The MIT spotlights answer the question, "What interesting and wonderful things are happening at MIT?" The spotlight images and headlines change frequently in order to integrate and showcase a multitude of aspects of MIT.

We provide the history of links for reference, but note that some of these pages have changed since they were in the spotlight. We also have a small gallery of MIT homepage images.

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May 2008
Microbial Evolution - Microbes, the oldest and most numerous creatures on Earth, have a rich genomic history that offers clues to changes in the environment that have occurred over hundreds of millions of years. While scientists are becoming increasingly aware of the many important environmental roles played by microbes living today, they still know little about these tiny critters.

Stem Cells & Parkinson's - A team including MIT researchers has demonstrated for the first time that artificially created stem cells can be used to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats. The work, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to successful treatments for human patients of Parkinson's, the degenerative neurological disorder.

E-Zpass Tolls - Eighteen months of road trips between Boston and New York inspired MIT economist Amy Finkelstein to study the hidden cost of E-ZPass, the popular electronic toll system. What she unearthed is that the handy E-ZPass program hides tax hikes in plain sight--right on the windshield transponder that's electronically "read" in E-Z lanes throughout 12 states.

Daedalus - Twenty years ago, on April 23, 1988, a team of MIT students, faculty and alumni succeeded in a project that set a pair of aviation records that still stand to this day. On that day, a lightweight airplane called Daedalus--completely under human power--flew across the Mediterranean Sea from the Greek island of Crete to just a few meters from the shore of the island of Santorini.

Predictably Irrational - It's been a long road from being engulfed in flames in an explosion in Israel to leaving dollar bills in dorm refrigerators at MIT. But in an odd way, it's all connected. Unexpected and surprising connections are at the heart of the fascinating research conducted by Dan Ariely, who holds joint appointments in MIT's Media Lab and Sloan School of Management.

Nexi - A new experimental robot from the MIT Media Lab can slant its eyebrows in anger, or raise them in surprise, and show a wide assortment of facial expressions to communicate with people in human- centric terms. Called Nexi, it is aimed at a range of applications for personal robots and human-robot teamwork.

Genetic Therapy - A team of researchers from MIT and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has developed safe and effective methods to perform RNA interference, a therapy that holds great promise for treating a variety of diseases including cancer and hepatitis. Scientists see RNA interference (RNAi) as a way to turn off specific disease-causing genes.

Mapping Moisture - An MIT scientist will lead the science team designing a NASA satellite mission to collect global soil moisture measurements key to improving weather, flood and drought forecasts and predictions of agricultural productivity and climate change. At present, scientists have no network for gathering soil moisture data as they do for rainfall, winds, humidity and temperature.

Americans' Carbon Footprints - An MIT class has estimated the carbon emissions of Americans in a wide variety of lifestyles--from the homeless to multimillionaires--and compared them to those of other nations. The bottom line is that in the United States, even the people with the lowest usage of energy are still producing, on average, more than double the global per-capita average.

Cell Division - Proteins that control cell division play a far more nuanced role than researchers previously thought in the process that gives rise to reproductive cells, according to new findings by MIT biologists. The work, reported in the April 18 issue of Cell, could help scientists understand why errors occur so often during this process, known as meiosis.

Lab on a Chip - An MIT team has improved upon its landmark technology reported last year in which the researchers used a fingernail-sized lab on a chip to image, perform surgery on and sort tiny worms to study nerve regeneration. The team has found a unique way to immobilize the animals while they are still awake for several minutes with unprecedented stability.

Listening for Hurricanes - Knowing how powerful a hurricane is, before it hits land, can help to save lives or to avoid the enormous costs of an unnecessary evacuation. Some MIT researchers think there may be a better, cheaper way of getting that crucial information. So far, there's only one surefire way of measuring the strength of a hurricane: Sending airplanes right into the eye of the storm.

Eco-Friendly City - Abu Dhabi is a tiny nation with huge reserves of oil and, as a result, a lot of wealth. But this Persian Gulf emirate is taking the long view, planning for a future beyond oil. The most dramatic piece of Abu Dhabi's futuristic planning is its creation of a whole new city from scratch, centered on an institute of technology modeled after, and created in collaboration with, MIT.

Heparin Mystery: Solved - An international team of researchers led by MIT has explained how contaminated batches of the blood-thinner heparin were able to slip past traditional safety screens and kill dozens of patients recently in the United States and Germany. The team, led by Professor Ram Sasisekharan of MIT, identified the chemical structure of the contaminant.

