MIT researchers have developed a new technique that can shrink objects to the nanoscale using a laser, reports Lauren Kent for CNN. Kent explains that the technology “could be applied to anything from developing smaller microscope and cell phone lenses to creating tiny robots that improve everyday life.”
Popular Mechanics reporter David Grossman writes about a new fabrication technique developed by MIT researchers that allows for regular-sized objects to be shrunk down to the nanoscale. Grossman explains that the new method, “takes a technique currently used to make images of brain tissue larger and reverses it.”
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero’s discovery that when graphene is rotated to a “magic angle” it can act as a high-temperature superconductor has been named the Physics World 2018 Breakthrough of the Year. Physics World reporter Hamish Johnston writes that the “discovery led to the development of ‘twistronics’, which is a new and very promising technique for adjusting the electronic properties of graphene.”
MIT researchers have developed a new method to shrink 3-D printed objects, reports Douglas Heaven for New Scientist. The technique can be used to create a wide variety of shapes using different materials. “In the 1970s hobbyists built their own computers at home,” explains Prof. Edward Boyden. “Maybe people can now make their own chips.”
Researchers from the LIGO and Virgo Scientific Collaborations have detected four new black hole collisions, including the largest black hole merger detected, reports Ryan Mandelbaum for Gizmodo. Researchers have begun cataloguing “black hole collisions to tell the broader story about how often these massive crashes occur and what causes them.”
BBC News reporter Jonathan Amos writes that LIGO (operated by MIT and Caltech) and Virgo researchers have detected gravitational waves emanating from the largest black hole merger ever detected. Amos notes the discovery was announced by the collaboration as part of an “expanded catalogue” of detections that “tells us something about the probable future successes of the laser laboratories.”
MIT researchers have developed a new technique to measure cancer cells that provides insight into how certain cells respond to treatment, reports the Xinhua news agency. The findings could be used to help develop new drug targets, making current treatments more effective.
New York Times reporter John Schwartz highlights a study co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanuel that details how, by 2100, areas of the world could face as many as six climate-related crises at once. “Nations, societies in general, have to deal with multiple hazards,” says Emanuel, “and it’s important to put the whole picture together.”
Wired reporter Robbie Gonzalez highlights Prof. David Rand’s research showing that reasoning and critical thinking skills allow people to differentiate between real and fake news. Rand explains that he thinks “social media makes it particularly hard, because a lot of the features of social media are designed to encourage non-rational thinking.”
Prof. Angelika Amon, winner of a 2019 Breakthrough Prize, speaks with Nature about her reaction to winning the prize and her research investigating the consequences of a cell having the wrong number of chromosomes. Amon explains that that next big challenge for her work is to “figure out how these changes in copy number affect cancer.”
Prof. Angelika Amon is honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Breakthrough Prize for her work determining “how extra or missing chromosomes in a person’s genetic makeup can lead to disease,” reports Olivia Vanni for the Boston Herald.
National Geographic reporter Nadia Drake highlights the work of Prof. Angelika Amon, winner of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. “I’m extremely grateful to have been selected,” says Amon. “I’m the representative of all the people who work with me over the years, who this prize is really for—my students and postdocs and trainees, really, they are the winners here.”
Writing for the American History Magazine, Sarah Richardson highlights the trailblazing path of Ellen Swallow Richards. Richardson notes that Swallow Richards was a “one-woman parade of firsts: first female student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first female fellow of the American Association of Mining and Metallurgy, first female professor at MIT.”
Prof. Earl Miller speaks with BuzzFeed reporter Terri Pous about the problems posed by multitasking. When it comes to juggling two tasks like driving and talking on the phone, Miller notes that "when someone is on the phone with you, they have no idea what’s going on in front of you. That’s just plain dangerous for drivers and anyone around them."
MIT researchers have made electrical recordings of individual brain cells, which may provide insight into human intelligence, reports Hannah Osborne of Newsweek. Researchers discovered that human cells have fewer ion channels, which allow electrical currents to enter and exit cells, potentially increasing “the resistance of human dendrites, making the cell better at processing information,” explains Osborne.