NBC News reporter Maggie Fox writes that MIT researchers have developed a stretchy, wet bandage that can deliver medications. The device could “carry a thermometer to continuously measure skin temperature, or tiny devices to keep an eye on blood sugar levels for someone with diabetes.”
Atlantic reporter April Wolfe writes that three MIT materials science and engineering students have developed a washing machine filter that recycles 95% of laundry wastewater. The device filters “the small amount of waste and recycles the clean water and detergent for further cleaning cycles.”
Writing for Popular Science, Lindsey Kratochwill reports that MIT researchers have discovered that the hundreds of eyes on a chiton's shell can see. Kratochwill explains that the researchers hope that by “understanding how these eyes work and the materials that make them up could lead to manmade materials that are both protective and perceptive of their environments.”
Atlantic reporter Ed Yong writes that MIT researchers have found that chitons, a type of mollusk, have a suit of armor dotted with hundreds of eyes that can perceive objects. The researchers found that chitons could “detect the shape of a 20-centimeter fish from a few meters away.”
LiveScience reporter Megan Gannon writes that MIT conservator Jana Dambrogio will virtually unfold a trove of unopened letterlocked notes from the 17th century. The researchers will use techniques like “3D X-ray microtomography to scan the letters and reconstruct the letterlocking strategies,” Gannon explains. “They'll also use scans to detect the ink and reconstruct the text inside.”
MIT researchers have developed a new hydrogel that is 90 percent water, reports Carmen Drahl for Forbes. The new hrydogel “adheres to surfaces like glass, titanium, aluminum, and ceramics with a toughness approximating that of nature’s interfaces between tendons and bone."
MIT researchers have engineered viruses that take advantage of quantum physics, mimicking the process of photosynthesis, to enhance energy transfer, reports Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. The work could result in “solar panels that transmit energy with unprecedented efficiency,” writes Ossola.
Writing for BetaBoston, Nidhi Subbaraman reports that Prof. Polina Anikeeva has received a new grant from DARPA to investigate ways to stimulate specific neurons in the body using fibers or nanoparticles. “Zapping key nerves with a current, ultrasound, or with light is expected to treat a range of conditions,” Subbaraman explains.
Graduate student Eric Arndt discusses his research on the bombardier beetle’s ability to produce a boiling-hot stream of liquid on the PBS program SciTech Now. “Insects, as it turns out, are very good material scientists,” explains Arndt. “Just studying these fundamental systems has the possibility of opening up all kinds of doors in all kinds of industries.”
“A team of researchers from MIT has created sensitive metallic polymers that change color in response to chemical or physical variations in their surroundings,” writes Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. “The gel could be used as a litmus test to detect if particular pollutants are present in an environment.”
An article in The Economist highlights how a number of researchers at MIT are developing new devices to regulate the delivery of drugs within the body. Prof Michael Cima is working on a drug-delivery technology that could be used to treat ovarian cancer.
David Unger of The Christian Science Monitor speaks with Prof. Donald Sadoway about the future of batteries. Sadoway says he views the battery enterprise "as very socially conscious. It would represent a major step in bringing electricity to those who don’t have reliable access to electricity.”
WGBH reporter Mike Deehan writes that MIT will play a key role in a new public-private partnership aimed at expanding the use of photonics in manufacturing. Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet explains that MIT will coordinate the "education and workforce development program for the entire nation in this area.”
According to Matt Kaplan of The Economist, Professor Ju Li has devised a method of producing lithium-ion batteries using nanoparticles. “If the process of making the nanoparticles can be industrialized," writes Kaplan, "then the lifetimes of lithium-ion batteries might be considerably extended.”
A team led by Prof. Michael Cima is developing an implantable sensor that can monitor a tumor’s response to cancer drugs, writes Eric Levenson for Boston.com. “The sensor would function like a long-term medical biopsy, giving doctors a continuous look at how a tumor is developing,” Levenson explains.