A broad class of materials called perovskites is considered one of the most promising avenues for developing new, more efficient solar cells. But the virtually limitless number of possible combinations of these materials’ constituent elements makes the search for promising new perovskites slow and painstaking. Now, a team of researchers at MIT and several other…
Quantum Sensing Method Measures Minuscule Magnetic Fields
A new way of measuring atomic-scale magnetic fields with great precision, not only up and down but sideways as well, has been developed by researchers at MIT. The new tool could be useful in applications as diverse as mapping the electrical impulses inside a firing neuron, characterizing new magnetic materials, and probing exotic quantum physical…
Sorting Cells with Sound Waves
Acoustic device that separates tumor cells from blood cells could help assess cancer’s spread. Researchers from MIT, Pennsylvania State University, and Carnegie Mellon University have devised a new way to separate cells by exposing them to sound waves as they flow through a tiny channel. Their device, about the size of a dime, could be…
Bake Your Own Robot
New algorithms and electronic components could enable printable robots that self-assemble when heated. Read: New Printable Robots Could Self-Assemble when Heated The actuator — which would enable a robot to move — is a foldable coil, which would need to be augmented with a pair of iron cylinders that could be magnetized by an electrical…
Automated ‘Coach’ Could Help with Social Interactions
New software system from MIT could help people improve their conversational and interview skills CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Social phobias affect about 15 million adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and surveys show that public speaking is high on the list of such phobias. For some people, these fears…
A Mighty Wind – Thrusters Powered by Ionic Wind
When a current passes between two electrodes — one thinner than the other — it creates a wind in the air between. If enough voltage is applied, the resulting wind can produce a thrust without the help of motors or fuel. This phenomenon, called electrohydrodynamic thrust — or, more colloquially, “ionic wind” — was first…
Predicted State of Atomic Collapse Seen for First Time
Atomic collapse, a phenomenon first predicted in the 1930s based on quantum mechanics and relativistic physics but never before observed, has now been seen for the first time in an “artificial nucleus” simulated on a sheet of graphene. The observation not only provides confirmation of long-held theoretical predictions, but could also pave the way for…
A Cooler Way to Protect Silicon Surfaces
Silicon, the material of high-tech devices from computer chips to solar cells, requires a surface coating before use in these applications. The coating “passivates” the material, tying up loose atomic bonds to prevent oxidation that would ruin its electrical properties. But this passivation process consumes a lot of heat and energy, making it costly and…
Students Take Control of Satellites on the ISS
What’s it like to operate satellites 260 miles above the Earth’s surface? Now more than 200 high-school students can tell you from experience — and add the engineering feat to their college applications. Last week, MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) hosted its annual Zero Robotics tournament, in which high-school students from the United…
MIT Graduate Student Gives Back to Sierra Leone
David Moinina Sengeh considers himself a lucky man — and one who feels the importance of living every day to the fullest. During Sierra Leone’s fierce civil war, as bands of child-soldiers roamed the country committing murder and mayhem, he and his parents and four siblings escaped unharmed. But his family and friends were not…
Driving Drones Can Be a Drag
On its surface, operating a military drone looks a lot like playing a video game: Operators sit at workstations, manipulating joysticks to remotely adjust a drone’s pitch and elevation, while grainy images from the vehicle’s camera project onto a computer screen. An operator can issue a command to fire if an image reveals a hostile…
Paintballs May Deflect an Incoming Asteroid
In the event that a giant asteroid is headed toward Earth, you’d better hope that it’s blindingly white. A pale asteroid would reflect sunlight — and over time, this bouncing of photons off its surface could create enough of a force to push the asteroid off its course. How might one encourage such a deflection?…
Curiosity Isn’t the Only JPL Project
The car-sized Mars rover Curiosity, which landed on the Red Planet last month, is the biggest, most expensive and most ambitious planetary mission in many years. But it is just one of a sweeping portfolio of past and future missions of pioneering planetary exploration managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., as…