NASA

A surging glacier in the St. Elias Mountains, Canada.

Tiny sand grains trigger massive glacial surges

New model answers longstanding question of how these sudden flows happen; may expand understanding of Antarctic ice sheets.

June 12, 2020

Researchers at MIT, the University of Oklahoma, and elsewhere, with the help of citizen scientists, have identified a brown dwarf with a disk that is the youngest of its kind within about 100 parsecs of Earth. The brown dwarf, named W1200-7845 and depicted in this image, appears to have the kind of disk that could form planets.

Citizen scientists spot closest young brown dwarf disk yet

Discovery made through the Disk Detective project could help the search for new planets.

June 2, 2020

MIT researchers find that extratropical storm tracks — the blue regions of storminess in the Earth's middle latitudes — would change significantly with solar geoengineering efforts.

Study: Reflecting sunlight to cool the planet will cause other global changes

Solar geoengineering proposals will weaken extratropical storm tracks in both hemispheres, scientists find.

June 2, 2020

A machine-learning technique developed at MIT combs through global ocean data to find commonalities between marine locations, based on interactions between phytoplankton species. Using this approach, researchers have determined that the ocean can be split into over 100 types of “provinces,” and 12 “megaprovinces,” that are distinct in their ecological makeup.

Machine learning helps map global ocean communities

An MIT-developed technique could aid in tracking the ocean’s health and productivity.

May 29, 2020

MIT researchers have discovered a phenomenon that could be harnessed to control the movement of tiny particles floating in suspension. This approach, which requires simply applying an external electrical field, may ultimately lead to new ways of performing certain industrial or medical processes that require separation of tiny suspended materials.

Study finds electrical fields can throw a curveball

Particle-scale phenomenon akin to the swerving of a curveball could allow selective separation of suspended nanomaterials.

May 26, 2020

To ensure the best coverage of our solar system, MIT Assistant Professor Richard Linares envisions a constellation of "statites" that communicate and work together, only activating the statite in the optimum position to fly by or rendezvous with an interstellar object successfully. Other statites in the constellation can continue to wait for the next ISO to appear.

To catch an interstellar visitor, use a solar-powered space slingshot

MIT research proposal for rendezvous missions with interstellar objects selected for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program.

May 6, 2020

“We can have any commercially available electronic parts embedded within the textiles that we wear every day, creating conformable garments,” says Canan Dagdeviren, the LG Electronics Career Development Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT.

Sensors woven into a shirt can monitor vital signs

Comfortable, form-fitting garments could be used to remotely track patients’ health.

April 23, 2020

Samuel Birch joins MIT as a recipient of this year’s Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship.

Titan’s missing river deltas and an Earthly climate connection

Samuel Birch, a new Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellow at MIT, will investigate the surfaces of outer solar system objects.

April 8, 2020

New “refrigerator” super-cools molecules to nanokelvin temperatures

Technique may enable molecule-based quantum computing.

April 8, 2020

I expected to feel lonely during my six months in space, but it was quite the opposite. Having a daily sense of purpose, countless tasks and experiments to perform, and communication with people all over the world provided so much engagement with the world that loneliness was not a factor. There are some lessons here, perhaps, for everyone who now has to stay at home during this crisis. — Greg C...

A message from MIT astronauts: Accept the mission and find your motivators

To help us navigate this time of social distancing, three MIT astronauts share lessons of isolated living aboard the International Space Station.

March 24, 2020

This artist's rendition depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying rocks with its robotic arm.

Mars 2020: The search for ancient life is on

Researchers in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences will help direct Mars 2020 rover sample acquisition.

February 21, 2020

MIT researchers have devised a framework for deciding which type of mission would be most successful in deflecting an incoming asteroid, taking into account an asteroid’s mass and momentum, its proximity to a gravitational keyhole, and the amount of warning time that scientists have of an impending collision.

How to deflect an asteroid

MIT engineers devise a decision map to identify the best mission type to deflect an incoming asteroid.

February 18, 2020

NASA's newest astronauts participate in a graduation ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Left to right: NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, CSA astronaut Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons, NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Kayla Barron, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara, Zena Cardman, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Bob Hines, and W...

Three from MIT graduate from NASA astronaut training

Chari, Hoburg, and Moghbeli, all with ties to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, among the first class to graduate under agency’s Artemis program.

January 22, 2020

A new analysis of moon rocks pins down the end of the lunar dynamo, the process by which the moon once generated a magnetic field.

Scientists pin down timing of lunar dynamo’s demise

Findings suggest the moon’s magnetic field was produced by the fallout of a crystallizing iron core.

January 1, 2020

An aerial view of Las Tintoreras, Isla Isabela in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

How long will a volcanic island live?

Plate tectonics and mantle plumes set the lifespan of volcanic islands like Hawaii and the Galapagos.