In an article for Popular Science, Kate Baggaley highlights Prof. Markus Buehler’s work developing materials that mimic a conch shell’s armor. “The actual material doesn’t matter—it’s the way the material is built together in forming these architectures,” explains Buehler.
Aaron Schrank reports for Marketplace that the textile industry is experiencing a revival as it creates more technologically advanced fabrics. Schrank highlights the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Institute, led by Prof. Yoel Fink, where researchers have developed programmable backpacks that should be able to “send you an email when they get lost."
Inverse reporter Dan Robitzski writes that MIT researchers have created a new gel-like coating that can be used to make medical devices feel more natural. The researchers, “developed the hydrogels to manufacture products that feel like the part of the body they contact — say, a catheter that feels like the inside of a urethra.”
Boston Magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme writes that MIT researchers have developed a new gel-like coating that can be used on medical devices like catheters and IV tubes to reduce friction and ease patient discomfort. The substance, “can be moved, stretched, and twisted without breaking, “Ducharme explains, and also, “acts as a lubricant for the objects it coats.”
MIT researchers have developed a laser sensing technique that can decipher the makeup of space debris orbiting around Earth, reports Alex Kingsbury for The Boston Globe. Knowing what material the debris is made of, “will allow for more precise calculations of momentum, velocity, and the danger they may pose to other objects aloft in orbit,” explains Kingsbury.
This CNN video highlights the new programmable backpack unveiled during the grand opening of the AFFOA headquarters in Cambridge. MIT alumnus Tairan Wang, COO of AFFOA, explains that the backpack is made with a programmable fabric that allows users to share information. The technology addresses how people initially connect, Wang explains.
The launch of the AFFOA headquarters featured demos of two new smart fabrics, including a programmable backpack and fabric that uses LED lights to stream information to the wearer, writes Donna Goodison for the Boston Herald. Prof. Yoel Fink, AFFOA’s CEO, explains that, “the way to changing what fabrics are involves changing what fibers are.”
Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray writes that at the launch of the AFFOA headquarters, researchers unveiled smart fabrics that can send messages, tune in audio signals and more. Bray writes that Prof. Yoel Fink, CEO of AFFOA, explained that “because the new fibers can process data like a computer…engineers will be able to develop an endless array of ways to use it.”
Zeninjor Enwemeka reports for WBUR on the opening of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) headquarters, during which the center’s first fabric products were unveiled. Enwemeka explains the, “big idea here is to develop fabrics that provide services. The folks at AFFOA think fabrics are the next software.”
Tangible Media Group researchers have created shape-shifting, edible pasta, writes Grace Williams for Fox News. The pasta, which transforms from a flat sheet into 3-D shapes, could cut packaging and shipping costs for “large supermarkets, mountain hikers and Mars travelers, or whoever has the need of saving shipping spaces,” says former MIT graduate student Lining Yao.
MIT was named the top university in the world for the sixth consecutive year in the QS World University Rankings, reports Kyle Scott Clauss for Boston Magazine.
Reporting for WGBH about new technologies that can help reduce carbon emissions, Heather Goldstone spotlights how Media Lab researchers have developed shape-changing noodles that transform from a flat sheet of gelatin into 3-D shapes when dropped in water. “Those flat sheets can be shipped more efficiently,” explains Goldstone.
Wen Wang, a former grad student and research scientist, speaks with Janelle Nanos of The Boston Globe about the shape-shifting noodles she and her colleagues engineered. The technique, which transforms a flat sheet of noodles into 3-D shapes, could reduce food shipping costs and could eventually be used to feed astronauts. “You can save space in space,” explains Wang.
In this video, CNN highlights how researchers from the MIT Media Lab have developed shape-changing noodles. The noodles transform from a flat sheet into 3-D shapes when submerged in water, and could cut down on shipping costs and environmental waste.
Popular Science reporter Rachel Feltman writes that MIT researchers have developed shape-changing noodles that transform from a flat sheet into 3-D shapes when submerged in water. Feltman explains that by packing pasta in flat sheets, “manufacturers could cut packaging sizes in half—cutting down on wasted cardboard and shipping container space.”