Pictured: A color-enhanced scanning electron microscope (SEM) image
of prostate cancer cells.
Updates on cutting-edge research conducted by MIT undergraduates.
Vocal fold scarring, caused by mechanical stresses and environmental factors, can diminish their pliability and is the cause for most human hoarseness. Consequently, there has been a focus on developing biomaterials that can mimic the viscoelastic properties of the vocal fold and can be directly injected to treat vocal fold disease.
Read more >>Quantum dots (QD), semiconductor nanocrystals that confine an electron and its hole in all three dimensions, possess a unique size dependent property of a tunable band gap. This tunable band gap, which results in the ability to emit any wavelength of light, along with a broadband absorption and a narrowband emission, causes the dots to be desirable material for optoelectronic devices.
Read more >>The latest developments in science and technology at MIT
and around the world.
The Y chromosome, responsible for what separates males from females, is often excluded from genome sequencing data. This fact is partially due to the “massive palindromic sequences,” stretches of repeating DNA, that make the chromosome tricky to sequence, but is also partially due to the theory that the Y chromosome did not significantly change throughout time after diverging from the X chromosome millions of years ago. Recently, the latter idea is being challenged by new data found by a team of MIT researchers.
Read more >>The study of game theory, the science of how and why individuals make certain choices during competitive situations, has recently taken an interesting turn. Researchers have begun investigating the behavior of single-celled organisms in the hope of applying any newfound knowledge to human interactions.
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Pathogenic microorganisms have evolved a cunning way to evade detection by the host immune system through generating diverse cell surface expression. This study on yeast cell wall genes sheds light on the mechanisms by which cell-surface variations are regulated.
Read more >>The expression of bacterial biofilms in
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is coordinated in part through the two component system, GacS/GacA. This study employs overexpression screening and transposon mutagenesis on reporter strain exoS-lacZ to identify potential players in the regulation of GacS/GacA, and biofilm gene expression.
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Twenty years ago, the developed world was confident that the then-recent advancements in health care technology and practices could be successfully shared with the developing world by the year 2000. In a historic conference headed by the WHO and UNICEF, the project “Health Care for All by 2000” was proposed; its strategies would finally bring equality of health care to all corners of the developing world using new technologies that were both effective and economical. The advent of vaccinations, oral rehydration solutions, antibiotics, pesticides, and water pumps would significantly improve conditions for those in the developing world—at least theoretically.
Read more >>UROP’s founder Prof. Margaret MacVicar was inspired by a number of innovations in education that were occurring at the time.
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