February 2008
aquatic plants - Aquatic plants in rivers and streams may play major roles in the health of ocean coastal waters, according to recent research from MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This work, which appeared in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, describes the physics of water flow around aquatic plants and demonstrates the importance of basic research to environmental engineering.

brain circuits - Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT reported in the journal Science that they have created a way to see, for the first time, the effect of blocking and unblocking a single neural circuit in a living animal. This revolutionary method allowed the researchers to see how bypassing a major memory-forming circuit in the brain affected learning and memory in mice.

anthrax weakness - MIT and New York University researchers have identified a weakness in the defenses of the anthrax bacterium that could be exploited to produce new antibiotics. The researchers found that nitric oxide (NO) is critical to Bacillus anthracis's defense against the immune response launched by cells infected with the bacterium. Anthrax bacteria that cannot produce NO succumb to the immune system's attack.

computer vision - For years, scientists have been trying to teach computers how to see like humans, and recent research has seemed to show computers making progress in recognizing visual objects. A new MIT study, however, cautions that this apparent success may be misleading because the tests being used are inadvertently stacked in favor of computers.

men & liver cancer - A fundamental difference in the way men and women respond to chronic liver disease at the genetic level helps explain why men are more prone to liver cancer, according to MIT researchers. "This is the first genome-wide study that helps explain why there is such a gender effect in a cancer of a nonreproductive organ, where you wouldn't expect to see one," said MIT's Arlin Rogers.

culture & brain function - People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers report in the first study of its kind. Psychological research has shown that American culture, which values the individual, emphasizes the contextual independence of objects, while East Asian societies emphasize the collective and the contextual interdependence of objects.

tiny sensor - Engineers at MIT are developing a tiny sensor that could be used to detect minute quantities of hazardous gases, including toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents, much more quickly than current devices. The researchers have taken the common techniques of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry and shrunk them to fit in a device the size of a computer mouse.

the price of oil - As the price of oil doubled over the last year, it may have looked like 1973 all over again to some observers. But research by MIT macroeconomist Olivier Blanchard shows that a return to 1970s-style gas lines and stagflation (the grim mix of inflation and stagnant growth) isn't in the cards.

sickle-cell anemia - MIT researchers have successfully treated mice with sickle-cell anemia in a process that begins by directly reprogramming the mice's own cells to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the use of eggs. This is the first proof-of-principle of therapeutic application in mice of directly reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, which recently have been derived in mice as well as humans.

surprises from space - The Voyager 2 spacecraft's Plasma Science instrument, developed at MIT in the 1970s, has turned up surprising revelations about the boundary zone that marks the edge of the sun's influence in space. The unexpected findings emerged as the spacecraft traversed the termination shockwave formed when the the solar wind slams into the surrounding thin gas that fills the space between stars.

heads or tails? - When cut, a planarian flatworm can regenerate a new head, new tail or even entire new organisms from a tiny fragment of its body--a phenomenon that has puzzled researchers for more than 100 years. Now, scientists in the lab of MIT's Peter Reddien have discovered a gene required for proper decisions about head-versus-tail polarity in regenerating flatworms.

mars enigma - Planetary scientists have puzzled for years over an apparent contradiction on Mars. Abundant evidence points to an early warm, wet climate on the red planet, but there's no sign of the widespread carbonate rocks, such as limestone, that should form in such a climate. Now, a detailed analysis by MIT's Maria T. Zuber and colleagues from Harvard University provides a possible answer to the mystery.

earth to aliens - As astronomers become more adept at searching for, and finding, planets orbiting other stars, it's natural to wonder if anybody is looking back. Now, a team of astronomers that includes MIT professor Sara Seager has figured out just what those alien eyes might see using technologies being developed by Earth's astronomers.

engineered blood vessels - MIT scientists have found a way to induce cells to form parallel tube-like structures that could one day serve as tiny engineered blood vessels. The researchers found that they can control the cells' development by growing them on a surface with nano-scale patterning. A paper on the work was posted in a recent online issue of Advanced Materials.

moon mission - MIT will lead a $375-million mission to map the moon's interior and reconstruct its thermal history, NASA has announced. The Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission will be led by MIT professor Maria Zuber and will be launched in 2011. It will put two separate satellites into orbit around the moon to precisely map variations in the moon's gravitational pull.

cell sorter - Separating out particular kinds of cells from a sample could become faster, cheaper and easier thanks to a new system developed by MIT researchers that involves levitating the cells with light. The system, which can sort up to 10,000 cells on a conventional glass microscope slide, could enable a variety of biological research projects that might not have been feasible before.

autism and the brain - A missing brain protein may be one of the culprits behind autism and other brain disorders, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in a Dec. issue of Neuron. The protein helps synapses develop. Synapses--through which neurons communicate with one another--underlie our ability to learn and remember.

oil repellent - MIT engineers have designed a class of material structures that can repel oils, a novel discovery that could have applications in aviation, space travel and hazardous waste cleanup. Such materials could be used to help protect parts of airplanes or rockets that are vulnerable to damage from being soaked in fuel, like rubber gaskets and o-rings.

toward correcting autism - Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have corrected key symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. The work, reported in the Dec. 20 issue of Neuron, also indicates that a certain class of drugs could have the same effect. These drugs are not yet approved by the FDA, but will soon be entering into human clinical trials.

sculpting with light - MIT engineers have used ultraviolet light to sculpt three-dimensional microparticles that could have many applications in medical diagnostics and tissue engineering. For example, they could be designed to act as probes to detect certain molecules, such as DNA, or to release drugs or nutrients. The new technique offers unprecedented control over the size, shape and texture of the particles.

