Content for MIT.Edu

This 3D printer can watch itself fabricate objects

“Computer vision enables contact-free 3D printing, letting engineers print with high-performance materials they couldn’t use before. With 3D inkjet printing systems, engineers can fabricate hybrid structures that have soft and rigid components, like robotic grippers that are strong enough …

With a quantum “squeeze,” clocks could keep even more precise time, MIT researchers propose

“More stable clocks could measure quantum phenomena, including the presence of dark matter. The practice of keeping time hinges on stable oscillations. In a grandfather clock, the length of a second is marked by a single swing of the pendulum …

A new way to integrate data with physical objects

“StructCode, developed by MIT CSAIL researchers, encodes machine-readable data in laser-cut objects by modifying their fabrication features. To get a sense of what StructCode is all about, says Mustafa Doğa Doğan, think of Superman. Not the “faster than a speeding …

Bright flash leads astronomers to a heavy-metal factory 900 million light years away

“Using multiple observatories, astronomers directly detect tellurium in two merging neutron stars. An extraordinary burst of high-energy light in the sky has pointed astronomers to a pair of metal-forging neutron stars 900 million light years from Earth. In a study …

Shape-shifting fiber can produce morphing fabrics

“The low-cost FibeRobo, which is compatible with existing textile manufacturing techniques, could be used in adaptive performance wear or compression garments. Instead of needing a coat for each season, imagine having a jacket that would dynamically change shape so it …

Soft optical fibers block pain while moving and stretching with the body

“The fibers could help with testing treatments for nerve-related pain. Scientists have a new tool to precisely illuminate the roots of nerve pain. Engineers at MIT have developed soft and implantable fibers that can deliver light to major nerves through …

From a five-layer graphene sandwich, a rare electronic state emerges

“A newly discovered type of electronic behavior could help with packing more data into magnetic memory devices. Ordinary pencil lead holds extraordinary properties when shaved down to layers as thin as an atom. A single, atom-thin sheet of graphite, known …

MIT design would harness 40 percent of the sun’s heat to produce clean hydrogen fuel

“Conventional systems for producing hydrogen depend on fossil fuels, but the new system uses only solar energy. MIT engineers aim to produce totally green, carbon-free hydrogen fuel with a new, train-like system of reactors that is driven solely by the …

New technique helps robots pack objects into a tight space

“Researchers coaxed a family of generative AI models to work together to solve multistep robot manipulation problems. Anyone who has ever tried to pack a family-sized amount of luggage into a sedan-sized trunk knows this is a hard problem. Robots …

Making more magnetism possible with topology

“MIT researchers show how topology can help create magnetism at higher temperatures. Researchers who have been working for years to understand electron arrangement, or topology, and magnetism in certain semimetals have been frustrated by the fact that the materials only …