2009 research news archive

A fabric with vision - MIT researchers have developed light-detecting fibers that, when weaved into a web, act as a flexible camera that could display information about one's surroundings on a small screen. July 8

Birds reveal how practice improves performance - By studying the chirps of tiny songbirds, MIT neuroscientists have gained new insights on trial-and-error learning -- findings that could further understanding of the complex brain structures that play a key role in learning and habit formation in humans. July 6

MIT decodes H1N1 - A team from MIT and the Centers for Disease Control has found a genetic explanation for why the new H1N1 "swine flu" virus has spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses. July 2

A phone is not just a phone - Several startup business ventures spawned by MIT students are using phones to help people, especially in developing nations, to raise their incomes, learn to read, get where they're going and even diagnose their ailments. July 2

Researchers find new actions of neurochemicals - MIT researchers have found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could lead to new therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders if similar receptors are found in humans. July 2

Extending the shelf life of antibody drugs - Antibody treatments are the most rapidly growing class of drugs, but their relatively short shelf life can be a problem. A computer model developed at MIT aims to help scientists develop antibodies that can be stored for longer periods of time. June 29

Thinking of you - Based on studies involving the blind, MIT neuroscientists have some surprising new insights about how people make inferences about others' state of mind. June 26

Students float their ideas - 30 MIT students and faculty members recently took off on a micro-gravity research flight from Titusville, Florida, to carry out experiments on a variety of projects that could help future astronauts or help in the development of new satellites. June 25

Nanotechnology expert wins Lemelson-MIT Prize - Professor Chad Mirkin, director of Northwestern University's International Institute for Nanotechnology, has been awarded the 2009 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. June 24

Sleep helps build long-term memories - New work by researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory shows how the sleeping brain replays experiences like video clips, thereby turning fleeting short-term memories into lasting long-term ones. June 24

Engineering for extreme environments - An MIT materials scientist is developing nanocomposite materials that can endure extreme conditions such as radiation and high temperatures, for use in energy production. June 24

Greenhouse gases made visible - A new display in New York City shows a real-time count of the tons of carbon dioxide (and equivalents of other greenhouse gases) emitted each day, based on data collected and analyzed by MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. June 22

Koch Institute symposium targets tumor metastasis - Researchers from around the world discussed some of the latest developments at the June 19 annual symposium of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, held in Kresge Auditorium. June 22

Cutting CO2 emissions from existing coal plants - Professor Ernest Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and former undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, today unveiled a report on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal plants. June 19

MIT research is moon-bound - NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is making its way to the moon following a flawless liftoff on June 18 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket. June 19

Study takes aim at opportunistic fungal pathogens - An international team, including researchers from the Broad Institute, decoded and analyzed the genomes of fungal species that cause bloodstream infections. Their findings offer some initial clues about what makes some fungi pathogenic and others not. June 18

Newly formed Ragon Institute hosts symposium on computational immunology - Scientists recently gathered at MIT for a Ragon Institute symposium to discuss how to harness computational immunology to develop treatments for some of today's deadliest infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. June 18

Planet found in tilted orbit around distant star - An international team of researchers, led by MIT physicist Joshua Winn, has found a planet around another star whose orbit is steeply tilted from the plane of the star's equator, a finding that contradicts some theories about how solar systems form. June 17

Taking the heat off - MIT engineers looked to the design of a living cell as they sought ways to dissipate heat in tiny electromechanical systems. June 16

Engineers slow concrete creep to a crawl - MIT civil engineers have for the first time identified what causes concrete to gradually deform, decreasing its durability and shortening the lifespan of infrastructures such as bridges and nuclear waste containment vessels. June 15

Physics of peeling tape - A study of stickers peeling from windows could lead to a new way to precisely control the fabrication of stretchable electronics, according to a team of researchers including one at MIT. June 15

Li-Huei Tsai to direct Picower Institute - Picower Professor of Neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Li-Huei Tsai will succeed Mark Bear as director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. June 12

RNA snippet suppresses spread of breast cancer - High levels of a tiny fragment of RNA appear to suppress the spread of breast cancer in mice, according to researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. June 12

