
RECENT ARTICLES

Researchers map tiny twists in “magic-angle” graphene
Explore:Explore:Explore:Researchers map tiny twists in “magic-angle” grapheneAbbyAbazorius617-253-2709MIT News OfficeMade of a single layer of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern, graphene’s structure is simple and seemingly delicate. Since its discovery in 2004, scientists have found that graphene is in fact exceptionally strong. And although graphene is not a metal, it conducts electricity at ultrahigh speeds, better than most metals.In 2018, MIT scientists led by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Yuan Cao discovered that when two sheets of graphene are stacked together at a...…Explore:Explore:Explore:Researchers map tiny twists in “magic-angle” grapheneAbbyAbazorius617-253-2709MIT News OfficeMade of a single layer of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern, graphene’s structure is simple and seemingly delicate. Since its discovery in 2004, scientists have found that graphene is in fact exceptionally strong. And although graphene is not a metal, it conducts electricity at ultrahigh speeds, better than most metals.In 2018, MIT scientists led by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Yuan Cao discovered that when two sheets of graphene are stacked together at a...WW…

To catch an interstellar visitor, use a solar-powered space slingshot
Explore:Explore:Explore:To catch an interstellar visitor, use a solar-powered space slingshotSaraCody617-253-1564Department of Aeronautics and AstronauticsIn 2017, a telescope in Hawaii detected our first celestial visitor from another solar system — a big deal, since we haven’t quite figured out how to visit them ourselves yet. ‘Oumuamua, the cigar-shaped interstellar object (ISO) whose name roughly translates to “first distant messenger” in Hawaiian, will certainly not be the last visitor to pass through. If the story of our universe is written in the stars, even a tiny fragment traveling...…Explore:Explore:Explore:To catch an interstellar visitor, use a solar-powered space slingshotSaraCody617-253-1564Department of Aeronautics and AstronauticsIn 2017, a telescope in Hawaii detected our first celestial visitor from another solar system — a big deal, since we haven’t quite figured out how to visit them ourselves yet. ‘Oumuamua, the cigar-shaped interstellar object (ISO) whose name roughly translates to “first distant messenger” in Hawaiian, will certainly not be the last visitor to pass through. If the story of our universe is written in the stars, even a tiny fragment traveling...WW…

DeepDream: How Alexander Mordvintsev Excavated the Computer’s Hidden Layers
A Google researcher looks into the mind of a computer. uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.Early in the morning on May 18, 2015, Alexander Mordvintsev made an amazing discovery. He had been having trouble sleeping. Just after midnight, he awoke with a start. He was sure he’d heard a noise in the Zurich apartment where he lived with his wife and child. Afraid that he hadn’t locked the door to the terrace, he ran out of the bedroom to check if there was an intruder. All was fine; the terrace door was locked, and there was no intruder. But as he was standing in his...…A Google researcher looks into the mind of a computer. uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.Early in the morning on May 18, 2015, Alexander Mordvintsev made an amazing discovery. He had been having trouble sleeping. Just after midnight, he awoke with a start. He was sure he’d heard a noise in the Zurich apartment where he lived with his wife and child. Afraid that he hadn’t locked the door to the terrace, he ran out of the bedroom to check if there was an intruder. All was fine; the terrace door was locked, and there was no intruder. But as he was standing in his...WW…

MIT researchers identify security vulnerabilities in voting app
Explore:Explore:Explore:MIT researchers identify security vulnerabilities in voting appAbbyAbazorius617-253-2709MIT News OfficeIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in using internet and mobile technology to increase access to the voting process. At the same time, computer security experts caution that paper ballots are the only secure means of voting.Now, MIT researchers are raising another concern: They say they have uncovered security vulnerabilities in a mobile voting application that was used during the 2018 midterm elections in West Virginia. Their security analysis of...…Explore:Explore:Explore:MIT researchers identify security vulnerabilities in voting appAbbyAbazorius617-253-2709MIT News OfficeIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in using internet and mobile technology to increase access to the voting process. At the same time, computer security experts caution that paper ballots are the only secure means of voting.Now, MIT researchers are raising another concern: They say they have uncovered security vulnerabilities in a mobile voting application that was used during the 2018 midterm elections in West Virginia. Their security analysis of...WW…

Why C. difficile infection spreads despite increased sanitation practices
Explore:Explore:Explore:Why C. difficile infection spreads despite increased sanitation practicesNew research from MIT suggests the risk of becoming colonized by Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) increases immediately following gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances that result in diarrhea.Once widely considered an antibiotic- and hospital-associated pathogen, recent research into C. difficile has shown the infection is more frequently acquired outside of hospitals. Now, a team of researchers has shown that GI disturbances, such as those caused by food poisoning and laxative abuse, trigger...…Explore:Explore:Explore:Why C. difficile infection spreads despite increased sanitation practicesNew research from MIT suggests the risk of becoming colonized by Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) increases immediately following gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances that result in diarrhea.Once widely considered an antibiotic- and hospital-associated pathogen, recent research into C. difficile has shown the infection is more frequently acquired outside of hospitals. Now, a team of researchers has shown that GI disturbances, such as those caused by food poisoning and laxative abuse, trigger...WW…

