Within the electromagnetic middle ground between microwaves and visible light lies terahertz radiation, and the promise of “T-ray vision.” Terahertz waves have frequencies higher than microwaves and lower than infrared and visible light. Where optical light is blocked by most materials, terahertz waves can pass straight through, similar to microwaves. If they were fashioned into […] More
History can help us face hard truths. The places Kate Brown studies are particularly full of them. Brown, a historian in MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society, has made a career out of studying what she calls “modernist wastelands” — areas suffering after years of warfare, social conflict, and even radioactive fallout from […] More
When a guitar string is plucked, it vibrates as any vibrating object would, rising and falling like a wave, as the laws of classical physics predict. But under the laws of quantum mechanics, which describe the way physics works at the atomic scale, vibrations should behave not only as waves, but also as particles. The […] More
Rooftop solar panels are a great way for people to invest in renewable energy while saving money on electricity. Unfortunately, the rooftop solar industry only serves a fraction of society. Many Americans are unable to invest in rooftop solar; they may be renters or lack the upfront money required for installations or live in locations […] More
Just 30 seconds into their walk to the town center of Kitale, in Kenya, where they would later conduct a focus group about locally available solar energy options, Elise Harrington and her research partner came across a vendor selling a counterfeit solar lantern. Because they had been studying these very products, they knew immediately it […] More
A new study shows that, contrary to widespread belief within the solar power industry, new kinds of solar cells and panels don’t necessarily have to last for 25 to 30 years in order to be economically viable in today’s market. Rather, solar panels with initial lifetimes of as little as 10 years can sometimes make […] More
Grace Bryant is a junior at MIT, but it wasn’t until this summer that she got a chance to team up with students outside her major through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), supported by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). She says she found the experience eye-opening. “I rarely interact with people doing something different […] More
Cody Friesen PhD ’04, an associate professor of materials science at Arizona State University and founder of both Fluidic Energy and Zero Mass Water, was awarded the 2019 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for invention. Friesen has dedicated his career to inventing solutions that address two of the biggest challenges to social and economic advancement in the […] More
