Pharmaceutical companies are using artificial intelligence to streamline the process of discovering new medicines. Machine-learning models can propose new molecules that have specific properties which could fight certain diseases, doing in minutes what might take humans months to achieve manually. But there’s a major hurdle that holds these systems back: The models often suggest new […]
Category: Chemistry
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Tackling chemical synthesis and advocacy
Azin Saebi was born and raised in Iran, emigrating to the U.S. with her family at 18 after graduating from high school. Now a fifth-year graduate student in chemistry, Saebi never intended to stay permanently; she initially expected to go back to Iran to attend university. With that in mind, when leaving for the U.S., […]
“Spring-loaded” system pops phosphorus into molecular rings
MIT chemists have devised a new chemical reaction that allows them to synthesize a phosphorus-containing ring, using a catalyst to add phosphorus to simple organic compounds called alkenes. Their reaction, which yields a ring containing two carbon atoms and one phosphorus atom, can be performed at normal temperature and pressure, and makes use of a […]
School of Science announces 2022 Infinite Mile Awards
The MIT School of Science has announced the winners of the 2022 Infinite Mile Award. The selected staff members were nominated by their colleagues for going above and beyond in their roles at the Institute. Their outstanding contributions have made MIT a better place. The following are the 2022 Infinite Mile Award winners in the […]
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2022
MIT has earned a No. 1 spot in 12 subject areas, according to the QS World University Rankings for 2022, announced today. The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Architecture/Built Environment; Chemistry; Computer Science and Information Systems; Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Materials Science; […]
Study reveals the dynamics of human milk production
For the first time, MIT researchers have performed a large-scale, high-resolution study of the cells in breast milk, allowing them to track how these cells change over time in nursing mothers. By analyzing human breast milk produced between three days and nearly two years after childbirth, the researchers were able to identify a variety of […]
Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on accelerating reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions
This is the second article in a four-part interview series highlighting the work of the 27 MIT Climate Grand Challenges finalists, which received a total of $2.7 million in startup funding to advance their projects. In April, the Institute will name a subset of the finalists as multiyear flagship projects. Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel […]
A fabric that “hears” your heartbeat
Having trouble hearing? Just turn up your shirt. That’s the idea behind a new “acoustic fabric” developed by engineers at MIT and collaborators at Rhode Island School of Design. The team has designed a fabric that works like a microphone, converting sound first into mechanical vibrations, then into electrical signals, similarly to how our ears […]
Microbes and minerals may have set off Earth’s oxygenation
For the first 2 billion years of Earth’s history, there was barely any oxygen in the air. While some microbes were photosynthesizing by the latter part of this period, oxygen had not yet accumulated at levels that would impact the global biosphere. But somewhere around 2.3 billion years ago, this stable, low-oxygen equilibrium shifted, and […]
Study reveals chemical link between wildfire smoke and ozone depletion
The Australian wildfires in 2019 and 2020 were historic for how far and fast they spread, and for how long and powerfully they burned. All told, the devastating “Black Summer” fires blazed across more than 43 million acres of land, and extinguished or displaced nearly 3 billion animals. The fires also injected over 1 million […]
Chemical synthesis yields potential antibiotic
Chemists at MIT have developed a novel way to synthesize himastatin, a natural compound that has shown potential as an antibiotic. Using their new synthesis, the researchers were able not only to produce himastatin but also to generate variants of the molecule, some of which also showed antimicrobial activity. They also discovered that the compound […]
Protein structure offers clues to drug-resistance mechanism
MIT chemists have discovered the structure of a protein that can pump toxic molecules out of bacterial cells. Proteins similar to this one, which is found in E. coli, are believed to help bacteria become resistant to multiple antibiotics. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the researchers were able to determine how the structure of […]