Scientists have identified a mechanism by which deep waters may rise to the surface through turbulence generated by underwater topographic features. This finding could help estimate how long the ocean stores carbon in its deepest regions before returning it to the surface.
A new study reveals that ride-sharing is feasible in various cities worldwide, with the potential for sharing autos being more similar than expected. Over 99% of trips in New York and over 97% in San Francisco, Singapore, and Vienna are shareable, highlighting the importance of daily mobility patterns rather than city layout.
Researchers at MIT have created a new system for 3D printing with cellulose acetate, a renewable and biodegradable alternative to traditional plastics. The new process allows for customization and functionalization of the printed parts, making it suitable for various applications including medical devices and sustainable products.
A new study found that chance encounters contribute to variations in human gut microbiome populations, which can influence health and disease outcomes. The researchers used genetically identical worms to model the gut's microbe communities, showing that initial colonization events can lead to dominant populations of bacteria.
The new device, an array of tiny carbon electrodes, measures dopamine levels at millisecond timescales and can be used to monitor therapies aimed at boosting dopamine levels. The researchers found that dopamine levels vary greatly across the striatum, with implications for understanding learning and brain disorders.
A seven-year experiment has confirmed that two photons are indeed exchanged during electron-proton interactions, contradicting theoretical predictions. The OLYMPUS study, led by MIT researchers, used polarized electron beams to measure the intensity of scattered electrons at different angles.
Researchers developed a new method to capture and analyze individual cells from a small sample of blood using graphene oxide sheets. The system demonstrates high efficiency in capturing specific immune cells that are markers for certain cancers, with an estimated production cost of $5 per device.
Excess emissions from Volkswagen's diesel cars sold between 2008 and 2015 will cause approximately 1,200 premature deaths across Europe. The countries hardest hit include Germany, Poland, France, and the Czech Republic.
A new study by MIT researchers finds that firms with high debt levels laid off more workers during the Great Recession, exacerbating unemployment spikes. The research analyzed employment and housing data across the US, revealing a strong link between firm leverage and local unemployment.
A new study by MIT scholars found that voters in the US heavily rely on their pre-existing views when deciding if politicians' statements are true or not. The study used Trump's statements during the 2016 presidential primaries to examine how partisanship and prior beliefs interact with evaluations of objective fact.
Scientists have created a way to measure the heme levels within malaria parasites, which could help develop more effective treatments. The discovery could provide insights into how the parasites control their own heme levels and may lead to the development of new antimalarial drugs that target these mechanisms.
Researchers at MIT have developed a machine that can rapidly produce large quantities of customized peptides in about 37 seconds. This technology could help researchers generate new peptide drugs to test on various diseases and also produces customized cancer vaccines for individual patients.
Researchers have developed a single flexible fiber that can deliver optical, electrical, and chemical signals to the brain, enabling precise recordings of neuronal activity. This breakthrough could provide a significantly more accurate understanding of brain function and interconnections.
The MIT-led project aims to standardize vaccine manufacturing at globally affordable costs by combining automation and reducing labor costs. The goal is to produce vaccines for less than 15 cents a dose, with the potential to make global vaccination more accessible.
Researchers have discovered a drug combination that can regenerate hair cells in the inner ear, offering a potential new way to treat hearing loss. The treatment involves expanding progenitor cells and stimulating them to become mature hair cells.
Researchers at MIT have designed a power converter that maintains efficiency across a wide range of current levels, reducing resting power consumption by 50%. The converter uses a variable clock and advanced control circuitry to accommodate high-power transmissions, enabling new possibilities for energy-harvesting devices.
A new study by MIT Professor César Hidalgo and colleagues found that the complexity of a country's exports is a strong predictor of its level of economic equality. The researchers analyzed data from 1996 to 2008 and found that countries with more diverse export portfolios and higher technological infrastructure tend to have greater inc...
A new study maps where US patients appear more ill than they are, highlighting the impact of diagnostic intensity on population health. Researchers found that areas with more aggressive medical practices tend to have higher health scores, while less aggressive areas have lower scores.
Researchers at MIT developed a method to produce high-resolution images of individual biomolecules without requiring crystallization. The technique uses nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond crystals to detect tiny variations in magnetic fields, achieving resolutions up to 100 times higher than conventional methods.
Scientists have observed the first time a star pulsates in response to its orbiting planet, HAT-P-2b. The star's brightness oscillates ever so slightly every 87 minutes, suggesting that the massive exoplanet may periodically distort its star, causing it to flare or pulse.
Researchers have developed new iron oxide nanoparticles with zwitterion coating that can produce similar MRI contrast to gadolinium-based agents without the risk of adverse effects. The particles are water-soluble, compact and biocompatible, making them a potential safer substitute for current contrast agents.
Researchers designed a novel genetic switch that shuts down competing metabolic pathways in bacteria, allowing for increased production of glucaric acid and other chemicals. The switch uses quorum sensing to autonomously control the cells' growth, enabling efficient production without adding new chemicals or changing process conditions.
Researchers at MIT have developed a new portable technology called Seq-Well, which enables rapid analysis of large numbers of cells for single-cell RNA sequencing. This breakthrough allows scientists to easily identify different cell types found in tissue samples, facilitating the study of immune cell responses and cancer treatment.
A new chip designed by MIT researchers has the potential to make voice control ubiquitous in electronics, offering significant power savings. The chip's ability to minimize memory bandwidth and compress weights associated with each node enables efficient speech recognition, making it practical for relatively simple electronic devices.