Computing boost for New England - What began as an effort to better coordinate information technology at MIT has blossomed into a major drive between the Institute, the state of Massachusetts and several key players in industry and academia to design a high-performance computing center. June 11

Stars take 'wild rides' around, outside the Milky Way - Astronomers announced today that stars of a recently discovered type, dubbed ultracool subdwarfs, take some pretty wild rides as they orbit around the Milky Way, following paths that are very different from those of typical stars. June 9

Mathematicians take aim at 'phantom' traffic jams - A team of MIT mathematicians has developed a model that describes how "phantom jams" -- traffic jams with no apparent cause -- can appear, which could help road designers minimize the odds of their formation. June 9

Blocking termites' defense mechanisms - In what may offer an alternative to chemical pesticides, MIT researchers and collaborators from Northeastern University have discovered a novel way to make pest insects more susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections by blocking part of the immune defenses. June 8

MIT team solves longstanding volcanic mystery - For decades, geologists have been puzzled by the differences among arc volcanoes and how they form. Now, thanks to fieldwork, experiments and computer modeling an MIT team has solved the mystery. June 5

Drawing from nature to build a better radio - MIT engineers have built a fast, ultra-broadband, low-power radio chip, modeled on the human inner ear, that could enable wireless devices capable of receiving cell phone, Internet, radio and television signals. June 3

To the moon, by way of MIT - MIT is hosting a celebration June 10-12 to honor those who made the Apollo Program a success, and to apply the lessons of their experience to the greatest challenges and opportunities of our future. June 3

3 Questions: Alice Amsden - In this installment of "3 Questions," Alice Amsden, Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, discusses issues of international development. June 2

MIT, INL launch research collaboration - The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today began a major new collaboration that will enrich each institution's research activities in nanoscience and nanotechnology. June 1

System allows earlier monitoring of fetal heartbeat - A new system developed by an MIT scientist and colleagues could allow earlier monitoring of the fetal heartbeat and could prevent serious or even fatal complications. June 1

Long-distance brain waves focus attention - Neuroscientists found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex fire in unison and send signals to the visual cortex to do the same, generating gamma oscillations that are associated with cognitive states such as attention, learning and consciousness. May 28

Engineered circuits can count cellular events - Engineers have designed cells that can count and "remember" cellular events, using simple circuits in which a series of genes are activated in a specific order. Such circuits could serve as biosensors that count exposures to different toxins. May 28

Q&A with William Wheaton on the housing recovery - The slow and painful recovery under way in the beleaguered U.S. housing market probably won't be complete for another two years, says Professor of Economics and Urban Studies William Wheaton, director of MIT's Center for Real Estate. May 26

Going for broke - Natasha Schull is publishing her conclusions on how closely guarded, proprietary mathematical algorithms and immersive, interactive technology are used to keep people gambling on slots and video poker machines until they "play to extinction." May 20

Climate change odds much worse than thought - New analysis of probabilities shows that global warming could be twice as severe as previously thought, unless serious actions are taken soon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. May 19

Finishing touches: New alloys could replace chrome - A new nickel-tungsten alloy developed at MIT could become a more environmentally friendly alternative to the chrome coatings now found in car bumpers, bathroom fixtures and engine parts. May 19

A renaissance in logistics for economic growth - In 2003 the Aragón government partnered with the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics to create the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program. Since then, MIT has had a strong impact on the growth of the Aragón community. May 19

Robotic therapy holds promise for cerebral palsy - Over the past few years, MIT engineers have successfully tested robotic devices to help stroke patients learn to control their arms and legs. Now, they're building on that work to help children with brain injuries and disorders such as cerebral palsy. May 19

Waste, or energy resource? - A panel of nuclear power experts met on Monday at MIT to discuss how to address nuclear waste recycling or disposal, which many analysts consider the biggest obstacle to building a new generation of nuclear power plants across America. May 19

A watershed moment in economics and finance - Those in MIT's Department of Economics and the MIT Sloan School of Management suggest the prolonged recession has opened up new areas for research and encouraged innovative approaches to teaching economics. May 18

