Developing countries

A woman carrying a Khethworks solar panel. The efficiency of Khethworks' groundwater pump enables it to be powered by smaller panels, making the system portable.

A new way to irrigate crops year-round

Startup Khethworks is deploying solar-powered pumps to help poor farmers in India irrigate crops all year long.

January 10, 2020

Illustration of patch with microneedles being applied to skin

Storing medical information below the skin’s surface

Specialized invisible dye, delivered along with a vaccine, could enable “on-patient” storage of vaccination history to save lives in regions where paper or digital records aren’t available.

December 18, 2019

Jose Gomez-Marquez holding an open glucometer prototype at MIT Little Devices Lab

A closer look at the diabetes disaster

In a new book, Amy Moran-Thomas examines how diabetes is reaching epidemic levels in countries across the world.

December 17, 2019

MIT engineers have designed a capsule that unfolds in the stomach after being swallowed, and can gradually deliver one month’s worth of a contraceptive drug. Pictured here is the preclinical version tested in a new MIT study.

Monthly birth control pill could replace daily doses

Long-lasting capsule can remain in the stomach and release contraceptive drugs over several weeks.

December 4, 2019

Researchers have used silk derived from ordinary silkworm cocoons, like those seen here, mixed with bacteria and nutrients, to make a coating for seeds that can help them germinate and grow even in salty soil.

Coated seeds may enable agriculture on marginal lands

A specialized silk covering could protect seeds from salinity while also providing fertilizer-generating microbes.

November 25, 2019

The fourth annual Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) featured four grand prize winners. Here members of all the winning organizations pose with IIC organizers.

Inclusive Innovation Challenge recognizes startups improving the future of work

Competition awards entrepreneurs from around the world working to ensure technological progress brings greater prosperity.

November 22, 2019

“A lot of what has defined my time at MIT has been the different things that I’ve been able to get involved in,” says senior Adedoyin Olateru-Olagbegi.

Exploring the human side of health care

Senior and “people person” Adedoyin Olateru-Olagbegi brings a human touch to caring for people dealing with medical crises.

November 20, 2019

Left to right: chief innovation officer for the newly created Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone and alumnus David Sengeh PhD '15, EECS student Michal Reda, Minister of Tertiary and Higher Education of Sierra Leone Aiah Gbakima, and MISTI-Africa participant and physics and mechanical engineering alumnus Mgcini "Keith" Phuthi ’19.

Expanding education: From Africa to Cambridge and back again

Mgcini "Keith" Phuthi ’19, a native Zimbabwean, uses his experiences at MIT to develop improvements in education policy in Sierra Leone through MISTI-Africa.

November 18, 2019

MIT engineers have developed a way to encapsulate nutrients in a biocompatible polymer, making it easier to use them to fortify foods.

Microparticles could help fight malnutrition

New strategy for encapsulating nutrients makes it easier to fortify foods with iron and vitamin A.

November 13, 2019

In a new method to produce hydrogen peroxide portably, an electrolyzer (left) splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen atoms initially form in an electrolyte material (green), which transfers them to a mediator material (red), which then carries them to a separate unit where the mediator comes in contact with oxygen-rich water (blue), where the hydrogen combines with it to form hydrogen...

New process could make hydrogen peroxide available in remote places

MIT-developed method may lead to portable devices for making the disinfectant on-site where it’s needed.

October 23, 2019

Senior Danielle Gleason (right) speaks with Goretti Ariago (center) and Salume Awiyo (left), employees of Appropriate Energy Saving Technologies, in Soroti, Uganda. Gleason has made two trips to Uganda to help streamline the production of charcoal briquettes which offer a low-smoke alternative for home cooking fuel.

Scaling up a cleaner-burning alternative for cookstoves

Mechanical engineering students in MIT D-Lab are working with collaborators in Uganda on a solution for the health hazards associated with wood-burning stoves.

October 22, 2019

MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo stand outside their home after learning that they have been named co-winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in economic sciences. They will share the prize with Michael Kremer of Harvard University.

MIT economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee win Nobel Prize

Professors share prize with Michael Kremer of Harvard University, are cited for breakthrough antipoverty work.

October 14, 2019

Bridging the information gap in solar energy

PhD student Elise Harrington studies the ways rural communities in Kenya and India learn about solar energy products and their options as consumers.

September 19, 2019

Left: A water sample undergoing testing using the J-WAFS-funded water quality test kit soon to be deployed throughout Nepal. Right: Citrus trees infected with citrus greening disease are highly contagious and can wipe out whole orange groves. A J-WAFS-funded sensor could help farmers detect the disease much earlier.

J-WAFS announces 2019 Solutions Grants supporting agriculture and clean water

Projects address access to clean water in Nepal via wearable E. coli test kits, improving the resilience of commercial citrus groves, and more.

September 17, 2019

Professor John Sterman displays maps showing the consequences of sea-level rise on various coastal cities, as part of the “SimPlanet” event at MIT.

Reaching climate solutions through negotiation

At “SimPlanet” event, students test-drive new computer simulation to reveal outcomes of different policy decisions.

September 6, 2019

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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