Chemistry

A Nov. 20 reception honored the MIT faculty receiving this year’s Professor Amar G. Bose Research Grants. The program is named for the late Amar Bose ’51, SM ’52, ScD ’56, a longtime MIT faculty member and the founder of the Bose Corporation. This year’s reception also honored his son, Vanu Bose ’87, SM ’94, PhD ’99, who passed away last month. In his opening remarks, President L. ...

Bose Grants for 2017 reward bold and unconventional research visions

Six potentially paradigm-shifting research projects will make strides with funding from Professor Amar G. Bose Research Grants.

December 14, 2017

MIT scientists have determined the structure of an enzyme that is found in ocean microbes and can produce a precursor to methane.

Researchers establish long-sought source of ocean methane

An abundant enzyme in marine microbes may be responsible for production of the greenhouse gas.

December 7, 2017

A slight mismatch between the hexagonal structures of molybdenum disulfide and tungsten diselenide creates a strain that can be released by the formation of a "5|7 dislocation," in which two hexagons collapse to form a pentagon and a heptagon. Reactions with molybdenum disulfide in the environment cause the dislocation to move deeper into the tungsten diselenide, drawing a nanowire of molybdenum d...

New nanowires are just a few atoms thick

Subnanometer-scale channels in 2-D materials could point toward future electronics, solar cells.

December 4, 2017

Jeremiah Johnson (left) and Tracy Slatyer

Jeremiah Johnson and Tracy Slatyer win 2017 School of Science teaching prizes

Faculty members in chemistry and physics honored for excellence in graduate and undergraduate teaching.

December 1, 2017

Micrographs of a metal surface after impact by metal particles. Craters are formed due to melting of the surface from the impact.

How to get sprayed metal coatings to stick

When spraying metal coatings, melting hurts rather than helps, MIT research reveals.

November 22, 2017

Using a technique called solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, an MIT team found that two cholesterol molecules bind to a flu protein called M2 to sever viral buds from their host cell. The molecular configuration creates an exaggerated wedge shape inside the cell membrane that curves and narrows the neck of the budding virus until the neck breaks.

Cholesterol helps flu virus escape through host cell’s membrane

Study could shed light on how many other proteins bind with membrane cholesterol.

November 20, 2017

The Terzo Millenio, or Third Millennium, concept car from Lamborghini marks an ambitious collaboration between the Italian automaker and researchers at MIT.

MIT researchers collaborate with Lamborghini to develop an electric car of the future

Research from the Dinca and Hart labs, paired with Lamborghini’s “hypercar” concept, will result in the Terzo Millenio, an electric sports car for the third millennium.

November 17, 2017

By organizing pigments on a DNA scaffold, an MIT-led team of researchers has designed a light-harvesting material that closely mimics the structure of naturally occurring photosynthetic structures.

Synthetic circuits can harvest light energy

Novel structures made with DNA scaffolds could be used to create solar-powered materials.

November 13, 2017

Clockwise from top left: Aram Harrow, Benjamin Jones, Scott Kemp, Calvin Leung, Ian Moult, Keith Nelson, Bradley Olsen, Jonathan Loren Ouellet, and Pedro Reis

Twelve from MIT honored by the American Physical Society

Prize winners span six departments in the schools of Science and Engineering.

October 31, 2017

Keith Nelson awarded the Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids

The Izakson Prize is given in recognition of outstanding optical research that leads to breakthroughs in the condensed matter sciences.

October 23, 2017

Members of MIT's panel on the LIGO observation of a merger of neutron stars, (left to right) Anna Frebel, Salvatore Vitale, Nergis Mavalvala, Erik Katsavounidis, and Matthew Evans, pose for a photo at the Oct. 16 event.

MIT researchers discuss the new "multi-messenger" era of astrophysics research

Mavalvala, Evans, Frebel, Katsavounidis, and Vitale discuss the science behind LIGO's observations of a neutron star collision.

October 18, 2017

A new way to harness wasted methane

Approach developed at MIT could help curb needless “flaring” of potent greenhouse gas.

October 17, 2017

Arup K. Chakraborty, the Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering, professor of physics, chemistry, and biological engineering, and a core faculty member at the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine in recognition of his distinguished contributions to medicine and health.

Arup Chakraborty elected to National Academy of Medicine

Recognized for his contributions to health, the distinguished professor is now a member of the national academies of medicine, science, and engineering.

October 16, 2017

This fall's additions for the School of Science faculty: (top, l-r) Ian Crossfield, Joey Davis, Daniel Harlow, Philip Harris, Or Hen; (middle, l-r): Laura Kiessling, Rebecca Lamason, Sebastian Lourido, Ronald Raines; (bottom, l-r): Giulia Saccà, Stefani Spranger, Daniel Suess, Wei Zhang, and Yufei Zhao.

School of Science welcomes new faculty members

This fall brings 14 new professors in the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.

October 10, 2017

JoAnne Stubbe has been awarded the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize for her work illuminating the mechanism of ribonucleotide reductase.

JoAnne Stubbe wins Pearl Meister Greengard Prize

Awarded annually by The Rockefeller University, the award recognizes accomplishments of outstanding women in science.