June 2007
tracking the flu - Nearly 40 years ago, MIT Professor Richard Larson was sick in bed with the worst illness he'd ever had--the virulent strain of flu that swept the globe in 1968. Now, many experts fear the world is on the brink of another deadly flu pandemic. And Larson wants to be sure that people are prepared. To that end, he and colleagues have developed a mathematical model to track the progression of a flu outbreak.

solar throttle - Helium may act as a "throttle" for the solar wind, setting its minimum speed, according to new results from an MIT-led team using NASA's Wind spacecraft. "This result gives us another clue about how the solar wind is accelerated, which may help us better understand space weather," said Justin Kasper, a research scientist at MIT. The new research could also lead to a deeper understanding of plasma physics.

eye imaging - In work that could improve diagnoses of many eye diseases, MIT researchers have developed a new type of laser for taking high-resolution, 3-D images of the retina. The new system is based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which uses light to obtain high-resolution, cross-sectional images of the eye to visualize the subtle changes that occur in retinal disease.

of mice and men - Scientists often study mice as a model for human biology and disease, because their basic biological processes are assumed to be essentially the same as those of humans. But now, a team of MIT researchers has uncovered a surprising difference. The work could help identify patterns in the extremely complicated control mechanisms involved in gene expression.

detecting damaged bridges - Engineers at MIT have developed a new technique for detecting damage in concrete bridges and piers that could increase safety by allowing easier, more frequent, onsite inspections that don't interfere with traffic or service. The new noninvasive technique can be used onsite from a distance of more than 10 meters (30 feet) and requires no dismantling or obstruction of the infrastructure.

hottest planet - A team of scientists including one from MIT has measured the hottest planet ever at 3,700 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2,300 Kelvin. "This planet is so intriguing that it is changing the way we think about planet atmospheres," said Sara Seager, an MIT Professor with appointments in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Physics.

housing 'affordability' - Brookline, Massachusetts--town of chic boutiques--an "affordable" community? Yes, it is, relatively speaking. Henry Pollakowski, principal research associate for MIT's Center for Real Estate, and colleagues, introduced a new index of housing affordability weighted to reflect a community's proximity to jobs, the quality of its schools and its proportion of publicly accessible open spaces.

Why fuel cells are hard sells - Imagine a vehicle that runs on hydrogen or biofuels and offers the same features, performance and price as today's gasoline vehicle. Will it capture half the market? Not likely, concludes a new MIT analysis. If policy incentives are kept in place long enough, adoption will reach a level at which the market will begin to grow on its own. But "long enough" may be a surprisingly long time.

new detector - Detecting the molecular structure of a tiny protein using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) currently requires two things: a million-dollar machine the size of a massive SUV, and a large sample of the protein under study. Now, researchers from MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms report the development of a radically different approach. The new technique could prove invaluable in diagnosing a variety of diseases.

the developing brain - Scientists are keenly studying how neurons form synapses--the physical and chemical connections between neurons--and the "pruning" of neural circuits during development, not least because synaptic abnormalities may partially underlie many developmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Now MIT neuroscientists have taken an important step toward solving this challenging jigsaw puzzle.

DNA damage - In the daunting marathon to market, promising drugs must pass toxicity tests before entering clinical trials. Researchers from MIT have developed a cell culture test for assessing a compound's genetic toxicity that may prove dramatically cheaper than existing animal tests. This assay would allow genetic toxicity to be examined far earlier in the drug development process, making it much more efficient.

creating from Scratch - A new programming language developed at the MIT Media Lab turns kids from media consumers into media producers, enabling them to create their own interactive stories, games, music, and animation for the Web. Children can then share their interactive stories and games on the Web, engaging with other kids in an online community that provides inspiration and feedback.

malaria mechanism - During the first 24 hours of invasion by the malaria-inducing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, red blood cells start to lose their ability to squeeze through tiny blood vessels--one of the hallmarks of the deadly disease that infects nearly 400 million people each year. Now, an international team of researchers led by an MIT professor has demonstrated just why that happens.

bones' building blocks - In work that could lead to more effective diagnoses and treatments of bone diseases, MIT researchers report a first-of-its-kind analysis of bone's mechanical properties. The work sheds new light on how bone absorbs energy. The researchers' look at bone probes its fundamental building block--a corkscrew-shaped protein called collagen--at the level of tens of nanometers, or billionths of a meter.

infectious protein's secret - Although prions, the infectious proteins that cause mad cow disease, have received a great deal of scrutiny, scientists still don't understand many of the fundamental mechanisms of how they form, replicate and cross from one species to another. Now, through studying nontoxic yeast prions, scientists have discovered small but critical regions that determine much of their behavior.

opossum decoded - The human genome is littered with so-called junk DNA, relics of "jumping genes" that hopped about chromosomes for more than a billion years. Although these jumping genes have been widely regarded as parasites, concerned only with self-propagation, a new study suggests they in fact played a creative role in evolution--spreading key genetic innovations across the genome.

rehab for reefs - Even before Gerardo Jose la O' left the Philippines 10 years ago, he noticed a change in the coral reefs. In Sagay City, three decades of dynamite fishing had decimated coral formations, destroying the habitat for one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity in the world. These days, when la O' steps off a plane in Manila, it's not just an escape from New England weather. He's on a mission to save the coral.

