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Protein that boosts longevity may protect against diabetesSirtuins help fight off disorders linked to obesity, new MIT study shows.

The economic cost of increased temperaturesStudy: Warming episodes hurt poor countries and limit long-term growth.

New study finds link between cell division and growth rateFindings answer puzzling question of how cells know when to progress through the cell cycle.

Bringing power to the people — and heat as wellSun-powered system developed by MIT students could provide electricity, heat and cooling to rural schools and clinics.

Riding herd on photonsA new ‘metamaterial’ prevents electromagnetic waves from reflecting backward, pointing the way toward computer chips that move data with light.

Researchers build a toolbox for synthetic biologyEngineers design new proteins that can help control novel genetic circuits in cells.

Study: Many Americans die with ‘virtually no financial assets’Innovative research shows large divergence in retirement saving outcomes, with the single elderly faring worse than married couples.

Research update: SPHERES to get powerful magnets and gogglesNew wireless power and camera setups will expand the mini-satellites’ vision and navigation capabilities.

Writing graphics software gets much easierA new programming language for image-processing algorithms yields code that’s much shorter and clearer — but also faster.

3 Questions: Anette Hosoi on engineering and the OlympicsGot Olympic fever? Dive into the mechanics of a fast pool

Wrinkled surfaces could have widespread applicationsMIT team discovers way of making perfectly ordered and repeatable surfaces with patterns of microscale wrinkles.

10-year-old problem in theoretical computer science fallsInteractive proofs — mathematical games that underlie much modern cryptography — work even if players try to use quantum information to cheat.

Better product design through a simple square chartHow Design Structure Matrix analysis has helped heavyweight companies improve their products, production lines and organizations.

Why cutting-edge medical technology may not lead to exploding health care costsNew study finds growth of advanced imaging slowed amid financial, medical concerns.

Newfound gene may help bacteria survive in extreme environmentsResulting microbial lipids may also signify oxygen dips in Earth’s history.

Single-photon transmitter could enable new quantum devicesLong-sought goal for quantum devices — the ability to transmit single photons while blocking multiple photons — is finally achieved.

A far-off solar systemResearchers measure the orientation of a multiplanet system and find it very similar to our own solar system.

UC Berkeley joins edXUC Berkeley joins Harvard and MIT not-for-profit online-learning collaborative; edX broadens free course offerings into public health, computer science and solid-state chemistry; opens registration

New model of disease contagion ranks U.S. airports in terms of their spreading influenceAirports in New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu are judged likeliest to play a significant role in the growth of a pandemic.

River networks on Titan point to a puzzling geologic historyFindings suggest the surface of Saturn’s largest moon may have undergone a recent transformation.