News | MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies

Two-component system could offer a new way to halt internal bleeding

ISN-affiliated MIT engineers have designed synthetic nanoparticles that can be injected into the body and help form blood clots at the sites of internal injury. (MIT News)

ISN seeking to hire a full-time instrumentation specialist

The ISN currently has an opening on staff for a full-time instrumentation specialist. A brief description of the position is available here. Additional details, including instructions on how to apply for this posting, are available on the Careers section of the MIT Human Resources website.

Making nanoparticle building blocks for new materials

Associate Professor Robert Macfarlane is uncovering design principles that allow researchers to fine-tune materials at many size scales. (Full story via MIT News)

Bilge Yildiz wins Rahmi M. Koç Medal of Science

Award recognizes scientists of Turkish origin younger than 50 who have made outstanding contributions to their fields. (Full story via MIT News)

ISN research among MIT's top research stories of 2022

ISN research advances in ultra-strong 2-D materials and portable desalination technology are among MIT's top research stories of 2022. (Full story via MIT News)

In nanotube science, is boron nitride the new carbon?

A team led by ISN-affiliated MIT Professor Brian Wardle has synthesized cm-scale objects infiltrated with hexagonal boron nitride nanotubes, and create a path toward fabricating aligned hBN nanotubes in bulk. (Full story via MIT News)

ISN-affiliated MIT faculty member wins inaugural Anatoly Larkin Award in Theoretical Physics for a Junior Researcher

Congratulations to Prof. Liang Fu of the MIT Physics Department for winning the Anatoly Larkin Award in Theoretical Physics for a Junior Researcher. Prof. Fu shares the honor, presented by the William I. Fine Physics Institute at the University of Minnesota, with fellow MIT Professor Patrick A. Lee, who won the Senior Researcher Award. (Full story via MIT News)

Two ISN-affiliated MIT faculty members named American Physical Society Fellows for 2022

Congratulations to Prof. Liang Fu and Prof. Nuh Gedik. They are among the six MIT PIs named 2022 Fellows of the American Physical Society. (Full story via MIT News)

X-rays track the behavior of soft materials

A team led by ISN-affiliated MIT professors and including researchers from Argonne National Laboratory have used X-rays to better undertand the relaxation of soft materials. (Full story via Argonne National Laboratory News)

New design system may help lead to self-cooling computer chips and advanced thermoelectric materials

A technique developed by an ISN research scientist working with an ISN-affiliated MIT professor automatically designs nanomaterials so that they conduct heat in a prescribed manner, such as in a particlar direction along the material. The process may help lead to advanced computer chips that cool themselves off and advanced thermoelectric devices. (Full story via MIT News)

Engineers develop a new kind of shape-memory material

A research team led by a longtime ISN-affiliated MIT faculty member has developed a new zirconia-based ceramic material with a hysteresis ~10x better than most ceramics, placing it in line with shape-memory metals, opening the door for use in practical applications. (Full story via MIT News)

The Well-Dressed Spacecraft

Congratulations to MIT graduate student Juliana Cherston and her whole team for winning the Aerospace & Defense category of the 20th Annual Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest with her submission "The Well-Dressed Spacecraft: Electronic Textile Enhanced Thermal Blanket as Debris (and Cosmic Dust) Sensor," featuring ISN-developed piezoelectric fibers. (Full story via Create the Future Design Contest website)

Two ISN-affiliated researchers named to Tech Review's list of Innovators Under 35

Two ISN-affiliated researchers — one an MIT faculty member and one a recent MIT PhD — has made the list of Tech Review's Innovators Under 35. Congratulations to Carlos Portela, PI on a current ISN seed and an upcoming ISN core project, and Hyunwoo Yuk, formerly of Xuanhe Zhao's research group and now co-founder & CTO of SanaHeal. Click through for more info on each, and to see the rest of the list. (Full story via MIT Technology Review)