May 2007
computer vision - Computers can usually out-compute the human brain, but visual object recognition is a very challenging task. Now, MIT researchers report that a computer model designed to mimic the way the brain processes visual information performs as well as humans do on rapid categorization tasks. This could lead to better artificial vision systems and augmented sensory prostheses.

physics confirmed - Physicists can rest easy--the Standard Model of Particle Physics is still in effect. More than 100 MIT students and professors jammed into a room to hear the long-anticipated results of a particle detection experiment designed to produce evidence that would confirm or reject the model, which outlines the elements of particle physics. The outcome? The standard model is still safe.

linguistic controversy - Controversies in the field of linguistics seldom make headlines, which is why the current imbroglio over an alleged counterexample to Universal Grammar (UG), made famous in the 1960s by MIT Institute Professor Noam Chomsky, is so unusual.

toward recovering memories - Mice whose brains had atrophied like those of Alzheimer's disease patients regained long-term memories and the ability to learn after living in an enriched environment, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory reported. The same results also were achieved with a new experimental class of drugs.

surfaces, surfaces - Imagine looking at a pool of spilled milk. How does your brain know that it's milk and not another white substance like sugar, or cottage cheese? MIT researchers and colleagues think they have an answer. Studying how the brain analyzes surface appearance is not only important to understanding the workings of the human brain, but could also help scientists develop better visual systems for robots.

to weigh a cell - For the first time, MIT researchers have found a way to measure the mass of single cells with high accuracy. The new technique, based on a micromechanical detector, could allow researchers to develop inexpensive, portable diagnostic devices and might also offer a unique glimpse into how cells change as they undergo cell division.

domo arigato, mr. roboto - In the futuristic cartoon "The Jetsons," a robotic maid named Rosie whizzed around doing household chores. Robotic housekeeping is likely decades away, but MIT researchers are working on a very early version of an intelligent helper--a robot called Domo who can grasp objects and place them on shelves, and eventually help elderly or wheelchair-bound people with simple household tasks.

brain development - Large mammals--humans, monkeys and even cats--have brains with a somewhat mysterious feature. The outermost layer has a folded surface. Understanding the functional significance of these folds is a big open question in neuroscience. Now a team of researchers has developed a tool that could aid such studies by helping researchers "see" how those folds develop and decay in the cerebral cortex.

inside the Earth - High-resolution images that reveal unexpected details of the Earth's internal structure are among the results reported by MIT and Purdue scientists in a recent issue of Science. The researchers adapted technology developed for near-surface exploration of reservoirs of oil and gas to image the core-mantle boundary some 2,900 kilometers, or 1,800 miles, beneath Central and North America.

super cool - Using a laser-cooling technique that could one day allow scientists to observe quantum behavior in large objects, MIT researchers have cooled a coin-sized object to within one degree of absolute zero. This study marks the coldest temperature ever reached by laser-cooling an object of that size, and the technique may help confirm that large objects obey the laws of quantum mechanics just as atoms do.

closer... closer - In a popular children's game, participants stand as close as possible without touching. But on a microscopic level, coaxing cells to be very, very close without actually touching has been a frustrating challenges for cell biologists. Now MIT researchers have solved the problem with a novel device. The work promises to allow researchers to perform cellular experiments that were previously impossible.

super-strong suture - With the help of a new type of suture based on MIT research, patients who get stitches may never need to have them removed. A biopolymer suture cleared last month by the FDA is made of materials that the human body produces naturally, so they can be safely absorbed once the wound is healed. They are also 30 percent stronger and very flexible, making them easier for surgeons to work with.

April 2007
Expecting the unexpected - The President and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Joshua Boger, will be speaking at the Broad Institute May 1st on, "Discovery and Development of an Aurora Kinase Inhibitor for Cancer: MK-0457 (VX-680)." VX-680 is now in Phase 2 development for the treatment of cancer.

March 2007
bubble logic - MIT researchers have created a way to use tiny bubbles to mimic the capabilities of a computer. The team, based at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, reports that the bubbles in their microfluidic device can carry on-chip process control information, just like the electronic circuits of a traditional microprocessor, while also performing chemical reactions.

ethanol optimism - As interest in alternative energy intensifies, more attention has been paid to ethanol. In an article for Science and a Senate hearing on biofuels, two MIT professors weighed in on ethanol's potential. Both professors expressed optimism that biofuels can become a significant part of the U.S. energy supply but that much more research must be done before ethanol can reach its full potential.

optics on a chip - In work that could lead to completely new devices, systems and applications in computing and telecommunications, MIT researchers report a novel way to integrate photonic circuitry on a silicon chip. Adding the power and speed of light waves to traditional electronics could achieve system performance inconceivable by electronic means alone.

tumor defense mechanism - MIT researchers have identified a critical defense mechanism that tumor cells employ to survive the toxic effects of chemotherapy. After chemotherapy, many tumors use a signaling pathway normally associated with the inflammatory response in order to survive. Drugs that knock out this inflammatory defense mechanism would render tumors vastly more susceptible to chemotherapy.

microsieve - A new MIT microchip system promises to speed up the separation and sorting of biomolecules such as proteins. The work is important because it could help scientists better detect certain molecules associated with diseases, potentially leading to earlier diagnoses or treatments.

storing CO2 underground - A new analysis led by an MIT scientist describes a mechanism for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant and injecting the gas into the ground, where it would be trapped naturally as tiny bubbles and safely stored in briny porous rock.

genetics of schizophrenia - Gene mutations governing a key brain enzyme make people susceptible to schizophrenia and may be targeted in future treatments for the psychiatric illness, according to MIT and Japanese researchers. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, an estimated 51 million people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia.

analog advance - Advances in digital electronic circuits have prompted the boost in functions and ever-smaller size of such popular consumer goods as MP3 players. But the same cannot be said of the older analog circuits in the same devices, which are draining power and causing other bottlenecks to improving consumer electronic devices. Now MIT engineers have devised new analog circuits they hope will change that.

