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.
Agriculture
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
Fluorescent microscopy image of brain cells
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
An ant is sitting on a piece of glass, attracted by honey.
Biology
Australian ant honey inhibits tough pathogens, new research shows
Nural Cokcetin and Kenya Fernandes and Danny Ulrich and Andrew Dong and Dee Carter
The first clock on display in a museum.
Physics
The physics of why the first clock in America failed
Ethan Siegel
Aerial view, Great Barrier Reef
Oceans
2023 report on Great Barrier Reef: “The story is more complicated than the headlines.”
David Wachenfeld and Daniela Ceccarelli and Mike Emslie
A white toilet with a blue background, featuring a slippery toilet bowl.
3D Printing
Ultra slippery toilet bowl stays clean forever
Kristin Houser
A picture of a rice plant and a picture of a rice plant.
Biology
Scientists bioengineer plants to have an animal-like immune system
Peter Rogers
magnified image of ips cells
Biology
Breakthrough creates stem cells without any “memories”
Kristin Houser
a magnified row of the silicon boxes in the molecular test
Inventions
“Light sculpting” chip can rapidly test for thousands of diseases
Kristin Houser
Two green and red lasers in space.
Physics
New physics? Ultra-precise measurement in particle physics confounds scientists
Don Lincoln
A man is standing in front of a wall of spacetime clocks.
Physics
Time has some fundamental differences from every other dimension
Ethan Siegel
A man in a red shirt in a science lab
Engineering
Scientists see metal heal itself for the first time
Kristin Houser