Researchers make magazine's '100 most creative' - Fast Company magazine has named Joseph F. Coughlin, director of MIT's AgeLab, and Neri Oxman, a graduate student in MIT's Media Lab, to its inaugural list of the "100 Most Creative People in Business." May 15

Small RNAs yield great amounts of data from ocean - An ingenious new method of obtaining marine microbe samples in a natural setting may make it possible finally to learn on a broad scale how microbial communities living at different ocean depths and regions respond to environmental stimuli. May 14

DOE to establish two Energy Frontier Research Centers at MIT - MIT will be home to two of 46 new multimillion-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs), the White House announced this week. May 13

MIT commercial property price index continues fall - Transaction prices of commercial property sold by major institutional investors fell by almost 6 percent in the first quarter of 2009, according to an index developed and published by the MIT Center for Real Estate. May 12

New implant offers continuous cancer monitoring - MIT researchers have developed the first implantable device that can monitor a tumor for weeks or months after a biopsy, tracking its growth and how it responds to treatment. May 12

The 'Atiras' - The first asteroid ever discovered that has an orbit completely inside the Earth's, found by an MIT Lincoln Laboratory telescope in 2003, has been formally named Atira by its discoverers. May 12

Ancient trading raft sails anew - For the first time in nearly 500 years, a full-size balsa-wood raft just like those used in pre-Columbian Pacific trade took to the water on Sunday, May 10. Only this time, instead of the Pacific coast, the replica raft was floated in the Charles River basin. May 12

New tissue scaffold regrows cartilage and bone - MIT engineers have built a new tissue scaffold that can stimulate bone and cartilage growth when transplanted into the knees and other joints. The scaffold could offer a potential new treatment for sports injuries and other cartilage damage, such as arthritis. May 11

Picower pinpoints gene key to Alzheimer's-like reversal - A team led by researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has now pinpointed the exact gene responsible for a 2007 breakthrough in which mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease regained long-term memories and the ability to learn. May 6

Spinning at the nanoscale - MIT Professor of Chemical Engineering Gregory Rutledge is exploring new ways to create electrospun nanofibers, which hold promise for applications including protective clothing and wearable power. May 5

Targeting tumors using tiny gold particles - MIT researchers have developed tiny gold particles that can home in on tumors, and then, by absorbing energy from near-infrared light and emitting it as heat, destroy tumors with minimal side effects. May 4

A material for all seasons - Graphene is a recently-discovered material with unique characteristics, and several teams of MIT researchers are hard at work trying to understand its behavior and find new applications for it. May 4

Investigating a protein's role in brain links - Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shed light on how a protein implicated in cognitive disorders maintains and regulates brain cell structures that are key to learning and memory. May 4

Six from MIT elected to NAS - Six MIT faculty members are among the 72 newly elected members and 18 foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. April 28

Making waves in the brain - MIT researchers and colleagues have found a way to induce gamma waves -- high-frequency brain waves thought to be crucial to consciousness, attention, learning and memory -- by shining laser light directly onto the brains of mice. April 26

Chemists synthesize cancer drug candidate - For the first time, MIT chemists have synthesized a complex compound, first discovered in ocean-living fungus, that has shown the ability to kill cancer cells. April 24

McGovern awards Scolnick Prize to HHMI investigator Nathans - The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT will present the sixth annual Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience to Jeremy Nathans, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience, and opthalmology. April 23

Analysis knocks down theory of cell origins - An analysis by researchers at MIT and Boston University has undercut a theory about the origin of a basic structure within animal and plant cells. April 22

Separating the good from the bad - Scientists at MIT and Brown University studying how marine bacteria move recently discovered that a sharp variation in water current segregates right-handed bacteria from their left-handed brethren, impelling the microbes in opposite directions. April 17

Dialect Detectives - Technology under development by Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo and his colleagues at Lincoln Laboratory may lead to a dialect identification system that compensates for a translator's inexperience with multiple variants of a spoken language. April 16

Cambridge Science Festival keeps on growing - The organizers of the rapidly growing Cambridge Science Festival - which will kick off its third year on April 25 - have ambitious plans for the future that include expanding the festival's outreach beyond just nine days each spring. April 16