February 2007
inspiration spider silk - Creating artificial substances that are both stretchy and strong has long been an elusive engineering goal. Inspired by spider silk, a naturally occurring strong and stretchy substance, MIT researchers have now devised a way to produce a material that begins to mimic this combination of desirable properties.

RNA history - When MIT biophysicist Alexander Rich announced that two single-strand RNA molecules could spontaneously align themselves to form a double helix just like DNA, many biologists thought it impossible; the rest unlikely. 50 years later, it's clear that Rich was onto something big. In fact, it led to a paradigm shift in biology and helped spawn the global biotechnology revolution.

January 2007
engineered ethanol - MIT scientists have engineered yeast that can improve the speed and efficiency of ethanol production. Ethanol is often touted as a potential solution to the energy crisis, but high ethanol levels are toxic to the yeast that ferments plant material into ethanol. By manipulating the yeast genome, researchers have engineered a new strain of yeast that can tolerate high levels of ethanol and produce ethanol faster.

beyond silicon - MIT engineers have demonstrated a technology that could introduce a new phase of the microelectronics revolution that has already brought us iPods, laptops and more. Engineers estimate that within the next 10-15 years we will reach the limit of the silicon transistors key to the industry. As a result, scientists around the world are working on new technologies that may be able to reach beyond the limits of silicon.

cancer monitor - A tiny implant now being developed at MIT could one day help doctors monitor the growth of tumors and the progress of chemotherapy in cancer patients. The implant contains nanoparticles that can be designed to test for different substances, including metabolites such as glucose and oxygen that are associated with tumor growth.

friendspotting - MIT researchers have unveiled a new social networking application that will make it possible for anyone on MIT's 168-acre campus to locate anyone else via their laptop. iFIND will give all 20,000 members of the MIT community the ability to accurately calculate their location on campus using WiFi access points, and to choose if, when, and with whom they want to share it.

anti-microbial 'paint' - A new antimicrobial "paint" developed at MIT can kill influenza viruses that land on surfaces coated with it, potentially offering a new weapon against a disease that kills nearly 40,000 Americans per year. If applied to doorknobs or other surfaces where germs accumulate, it could help fight the spread of flu, says professor Jianzhu Chen.

solar chemistry - An article by MIT professor Daniel Nocera describes chemistry's role in creating a cost-effective way to store solar energy. He and a professor at Caltech suggest that we store solar energy in the form of chemical bonds, as plants do in photosynthesis. It would involve splitting water to generate oxygen and storable fuels such as methane or other hydrocarbons.

December 2006
wireless energy - Recharging your laptop or cell phone may one day be as convenient as surfing the Web--wirelessly. Like many of us, assistant professor Marin Soljacic often forgets to recharge his cell phone. Soljacic realized that the close-range induction taking place inside a transformer--or something similar--could potentially transfer energy over longer distances, say, across a room.

silent aircraft - MIT and Cambridge University researchers have unveiled the conceptual design for a silent, environmentally friendly passenger plane. This collaboration of 40 researchers, plus many others from more than 30 companies, was launched "to develop a conceptual design for an aircraft whose noise was almost imperceptible outside the perimeter of an airfield."

Yournameintospace.org - MIT's student-led Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program has publicly launched a unique effort to pay its way into space through its new website, YourNameIntoSpace.org. The group is offering to put logos, photos, messages and other images on its new Earth-orbiting research spacecraft that will be launched into orbit in 2010.

optimizing gas production - Natural gas is difficult to transport and store, so energy companies tend to produce it only under long-term contracts. As a result, they miss opportunities for short-term sales, and reduce its overall availability. MIT engineers have developed a model that could help companies produce natural gas more efficiently and ensure a more reliable supply.

periwinkle chemical plant - MIT researchers have discovered a way to manipulate the chemistry taking place in the periwinkle plant to produce novel compounds that could have pharmacological benefits. "Plants are really nature's best chemists," says Sarah O'Connor, an assistant professor of chemistry.

acrobatic plastics - Researchers at MIT have invented a class of materials so remarkable for their agility in changing shape, they might be described as acrobatic plastics. The new materials, known as "triple-shape materials," can assume three different shapes, depending on how much heat is applied. Potential uses include an "intelligent stent" that could assume different shapes to facilitate medical procedures.

electronics behavior - Troy Van Voorhis likes to watch how things work. This natural curiosity led to his current research on the behavior of electrons and how they function in various molecular systems, including artificial photosynthesis. The theories and simulations he and his team create may help lead to improvements in devices such as electronics, solar cells and lighting.

collagen model - An MIT researcher's mathematical model explains for the first time the distinctive structure of collagen, a material key to healthy human bone, muscles and other tissues. Improved understanding could aid the search for cures to osteoporosis, joint hyperextensibility and scurvy. It could also guide development of synthetic collagen, which in its healthy state is several times stronger than steel per molecule.

comics rays - MIT astronomers and a colleague have created an extraordinarily detailed image of the remains of an exploded star that provides new clues about the origins of cosmic rays, mysterious high-energy particles that bombard the Earth.

