Mechanical engineering

Department snapshot: Mechanical EngineeringMore MechE students choose to design their own education.

‘Invisibility’ could be a key to better electronicsMIT team applies technology developed for visual ‘cloaking’ to enable more efficient transfer of electrons.

New technique reveals lithium in actionFundamental reactions behind advanced battery technology, revealed in detail by advanced imaging method, could lead to improved materials.

The mathematics of leaf decayA mathematical model reveals commonality within the diversity of leaf decay.

Understanding and predicting materials behaviorDepartment of Nuclear Science and Engineering takes an interdisciplinary approach

Automatic building mapping could help emergency respondersA prototype sensor array that can be worn on the chest automatically maps the wearer’s environment, recognizing movement between floors.

Alumni bring autoclaves to the developing worldOttoClave aims to deliver world-class sterilization technology to rural health clinics.

Inauguration festivities off to a stimulating startInnovation symposium touches on a dizzying array of topics, with themes of interdisciplinary collaboration, energy and innovation for the developing world.

Getting (drugs) under your skinUsing ultrasound waves, researchers boost skin’s permeability to drugs.

Researchers engineer light-activated skeletal muscleTechnique may enable robotic animals that move with the strength and flexibility of their living counterparts.

Graves named Engineering Systems Division interim directorSloan, ESD and mechanical engineering professor succeeds Sussman.

Soft autonomous robot inches along like an earthwormFlexible design enables body-morphing capability.

Bringing power to the people — and heat as wellSun-powered system developed by MIT students could provide electricity, heat and cooling to rural schools and clinics.

3 Questions: Anette Hosoi on engineering and the OlympicsGot Olympic fever? Dive into the mechanics of a fast pool

Wrinkled surfaces could have widespread applicationsMIT team discovers way of making perfectly ordered and repeatable surfaces with patterns of microscale wrinkles.

New aircraft capable of fast, accurate and repeatable flightCSAIL's Robot Locomotion Group unveils new computer-controlled aircraft that can perform knife-edge turns.

Autonomous robot scans ship hulls for minesAlgorithms enable robot to navigate and view propellers and other complex structures.

Mechanical engineers develop an ‘intelligent co-pilot’ for carsSemiautonomous system takes the wheel to keep drivers safe.

Better surfaces could help dissipate heatHeat transfer in everything from computer chips to powerplants could be improved through new analysis of surface textures.

Sharper ultrasound images could improve diagnosticsNew system developed at MIT allows precise measurements and tracking of disease progression.

Textured surface may boost power output of thin silicon solar cellsMIT team finds new approach to trapping light efficiently in thin-film silicon solar cells.

Teaching self-assembling structures a new trickMIT researchers produce 3-D configurations that could lead to new microchips and other devices.

Mechanical engineering’s condiment-bottle coating gives waste the slipMIT $100K competition runner-up LiquiGlide developed out of Varanasi group

In the World: MIT-designed cooler preserves tuberculosis drugs, records dosesA simple cooler could help patients battle antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.

Crowding causes cells to produce an orderly matrix of moleculesMaking proteins stand in line could lead to more lifelike lab tests.