ISN-affiliated MIT engineers develop stickers that can see inside the body

ISN-affiliated MIT engineers designed an adhesive patch that produces ultrasound images of the body. The stamp-sized device sticks to skin and can provide continuous ultrasound imaging of internal organs for 48 hours. (Full story via MIT News)

From seawater to drinking water, with the push of a button

In work funded by DEVCOM SC through the ISN, a team of led by an MIT faculty member and a DEVCOM SC scientist has developed a portable desalination system that can generate potable water in remote locations. (Full story via MIT News)

Three ISN-affiliated MIT faculty members named as research collaborators in the 2021 class of LUCI Fellows

The Department of Defense-funded initiative promotes collaborations between university researchers and scientists from military service labs. (Full story via MIT Chemistry)

Local researchers redesigning the way we dress by studying the ear

A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is working with the Rhode Island School of Design to develop an acoustic fabric prototype that can listen and record sound. (Full story via WHDH 7)

Researchers Create New Fabric That Can Hear Your Heartbeat

The fabric can pick up sounds ranging in volume from a quiet library to heavy road traffic, and determine the direction of sudden sounds like handclaps. (Full story via Bloomberg)

A fabric that “hears” your heartbeat

A team led by ISN-affiliated MIT faculty members has created a new fabric including piezoelectric fibers that can detect and produce sounds. (Full story via MIT News)

This Fiber Can Turn Your Clothes Into Listening Devices

Researchers give fashion a whole new look by creating fibers that can hear. (Full story via Daily Beast)

This wearable fabric microphone can listen to the world—and your body

This fabric microphone could blend into your outfit—while keeping you fashionable—to track your health data. (Full story via Popular Science)

Toward batteries that pack twice as much energy per pound

An ISN-affiliated team of MIT researchers has made a significant advance in the development of soldi-state batteries, which could lead to much safer and much more dense energy storage. (Full story via MIT News)

More sensitive x-ray imaging

ISN-affiliated researchers have produced a remarkable advancement in scintillation that could result in an order of magnitude increase in the efficiency of x-ray imagers. (Full story via MIT News)

Inventing soft things to solve hard problems

Xuanhe Zhao's work with hydrogels marries engineering and medicine. (Full story via MIT Technology Review)

This new material is as strong as steel—but lighter

A new polymer synthesis mechanism opens doors to transform common plastics into membrane form. (Full story via Popular Science)

MIT scientists have done the ‘impossible’ with new super-thin, stronger-than-steel sheets

The breakthrough polymer could wind up protecting everything from cell phones to houses and bridges. (Full story via Boston.com)

Size matters in particle treatments of traumatic injuries

A new analysis by ISN-affiliated MIT faculty members working with a team including physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital offers guidance on the size of nanoparticles that could be most effective at stopping internal bleeding. (Full story via MIT News)

MIT scientists create a super plastic that’s 2 times stronger than steel

And yes, it should be recyclable, too. (Full story via Fast Company)

MIT scientists create new material that combines strength of steel, lightness of plastic

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a new material that combines the strength of steel and the lightness of plastic. (Full story via WHDH 7)

MIT Develops New Material Said To Be Stronger Than Steel, As Light As Plastic

MIT researchers have developed a new material that they say is stronger than steel but as light as plastic. (Full story via CBS Boston)

MIT researchers create new material as strong as steel and light as plastic

It can be easily manufactured in large quantities, and the use cases range from lightweight coatings for cars and phones to building blocks for massive structures such as bridges.... (Full story via USA Today)

New lightweight material is stronger than steel

A team of MIT researchers led by an ISN-affiliated professor, working with researchers from the Army, has created a new, incredibly strong polymer material that self-assembles into sheets, something previously thought impossible. (Full story via MIT News)

New Simulator to Speed Up Solar Cell Development

Open-source tool could be coupled with neural networks for solar cell optimization and discovery. (Full story via IEEE Spectrum)

MIT engineers produce the world’s longest flexible fiber battery

ISN-affiliated MIT researchers, working with a DEVCOM ARL Fellow and Team Leader, have fabricated a weaveable, washable, rechargeable fiber battery 140 meters long but just a few hundred microns in diameter. (MIT News external. Image courtesy of the researchers.)

