers have “combined the waterproof stickiness of mussel-inspired polymers with the germ-fighting properties of mucus-derived proteins, mucins, to form a cross-linking gel that strongly adheres to surfaces.” The new adhesive could be used to coat medical implants to prevent infection and bacteria build-up. Postdoc George Degen explains: “We demonstrate adhesion to wet tissue and metal-oxide surfaces, important substrates for biomedical applications. Moreover, our mucin-derived hydrogels discourage the formation of bacterial biofilms, raising the possibility of antifouling coatings.” 

Prof. Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli speaks with The Atlantic reporter Matteo Wong about the current state of artificial intelligence technologies and how the technology might be used in medical care going forward. “Scientists use the tools that are out there for information processing and summarization,” says Gómez-Bombarelli. “Everybody does that; that’s an established win.” 

Researchers at MIT have developed a new technique to fabricate “a metamaterial that is both stretchy and strong,” reports Alex Knapp for Forbes. The researchers also discovered that their new fabrication technique can be applied to the development of new materials, Knapp explains, adding that: “future research will be directed toward developing stretchy glass, ceramics and textiles.” 

Defense One reporter Patrick Tucker writes that MIT researchers have developed “a new way to make large ultrathin infrared sensors that don’t need cryogenic cooling and could radically change night vision for the military or even autonomous vehicles.” Tucker notes: “This research points to a new kind of vision: not just night vision without cooling, but a production method for faster and cheaper development of night vision equipment with more U.S. components.”

Prof. Amos Winter speaks with WBUR reporter Grace Griffin about his work developing a desalination system that relies on solar power. “The majority of water you find in the ground around the world is salty,” says Winter. “The reason we use solar power is that most people around the world are going to be resource-constrained. They may have lower income levels or not have access to grid electricity. So, our technology makes desalination much more accessible in all areas around the world.”

Graduate student Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao and City University of Hong Kong Prof. Pakpong Chirarattananon have developed a “hopping robot that can leap over tall obstacles and jump across slanted or uneven surfaces, while using far less energy than an aerial robot,” writes Andrew Corselli for Tech Briefs Magazine. “One of the biggest challenges is our robot is still connected with a power cable,” explains Hsiao. “I think going into power autonomy — which means we carry a battery and a sensor onboard — will be the next step. And this robot has really opened the opportunities for us to do that.”

The new Hood Pediatric Innovation Hub, a cornerstone of MIT’s Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS), is aimed at addressing “underinvestment in pediatric healthcare innovations,” reports Isabel Hart for the Boston Business Journal. Prof. Elazer Edelman, faculty lead for the hub, explains that: “We are trying to build a new culture providing innovation to those who have least access to it and will most benefit from it.”

Astronomers from MIT and other institutions have discovered a “population of previously hidden galaxies that could shake up astrophysics,” reports Ian Randall for Newsweek. “If confirmed, this new population would effectively break all of our current models of galaxy numbers and evolution,” says graduate student Thomas Varnish. 

Syntis Bio, a biopharmaceutical company co-founded by Prof. Giovanni Traverso and Prof. Robert Langer, is developing a daily obesity pill that mimics the effects of gastric bypass, reports Emily Mullin for Wired. “This material is something you would take as a capsule or liquid, but the next day it's gone because of the natural turnover of our mucosal surface in the GI tract,” says Traverso.

Researchers at MIT have concluded that AI does not develop “value systems” over time, reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “For me, my biggest takeaway from doing all this research is to now have an understanding of models as not really being systems that have some sort of stable, coherent set of beliefs and preferences,” says graduate student Stephen Casper. “Instead, they are imitators deep down who do all sorts of confabulation and say all sorts of frivolous things.”

A study by MIT researchers finds “using scrubbers to treat exhaust from heavy fuel oil may offer environmental performance on par with, and in some areas superior to, burning low-sulfur fuels in maritime shipping,” reports Hassan Ahmed for Engineeringness. “The research provides data that could help policymakers and industry leaders better assess the comparative costs and benefits of available fuel options,” explains Ahmed.