MIT engineers have developed a way to closely track how plants respond to stresses such as injury, infection, and light damage, using sensors made of carbon nanotubes. These sensors can be embedded in plant leaves, where they report on hydrogen peroxide signaling waves.

One of the most pressing shortages facing hospitals during the Covid-19 emergency is a lack of ventilators. These machines can keep patients breathing when they no longer can on their own, and are quite expensive. Now, a rapidly assembled volunteer team of engineers, physicians, computer scientists, and others, centered at MIT, is working to implement a safe, inexpensive alternative for emergency use, which could be built quickly around the world.

Engineers at MIT have developed a small, mirrored chip that helps to produce dark-field images, without dedicated expensive components. The chip is slightly larger than a postage stamp and as thin as a credit card. When placed on a microscope’s stage, the chip emits a hollow cone of light that can be used to generate detailed dark-field images of algae, bacteria, and similarly translucent tiny objects.

A team of MIT chemists has discovered the structure of a key influenza protein. Their finding could help researchers design drugs that block the protein and prevent the virus from spreading.

With the help of color-changing fibers, MIT researchers develop a mathematical model to predict a knot’s stability. With this model, it should be possible to look at two knots that are almost identical, and be able to say which is the better one.

To cover the demand for batteries need for electromobility and power storage, companies and researchers are increasingly turning their attention to the deep sea. One source of the elements needed for batteries are polymetallic nodules sitting on the deep seabed. A team of scientists has been trying to gain a better understanding the environmental impact of collecting polymetallic nodules.

MIT engineers have developed a way to encapsulate nutrients in a biocompatible polymer, making it easier to use them to fortify foods. The researchers now hope to run clinical trials in developing nations where micronutrient deficiencies are common.

MIT engineers have devised a double-sided adhesive that can be used to seal tissues together. This adhesive binds wet surfaces within seconds and could be used to heal wounds or implant medical devices.

Leornado da Vinci entwarf einst ein Brückenkonzept für das Goldene Horn. Es wäre die längste Brücke seiner Zeit gewesen. Forscher des MIT stellten sich nun die Frage: Hätte dieses Konstruktion wirklich funktioniert?

Researchers at the MIT and the Seoul National University explored quantum tunneling, a phenomenon often used in undergraduate chemistry courses to demonstrate one of the “spookinesses” of quantum mechanics. Their experimental approach is unique, and it has enormous ramifications for future efforts to interrogate molecular structure and dynamics, with the present application affording fundamental insights into the nature of tunneling-mediated phenomena.