ENGINEERING IN ACTION
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Helping cassava farmers by extending crop life
The root vegetable cassava is a major food staple in dozens of countries across the world. Drought-resistant, nutritious, and tasty, it has also become a major source of income for small-scale, rural farmers in places like West Africa and Southeast Asia. -
Startup lets doctors classify skin conditions with the snap of a picture
At the age of 22, when Susan Conover wanted to get a strange-looking mole checked out, she was told it would take three months to see a dermatologist. When the mole was finally removed and biopsied, doctors determined it was cancerous. At the time, no one could be sure the cancer hadn’t spread to other […] -
Building communities, founding a startup with people in mind
MIT postdoc Francesco Benedetti admits he wasn’t always a star student. But the people he met along his educational journey inspired him to strive, which led him to conduct research at MIT, launch a startup, and even lead the team that won the 2021 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Now he is determined to make sure his company, Osmoses, succeeds […] -
Launchpad for healthcare entrepreneurs
When Computation and Systems Biology PhD student Elvira Kinzina was diagnosed with Lyme disease during her first year at MIT, she struggled to find a doctor specializing in the disease – even though Boston is renowned for its thriving healthcare community. She soon found out this was common for Lyme patients, with many specialists booked […] -
Brave Behind Bars: Prison education program focuses on computing skills for women
A programming language textbook might not be the first thing you’d expect to see when walking into a correctional facility.
IN THE NEWS
At the forefront of building with biology
Ritu Raman leads the Raman Lab, where she creates adaptive biological materials for applications in medicine and machines. go
Evan Leppink: Seeking a way to better stabilize the fusion environment
In a residency supported by the Department of Energy, the MIT PhD candidate will explore the high-field side of the… go- Harry Tuller honored for career advancing solid-state chemis...
- A new method boosts wind farms’ energy output, without new...
- New programmable materials can sense their own movements
- 3 Questions: Amar Gupta on an integrated approach to enhance...
- Caspar Hare, Georgia Perakis named associate deans of Social...
- Leveraging computational tools to enhance product design
Ask an Engineer
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Can global warming be reversed?
It is getting warmer out there, and it isn’t an easy problem to solve…
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How did life on Earth begin?
It started in the depths of the ocean. Or maybe underneath the ice caps…
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How were we able to navigate from the Earth to the Moon with such precision?
Before the days of GPS, engineers had to rely on good old fashioned computation…
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How do touch-sensitive screens work?
With a little electrical help from the human body, touchscreens can tell where our fingers are pointing…
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Is there a way to check a building for structural damage without knocking down walls?
Signs of deep structural distress are often visible on the surface…
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Is there a way to detect my car’s keyless remote if I don’t know where it is?
Maybe — if it’s the right type of remote and you have plenty of time and technical know-how. But don’t get your hopes up…
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What are the technological obstacles to colonizing another planet?
Space is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there—yet…
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Why is a bicycle easier to control when it’s moving?
A moving bike is always falling, steering prevents (or delays) impact…