Sperm cells are extremely efficient at swimming against a current
Study may explain how sperm travel long distances, through difficult terrain, to reach an egg.
Department
Mathematics
Seven faculty members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Among 204 elected this year to the prestigious honorary society.
MIT students dominate Putnam Mathematical Competition, winning team event
Four of five top individual finishers, known as “Putnam Fellows,” also hail from MIT.
In the cloud: How coughs and sneezes float farther than you think
Novel study uncovers the way coughs and sneezes stay airborne for long distances.
How electrodes charge and discharge
New MIT analysis probes charge transfer in porous battery electrodes for the first time.
How to beat others to the mathematical punch
New MITx MOOC brings the street fighting approach to solving math problems.
New algorithm can dramatically streamline solutions to the ‘max flow’ problem
Research could boost the efficiency even of huge networks like the Internet.
Getting a move on in math
Marshall Scholar Kirin Sinha is motivating young women to pursue math through dance.
It’s a negative on negative absolute temperatures
New research shows negative absolute temperatures — and perpetual motion machines — are still out of reach.
Crossing disciplines, and international borders
Rhodes Scholar John Mikhael, who calls both the U.S. and Lebanon home, is also comfortable in many scientific fields.
As the world turns: Learning about plate tectonics through on-screen interactions
Created by OEIT's ARTEMiS group, the Plate Tectonics interactive visualization challenges students to interpret a 3-D globe of tectonic data, providing animations of the opening and closing of ocean basins and the splitting of Pangaea.
Michael Sipser named interim dean of the School of Science
Mathematician has been a member of the faculty since 1980 and department head since 2004.
Four MIT seniors win Marshall Scholarships
Kate Koch, Colleen Loynachan, Kirin Sinha, and Grace Young will study for two years in the UK.
John Mikhael ’13 wins Rhodes Scholarship
Recent MIT graduate in mathematics, who has also conducted research in neuroscience, will study at Oxford next year.
Cocktail novelties inspired by nature’s designs
Mechanisms behind water bugs and lilies applied to culinary devices.