Author: Ms. R.

Superconductors — materials that conduct electricity without resistance — are remarkable. They provide a macroscopic glimpse into quantum phenomena, which are usually observable only at the atomic level. Beyond their physical peculiarity, superconductors are also useful. They’re found in medical imaging, quantum computers, and cameras used with telescopes. But superconducting devices can be finicky. Often, they’re expensive to manufacture and prone to err from environmental noise. That could change, thanks to research from Karl Berggren’s group in the Department……

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Valeria Robayo, a sophomore majoring in management and minoring in German, has been named one of 20 Reimagine Challenge winners for her proposal of a centralized mobile- and web-based service offering local community resources. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt launched the Reimagine Challenge scholarship contest in August 2020. Contestants were challenged either to find community-based solutions related to the Covid-19 pandemic or to spark a movement to make the world “meaningfully better” in 10 years. The contest garnered 838……

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Like many of his colleagues in the Department of Biological Engineering, graduate student Tzu-Chieh “Zijay” Tang employs microbes and synthetic biology — redesigning the genetic systems of organisms — in his research. However, his research goals are something of an outlier in his department: water quality applications. “I feel like there’s a huge imbalance of talent, at least at MIT,” says Tang, a fifth-year doctoral student. “A lot of people go into the biomedical field, and very few take……

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At the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) held last month, MIT researchers presented new data from programs such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). In a virtual-only format, scientists from the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, the Department of Physics, and the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research shared their findings, including using atmospheric characterization and machine learning tools and techniques to learn more about extrasolar planets. Beyond the sun……

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A potent ozone-depleting chemical whose emissions unexpectedly spiked in recent years has quickly dropped back to much lower levels, putting the recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer back on track, according to a new study by scientists at MIT, the University of Bristol, and other institutions in South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Switzerland. The chemical in question is CFC-11, a chlorofluorocarbon that was once commonly used for refrigeration, insulation, and other purposes. When emitted to the atmosphere,……

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Human language can be inefficient. Some words are vital. Others, expendable. Reread the first sentence of this story. Just two words, “language” and “inefficient,” convey almost the entire meaning of the sentence. The importance of key words underlies a popular new tool for natural language processing (NLP) by computers: the attention mechanism. When coded into a broader NLP algorithm, the attention mechanism homes in on key words rather than treating every word with equal importance. That yields better results……

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The Japan Prize Foundation has named MIT Professor Robert Weinberg as one of the recipients of its 2021 awards in the category of Medical Science and Medicinal Science, citing Weinberg’s contributions to the development of a multi-step model of how cancer begins and progresses, and the application of that model to improve cancer treatments and outcomes.  Weinberg, along with co-recipient Bert Vogelstein of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will receive his award in April at a presentation ceremony……

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