Particles attract across long distances

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

Experimenting With Thermopower Waves

“Experimenting with Thermopower Waves,” with MPC-CMSE 2015 Summer Scholar Stephen Gibbs and MIT Chemical Engineering graduate student Tianxiang (Albert) Liu. Recorded in the lab of Michael Strano, Carbon P. Dubbs Professor in Chemical Engineering, MIT. Recording and Editing, Denis Paiste, S ... more

Mini-fuel cell generates electricity using the body's sugar

Glucose is the most important energy source in the human body. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) now want to use the body's sugar as an energy source for medicinal implants. They have developed a glucose fuel cell whic ... more

Light may increase performance of fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells and many other devices depend on the high mobility of ions in order to work properly. But there a large number of obstacles to such mobility. A research team led by Jennifer L. M. Rupp of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Harry L. Tuller of the M ... more

Frozen light in graphene

Scientists from University of Regensburg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Moscow institute of Physics and Technology, and University of Kansas have discovered abnormally strong light absorption in graphene. The effect arises from the conversion of ordinary electromagnetic waves into ... more