A tool to speed development of new solar cells

An ISN research scientist, working with a team of colleagues from MIT and Google Brain, has developed a software tool to help quicken the tedious process of designing improved solar cells. (MIT News external. Image MIT News/iStockphoto.)

New Vaccine Ingredient May Battle COVID, Other Illnesses Including HIV: Study

A combination-style vaccine ingredient may help to make coronavirus vaccines and other inoculations more successful at staving off disease.... (Full story via Newsweek)

Immune system-stimulating nanoparticle could lead to more powerful vaccines

An ISN-affiliated MIT professor, leading a large team from in and outside MIT, has developed a new nanoparticle adjuvant that may be a significant improvement to those currently in use, enhancing the immune response to current and future vaccines. (MIT News external. Image MIT News/iStockphoto.)

Why are rainbows shaped in a perfect arc?

This week, thanks to a question from Temple, New Hampshire resident Lorraine von Sneidern, the Curiosity Desk not only went chasing answers, we also went chasing rainbows. "Why are the rainbows that I see outside after a rainstorm always a perfect arc?" asked von Sneidern. Rainbows are, of course, one of nature’s most charming tricks of light. And light is what Massachusetts Institute of Technology Associate Professor Mathias Kolle spends his days pondering and studying in his lab. (Full story via the GBH Curiosity Desk)

Getting quantum dots to stop blinking

A team led by longtime ISN-affiliated MIT professors has devised a way to prevent the unwanted blinking of quantum dots that has been a stumbling block to their use in precision applications. (MIT News external. Image courtesy of the researchers.)

MIT researchers have been working to turn polyethylene plastics into woven fabrics

Researchers from MIT have been experimenting with the plastic since at least 2016, and in March of this year published a study in the journal Nature Sustainability detailing their work turning the plastic into woven fabrics. (Full story via Smithsonian Magazine)

Institute Professor Paula Hammond named to White House science council

MIT Institute Professor, the head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, and ISN co-founder Paula Hammond has been named to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. (External link to MIT News. Image: Gretchen Ertl)

Bio-inspired, blood-repelling tissue glue could seal wounds quickly

A new adhesive that mimics the sticky substance barnacles use to cling to rocks may offer a better way to treat injuries. (External link to MIT News. Image: stock photo)

Nanofabricated ‘tetrakaidecahedrons’ could out-bulletproof kevlar

Researchers at MIT and Caltech have created a nanoengineered material that could be tougher than the likes of kevlar or steel. (External link to TechCrunch. Image courtesy of the researchers.)

Ultralight material withstands supersonic microparticle impacts

The new carbon-based material could be a basis for lighter, tougher alternatives to Kevlar and steel. (External link to MIT News. Image courtesy of the researchers.)

Smart Fibers Could Turn Army Uniforms Into Wearable Computers

The "programmable fibers" could bring a whole new meaning to the term "digital camouflage." (External link to Popular Mechanics. Image: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Could Soldiers’ Uniforms Detect Injuries, UAVs Or Incoming Fire And Share That Data? The Army Is Looking Into It.

The idea of making every soldier a sensor node has appealed to the U.S. Army for years. (External link to Forbes. Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Uniforms with programmable fiber could transmit data and more

Army-funded research has resulted in the development of a programmable fiber that could transmit data from Soldier uniforms. (External link to Army.mil. Image: Anna Gitelson-Kahn. Photo by Roni Cnaani.)

Engineers create a programmable fiber

MIT researchers have created the first fiber with digital capabilities, able to sense, store, analyze, and infer activity after being sewn into a shirt. (External link to MIT News. Image: Anna Gitelson-Kahn. Photo by Roni Cnaani.)