Half of U.S. deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissions
Explore:Explore:Explore:Half of U.S. deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissionsAbbyAbazorius617-253-2709MIT News OfficeMore than half of all air-quality-related early deaths in the United States are a result of emissions originating outside of the state in which those deaths occur, MIT researchers report today in the journal Nature.The study focuses on the years between 2005 and 2018 and tracks combustion emissions of various polluting compounds from various sectors, looking at every state in the contiguous United States, from season to season and year to year.In...…Explore:Explore:Explore:Half of U.S. deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissionsAbbyAbazorius617-253-2709MIT News OfficeMore than half of all air-quality-related early deaths in the United States are a result of emissions originating outside of the state in which those deaths occur, MIT researchers report today in the journal Nature.The study focuses on the years between 2005 and 2018 and tracks combustion emissions of various polluting compounds from various sectors, looking at every state in the contiguous United States, from season to season and year to year.In...WW…

Using Drones to Disrupt the Status Quo
From Standing Rock to Syria, drones are being used to hold the powerful to account. Let’s keep it that way. uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.The civil rights movement and Moore’s law are colliding to transform politics. On the street, smartphone technology is being used to document social life as never before, putting power into the hands of the public and .This same technology, bolted onto cheap and easy-to-fly drones, is also providing a birds-eye view of politics on the ground. Indeed, a recent explosion in the availability and affordability of drones has...…From Standing Rock to Syria, drones are being used to hold the powerful to account. Let’s keep it that way. uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.The civil rights movement and Moore’s law are colliding to transform politics. On the street, smartphone technology is being used to document social life as never before, putting power into the hands of the public and .This same technology, bolted onto cheap and easy-to-fly drones, is also providing a birds-eye view of politics on the ground. Indeed, a recent explosion in the availability and affordability of drones has...WW…

Key brain region was “recycled” as humans developed the ability to read
Sarah McDonnellEmail: Phone: 617-253-8923MIT News Office1 images for downloadMedia can only be downloaded from the desktop version of this website.Humans began to develop systems of reading and writing only within the past few thousand years. Our reading abilities set us apart from other animal species, but a few thousand years is much too short a timeframe for our brains to have evolved new areas specifically devoted to reading.To account for the development of this skill, some scientists have hypothesized that parts of the brain that originally evolved for other purposes have been...…Sarah McDonnellEmail: Phone: 617-253-8923MIT News Office1 images for downloadMedia can only be downloaded from the desktop version of this website.Humans began to develop systems of reading and writing only within the past few thousand years. Our reading abilities set us apart from other animal species, but a few thousand years is much too short a timeframe for our brains to have evolved new areas specifically devoted to reading.To account for the development of this skill, some scientists have hypothesized that parts of the brain that originally evolved for other purposes have been...WW…

"Murder Most Foul" and the Haunting of America
Bob Dylan’s epic new song isn't just about the assassination of JFK. It's about how an event takes on meaning beyond itself, and the role of spirit in the national life. uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.One of the struggles of American literature in the new century has been to grasp the totality, not merely of spiritual and moral changes in daily life, but of the very range of events that have overtaken us. The proliferation of media, the speed of the news cycle, and the churning production of new forms of celebrity make up the chaotic backdrop to what used to...…Bob Dylan’s epic new song isn't just about the assassination of JFK. It's about how an event takes on meaning beyond itself, and the role of spirit in the national life. uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.One of the struggles of American literature in the new century has been to grasp the totality, not merely of spiritual and moral changes in daily life, but of the very range of events that have overtaken us. The proliferation of media, the speed of the news cycle, and the churning production of new forms of celebrity make up the chaotic backdrop to what used to...WW…

An automated health care system that understands when to step in
Explore:Explore:Explore:An automated health care system that understands when to step inAdamConner-Simons617-324-9135MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence LabIn recent years, entire industries have popped up that rely on the delicate interplay between human workers and automated software. Companies like Facebook work to keep hateful and violent content off their platforms using a . In the medical field, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have used machine learning to help radiologists . What can be tricky about these hybrid approaches is understanding when to rely...…Explore:Explore:Explore:An automated health care system that understands when to step inAdamConner-Simons617-324-9135MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence LabIn recent years, entire industries have popped up that rely on the delicate interplay between human workers and automated software. Companies like Facebook work to keep hateful and violent content off their platforms using a . In the medical field, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have used machine learning to help radiologists . What can be tricky about these hybrid approaches is understanding when to rely...WW…
Anne Trafton
Jennifer Chu
