Harry Potter had Magic. We have Metamaterials.
Metamaterials are artificially engineered materials. Scientists create them by combining multiple elements from composite materials such as metal and dielectric. The result is an entirely new material with properties not found in nature.
Chip upgrade helps miniature drones navigate
Researchers at MIT, who last year designed a tiny computer chip tailored to help miniature drones navigate, have now shrunk their chip design even further, in both size and power consumption.
Aeolus Satellite Nearing Launch into Atmosphere
Aeolus, A.K.A. Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus, is an Earth observation satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space that is planned to launch in September 2018. The Aeolus satellite carries a laser for wind measurement. The information collected by the Aeolus Satellite is useful not only for weather forecasting but also to help us better understand atmospheric conditions and climate.
Satellite Conducts Study on Chinese Pollution
Chinese pollution has smothered China’s cities in recent decades. In response, the Chinese government has implemented measures to clean up its skies. But are those policies effective? Now an innovative study co-authored by an MIT scholar shows that one of China’s key antipollution laws is indeed working
Electronic Textiles Remotely Control Home Appliances
Electronic textiles could allow a person to control household appliances or computers from a distance simply by touching a wristband or other item of clothing — something that could be particularly helpful for those with limited mobility. Now researchers, reporting in ACS Nano, have developed a new type of electronic textiles that is self-powered, highly sensitive and washable.
Graphene Foam Sculpted into Conductive 3D Carbon Blocks
Rice scientists are making 3D laser-induced graphene (LIG) foam through an automated process that begins by turning the top layer of a polyimide (PI) sheet into graphene (top), stacking another layer on top (center) with ethylene glycol (EG) as a binder and then burning the top layer’s PI into graphene as well (bottom). The process is repeated as necessary. Courtesy of the Tour Group
Graphene Electrodes Enable Higher Quality Brain Cell Imaging
Graphene electrodes could enable higher quality imaging of brain cell activity thanks to new research by a team of engineers and neuroscientists at the University of California San Diego. The researchers developed a technique, using platinum nanoparticles, to lower the impedance of graphene electrodes by 100 times while keeping them transparent.
Coral-Shaped Nanoparticles Built Using Engineered Peptoids
Coral-shaped nanoparticles built by design using engineered peptoids. Scientists manipulate shapes while enhancing optical properties of tiny particles.Researchers have long worked to address a grand challenge in synthesis science: to design and synthesize bio-inspired functional materials that rival those found in biology.
Farthest Individual Star Ever Seen
More than halfway across the universe, an enormous blue star nicknamed Icarus is the farthest individual star ever seen. Normally, it would be much too faint to view, even with the world’s largest telescopes. Through a quirk of nature that tremendously amplifies the star’s feeble glow, however, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope were able to pinpoint this faraway star. They also used Icarus to test a theory of dark matter, and to probe the makeup of a foreground galaxy cluster.
Probiotic bacteria can diagnose, prevent, and treat infections
MIT engineers have developed a probiotic mix of natural and engineered a probiotic bacteria to diagnose and treat cholera, an intestinal infection that causes severe dehydration. Cholera outbreaks are usually caused by contaminated drinking water, and infections can turn fatal if not treated.
Magnetic 3D Printing Biomedical Devices
MIT engineers have created soft, 3D-printed structures whose movements can be controlled with a wave of a magnet, much like marionettes without the strings. The menagerie of structures that can be magnetically manipulated includes a smooth ring that wrinkles up, a long tube that squeezes shut, a sheet that folds itself, and a spider-like “grabber” that can crawl, roll, jump, and snap together fast enough to catch a passing ball.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy Improvements
Cellectis, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies based on gene edited CAR T-cells (UCART), today announced the publication of a study in Scientific Reports, a Nature Publishing Group journal, describing the development of the CubiCAR, an all-in-one Chime