Advance may enable “2D” transistors for tinier microchip components

A new advance in the utilization of 2-D materials and how they can connect to conventional electronics could lead to smaller, faster microchips (External link to MIT News. Image courtesty of the researchers.)

Synthetic gelatin-like material mimics lobster underbelly’s stretch and strength

A team of MIT researchers working with a DEVCOM ARL scientist has synthesized a nanofibrous hydrogel that mimics the flexible but ultra-tough underbelly of a lobster, previously determined by another MIT group to consist of the toughest known natural hydrogel. (External link to MIT News. Image courtesy of the the researchers.)

A safer way to deploy bacteria as environmental sensors

Researchers led by a pair of ISN-affiliated MIT professors are working on a new means of preventing gene exchange due to bacteria in environmental sensors by encapsulating the bacteria in a hydrogel material. (External link to MIT News. Image: Christine Daniloff, MIT)

Kombucha tea inspires smart materials that could save troops’ lives

Kombucha tea has inspired new Army-funded technology that may help troops carry out potentially life-saving tasks, such as detecting chemicals and other pollutants in the environment or purifying water in the field. (Full story via Stars & Stripes)

Kombucha tea sparks creative materials research solution

Trendy fermented beverage inspires researchers to develop a new way to generate tough materials. (External link to Army.mil. Image: Tzu-Chieh "Zijay" Tang)

Biden taps Eric Lander and Maria Zuber for senior science posts

President-elect Joseph Biden has selected two MIT faculty leaders — Broad Institute Director Eric Lander and Vice President for Research Maria Zuber — for top science and technology posts in his administration. (Full story via MIT News)

Inspired by kombucha tea, engineers create “living materials”

Engineers at MIT and Imperial College London have developed a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the “kombucha mother” used to ferment tea. (Full story via MIT News)

Army-funded smart fabric collects space dust on International Space Station

An Army-funded smart fiber being tested on the International Space Station could be used to develop space dust telescopes and allow astronauts to feel through their pressurized suits. (Full story via Army.mil)

Solving complex problems at the speed of light

Many of the most challenging optimization problems encountered in various disciplines of science and engineering, from biology and drug discovery to routing and scheduling can be reduced to NP-complete problems. Researchers developed an algorithm dedicated to solving the well-known NP-complete Ising problem with photonics hardware. (Image courtesy of the researchers.)

Cheers! Maxwell’s electromagnetism extended to smaller scales

Today, the path to understand and model nanoscale electromagnetic phenomena is finally open. In the breakthrough Nature paper “A General Theoretical and Experimental Framework for Nanoscale Electromagnetism”, a team led by ISN Director John Joannopoulos and ISN-affiliated MIT professor Marin Soljačić present a model that extends the validity of the macroscopic electromagnetism into the nano regime, bridging the scale gap. (Image courtesy of the researchers.)

A new way to corrosion-proof thin atomic sheets

A team of MIT faculty including ISN-affiliated Prof. Ju Li and Prof. Jing Kong has created a new protective coating for 2D materials like graphene, which can have extraordinary mechanical, optical, and electrical properties but is prone to degrading rapidly in air. (Image courtesy of the researchers.)

Engineered viruses could fight drug resistance

ISN-affiliated MIT professor Tim Lu and his team have demonstrated the ability to program bacteriophages to seek out and kill various strains of E. coli in an antibacterial process that is less likely than traditional medicines to build resistance. (Image courtesy of the researchers.)