Making picky proteins - Interactions between proteins underlie nearly everything that happens inside a cell. MIT researchers have developed a model that can be used to design new protein interactions and could help scientists create proteins for use in developing new drugs. April 15

Q&A with Joseph Coughlin - AgeLab Director Joseph F. Coughlin discusses new technologies such as the Age Gain Now Empathy System, a suit that allows wearers to experience the physical restrictions of age, and can be used to improve the quality of life of older people and those who care for them. April 14

How you feel the world impacts how you see it - Researchers have found that the phenomenon called motion aftereffect occurs not only in our visual perception but also in our tactile perception, and that these senses actually influence one another. Simply, how you feel the world can actually change how you see it. April 9

It's a fine line - Researchers at MIT have found a novel method for etching extremely narrow lines on a microchip, using a material that can be switched from transparent to opaque, and vice versa, just by exposing it to certain wavelengths of light. April 9

Wearable blood pressure sensor - High blood pressure is a common risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and aneurysms, so diagnosing and monitoring it are critically important. MIT engineers have built a wearable blood pressure sensor that can provide continuous, 24-hour monitoring. April 8

MIT spinoff gets Detroit contract - Auto manufacturer Chrysler said this week it has chosen A123Systems, a Watertown company based on technology developed at MIT, to make batteries for its new Envi line of electric and hybrid cars. April 8

The games microbes play - A team of MIT researchers has used game theory to show how cooperative behaviors in yeast can be compatible with evolutionary theory. April 6

Novel needle could cut medical complications - Each year, hundreds of thousands of people suffer medical complications from hypodermic needles that penetrate too far under their skin. A new device developed by MIT engineers aims to prevent this from happening. April 6

'Fuzzy logic' reveals cells' inner workings - Living cells are bombarded with messages from the outside world -- hormones and other chemicals tell them to grow, migrate, die or do nothing. Inside the cell, complex signaling networks interpret these cues and make life-and-death decisions. April 3

New virus-built battery could power cars - For the first time, MIT researchers have shown they can genetically engineer viruses to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery through a cheap and environmentally benign process. April 2

3 MIT faculty named HHMI Early Career Scientists - Three scientists were today named Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Early Career Scientists, part of a new initiative designed to give promising researchers more time and resources to focus on their boldest -- and potentially transformative -- research ideas. March 26

Team observes genesis of fish shoals - For the first time, MIT engineers and colleagues have observed the initiation of a mass gathering and subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals -- in this case, fish. March 26

3 Questions: Charles Stewart on voting survey - In this installment of "3 Questions" Charles Stewart III, head of MIT's Department of Political Science, discusses the findings of a survey he helped conduct on how American voters experienced Election Day 2008. March 26

New test can predict spread of breast cancer - Scientists at MIT, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical Schoolhave developed a test that could help doctors precisely identify which breast cancer patients should receive aggressive therapy. March 24

Understanding Our Blind Spots - Andrew W. Lo, the Harris & Harris Group Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management, shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities presented by the economic crisis. March 23

Hockfield speaks at the White House - At a press briefing at the White House on Monday, MIT President Susan Hockfield joined U.S. President Barack Obama in calling for a "truly historic" new level of federal funding for clean energy research. March 23

MIT faculty open access to their scholarly articles - In a move aimed at broadening access to MIT's research and scholarship, faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have unanimously voted to make their scholarly articles available to the public for free and open access on the Web. March 20

New material could lead to faster chips - New research findings at MIT could lead to microchips that operate at much higher speeds than is possible with today's standard silicon chips, leading to cell phones and other communications systems that can transmit data much faster. March 19

Flying car takes wing - A prototype of what is being touted as the world's first practical flying car took to the air for the first time this month, a milestone in a project started four years ago by students in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. March 19

Enzyme reverses schizophrenia-like symptoms - Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have found that inhibiting a key brain enzyme in mice reversed schizophrenia-like symptoms. The finding identified how a particular gene controls this brain enzyme. March 19

Gardening the CSAIL way - In CSAIL's indoor tomato garden, robots have supplanted humans. Could this be the future of agriculture? March 18

