School of Science

Continuing a legacy of Antarctic exploration

The Summons Lab compares lipids from Antarctic microbial communities to century-old samples.

November 22, 2019

With increasing data quality (shown progressively, left to right, in images from 2012, 2015, and 2019) Assistant Professor Michael McDonald and colleagues can conclusively show that the black hole in the Phoenix galaxy cluster is not preventing star formation.

Phoenix cluster is cooling faster than expected

With increasingly advanced data, Michael McDonald and colleagues study a galaxy cluster bursting with new stars.

November 20, 2019

“We believe that AI plays a key role now, and in the future development of the region, if it’s used in the right way,” says Omar Costilla Reyes, one of four MIT graduate students working to help Latin America adopt artificial intelligence technologies. Pictured here (left to right) are Costilla Reyes, Emilia Simison, Pedro Antonio Colon-Hernandez, and Guillermo Bernal.

Students push to speed up artificial intelligence adoption in Latin America

To help the region catch up, students organize summit to bring Latin policymakers and researchers to MIT.

November 19, 2019

MIT and Lamborghini recently filed a joint patent for a material that will serve as the technological base for a new generation of supercapacitors. Here, Patricia Das ’17, who interned at Automobili Lamborghini through MIT-Italy, is seen at work at Lamborghini Santa Agata Bolognese Labs.

Lamborghini and MIT pave the way for the electric supercar of the future

MIT-Italy helps build supercharged partnerships on campus and across the globe.

November 19, 2019

MIT researchers have developed a method to isolate T cells that bind to different targets and then sequence their RNA.

Technique identifies T cells primed for certain allergies or infections

Researchers develop a method to isolate and sequence the RNA of T cells that react to a specific target.

November 19, 2019

Left to right: chief innovation officer for the newly created Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone and alumnus David Sengeh PhD '15, EECS student Michal Reda, Minister of Tertiary and Higher Education of Sierra Leone Aiah Gbakima, and MISTI-Africa participant and physics and mechanical engineering alumnus Mgcini "Keith" Phuthi ’19.

Expanding education: From Africa to Cambridge and back again

Mgcini "Keith" Phuthi ’19, a native Zimbabwean, uses his experiences at MIT to develop improvements in education policy in Sierra Leone through MISTI-Africa.

November 18, 2019

The section of the MIT.nano courtyard that runs along the south side of the building has been named the Improbability Walk, in honor of Mildred Dresselhaus.

Improbability Walk at MIT.nano honors Mildred Dresselhaus

Courtyard space celebrates beloved professor’s research and mentorship.

November 15, 2019

A new shoebox-sized laser produces terahertz waves (green squiggles) by using a special infrared laser (red) to rotate molecules of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, packed in a pen-sized cavity (grey).

Researchers generate terahertz laser with laughing gas

Device may enable “T-ray vision” and better wireless communication.

November 14, 2019

An artist's impression of a light-induced charge density wave (CDW). The wavy mesh represents distortions of the material’s lattice structure caused by the formation of CDWs. Glowing spheres represent photons. In the center, the original CDW is suppressed by a brief pulse of laser light, while a new CDW appears at right angles to the first.

Using light to generate order in an exotic material

Physics experiment with ultrafast laser pulses produces a previously unseen phase of matter.

November 11, 2019

A new tool reveals what AI models leave out in recreating a scene. Here, a GAN, or generative adversarial network, has dropped the pair of newlyweds from its reconstruction (right) of the photo it was asked to draw (left).

Visualizing an AI model’s blind spots

New tool highlights what generative models leave out when reconstructing a scene.

November 8, 2019

Small cell lung cancer (red) metastasizes to the liver in a genetically-engineered mouse model.

New pathway for lung cancer treatment

MIT researchers identify pyrimidine biosynthesis as a target for the treatment of small cell lung cancer.

November 6, 2019

MIT.nano announces the Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lectures

Cornell University’s Paul McEuen will inaugurate series to honor beloved MIT professor.

November 5, 2019

MIT chemists have observed, for the first time, inversion of the umbrella-like ammonia molecule by quantum tunneling.

Chemists observe “spooky” quantum tunneling

Extremely large electric fields can prevent umbrella-shaped ammonia molecules from inverting.

November 4, 2019

Student gets a kick out of French internship

Math and computer science major tweaks soccer accelerometer’s algorithms and expands his worldview via MIT-France.

November 4, 2019