A team of scientists has released the largest collection of observations made with radial velocity to be used for hunting exoplanets. The dataset includes almost 61,000 measurements of more than 1,600 nearby stars and has detected over 100 potential exoplanets, including one orbiting GJ 411.
The team estimated the solar nebula's lifetime using ancient meteorites that formed 4.653 billion years ago, suggesting it disappeared within the first 4 million years of the solar system's formation. The findings indicate that gas giants Jupiter and Saturn must have formed early in the solar system's history.
Physicists have demonstrated quantum entanglement using ancient photons from stars, closing the freedom-of-choice loophole and supporting the concept of 'spooky action at a distance'. The experiment uses highly entangled pairs of photons produced on the roof of a laboratory in Vienna, shot towards detectors several city blocks away.
MIT researchers incorporated human strategies into automatic planners, achieving significant improvements in performance. By encoding high-level strategies from skilled human planners, they improved the performance of competition-winning algorithms on complex planning problems.
Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a small voltaic cell powered by acidic stomach fluids, generating enough energy to run small sensors or drug delivery devices. This innovation could offer a safer and lower-cost alternative to traditional batteries.
A team at MIT has probed the mechanical properties of a sulfide-based solid electrolyte material, determining its potential for use in all-solid-state batteries. The research found that the material exhibits a combination of properties similar to silly putty or salt water taffy, showing promise in energy density and safety.
Researchers at MIT have developed transparent hydrogel robots that can perform fast, forceful tasks, including catching and releasing a live fish. The robots are nearly invisible underwater due to their similar visual and acoustic properties to water.
Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a new variation of a popular open-source compiler that optimizes before adding code necessary for parallel execution. This approach results in more-efficient parallel programs, surpassing existing compilers.
A recent MIT study reveals that online retail prices often match those in stores, with prices converging at around 72% of the time. The study examines data from 10 major countries and suggests that companies aim to appear 'fair' by maintaining consistent prices.
Researchers at MIT's Sloan Neuroeconomics Lab have developed a new method to extract correct answers from large groups of people, reducing errors in crowd wisdom surveys. The 'surprisingly popular' algorithm uses the variation between individual responses and predicted popular opinion to identify the correct answer.
Researchers at MIT have developed sensors that can detect single protein molecules, enabling the tracking of viral infection, monitoring cellular manufacturing of proteins, and revealing food contamination. The sensors utilize chemically modified carbon nanotubes coated with DNA aptamers, which can bind to specific target proteins.
Researchers at MIT and Boston College developed a new type of catalyst that can incorporate trifluoromethyl groups into various organic molecules. This breakthrough enables the rapid generation of potential new fluorinated drugs, including antibiotics and anticancer agents.
A new system was presented at the Association for Computing Machinery's Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages that automatically handles database caching in web applications written in Ur/Web. This system offers twofold to 30-fold speedups in experiments involving two websites.
Data Civilizer aggregates scattered data from various files, creating unified datasets for analysis. The system identifies commonalities between columns and traverses a map to find related data, enabling users to compose queries and save results.
Researchers at MIT found no evidence of dematerialization in 56 materials and goods, despite technological improvements. Despite increased efficiency, consumer demand for products continues to outpace material usage.
The new data from the SMAP satellite is providing significant surprises that will help in the modeling of climate, forecasting of weather, and monitoring of agriculture around the world. The topsoil's 'memory' for weather anomalies persists for a matter of days, contrary to expectations.
Researchers at MIT used a modified MRI scanner to scan the brains of awake babies while watching movies, finding that brain regions responding to faces and scenes in adults are also active in infants. The study suggests that there may be a stronger biological predisposition for specific cortical regions to end up with specific functions.
Researchers at MIT have found that some catalysts produce oxygen from within their crystal structure, contrary to previous assumptions. The study's findings could help fine-tune metal-oxide catalysts for enhanced energy storage processes.
A new computational model reveals a winner-take-all operation is enabled by a configuration of inhibitory neurons. The model, developed by MIT researchers, uses theoretical computer science to prove that a specific arrangement of inhibitory neurons is necessary for the operation.
Researchers find that methane and other short-lived greenhouse gases impact sea levels for hundreds of years after being cleared from the atmosphere, with some effects even more long-lasting. The study highlights the importance of understanding climate change duration and its consequences for coastal regions.
Researchers at MIT have designed a strong and lightweight material by compressing graphene flakes into sponge-like configurations, achieving 10 times the strength of steel while maintaining a low density of just 5%. The new material's unusual geometric configuration is key to its exceptional properties.
A new study predicts that California will experience three more extreme precipitation events per year by 2100 as the Earth's climate warms. The researchers developed a technique to identify large-scale patterns in atmospheric data, significantly reducing uncertainty in extreme storm predictions.
A new study suggests that reduced neural adaptation in people with dyslexia may underlie their difficulty learning to read. This reduced plasticity affects not only reading but also other perceptual tasks, indicating a broader impact on the brain.
MIT engineers analyzed a simple vehicle-platooning scenario and found that relatively simple scheduling policies can save fuel and minimize delays for autonomous vehicle fleets. The findings may also apply to conventional long-distance trucking and ride-sharing services.
A new approach by researchers at MIT offers a way to make movable parts with no solid connections between the pieces, potentially eliminating wear and failure. The system uses a layer of liquid droplets to support a tiny, movable platform, which can be controlled electrically.
Researchers developed an algorithm that extracts diverse subsets from large data sets, improving machine learning efficiency and diversity. The new method is 1 billion times faster than existing algorithms, enabling real-time analysis of vast amounts of data.