Chemistry and chemical engineering

Inspiration from a porcupine’s quillsUnderstanding the mechanisms behind quill penetration and extraction could help engineers design better medical devices.

Lindsey Anne Gilman: Better boiling for more efficient energy production

How ‘transparent’ is graphene?MIT researchers find that adding a coating of graphene has little effect on how a surface interacts with liquids — except in extreme cases.

New injectable gels toughen up after entering the bodyThese more durable gels could find applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering.

Stronger than a speeding bulletNew tests of nanostructured material could lead to better armor against everything from gunfire to micrometeorites.

A step toward stronger polymersCounting loops that weaken materials could help researchers eliminate structural flaws.

Taking the sting out of medical tapeNew adhesive comes off quickly, sparing infants’ delicate skin from damage.

A new glow for electron microscopyProtein-labeling technique allows high-resolution visualization of molecules inside cells.

Department snapshot: Mechanical EngineeringMore MechE students choose to design their own education.

A new way to create rare sugarsMIT team discovers an inorganic catalyst that could pave the way to a more robust synthesis of valuable rare sugars.

Drawing a line, with carbon nanotubesNew low-cost, durable carbon nanotube sensors can be etched with mechanical pencils.

A brain beyond bordersMIT senior Victoria Okuneye traveled to Mexico and Jamaica to pursue her passions for neuroscience and global service.

Open Education on the Move: An Interview with Vijay KumarDirector of MIT's Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT) discusses some of the key concepts propelling the open education movement.

Inauguration festivities off to a stimulating startInnovation symposium touches on a dizzying array of topics, with themes of interdisciplinary collaboration, energy and innovation for the developing world.

MIT OpenCourseWare releases first episode of the ChemLab Boot Camp SeriesVideos follow 14 MIT freshmen through their introduction to hands-on science.

Getting (drugs) under your skinUsing ultrasound waves, researchers boost skin’s permeability to drugs.

Leonard A. Gould, EECS emeritus professor, dies at 85Joined MIT faculty in 1953; studied control problems and dynamic modeling.

How to clean up oil spillsMIT researchers devise a surprisingly simple but effective method for magnetically separating oil and water.

Merging tissue and electronicsNew tissue scaffold could be used for drug development and implantable therapeutic devices.

Teaching a microbe to make fuelGenetically modified organism could turn carbon dioxide or waste products into a gasoline-compatible transportation fuel.

Patterning defect-free nanocrystal films with nanometer resolutionNew process developed at MIT could enable better LED displays, solar cells and biosensors — and foster basic physics research.

ChemLab Boot Camp: MIT OpenCourseWare launches reality seriesA new series of videos to be published this fall follows 14 MIT freshmen through their introduction to hands-on science.

Graphene’s behavior depends on where it sitsNew findings show that the material beneath the thin carbon sheets determines how they react chemically and electrically.

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

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 drug candidate shows promise against cancerPlatinum compound may offer an alternative to cisplatin, a widely used chemotherapy agent.