Q&A with Richard Hynes on stem cell funding - MIT Professor Richard Hynes discusses the impact of President Obama's recent announcement that the federal government will expand its funding of certain types of embryonic stem cell research. March 18

Manufacturing inefficiency - Modern manufacturing methods are spectacularly inefficient in their use of energy and materials, according to a detailed MIT analysis of the energy use of 20 major manufacturing processes. March 17

Near miss, but no threat - MIT planetary scientist Richard Binzel found that an asteroid that whizzed past Earth on March 2 was smaller than originally thought. Observations showed that if it had been on collision course it would probably have disintegrated harmlessly in the atmosphere. March 16

As planet warms, poor nations face economic chill - A rising tide is said to lift all boats. Rising global temperatures, however, may lead to increased disparities between rich and poor countries, according to a recent MIT economic analysis of the impact of climate change on growth. March 13

A human failure, seen at face value - Humans excel at recognizing faces, but how we do this has been an abiding mystery in neuroscience and psychology. A new study from MIT looks at a particularly striking instance of failure: our impaired ability to recognize faces in photographic negatives. March 13

Chandrakasan honored for semiconductor work - Anantha Chandrakasan, director of MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories, received the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) University Researcher Award. March 12

New greenhouse gas identified - A gas used for fumigation has the potential to contribute significantly to future greenhouse warming, but because its production has not yet reached high levels there is still time to nip this potential contributor in the bud, according to an international team of researchers. March 11

Battery material for rapid recharging of devices - MIT engineers have created a kind of beltway that allows for the rapid transit of electrical energy through a well-known battery material, an advance that could usher in smaller, lighter batteries that could recharge in seconds rather than hours. March 11

Barbara Liskov wins Turing Award - Institute Professor Barbara Liskov has won the Association for Computing Machinery's A.M. Turing Award, one of the highest honors in science and engineering, for her pioneering work in the design of computer programming languages. March 10

The middle-age, middle-income squeeze - Dramatic shifts in the U.S. labor market in the last 25 years are relegating older workers -- even those with a college education -- to lower-wage jobs, according to a research paper by MIT Economics Professor David Autor. March 10

Seminar probes past and future of 3-D imaging - Holograms of ocean plankton, produced by engineers in MIT's 3D Optical Systems Group represent some of the new developments in the field of holography, which may have implications for numerous fields of research. March 10

Lifting the ban - H. Robert Horvitz, the David H. Koch Professor of Biology, was among a group of 10 Nobel laureates who stood alongside President Barack Obama on Monday, March 9, as he signed an executive order on stem cell research. March 10

New gel offers controlled drug delivery - MIT researchers have demonstrated that a gel composed of small, woven protein fragments can successfully carry and release proteins of different sizes, potentially enabling delivery of drugs such as insulin and trastuzumab (Herceptin). March 9

NAE meeting at MIT eyes future of transportation - Dan Sperling, the director of the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC-Davis, spoke about sustainable transportation during a regional meeting of NAE members held at MIT on March 5. March 6

'Nanostitching' could lead to stronger airplane skins - MIT engineers are using carbon nanotubes only billionths of a meter thick to stitch together aerospace materials in work that could make airplane skins and other products some 10 times stronger at a nominal increase in cost. March 5

Potential cancer-causing genes removed from engineered stem cells - Whitehead Institute researchers have developed a novel method of removing potential cancer-causing genes during the reprogramming of skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state. March 5

Transportation, transformed - Transportation@MIT is a new faculty-led initiative that will draw on the strengths of three of the Institute's schools to address one of civilization's most pressing challenges: the environmental impact of the world's every-increasing demand for transportation. March 4

Engineering tissues and organs - MIT sophomore Asad Moten has invented of a scaffold that can help regenerate tissue and that may one day be able to help patients with spinal cord injuries, serious burns, nerve defects and other chronic wounds. March 4

Gold star - MIT graduate student and biomedical engineer Geoffrey von Maltzahn is this year's winner of the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for his promising innovations in the area of cancer therapy. March 3

New insights on macular degeneration - A new MIT study sheds light on how the brain's visual cortex can re-map itself in response to visual deprivation caused by macular degeneration, the most common form of adult blindness. March 3

