Offshore wind could provide abundant electricity—but as with solar energy, this power supply can be intermittent and unpredictable. But a new approach from researchers at MIT could mitigate that problem, ...
Apr 26, 2013
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Many natural composite materials have evolved to wrinkle in response to certain stimuli: The eye of the squid is lined with wavy layers of silvery reflectors that give it a silvery sheen. In the cell walls of many plants, ...
Apr 25, 2013
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Medical radiography is basically a species of photography. Historically, the patient's limb would be positioned between an x-ray source and a photographic plate. The plate would be exposed and developed, ...
Apr 23, 2013
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Physicists operating an underground experiment in Minnesota reported last week that they have found possible hints of dark matter. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment detected three events ...
Apr 23, 2013
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Throughout decades of research on solar cells, one formula has been considered an absolute limit to the efficiency of such devices in converting sunlight into electricity: Called the Shockley-Queisser efficiency ...
Apr 18, 2013
4.6 / 5 (36)
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Like many Nigerians, MIT graduate student Chidube Ezeozue grew up frustrated by his nation's erratic electrical grid.
Apr 18, 2013
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Two MIT physicists and an alumnus who's a NASA astronaut spoke on campus earlier this week, describing an experiment that's been 18 years in the making and yielded its first significant results just last ...
Apr 11, 2013
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Nanowires and nanotubes, slender structures that are only a few billionths of a meter in diameter but many thousands or millions of times longer, have become hot materials in recent years. They exist in many ...
Apr 11, 2013
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If you've ever stood on a hill during a rainstorm, you've probably witnessed landscape evolution, at least on a small scale: rivulets of water streaming down a slope, cutting deeper trenches in the earth ...
Apr 10, 2013
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DNA's unique structure is ideal for carrying genetic information, but scientists have recently found ways to exploit this versatile molecule for other purposes: By controlling DNA sequences, they can manipulate ...
Apr 10, 2013
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As recently as 5,000 years ago, the Sahara—today a vast desert in northern Africa, spanning more than 3.5 million square miles—was a verdant landscape, with sprawling vegetation and numerous lakes. Ancient ...
Apr 05, 2013
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A new report by researchers at MIT and elsewhere finds that the global manufacturing sector has made great strides in energy efficiency: The manufacturing of materials such as steel, cement, paper and aluminum ...
Apr 04, 2013
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Gelatin sets by forming a solid matrix full of random, liquid-filled pores—much like a saturated sponge. It turns out that a similar process also happens in some metallic glasses, substances whose molecular ...
Apr 03, 2013
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When a current passes between two electrodes—one thinner than the other—it creates a wind in the air between. If enough voltage is applied, the resulting wind can produce a thrust without the help of ...
Apr 03, 2013
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