MIT researchers have developed a cost-effective, cell analysis method using graphene sheets, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. The new technique could allow “simple sheets of graphene oxide to function as a diagnostics device for medical and biological tests,” Hays explains.
NPR reporter Colin Dwyer writes about the life and work of Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, who died at 86. Dwyer writes that “during her celebrated career, she sought to prepare a path for potential successors — the female scientists whom she mentored and opened doors for across decades.”
Institute Prof. Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, known for her work deciphering the secrets of carbon, died at 86, reports Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. Dresselhaus’ granddaughter Leora Cooper, an MIT graduate student, explained that by being a role model for women in STEM, “she encouraged me to not just see the changes that needed to be made, but to start making them.”
Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, who was known as the “queen of carbon science” and was an advocate for women in STEM, died at 86, reports Mark Anderson for IEEE Spectrum. Dresselhaus “pioneered the study of carbon nanostructures at a time when studying physical and material properties of commonplace atoms like carbon was out of favor.”
In this Wired video, Prof. Anette “Peko” Hosoi explains how she and her team designed a material, inspired by semiaquatic mammals, to help keep surfers warm. “We want to understand the physical mechanisms behind the biological solution and then adapt those mechanisms into engineering design."
MIT researchers have developed a sensor capable of detecting single protein molecules, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. The sensor could be used “to aid efforts to better understand disease and develop drugs. The array could even help scientists engineer human cells to produce therapeutic proteins.”
MIT researchers have created a new strong, yet lightweight material by using a 3-D printer to fuse flakes of graphene into a sponge-like object, reports Nick Kwek for BBC News. “The newfangled product could be used in the construction of airplanes or buildings,” says Kwek.
MIT researchers have used computer models to turn flakes of graphene into 3-D structures, creating one of lightest, strongest materials, writes Nicola Davison for CNN. "Once they combine and fuse together, all the flakes contribute to the strength of the overall structure," research scientist Zhao Qin explains.
Researchers at MIT have fused flakes of graphene into a sponge-like shape, creating one of the strongest lightweight materials, writes James Temperton for Wired. Flakes of graphene were compressed using heat and pressure, then 3-D printers were used to create a “strong, stable structure similar to some corals” for stress tests.
MIT researchers have developed a new ultra-light material that is ten times stronger than steel, reports Tia Ghose for CBS News. Ghose explains that in the future, the material could potentially be used to build bridges, “which would be ultrastrong, lightweight, and insulated against heat and cold because of all the myriad air pockets in the material.”
By fusing graphene into a porous 3-D form, MIT researchers have created a strong, lightweight material, writes Brooks Hays for UPI. “The findings suggest a 3D material's tensile and compressive properties are dependent on the geometry of its structure, not the strength of the 2D material from which it is derived,” explains Hays.
Prof. James Collins has been named one of The Boston Globe’s “2016 Bostonians of the Year” for his work developing a paper-based test that can detect the Zika virus in just a few hours. Neil Swidey notes that Collins also developed a “workflow for how this new platform could be adapted to meet future crises.”
MIT researchers have found that water can stay frozen, even when heated to boiling temperatures, when molecules are placed inside tiny carbon nanotubes, reports Sam Lemonick for Forbes. The researchers hope to use the “ice-filled tubes as wires to move protons,” a key step in creating hydrogen fuel cells.
FOX 25 reporter Elizabeth Hopkins visited the lab of Prof. Michael Strano to learn more about his nanobionic spinach plant research. "What we've done is we've transformed a living plant into a chemical sensor,” Strano says.
Scientists at MIT have developed spinach plants that can detect and alert people about explosives, reports Matthew Gunther for Scientific American. Grad student Min Hao Wong explains that plants are good sensors as “through the transpiration process, plants draw up water and other analytes from the ground, and can accumulate even trace levels of analytes within [their] tissues.”