Engineered viruses help fight antibiotic resistance - A new approach to fighting bacterial infections, developed at MIT and Boston University, could help prevent bacteria from developing antibiotic resistance and help kill those that have already become resistant. March 2

Knowing when to fold - A team of researchers is developing a new 'nano-origami' technique that allows engineers to fold nanoscale materials into simple 3-D structures. The tiny folded materials could potentially lead to better computer memory storage and faster microprocessors. February 26

Good vibrations - Researchers in MIT's Sensory Communication Group are working on a new generation of devices to aid the deaf by translating sound waves to vibrations. This could be an important tool for deaf people who rely on lip reading and can't use or can't afford cochlear implants. February 26

Sleek new MIT solar car heads to the races - MIT's Solar Electric Vehicle Team, the oldest such student team in the country, has just finished construction of its latest high-tech car and will be unveiling it to the public this Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. in Lobby 13. February 25

New rocket aims for cheaper nudges in space - Satellites orbiting the Earth must occasionally be nudged to stay on the correct path. MIT scientists are developing a new rocket that could make this and other spacecraft maneuvers much less costly. February 24

MISTI selects first winners of Global Seed Funds - Across the Institute awarded teams will receive nearly half a million dollars in funding as part of a new program by the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). Awardees include undergraduate, graduate or post-doctoral student participation. February 24

More power from bumps in the road - A team of MIT undergraduate students has invented a shock absorber that harnesses energy from small bumps in the road, generating electricity while it smoothes the ride more effectively than conventional shocks. February 19

Stuck in the middle - Researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering explain how thin layers of tiny organisms form at sea and how work could help predict harmful algal blooms like red tide. February 19

Spin cycle: a new kind of washer - A pedal-powered washing machine that MIT students and staff built mostly from bicycle parts and empty barrels could make a big difference to the quality of life, and at the same time could be built locally and thereby create jobs. February 19

Enlisting microbes to solve global problems - In the search for answers to the planet's biggest challenges, some are turning to its tiniest organisms: bacteria. MIT researchers are trying to manipulate bacteria's unique abilities to help generate energy and clean up Earth's atmosphere. February 17

Chronic infection adds to developing-world deaths - Nearly 2 million people per year die from diarrhea, the vast majority of them in poor countries in Africa and Asia. New research from MIT indicates that underlying, low-level undiagnosed infection may greatly add to the severity of a significant number of these cases. February 13

PDAs aren't just for checking e-mail - For patients who have drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, it's critical to monitor the disease as closely as possible. That means monthly testing throughout a two-year course of powerful antibiotics, with injections six days a week for the first six months. February 11

A possible treatment for Rett syndrome - A molecule that promotes brain development could serve as a possible treatment for Rett syndrome according to researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. February 9

RNA interference can suppress ovarian tumors - Small RNA molecules can effectively keep ovarian tumors from growing and spreading in mice, according to a team of researchers from MIT, the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. February 9

Multiple genes implicated in autism - By pinpointing two genes that cause autism-like symptoms in mice, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown for the first time that multiple, interacting genetic risk factors may influence the severity of autistic symptoms. February 9

Aliens at sea - When anthropologist Stefan Helmreich decided to study scientists who chase some of the world's smallest creatures in some of the world's most forbidding places, his research took an unexpected twist. February 5

Alum's $100 million gift targets AIDS vaccine - MIT is joining a bold new initiative to develop an AIDS vaccine. Founded through a 10-year, $100 million grant from the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute Foundation, the Ragon Institute will bring together scientists and engineers from MIT, MGH and Harvard. February 4

Mass. General, MIT and Harvard launch innovative effort to search for AIDS vaccine - The presidents of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University announced today the creation of the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute, formed to find new ways of preventing and curing human disease through harnessing the power of the immune system. February 4

Signs point to sponges as earliest animal life - Our earliest animal ancestors, it appears, were sponges. New evidence found by researchers at MIT, UC Riverside and other institutions shows these earliest sponges may predate the Ediacarian period by as much as 80 million years. February 4

Preventing prostate cancer the complex way - Blocking a specific protein complex prevents the formation of tumors in mice genetically predisposed to develop prostate cancer, researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have found. February 2

