Science

A vibrant graphic illustration featuring a large leafy plant with integrated plant sensors, comic-style speech bubbles containing exclamation marks, and a round bubble depicting ants, set against a blue textured background.

Plant sensors could act as an early warning system for farmers

Using sensors made from carbon nanotubes, researchers discovered signals that help plants respond to stresses like heat, light, or attack.

Anne Trafton | MIT News Office

A diamond held securely by tweezers against a dark background

Engineering

Synthetic diamonds may have just gotten way easier to make

Scientists in South Korea have developed a new technique for creating synthetic diamonds that works under ambient pressure.

Kristin Houser

Brain

What hybrid mouse/rat brains are showing us about the mind

Modified mice with hybrid brains that include rat neurons could one day lead to new breakthroughs in neuroscience.

Kristin Houser

Biology

Unlocking the mysteries of muscles in motion

New kirigami-inspired skin patch may help people avoid injury, as it expands our understanding of muscle activity.

Caroline Delbert

Schematics showing the flow of electricity in two common static electricity experiences. Illustration by Teresa Stanton.

Engineering

What is static electricity? We may finally have an answer.

This model, created by doctoral students, provides a convincing explanation for a mystery that is thousands of years old - the cause of static electricity.

B. David Zarley

Animals

NYC's whale population is making a comeback – here’s why.

4:52

The once struggling New York Harbor whale population is now rebounding with water clean-up initiatives and these faithful citizen scientists’ efforts.

Art

Meet the artist who paints with dna clues

When Maayan Harel paints a portrait, her subject isn't sitting in front of her. She doesn't even have a photograph...

Teresa Carey

Series| Seachange

How to save the coral reefs

4:07

Coral reefs are the foundation of ocean life, and yet 50% of them have been lost. Here’s why coral reefs are dying and what one group is doing to stop it.

Jess Dais

Brain

Scientists grew a mini brain in a lab. It has human-like brain waves.

For the first time, a lab-grown mini brain has brain waves. Researchers can now launch new ways to study brain disorders. But the question of consciousness in the brain-like organoid could raise concern.

Teresa Carey

Series| Superhuman

Electric skin gives sensation back to amputees

6:21

Touch is a sensation that connects us all. This scientist created electronic skin that lets people with prosthetic limbs feel.

Series| Future of Food

Inside the world of gourmet lab meat

6:13

A future of eating meat without ethical or environmental implications is more real than ever before. But will people eat it food grown in a lab?

Animals

Reversing extinction for the northern white rhino

6:50

The Northern white rhino is functionally extinct, meaning the two living females of the species are infertile. This scientist from the San Diego Zoo may have the solution to save the last of this extinct species, by tapping into her frozen zoo.

Disaster Response

Could we end earthquake deaths?

4:56

Thousands die in earthquakes every year - even though we know how to build safely. This engineer is working with people in the most vulnerable places to figure out why.

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