Investigating influenza
Flu viruses evolve every year, even within a “flu season.” At MIT, the Shoulders Lab investigated the mechanisms behind influenza virus evolution.
Photovoltaics and solar power
Tonio Buonassisi, the PI at MIT’s Photovoltaics Lab, recently took a trip to the Folgefonna National Park in Norway. There, he hiked across nearly 200 square km of glaciers. Under the crunch of snow with each step he took, he could hear the water rushing below him — more water than was normal for the ebbs and flows of a glacier’s natural lifetime — a constant reminder that his time to act was running out.
Districts and Data
Justin Solomon, Principal Investigator of the Geometric Data Processing Group at MIT, is a prominent member of the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG), a cohort of Boston-based computer scientists and mathematicians that are leveraging modern computing power to study the problem of fairness in redistricting with a level of quantitative rigor that has not been possible until recently.
Fluid intelligence
Artificial intelligence's meaning is vague, and its definition remains fluid as the field evolves. The Tech interviewed three PhD candidates at CSAIL, LIDS and EECS/EEMS/INCCI at MIT on how they interpret the science, and how they work to advance it.
Citizen science
A mysterious object was seen hovering on what seemed to be a perfectly normal day.
The Heavenly Palace falls
A non-operational Chinese space station long expected to fall out of orbit crashed harmlessly into the Pacific last week, but raised concerns about space debris causing damage to orbiting spacecraft.
TESS exoplanet search to start next week
The NASA satellite will search for possible exoplanets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
Perfecting the phosphorous process
Professor Christopher ‘Kit’ Cummins, Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, has been interested in phosphorus and its processing for industrial use for many years. Cummins’ lab is exploring alternative ways and options of optimizing phosphate processing.
Targeting tumors
Immunotherapy research is a burgeoning field that aims to help our own immune systems clear the disease in a personalized manner, and for some individuals, the method shows much promise. However, for others, this approach is ineffective. The Spranger Lab hopes to understand these varying responses to immunotherapy.
Characterizing ancient materials for the modern day
Part of the Masic Group’s current work focuses on analyzing ancient structural materials, hoping to draw inspiration from ancient materials as well as biological ones to inform the production of new materials.
Password managers
Password managers offer a secure way of managing your passwords and credentials for different accounts, by encrypting your data with a master password. They also provide a solution to password reuse, and facilitate the process of generating strong passwords.
MIT iGEM team uses new CRISPR protein to target cancer-causing RNA splicing errors
Students built a construct that has the potential to guide a mutated form of Cas13a to a particular mRNA sequence to prevent incorrect RNA splicing. Further testing is necessary, but if successful, this construct could be used therapeutically in small cell lung cancer.
U.S. senator on ‘science denialism’ in the face of climate change
When discussing climate change, a Republican colleague made sure even his staff was not present when expressing his real opinion for fear of being reported, Whitehouse says.
The new faces of CRISPR
“We went to a DJ Khaled concert when our first paper was published. This time, we went to an all-you-can-eat sushi place.”
Reflecting on the first issue of Nature and science through the ages
Despite decades of scientific advancement that separate us from the researchers in 1869, a quick look at the articles in the first issue of Nature shows that we can still relate to many of the challenges and opportunities scientists faced then.
Organ on a chip: a 3D model for studying endometriosis
To improve understanding of the ways hormones impact the tissue that lines the uterus, bioengineering PhD student Christi Cook has created a 3D tissue culturing system that supports distinct layers of different cell types that can be exposed to hormones in a way that mimics the month-long menstrual cycle.