Experimenting With Thermopower Waves

Movable microplatform floating on droplets

A new approach to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), developed by a team of researchers at MIT, could offer a new way of making movable parts with no solid connections between the pieces, potentially eliminating a major source of wear and failure. Video: Melanie Gonick/MIT more

Plant-to-human communication

MIT engineers have transformed spinach plants into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly relay that information to a handheld device similar to a smartphone. Video: Melanie Gonick/MITInfrared/fluorescent images: Min Hao Wong more

Particles attract across long distances

MIT researchers have found a new kind of long-range interaction between particles, in a liquid medium, that is based entirely on their motions. Video: Melanie Gonick/MIT more

New electrode design may lead to more powerful batteries

New research by engineers at MIT and elsewhere could lead to batteries that can pack more power per pound and last longer, based on the long-sought goal of using pure lithium metal as one of the battery's two electrodes, the anode. The new electrode concept comes from the laboratory of Ju L ... more

Finding the source of chemical reactions

Scientists are constantly searching for the source of things like the origin of the universe, matter or life. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and several other universiti ... more

New battery gobbles up carbon dioxide

A new type of battery developed by researchers at MIT could be made partly from carbon dioxide captured from power plants. Rather than attempting to convert carbon dioxide to specialized chemicals using metal catalysts, which is currently highly challenging, this battery could continuously ... more