Prof. Donald Sadoway explains the benefits of battery storage in an Associated Press article about energy storage in Arizona. “Absent battery storage, the whole value proposition of intermittent renewable energy makes no sense at all…People just don’t understand that the battery will do for electricity what refrigeration did to our food supply.”
Writing for Scientific American, Prof. Bob Langer examines how breakthroughs in biotechnology and materials science are enabling more personalized and effective treatments for patients. Langer highlights how by “engineering polymers that offer smart delivery systems, we can target specific parts of the body. This limits exposure and therefore adverse effects, offering more effective and precise treatment.”
Researchers from a number of institutions, including MIT, are exploring the feasibility of cold fusion, reports Steven Salzberg for Forbes. The researchers explained that while they were unable to successfully produce cold fusion, their exploration of this topic “is likely to have a substantial impact on future energy technologies.”
National Geographic reporter Michael Greshko writes about a new effort by researchers from a number of institutions, including MIT, to reassess the possibility of cold fusion. Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang explains that he hopes to be able to create a “‘reference experiment’ for other labs to also advance research into lower-energy nuclear physics.”
Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard memorializes the life and work of senior lecturer emeritus James D. Livingston. Marquard notes that Livingston and his wife, Dr. Sherry H. Penney, “together left a professional legacy that stretched from Boston to Albany, from academia to private industry, from classrooms to boardrooms.”
Writing for Quanta Magazine, David Freedman spotlights Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero’s discovery that when twisted to a “magic” angle, graphene can act as a semiconductor. Freedman writes that the “discovery has given scientists a relatively simple platform for exploring exotic quantum effects.”
Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson spotlights Prof. Neri Oxman’s work developing 3-D printed sculptures filled with melanin, the pigment that colors our skin and hair. Wilson writes that Oxman’s work shows how melanin could potentially be used in buildings to protect inhabitants for the elements, generate energy or absorb unwanted environmental materials.
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero speaks with Gizmodo reporter Ryan Mandelbaum about his work showing that when twisted to the right angle, graphene can serve as an insulator or semiconductor. “This sort of field of ‘twistronics’ is something with great potential in terms of scientific discovery and intellectual interest,” Jarillo-Herrero explains.
Prof. Polina Anikeeva speaks with Forbes contributor Poornima Peiris about her work developing materials that could be used to help explore and better understand the brain and nervous system. “I am not interested in just improving things, I want to work on innovative ideas,” says Anikeeva.
Wired reporter Matt Jancer writes about Embr Wave, a wearable device developed by several MIT alumni, which helps users regulate their body temperature. Jancer notes that a button on the Wave “turns it hotter or colder, and when it heats up or cools, your inner wrist you feel as if you turned on a personal thermostat only for you.”
MIT researchers found that the silicone gloves football players wear are 20 percent stickier than a human hand, reports David Waldstein for The New York Times. Prof. Anette Hosoi explained that the “key to their performance was how soft and deformable the silicone is, meaning it covers and adheres to the tiniest variations on the surface of the ball,” writes Waldstein.
WCVB-TV’s Mike Wankum visits MIT to learn more about Prof. Nicholas Fang’s work developing a new film that can be coated on windows and can block up to 70 percent of incoming solar heat. Wankum explains that the film “could lead to a future with less need for air conditioning.”
Nature reporter Elizabeth Gibney spotlights Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero’s discovery that graphene can act as a superconductor when twisted to a magic angle. “I haven’t seen this much excitement in the graphene field since its initial discovery,” said ChunNing Jeanie Lau, a professor at Ohio State University, of the impact of Jarillo-Herrero’s findings.
Prof. Donald Sadoway speaks with CBC News reporter Paul Hunter about his work developing a rechargeable battery that is big enough to power an entire neighborhood, and uses liquid metals and molten salt. Hunter writes that “Sadoway's invention is radically different from anything else in the market.”
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero’s discovery that when graphene is rotated to a “magic angle” it can act as a high-temperature superconductor has been named the Physics World 2018 Breakthrough of the Year. Physics World reporter Hamish Johnston writes that the “discovery led to the development of ‘twistronics’, which is a new and very promising technique for adjusting the electronic properties of graphene.”