Vanishing friction
In tuning friction to the point where it disappears, technique could boost development of nanomachines.
DNA breakage underlies both learning, age-related damage
Process that allows brains to learn and remember also leads to degeneration with age.
A check on runaway lake drainage
Draining lakes are unlikely to increase the Greenland ice sheet’s contribution to sea-level rise.
Bringing biochemistry to life with color
Senior biology and chemistry major Daniel Zhang helps build noninvasive cancer diagnostic tools.
A new tool measures the distance between phonon collisions
Tabletop setup provides more nuanced picture of heat production in microelectronics.
Circular orbits identified for small exoplanets
Observations of 74 Earth-sized planets around distant stars may narrow field of habitable candidates.
Researchers find “lost” memories
Scientists use optogenetics to reactivate memories that could not otherwise be retrieved.
How we make emotional decisions
Neuroscientists identify a brain circuit that controls decisions that induce high anxiety.
Measuring hot electrons
MIT graduate student Qiong Ma is uncovering electrical properties of graphene-based devices using laser-light stimulation.
Advance in quantum error correction
Protocol corrects virtually all errors in quantum memory, but requires little measure of quantum states.
Seeking deeper understanding of how the brain works
Edward Boyden develops techniques to study the brain, and how it operates, in finer detail.