November 2006
Academic rendezvous - French-language students at MIT are benefiting from a new method of instruction developed by Senior Lecturer Gilberte Furstenberg and colleagues. Working in parallel with English classes at institutions of higher learning in France, the MIT students are using Internet forums to explore issues of cultural difference that lie deep beneath the surface of language.

Environmental survey - According to a recent MIT survey, Americans now rank climate change as the most pressing environmental problem--a dramatic shift from three years ago, when climate change was 6 out of 10. Almost 3/4 of the respondents felt the government should do more to deal with global warming, and they were willing to spend their own money to help.

Toward artificial spider silk - MIT engineers have identified two key physical processes that lend spider silk its unrivaled strength and durability, bringing closer to reality the long-sought goal of spinning artificial spider silk. Manufactured spider silk could be used for artificial tendons and ligaments, sutures, parachutes and bulletproof vests.

Peering into a cell - For the first time, MIT researchers can see every vibration of a cell membrane, using a technique that could one day allow scientists to create three-dimensional images of the inner workings of living cells. Studying cell membrane dynamics can help scientists gain insight into diseases such as sickle cell anemia, malaria and cancer.

Anti-microbial 'grammar' - In most languages, sentences only make sense if the words are placed in the right order. Now, MIT researchers and an IBM colleague have used grammatical principles to help their search for new antimicrobial medicines. The research could lead to new medicines to combat deadly drug-resistant bacteria.

Lab on a chip - Testing soldiers for exposure to biological or chemical weapons could soon be much faster and easier, thanks to MIT researchers who are helping to develop a tiny diagnostic device that could be carried into battle. By tweaking the design of a tiny pump, researchers have taken a major step towards making an existing miniature "lab on a chip" fully portable.

Web science - MIT and the University of Southampton announced a long-term research collaboration that aims to produce the fundamental scientific advances necessary to guide future design and use of the World Wide Web. The Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) will generate an agenda for understanding the scientific, technical and social challenges underlying the growth of the web.

Dough in the lab - Trevor Shen Kuan Ng rolls dough. He also stretches it like Silly Putty, twirls it like taffy and flattens it into rectangles like wide fettuccine. In engineering-speak, this is called rheology, and it provides valuable information for commercial bakeries that need accurate, repeatable techniques for measuring the properties of dough to ensure the tastiest product.

August 2006
hyperbow - A Ph.D. candidate in the Hyperinstruments Group of the MIT Media Lab has developed a new electronic sensing system to measure minute changes in the position, acceleration and strain of a violin bow. The system can be used to evaluate different bowing techniques and may expand the expressive possibilities of the violin by electronic means.

robopsy - Two MIT graduate students have helped design a machine that may make needle biopsies less invasive and less prone to complications for lung cancer patients. Working with an engineering professor and radiologist, the students have come up with an invention they hope will cut both time and complications from a typical lung biopsy.

cell-shaped building - An innovative cell-shaped building will house a new biomedical institute in China, thanks to a collaboration between MIT bioengineer Shuguang Zhang, his former student, architecture major Sloan Kulper, and EECS major Audrey Roy. The building is intended to look like a cell from the outside and to include forms inspired by molecular biology inside.

Mars probes - MIT engineers and colleagues have a new vision for the future of Mars exploration -- a swarm of probes, each the size of a baseball, spreading out across the planet in every direction. Thousands of probes, powered by fuel cells, could cover a vast area now beyond the reach of today's rovers, including remote and rocky terrain that large rovers cannot navigate.

crystal structures - The same computer method of data mining used by online sales sites to suggest books to customers can help predict the crystal structures of materials, MIT researchers have found. These structures are key to designing new materials and improving existing ones, which means that everything from batteries to airplane wings could be influenced by the new method.

synthetic biology - Five MIT researchers are among the pioneers behind a new research center in synthetic biology, a precocious field whose primary long-term goal is to make it easier to design and build useful organisms. Current work includes refining pieces of DNA into standard biological parts that researchers could then mix and match to produce novel biological systems.

inflammation, disease link - MIT research may help scientists better understand the chemical associations between chronic inflammation and diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis. The work could lead to drugs that break the link between the two.

superfluidity - For the first time, MIT scientists have directly observed the transition of a gas to a superfluid. Observations of superfluids may help solve lingering questions about high-temperature superconductivity, which has widespread applications for magnets, sensors and energy-efficient transport of electricity.

exploring anesthesia - Raise your hand if you are more afraid of the prospect of general anesthesia than of surgery itself. You are not alone, according to MIT's Dr. Emery Brown, who explores what happens to the brain during anesthesia. "Anesthesia has taken on a mythical quality; it's not perceived as a neuro-physiological phenomenon," said Brown.

