One of the key technologies needed to transform world energy supplies away from fossil fuels and toward clean, renewable sources is a cheap and reliable way of storing and releasing energy. That will enable intermittent supplies such as solar and wind power, with their variable and often unpredictable outputs, to store energy that’s produced when […]
Tiny Fibers Open New Windows into The Brain
For the first time ever, a single flexible fiber no bigger than a human hair has successfully delivered a combination of optical, electrical, and chemical signals back and forth into the brain, putting into practice an idea first proposed two years ago. With some tweaking to further improve its biocompatibility, the new approach could provide […]
Toward All-Solid Lithium Batteries
Most batteries are composed of two solid, electrochemically active layers called electrodes, separated by a polymer membrane infused with a liquid or gel electrolyte. But recent research has explored the possibility of all-solid-state batteries, in which the liquid (and potentially flammable) electrolyte would be replaced by a solid electrolyte, which could enhance the batteries’ energy […]
Toward All-Solid Lithium Batteries
Most batteries are composed of two solid, electrochemically active layers called electrodes, separated by a polymer membrane infused with a liquid or gel electrolyte. But recent research has explored the possibility of all-solid-state batteries, in which the liquid (and potentially flammable) electrolyte would be replaced by a solid electrolyte, which could enhance the batteries’ energy […]
Turning Greenhouse Gas Into Gasoline
A new catalyst material developed by chemists at MIT provides key insight into the design requirements for producing liquid fuels from carbon dioxide, the leading component of greenhouse gas emissions. The findings suggest a route toward using the world’s existing infrastructure for fuel storage and distribution, without adding net greenhouse emissions to the atmosphere. The […]
Tackling Society’s Big Problems With Systems Theory
Some of the biggest issues facing humanity — from global climate change, to water and power infrastructure, to monetary systems, social networks, and other complex systems — involve massive amounts of data that are daunting to analysts and policymakers. To help address these great challenges, MIT’s leaders decided a new approach was needed. That decision […]
Seeing Nature Through A Molecular Engineer’s Eye
Researchers have long studied the mechanism that causes blood to form clots in response to a wound, but new aspects came to light once MIT’s Alfredo Alexander-Katz began looking into the complex, dynamic process. It turns out that when blood suddenly begins to flow more rapidly, as it does when tissue is cut, this disrupts […]
MIT To Neutralize 17 Percent Of Carbon Emissions Through Purchase Of Solar Energy
MIT, Boston Medical Center, and Post Office Square Redevelopment Corporation have formed an alliance to buy electricity from a large new solar power installation, adding carbon-free energy to the grid and demonstrating a partnership model for other organizations in climate-change mitigation efforts. The agreement will enable the construction of a roughly 650-acre, 60-megawatt solar farm […]
New Kind Of Supercapacitor Made Without Carbon
Energy storage devices called supercapacitors have become a hot area of research, in part because they can be charged rapidly and deliver intense bursts of power. However, all supercapacitors currently use components made of carbon, which require high temperatures and harsh chemicals to produce. Now researchers at MIT and elsewhere have for the first time […]
Water Vapor Sets Some Oxides Aflutter
When one type of an oxide structure called perovskite is exposed to both water vapor and streams of electrons, it exhibits behavior that researchers had never anticipated: The material gives off oxygen and begins oscillating, almost resembling a living, breathing organism. The phenomenon was “totally unexpected” and may turn out to have some practical applications, […]