Author: Ms. R.

Peripheral nerves — the network connecting the brain, spinal cord, and central nervous system to the rest of the body — transmit sensory information, control muscle movements, and regulate automatic bodily functions. Bioelectronic devices implanted on these nerves offer remarkable potential for the treatment and rehabilitation of neurological and systemic diseases. However, because the body perceives these implants as foreign objects, they often trigger the formation of dense fibrotic tissue at bioelectronic device–tissue interfaces, which can significantly compromise device……

Read More

A noninvasive method for measuring blood glucose levels, developed at MIT, could save diabetes patients from having to prick their fingers several times a day. The MIT team used Raman spectroscopy — a technique that reveals the chemical composition of tissues by shining near-infrared or visible light on them — to develop a shoebox-sized device that can measure blood glucose levels without any needles. In tests in a healthy volunteer, the researchers found that the measurements from their device were similar……

Read More

For the first time, MIT chemists have synthesized a fungal compound known as verticillin A, which was discovered more than 50 years ago and has shown potential as an anticancer agent. The compound has a complex structure that made it more difficult to synthesize than related compounds, even though it differed by only a couple of atoms. “We have a much better appreciation for how those subtle structural changes can significantly increase the synthetic challenge,” says Mohammad Movassaghi, an……

Read More

Imagine having a continuum soft robotic arm bend around a bunch of grapes or broccoli, adjusting its grip in real time as it lifts the object. Unlike traditional rigid robots that generally aim to avoid contact with the environment as much as possible and stay far away from humans for safety reasons, this arm senses subtle forces, stretching and flexing in ways that mimic more of the compliance of a human hand. Its every motion is calculated to avoid……

Read More

More than 600 undergraduate students crowded into the Stratton Student Center on Oct. 28, for MIT’s first-ever Institute-wide Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) mixer. “At MIT, we believe in the transformative power of learning by doing, and there’s no better example than UROP,” says MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who attended the mixer with Provost Anantha Chandrakasan and Chancellor Melissa Nobles. “The energy at the inaugural UROP mixer was exhilarating, and I’m delighted that students now have this easy way……

Read More

Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon and a top exporter of seafood, while the United States remains the largest importer of these products, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Two MIT students recently traveled to Trondheim, Norway to explore the cutting-edge technologies being developed and deployed in offshore aquaculture.  Beckett Devoe, a senior in artificial intelligence and decision-making, and Tony Tang, a junior in mechanical engineering, first worked with MIT Sea Grant through the……

Read More

Advancements in battery innovation are transforming both mobility and energy systems alike, according to Kurt Kelty, vice president of battery, propulsion, and sustainability at General Motors (GM). At the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Fall Colloquium, Kelty explored how GM is bringing next-generation battery technologies from lab to commercialization, driving American battery innovation forward. The colloquium is part of the ongoing MITEI Presents: Advancing the Energy Transition speaker series. At GM, Kelty’s team is primarily focused on three things: first,……

Read More

“MIT hasn’t just prepared me for the future of work — it’s pushed me to study it. As AI systems become more capable, more of our online activity will be carried out by artificial agents. That raises big questions: How should we design these systems to understand our preferences? What happens when AI begins making many of our decisions?” These are some of the questions MIT Sloan School of Management PhD candidate Benjamin Manning is researching. Part of his……

Read More