July 2006
Namib Desert beetle - Inspired by this dime-sized beetle and its moisture-collection system, exquisitely adapted to its desert habitat, MIT researchers have produced a new material that can capture and control tiny amounts of water.

cancer in 3D - New research at MIT may lead the pharmaceutical industry to take a whole new approach to battling the spread of cancer. A new MIT study indicates that the common two-dimensional assays, or tests, to evaluate anti-cancer therapeutics misses some crucial phenomena.

oceans and CO2 - Circulation in the waters near the Antarctic coast may be one of the planet's critical means of regulating levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, according to researchers from MIT, Princeton and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Parkinson's advance - More than a million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease. Now, scientists at MIT and the Whitehead Institute have identified a key biological pathway that, when obstructed, causes Parkinson's symptoms. Even more importantly, they have figured out how to repair that pathway and restore normal neurological function in certain animal models.

novel telescope - A novel telescope that will aid the understanding of the early universe is moving closer to full-scale construction thanks to a $4.9 million award from the National Science Foundation to a U.S. consortium led by MIT. It will allow scientists to better predict solar bursts of superheated gas that can play havoc with satellites, communication links and power grids.

how tumors form - MIT cancer researchers have discovered a process that may explain how some tumor cells form, a discovery that could one day lead to new therapies that prevent defective cells from growing and spreading.

seafood advisory - In its latest outreach campaign, MIT Sea Grant has developed an educational pamphlet to encourage people not to release or dump live and fresh seafood and seafood waste into the wild. "Live and Fresh Seafood Into the Pan, Not Into the Wild," provides details about proper handling and disposal to prevent introducing invasive species.

rebuilding New Orleans - The AFL-CIO has pledged $1 billion toward efforts to rebuild New Orleans, which will include a housing plan developed by a team from MIT. The seven-year Gulf Coast Revitalization Program is designed to produce affordable housing, promote home ownership and create good jobs for New Orleans and other communities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

viral clues - Since many viruses have spent hundreds of thousands of years fine-tuning their abilities to hijack the cellular processes of other organisms, scientists have been able to learn a great deal about how human cells operate by studying these pathogens. "Viruses and other pathogens are simply mirror images of our immune system," said Ploegh, senior author on an article in Nature.

iLabs in China - In June, students joined MIT faculty at the first Asian MIT-iCampus Conference, an unprecedented effort to introduce China's top universities to iLabs, MIT's free online remote laboratory initiative. iLabs allows students and educators anywhere to access MIT equipment to conduct science and engineering experiments.

June 2006
detecting tumors - A new technique devised by MIT engineers may one day help physicians detect cancerous tumors during early stages of growth. The technique involves injecting nanoparticles made of iron oxide into the body, creating masses with enough of a magnetic signal to be detectable by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

seeing machine - An MIT poet has developed a small, relatively inexpensive "seeing machine" that can allow people who are blind, or visually challenged like her, to access the Internet, view the face of a friend, "previsit" unfamiliar buildings and more. The new device costs about $4,000, compared to the $100,000 price tag of its inspiration, a machine Goldring discovered through her eye doctor.

revamped energy system - MIT researchers are applying new materials and new technologies to an old idea--thermophotovoltaic (TPV) conversion of light into electricity. For example, in a car, the new TPV system burns a little fuel to create super-bright light. Efficient photo diodes would then harvest the energy and send it off to run the various electronic systems in the car.

oil recovery - Work in an MIT lab may help energy companies withdraw millions of barrels of oil from beneath the sea floor. Since companies typically recover only 30-40 percent of a reservoir that may contain a billion barrels, increasing "recovery efficiency" by even a single percentage point would mean a lot of additional oil.

human activity and hurricanes - Human-induced climate change, rather than naturally occurring ocean cycles, may be responsible for the recent increases in the frequency and strength of North Atlantic hurricanes, according to MIT and Penn State researchers.

spintronics - Researchers at MIT's Francis Bitter Magnet Lab have developed a novel magnetic semiconductor that may greatly increase the computing power and flexibility of future electronic devices while dramatically reducing their power consumption.

fluorescent sensor - MIT scientists have discovered a way to monitor a crucial molecule as it goes about its business within living cells. The molecule, nitric oxide (NO), plays critical roles in the human body - from the destruction of invading microorganisms to the relaying of neural signals. But catching NO at work has long eluded scientists.

eco-friendly buildings - Operating commercial buildings consumes a sixth of all the energy used in the Western world. Getting rid of air conditioning could cut that consumption by as much as a third, but people don't like to work in sweltering heat. So MIT researchers are making computer-based tools to help architects design buildings that cool occupants with natural breezes.

drug database - Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have released a major upgrade of ChemBank, a publicly available database created to help drug hunters discover new and effective medicines. The web-based ChemBank includes data on drug candidates and their behavior in cells selected to serve as models of human disease, especially cancer.

monkey business - Rachel Kern's Media Lab office is quiet until she sits down and begins to talk. Soon, two plush monkeys hanging by their tails also begin to talk. Little monkey faces go up and down. Invisible sensors sense. Tiny motors whir. Fuzzy arms reach out. "They're reacting to each other," Kern explains, as the electronic duet escalates, then ebbs.

humans and chimps - The evolutionary split between humans and chimpanzees is much more recent -- and more complicated -- than previously thought, according to a new study by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and colleagues.

biological cloaking device - Why does our immune system easily identify many bacterial and viral infections yet sometimes miss other invaders, such as pathogenic fungi? This question has troubled biologists for decades. Now, Whitehead Institute and MIT researchers have discovered a biological "cloaking device" that may help pathogenic fungi hide from the immune system.

