Scientists at MIT have developed spinach plants that can detect and alert people about explosives, reports Matthew Gunther for Scientific American. Grad student Min Hao Wong explains that plants are good sensors as “through the transpiration process, plants draw up water and other analytes from the ground, and can accumulate even trace levels of analytes within [their] tissues.”
CBS News reporter Brian Mastroianni writes that MIT researchers have engineered spinach plants to serve as sensors by embedding the leaves with carbon nanotubes. Mastroianni explains that the researchers feel this work shows that “plants could ultimately serve as great collaborators in helping people better understand the environment around them.”
Washington Post reporter Sarah Kaplan writes that MIT researchers have developed bionic spinach plants that can detect explosives. Kaplan explains that the researchers were able to “turn plants into bomb-sniffing machines with the help of tiny cylinders of carbon that can detect ‘nitroaromatics’ — chemical compounds often used in explosives.”
Kate Samuelson writes for TIME that MIT engineers have created a method for turning spinach plants into bomb detectors that can wirelessly transmit warning signals. The research "opens the door to the use of wild-type plants for infrared communication in wide areas, and real-time monitoring of environments,” explains Samuelson.
MIT researchers have created bomb-detecting spinach by embedding fluorescent nanoparticles into the plant’s leaves, The Guardian reports. Plants are ideal for this detection system because they “have built-in power sources and are able to move fluids around very efficiently,” explains Prof. Michael Strano.
BBC News reporter Paul Rincon writes that by embedding carbon nanotubes into spinach leaves, MIT researchers have created plants that can detect explosives. “The plants could be used for defense applications, but also to monitor public spaces for terrorism related activities,” explains Prof. Michael Strano.
A device created by CSAIL researchers can detect emotions by wirelessly measuring heartbeats, according to the Associated Press. The device is “87 percent accurate in using heartrate and what it’s already learned about a person to recognize joy, pleasure, sadness or anger.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine a person’s mood using wireless signals, write Jordan Graham and Donna Goodison for The Boston Herald. “We view this work as the next step in helping develop computers that can better understand us at an emotional level,” explains Mingmin Zhao.
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine emotion by analyzing reflections from wireless signals bounced off the human body, writes Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. “Because it can measure heart rate, it might also be a less invasive way for doctors to monitor patient's heartbeats, potentially watching for conditions like arrhythmias,” writes Griggs.
Matt McFarland writes for CNN that CSAIL researchers have developed a non-invasive device that uses radio waves to detect human emotion. "Imagine if the machines around you can understand when you are stressed or your emotional state is negative,” explains Prof. Dina Katabi."[It could] try to detect depression."
A new WiFi system developed by CSAIL researchers is three times faster than a normal wireless network, writes Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. The new system allows transmitters “to work together and make sure that they’re sending information that isn’t clashing to each device,” explains Tamblyn.
In an article for Forbes, Kevin Murnane writes that a new system developed by MIT researchers significantly improves WiFi performance. Murnane writes that the system “could be used at locations like concert halls and sports stadiums to eliminate the poor WiFi performance people often experience in these venues.”
Matt McFarland writes for CNN that CSAIL researchers have created a new system that can transfer wireless data 3.3 times faster than usual. McFarland explains that to increase the speed of data transfer, researchers “developed algorithms that process a router's signal so that multiple routers can send information on the same wireless spectrum without causing interference.”
Fortune reporter David Morris writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique for producing temporary tattoos that can serve as computer interfaces. The researchers “used gold leaf to construct a range of sensing surfaces for capacitive touch input, conductors for heat-sensitive displays, and antennae for short-range wireless communications.”
Researchers from Prof. Timothy Swager’s group have created sensors that detect trace amounts of toxic gases, writes Janet Burns for Forbes. The sensor can benefit the U.S. military’s current initiative for the development of wearable equipment, which includes flexible armor and body sensors, writes Burns.