A group of researchers from MIT develops a photovoltaic cell based on organic molecules, which harnesses the energy of infrared light while allowing visible light to pass through, thus enabling power generation in transparent. Coated onto a pane of standard window glass, it could provide power for lights and other devices, and would lower installation… »
There are estimated half-million garbage pickers in Brazil, known as catadores, who turn waste into profit by sorting out recyclable items and selling their findings to recycling companies. With help from some MIT students, the catadores have a less-expensive and environmentally friendly option to transport those goods by using recycled cooking oil for their fuel…. »
In order to counter the multimedia brought by TV shows and video games which leave kids stationary, the researchers at the MIT Media Laboratory are developing a system called Playtime Computing. Aside the projectors, the prototype of the Playtime Computing system consists of a cube-shaped, remote-controlled robot, called the Alphabot, with infrared emitters at its… »
Researchers explored the thermo-chemical approach to capture solar energy since the 1970s, but nobody could find a chemical that could reliably and reversibly switch between two states, absorbing sunlight to go into one state and then releasing heat when it reverted to the first state. Such a compound was discovered in 1996, but it included… »
Although systems that remove salt from saltwater (desalination systems) have existed for decades, they are typically large-scale installations that require lots of energy to operate. A team of researchers from MIT has designed a solar-powered desalination system that could be rapidly deployed in remote areas, such as desert locations or farms and small villages in… »
One of the problems with harvesting sunlight is that sunlight leads to a gradual degradation of many systems developed to harness it. But plants have adopted an interesting strategy to address this issue by constantly breaking down their light-capturing molecules and reassembling them from scratch, thus renewing the basic structures that capture the sun’s energy… »
Researchers at MIT have created a robotic prototype that could autonomously navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site. The system, called Seaswarm, is a fleet of vehicles that may make cleaning up future oil spills both less expensive and more efficient than current skimming methods. It uses… »
People with diabetes must keep a careful eye on their blood glucose levels, because too much sugar can damage organs, while too little deprives the body of necessary fuel. Most patients must prick their fingers several times a day to draw blood for testing. In one of our previous articles we wrote about hydrogel lenses… »