MIT engineers develop “blackest black” material to date

ISN-affiliated MIT professor Brian Wardle and his team created the blackest material ever reported by vertically aligning carbon nanotubes. Then, Wardle and his group collaborated with MIT Artist-in-Residence Diemut Strebe on a new work of art, "The Redemption of Vanity," currently on display at the The New York Stock Exchange. (Image: Diemut Strebe)

Engineers develop multimaterial fiber “ink” for 3-D-printed devices

A research team including ISN Director John Joannopoulos, and ISN-affiliated MIT Professor and CEO of Advanced Functional Fabrics of America Yoel Fink, has devised a new additive manufacturing method that uses standard 3-D printers and multimaterial fiber devices as the feedstock. (Image: Felice Frankel)

First observation of non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm Effect, originally predicted in 1975

A team led by ISN Director and MIT professor John Joannopoulos and ISN-affiliated Prof. Marin Soljacic has successfully instigated and observed for the first time the Aharanov-Bohm Effect in a non-Abelian system. Their research, detailed in a newly published article in the journal Science, could eventually lead to fault-tolerant quantum computing. (Image courtesy of the researchers)

Robotic thread is designed to slip through the brain’s blood vessels

ISN-affiliated MIT engineers have developed a magnetically steerable, thread-like robot that can actively glide through narrow, winding pathways, such as the labrynthine vasculature of the brain. (Image courtesy of the researchers)

MIT scientists say new skin patch to deliver cancer medication in 60 seconds shows promise in mice

A transcutaneous drug delivery patch developed by ISN-affiliated MIT researchers has shown promise in administering cancer medications to mice and human skin samples.

Hydration sensor could improve dialysis

ISN-affiliated MIT researchers have developed a reliable, portable device to measure a person's hydration level, which could aid in the monitoring and treatment of dialysis patients, the elderly, athletes, and warfighters.

Chip design drastically reduces energy needed to compute with light

A photonic chip developed by ISN-affiliated MIT researchers could lead to vastly more efficient neural network computing systems.

Mathematical technique quickly tunes next-generation lenses

ISN-affiliated MIT scientists have developed a computational method to quickly determine the patterning that will enable a desired optical effect from a flat metasurface. These metasurfaces could eventually be used in a variety of optical applications, including advanced cellphone cameras.

Engineers make clear droplets produce iridescent colors

Optical effect could be harnessed for light displays, litmus tests, and makeup products.

Low noise, lightweight battlefield power source

Scalable from Soldier wearable power to UAV power

Why The Hype?

Additive manufacturing is all the rage, but why?

Converting Wi-Fi signals to electricity with new 2-D materials

Device made from flexible, inexpensive materials could power large-area electronics, wearables, medical devices, and more.

Researchers catalog defects that give 2-D materials amazing properties

Theoretical analysis distinguishes observed “holes” from the huge list of hypothetically possible ones.

What happens when materials take tiny hits

High-speed camera shows incoming particles cause damage by briefly melting surfaces as they strike.

Competition Highlights New Battlefield Energy Sources

An Army competition seeking technology from startups discovered a pair of new power sources that may help soldiers lighten their loads in battle zones.

Inside these fibers, droplets are on the move

Fibers containing systems for mixing, separating, and testing fluids may open up new possibilities for medical screening.

How to mass produce cell-sized robots

Technique from MIT could lead to tiny, self-powered devices for environmental, industrial, or medical monitoring.

Army's new 3-D printed shape-shifting soft robots crawl, jump, grab

New 3-D printed robotic structures can squeeze in tight spaces like a crack in the wall of a cave, jump over trip wire or crawl under a vehicle - all complex Army-relevant functions impossible for humans to perform safely.

Innovating for shared prosperity

MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge awards over $1 million to organizations harnessing technology to create greater...

Three from MIT named inaugural Schwarzman Scholars

New award pays for one-year master's at Tsinghua University in China

How to spawn an “exceptional ring”

Researchers create exotic states that could lead to new kinds of sensors and optical devices.

Faculty highlight: Krystyn Van Vliet

MIT associate professor brings a materials scientist's understanding to biochemical behavior in stem cells and organ tissue.

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ISN research is at the forefront of not only military S&T, but also of scientific inquiry as a whole. As a result, our work is continually making news. The articles below, which are linked to their original outside sources, are a small sampling of the most recent examples.