Professor Yet-Ming Chiang’s company 24M has devised a manufacturing process that cuts the cost of producing batteries in half using liquid-battery technology, writes Brooks Hays for UPI. “The new method brings the benefits of liquid technology to big batteries—but without the baggage.”
Scott Kirsner writes for BetaBoston about 24M Technologies, a company co-founded by Professor Yet-Ming Chiang that has produced a safer, cheaper, and more durable lithium-ion battery. “We’re reinventing the lithium ion battery,” says Chiang. “The cost of the product is too high, and the manufacturing process is too complex.”
MIT researchers have designed a 3D-printed soft material with a modifiable surface texture inspired by the cuttlefish, writes Maria Temming for Scientific American. The team “discovered their modifiable surfaces are not only useful for camouflage but a spectrum of other applications.”
In this video, CNN examines a new printable origami robot developed by MIT researchers that can dissolve in a variety of liquids. CNN explains that the researchers hope that the robot could one day be used to perform medical tasks inside the human body.
The July/August edition of Foreign Affairs features an in-depth piece by Prof. Daniela Rus on the future of robotics. Rus writes that robots will extend the digital revolution “into the physical realm and deeper into everyday life, with consequences that will be equally profound.”
New Scientist reporter Rowan Hooper writes about how MIT researchers have developed a 1.7-centimeter long origami robot that can self-fold, walk and swim. Hooper explains that, “using liquid-soluble materials, different versions of the robot can dissolve in either water or acetone, leaving only the permanent magnet behind.”
Prof. Emeritus James Fay, who served as the chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority and helped launch the Union of Concerned Scientists, died on June 2, reports Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. “To know him and benefit from his wisdom, courage, kindness, and friendship was a gift I will treasure for the rest of my life,” says senior lecturer Frederick Salvucci.
MarketWatch reporter Sally French writes that researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed an algorithm that can be used to predict how memorable a person’s is. “The algorithm was created from a database of more than 2,000 images that were awarded a “memorability score” based on human volunteers’ ability to remember the pictures,” French writes.
In an article for Nautilus, Elizabeth Preston writes about Prof. Lydia Bourouiba’s work examining how rain can spread crop diseases. Through a close examination of high-speed images, Bourouiba found that how raindrops bounce off different plant leaves “is really at the root” of the spread of pathogens among plants.
An MIT team competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge finished in sixth place during the final competition of the challenge, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. “I thought it was amazing and inspiring, and it really gave the public a good picture of what the state of the art in robotics is,” says MIT postdoc Scott Kuindersma.
A team led by Professor Markus Buehler has created a device that can produce spider silk, writes Andrea Alfano for the Tech Times. Buehler explains that silk produced by this new device is, “a lot more modifiable than spider silk,” and could be used to create synthetic organs.
Miles O’Brien of the PBS NewsHour reports on how scientists are developing cheaper and more efficient tests for Ebola, highlighting Prof. Lee Gehrke’s simple diagnostic kits. Gehrke explains that the test his team developed is “very simple, requires no refrigeration, no power, no special training.”
MIT researchers have developed a test that can accurately detect cancer in urine, reports Megan Scudellari for The Boston Globe. “Bacteria can grow in tumors as small as 1 millimeter, so the urine test has the potential to detect liver tumors — which tend to be small and dispersed — very early on, which would improve survival rates for patients,” Scudellari explains.
In this video, Monika Auger of The Wall Street Journal describes how MIT engineers have developed a robotic cheetah that can jump over obstacles autonomously. Auger explains that the robot’s vision and path planning systems give it "complete autonomous control over its movements.”
MIT researchers have created a tiny, self-assembling, origami robot that they hope could one day be small enough to enter the human body and perform medical tasks, reports Lauren Walker for Newsweek. “Driven by magnetic fields, the robot can travel on both land and water at the speed of three or four centimeters per second," Walker explains.