May 2006
Energy Research Council issues report - The Energy Research Council, charged by MIT President Susan Hockfield last June with exploring how MIT can help meet the global energy challenge, released its 50-plus-page report today, thrusting MIT into a new era of energy research, education and campus initiatives.

Of viruses and batteries - MIT scientists have harnessed the construction talents of tiny viruses to build ultra-small "nanowire" structures for use in very thin lithium-ion batteries. By manipulating a few genes inside these viruses, the team was able to coax the organisms to grow and self-assemble into a functional electronic device.

March 2006
A matter of modeling - The nature of many tumors -- and the reasons why they progress they way the do -- remains a murky and challenging subject. Peter Sorger, an associate professor of biology, is among those trying to shed light on it.

Basic research and patient care - More than two decades ago, MIT biology professor Robert Weinberg discovered the key gene that becomes dysfunctional in certain breast cancers. Genentech then took over and brought the drug Herceptin to market in 1998. Aside from its value in cancer, the new agent is also an argument for a basic research approach.

huge surprise - Jacqueline Lees, associate head of the MIT cancer center, along with Nancy Hopkins, has been looking for additional types of gene defects linked to cancer and is probing for connections between fish tumors and human disease.

Liver on a chip - Linda Griffith is among the engineering faculty focused on cancer work. She has also been focused on another tissue engineering challenge: creating a "liver on a chip." The liver is a critical player in many diseases, including cancer.

New preventive strategies - While much of MIT's cancer work focuses on its basic biology or on new approaches to treatment, prevention's also a priority -- and one where new strategies are emerging just as they are in other realms.

New roles for engineers - Douglas Lauffenburger, professor of biological engineering, is head of the MIT division by that name. His division is focused on educating a new generation of engineers who are also steeped in molecular biology. He and others with engineering backgrounds have been added to the ranks of the MIT cancer center.

Submicroscopic healers - Prof. Robert Langer, along with a Harvard counterpart, runs a new $20 million Harvard-MIT collaboration, the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

Stunning discovery - Prof. Phillip Sharp, a Nobel laureate, says a "stunning discovery" eight years ago could slow or even cure cancer.

Is cancer finally in retreat? - Biology professor Tyler Jacks, director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research, says the path to truly major inroads against the disease "won't be easy; but I do think we're turning the corner."

January 2006
wind power - MIT researchers studying winds off the Northeast coast have found that estimating the potential environmental benefits from wind and other renewables requires a detailed understanding of the dynamics of both renewable resources and conventional power generation.

December 2005
sleuthing for materials - In work that could radically change how engineers search for new materials, MIT researchers have developed a way to test the mechanical properties of almost 600 different materials in a matter of days - a task that would have taken weeks using conventional techniques.

toward bionic speed - Currently, robotic muscles move 100 times slower than ours. But engineers using the Yip lab's new theory could boost those speeds -- making robotic muscles 1,000 times faster than human muscles -- with virtually no extra energy demands and the added bonus of a simpler design.

making, breaking habits - Habits help us through the day, eliminating the need to strategize about each tiny step involved in our complex routines. Bad habits, though, can have a vise grip on both mind and behavior. Notoriously hard to break, they are devilishly easy to resume. A new study in Nature, led by Ann Graybiel, now shows why.

MIT at the North Pole - At 75 degrees north latitude, Devon Island lies high above the Arctic Circle, a few hundred miles from the magnetic North Pole. A true polar desert, it is also the largest uninhabited island on Earth. But the reach of MIT extends even here.

brain waves - Different brain regions working together may coordinate by locking into an oscillation frequency the way a radio tuner locks into a station, report researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Unsynchronized brain rhythms may be tied to mood disorders or diseases such as schizophrenia.

tv fans' influence - Fans now generate more publicity for new TV shows than big corporate campaigns, and their growing influence promises to create new alliances between citizen-viewers and producers -- but networks are not necessarily embracing these changes, according to Henry Jenkins, director of MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program.

visual code - In the sci-fi movie "The Matrix," a cable running from a computer into Neo's brain writes in visual perceptions, and Neo's brain can manipulate the computer-created world. In reality, scientists cannot interact directly with the brain. Now, neuroscientists in MIT's McGovern Institute have been able to decipher a part of the code involved in recognizing visual objects.

November 2005
gamma-ray mystery - An international team of astronomers led by MIT has solved the mystery of the origin of short gamma-ray bursts, violent cosmic events marking the explosive collision of two compact stars.

bugs on water - MIT mathematicians have discovered how certain insects can climb what to them are steep, slippery slopes in the water's surface without moving their limbs - and do it at high speed. Welcome to the world of the tiny creatures that live on the surface of ponds, lakes and other standing bodies of water.

rammed earth - Archi