"Massachusetts Institute of Technology" in the news:
Turning heat to electricity... efficiently
Nov 18, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (64) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way ...
Explained: The Discrete Fourier Transform
Nov 25, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (36) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1811, Joseph Fourier, the 43-year-old prefect of the French district of Isčre, entered a competition in heat research sponsored by the French Academy of Sciences. The paper he submitted ...
Scientists pinpoint origin of dissolved arsenic in Bangladesh drinking water
Nov 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (21) |
1
Researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering believe they have pinpointed a pathway by which arsenic may be contaminating the drinking water in Bangladesh, a phenomenon that has puzzled ...
One word: bioplastics
Nov 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (14) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.
Three of a kind: Revealing language’s universal essence
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 20, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (15) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- On the surface, English, Japanese, and Kinande, a member of the Bantu family of languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have little in common. It is not just that the vocabularies ...
Flight of fancy: MIT autonomous mini-helicopter solves one tough challenge
Dec 03, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (13) |
2
In its first 18 years, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s annual aerial-robotics competition posed four successive challenges, which robotics researchers had to meet using entirely ...
Newly explored bacteria reveal some huge RNA surprises
Dec 02, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (12) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University researchers have found very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells ...
A faraway planet intrigues: Exoplanet with extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (12) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- Two teams of astronomers have found a planet outside the solar system that might be orbiting backwards compared to its star's rotation, a discovery that could shed light on how unique the ...
Battery Research Aims To Store Renewable Energy
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (13) |
6
The biggest chemical battery in the United States is located near Interstate 90 in the small town of Luverne, Minn. The 80 ton device -- the size of two tractor-trailers stacked on top of each other -- stores ...
Hydrogen milestone moves energy independence one step forward
Nov 10, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (14) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Big things often come in small packages. That's certainly the case with the potential created by recent successes in hydrogen research at Idaho National Laboratory.
A greener way to get electricity from natural gas
Dec 03, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (12) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new type of natural-gas electric power plant proposed by MIT researchers could provide electricity with zero carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, at costs comparable to or less than ...
Fine-tuned: A wholly new approach to tuning a laser's frequency
Dec 04, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- For more than 30 years, scientists have been trying to harness the power of terahertz radiation. Tucked between microwaves and infrared rays on the electromagnetic spectrum, terahertz rays ...
The Link Between Birdsong And Human Language
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (7) |
0
Scientists studying how Bengalese finches use sets of syllables to communicate are a step closer to understanding how humans develop and use vocabulary. After studying the neural networks in finch brains, ...
Liquid battery big enough for the electric grid?
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There's one major drawback to most proposed renewable-energy sources: their variability. The sun doesn't shine at night, the wind doesn’t always blow, and tides, waves and currents fluctuate. ...
Discovery of a Retrograde or Highly Tilted Extrasolar Planet
Nov 18, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
1
Astronomers have found that the extrasolar planet HAT-P-7b has a retrograde or highly tilted orbit. Studying such planets is important in understanding the diversity of planetary systems and assessing current ...
