School of Science

MIT biologists have discovered the first cellular response targeted at helping mitochondria when their protein import goes wrong.

Countering mitochondrial stress

Scientists discover a pathway that monitors a protein import into mitochondria and elicits a cellular response when the process goes awry.

April 13, 2018

A set of flight camera electronics on one of the TESS cameras, developed by the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI), will transmit exoplanet data from the camera to a computer aboard the spacecraft that will process it before transmitting it back to scientists on Earth.

TESS readies for takeoff

Satellite developed by MIT aims to discover thousands of nearby exoplanets, including at least 50 Earth-sized ones.

April 12, 2018

Meenakshi Chakraborty (left) and Anna Sappington

Meenakshi Chakraborty and Anna Sappington named 2018-2019 Goldwater Scholars

Two MIT computer science and molecular biology majors honored for their academic achievements.

April 11, 2018

New MIT research describes how marine microorganisms contribute to a layer of nitrite just below the ocean's sunlit zone.

Understanding microbial competition for nitrogen

Interactions among microorganisms account for nitrite accumulation just below the sunlit zone, with implications for oceanic carbon and nitrogen cycling.

April 10, 2018

Speakers included (l-r) Jay Bradner, president of the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research; Phillip Sharp, MIT Institute Professor; Andrew Plump, chief medical and scientific officer of Takeda; summit organizers and faculty members Regina Barzilay and Dina Katabi from the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield; and Robert Califf, ...

Pioneering digital collaborations

MIT hosts a summit on transformative artificial intelligence technologies in biomedical sciences and health care.

April 10, 2018

A snapshot of a simulation showing a binary black hole formed in the center of a dense star cluster.

Dense stellar clusters may foster black hole megamergers

Black holes in these environments could combine repeatedly to form objects bigger than anything a single star could produce.

April 10, 2018

MIT postdoc Theresa Wilks enjoys time in the DIII-D control room, where she oversees experiments that provide insights about plasma turbulence in fusion tokamaks.

Fine-tuning fusion

Postdoc Theresa Wilks finds home on the west coast, helming an MIT collaboration with the DIII-D tokamak fusion reactor.

April 9, 2018

Timothy Manning Swager has been awarded a 2018 Vannevar Bush Family Fellowship for his project, Complex Smart Colloids.

Timothy Swager receives Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship

The fellowship supports top-tier researchers at U.S. universities whose high-risk, high-payoff work is of strategic importance to the Department of Defense.

April 9, 2018

Researchers have found that a class of molecules called sulfidic anions may have been abundant in Earth’s lakes and rivers.

Brewing up Earth’s earliest life

Large concentrations of sulfites and bisulfites in shallow lakes may have set the stage for Earth’s first biological molecules.

April 8, 2018

A comparison of blood vessels imaged with short-wave fluorescence imaging (right) and near-infrared fluorescence imaging (left). Both images rely on a fluorescent dye called ICG, but the vessels can be seen more clearly with short-wave fluorescence imaging.

Fluorescent dye could enable sharper biological imaging

Technique could allow doctors and researchers to generate clearer images of blood vessels and other tissues.

April 6, 2018

Three brain regions collaborate to produce working memory, but when it reaches capacity, their synchrony breaks down.

A heavy working memory load may sink brainwave 'synch'

Picower Institute study explains what happens when working memory reaches its full capacity.

April 6, 2018

Artist’s view of the young Earth as it is believed to have looked 3.5 billion years ago

Determining the timing of methanogen evolution

Scientists conclude methane-producing microbes date back 3.5 billion years, supporting the hypothesis that they could have contributed to early global warming.

April 4, 2018