New research has shown that an exotic kind of magnetic behavior discovered just a few years ago holds great promise as a way of storing data — one that could overcome fundamental limits that might otherwise be signaling the end of “Moore’s Law,” which describes the ongoing improvements in computation and data storage over recent […]
Benoit Forget: Unraveling Complexities Of Nuclear Reactors
In order to devise new designs for safer, more efficient nuclear reactors, it is essential to be able to simulate the reactors’ performance at a very high level of detail. But because the nuclear reactions taking place in these reactor cores are quite complex, such simulations can strain the capabilities of even the most advanced […]
Can Today’s EVs Make a Dent in Climate Change?
Could existing electric vehicles (EVs), despite their limited driving range, bring about a meaningful reduction in the greenhouse-gas emissions that are causing global climate change? Researchers at MIT have just completed the most comprehensive study yet to address this hotly debated question, and have reached a clear conclusion: Yes, they can. The study, which found […]
Hybrid System Could Cut Coal-Plant Emissions in Half
Most of the world’s nations have agreed to make substantial reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions, but achieving these goals is still a considerable technological, economic, and political challenge. The International Energy Agency has projected that, even with the new agreements in place, global coal-fired power generation will increase over the next few decades. Finding […]
Trapping Light with a Twister
Researchers at MIT who succeeded last year in creating a material that could trap light and stop it in its tracks have now developed a more fundamental understanding of the process. The new work — which could help explain some basic physical mechanisms — reveals that this behavior is connected to a wide range of […]
New Findings Could Point the Way to ‘Valleytronics’
New findings from a team at MIT and other institutions could provide a pathway toward a kind of two-dimensional microchip that would make use of a characteristic of electrons other than their electrical charge, as in conventional electronics. The new approach is dubbed “valleytronics,” because it makes use of properties of an electron that can […]
‘Adventure’ Themed Product Prototypes Unveiled at MIT
At a packed and festive presentation in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium that felt more like a movie premiere than the conclusion of a serious class, last night dozens of students in eight teams presented the results of a semester of work in course 2.009 (Product Engineering Processes). Capturing this year’s theme of “Adventure,” the product prototypes […]
New Technique Controls a Material With Voltage
A new way of switching the magnetic properties of a material using just a small applied voltage, developed by researchers at MIT and collaborators elsewhere, could signal the beginning of a new family of materials with a variety of switchable properties, the researchers say. The technique could ultimately be used to control properties other than […]
New Device Could Make Large Biocircuits Practical
Researchers have made great progress in recent years in the design and creation of biological circuits — systems that, like electronic circuits, can take a number of different inputs and deliver a particular kind of output. But while individual components of such biological circuits can have precise and predictable responses, those outcomes become less predictable […]
New 2D Quantum Materials for Nanoelectronics
Researchers at MIT say they have carried out a theoretical analysis showing that a family of two-dimensional materials exhibits exotic quantum properties that may enable a new type of nanoscale electronics. These materials are predicted to show a phenomenon called the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect, and belong to a class of materials known as […]