New design could speed reaction rates in electrochemical systems for pulling carbon out of power plant emissions.

Self-assembly of Kevlar-inspired molecules leads to structures with robust properties, offering new materials for solid-state applications.

Nanosatellite thrusters that emit a stream of pure ions are the first of their kind to be entirely additively manufactured, using a combination of 3D printing and hydrothermal growth of zinc oxide nanowires. A stainless steel version works better overall, but is much more expensive to produce. MIT researchers found that a polymer version yields comparable performance at a lower cost.

Read more at MIT News.

Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Aviv Regev, Susan Solomon, and Feng Zhang are the recipients of distinguished awards for major contributions to science.

Read more at MIT News.

MIT researchers have proposed a method to grow plant-based materials, like wood and fiber, and have demonstrated the concept by growing a culture of wood-like cells from zinnia leaves.

This research was funded, in part, by the Draper Fellow Program. Ashley Beckwith, a PhD student in mechanical engineering, is the lead author. Coauthors are Beckwith’s co-advisors Velásquez-García, a principal scientist in MIT’s Microsystems technology Laboratories, and Jeffrey Borenstein, a biomedical engineer at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.

Read more at MIT News.

Researchers using MIT.nano's facilities show a small-molecule platform, the aramid amphiphile, that overcomes dynamic instabilities by incorporating a Kevlar-inspired domain into the molecular structure. Read about their work in Nature Nanotechnology.

The IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge is MIT’s 20 -year old annual social entrepreneurship program housed in the PKG Public Service Center. Since its founding in 2001, IDEAS has enabled MIT student-led teams to apply their education and expertise in collaboration with community partners to address social and environmental challenges around the world. Through this program, you can recruit a team from anywhere in the world and develop a creative solution in partnership with impacted stakeholders. Your team can also benefit from a supportive body of reviewers, mentors, and funding within the range of $1,000 – $20,000.

Applications due January 24, 2021.

Electrical engineer William Oliver develops technology to enable reliable quantum computing at scale.

Using this computational system, researchers can identify viral protein sequences that could make better vaccine targets.