Many voters today seem to live in partisan bubbles, where they receive only partial information about how others feel regarding political issues. Now, an experiment developed in part by MIT researchers sheds light on how this phenomenon influences people when they vote. The experiment, which placed participants in simulated elections, found not only that communication […]
The utterances of Old World monkeys, some of our primate cousins, may be more sophisticated than previously realized — but even so, they display constraints that reinforce the singularity of human language, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT linguist. The study reinterprets evidence about primate language and concludes that Old World monkeys […]
The CRISPR genome-editing system is best-known for its potential to correct disease-causing mutations and add new genes into living cells. Now, a team from MIT and Harvard University has deployed CRISPR for a completely different purpose: creating novel materials, such as gels, that can change their properties when they encounter specific DNA sequences. The researchers […]
NASA astronaut Mike Barratt, describes photographing a strange ring in the ice on the world’s oldest and most mysterious lake from the International Space Station. More rings on Lake Baikal have been seen since, they baffle scientists. Stream Full Episodes of What on Earth?: https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/what-on-earth/ Subscribe to Science Channel: http://bit.ly/SubscribeScience Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScienceChannel […]
Nearly all of the oxygen in our universe is forged in the bellies of massive stars like our sun. As these stars contract and burn, they set off thermonuclear reactions within their cores, where nuclei of carbon and helium can collide and fuse in a rare though essential nuclear reaction that generates much of the […]
Imagine you’re sitting in the driver’s seat of an autonomous car, cruising along a highway and staring down at your smartphone. Suddenly, the car detects a moose charging out of the woods and alerts you to take the wheel. Once you look back at the road, how much time will you need to safely avoid […]
The oldest known knitting item dates back to Egypt in the Middle Ages, by way of a pair of carefully handcrafted socks. Although handmade clothes have occupied our closets for centuries, a recent influx of high-tech knitting machines have changed how we now create our favorite pieces. These systems, which have made anything from Prada […]
Identifying species among plants and animals has been a full-time occupation for some biologists, but the task is even more daunting for the myriad microbes that inhabit the planet. Now, MIT researchers have developed a simple measurement of gene flow that can define ecologically important populations among bacteria and archaea, including pinpointing populations associated with […]
Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants is widely considered an essential component of any climate change mitigation plan. Many research efforts focus on developing and deploying carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) systems to keep CO2 emissions from power plants out of the atmosphere. But separating the captured CO2 and converting it back into a gas […]
More than 15 million colonoscopies are performed in the United States every year, and in at least 20 percent of those, gastroenterologists end up removing precancerous growths from the colon. Eliminating these early-stage lesions, known as polyps, is the best way to prevent colon cancer from developing. To reduce the risk of tearing the colon […]