Study links causes of Parkinson's - Scientists at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have demonstrated one of the first links between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson's disease. February 1

Field of neurotech spawns brainy businesses - The rapidly growing field of neurotechnology is becoming a boon for existing businesses while generating startup ventures. With the aim of grooming the sector's future leaders, MIT has created a new research program and is offering numerous classes. January 29

Evading side effects - Research results at MIT may lead to new approaches to the treatment of dyskinesias in Parkinson's patients. Involuntary nodding and rocking are common side effects known as L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias. January 29

Physicists discover variation in superconductors - MIT physicists have discovered that several high-temperature superconductors display patchwork quilt-like variations at the atomic scale, a surprising finding that could help scientists understand a new class of unconventional materials. January 27

Robo-forklift keeps humans out of harm's way - Researchers in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are working on a better way to handle supplies in a war zone: a semi-autonomous forklift that can be directed by people safely away from the dangers of the site. January 21

The role of race - Through careful analysis of 2008 exit-poll data, researchers found that Barack Obama won the election precisely because of his race, most significantly because of his appeal among black voters who turned out in record numbers. January 20

Schizophrenia may cause exaggerated focus on self - Schizophrenia may blur the boundary between internal and external realities by over-activating a brain system that is involved in self-reflection, and thus causing an exaggerated focus on self, a new MIT and Harvard brain imaging study has found. January 19

Nitric oxide shown to cause colon cancer - Scientists from MIT's Division of Comparative Medicine and Department of Biological Engineering have found that nitric oxide produced by inflammatory cells during bacterial infection can cause colon cells to become cancerous. January 19

Genetically altered plants produce new compounds - In work that could expand the frontiers of genetic engineering, MIT chemists have, for the first time, genetically altered a plant to produce entirely new compounds, some of which could be used as drugs against cancer and other diseases. January 18

A better way to pinpoint underground oil reserves - Picture this: an accurate map of a large underground oil reservoir that can guide engineers' efforts to coax the oil from the vast rocky subsurface into wells where it can be pumped out for storage or transport. January 16

Astronomers crack longstanding lunar mystery - Rocks that the Apollo astronauts brought back from the moon carried with it a riddle that has puzzled scientists since the early 1970s: What produced the magnetization found in many of those rocks? The puzzle has now been solved by researchers at MIT. January 15

Do-it-yourself biology - Building a cell from scratch is a lot more complicated than building a computer. But that's just what synthetic biologists, including many at MIT, are trying to figure out how to do. January 13

Beyond the mind's eye - 20 years after Elizabeth Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies and colleagues began work on a "seeing machine," she smiles as she shows a visitor photos she's taken - and can see - with her blind eye. January 13

Putting heads (and computers) together - Imagine if the planet's collective brainpower and computing power could be brought together to tackle some of the world's toughest problems. It may sounds like science fiction, but researchers at MIT's are trying to make it reality. January 13

Too much of a good thing - A naturally occurring DNA repair system that normally protects cells from damage can cause retinal degeneration and blindness when overstimulated, according to a new study by MIT researchers. January 9

MIT provides in-depth look at exploded star - Using views captured by several orbiting and ground-based telescopes, an MIT researcher and her colleagues have produced the first fully three-dimensional reconstruction of the remains of a star that exploded in a cosmic cataclysm called a supernova. January 8

Teens prepared for careers, yet lack mentors - American teens are embracing the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with increasingly positive attitudes; yet many lack the necessary encouragement from mentors according to this year's Lemelson-MIT Invention Index. January 7

Source of cognitive decline in aging brains - As people age, memory and the ability to carry out tasks often decline. A new study by MIT neuroscientists has found that memory and cognitive impairments were more associated with loss of brain "white matter," which forms connections within and between brain regions. January 7

Model predicts how to build a better stent - Researchers have been puzzled in recent years by drug-releasing stents that can increase blood clots and heart attacks. Now, a model developed by MIT engineers can predict whether particular types of stents are likely to cause life-threatening side effects. January 5

Getting cells to pair off - MIT engineers have developed a new, highly efficient way to pair up cells so they can be fused together into a hybrid cell. January 4