Tag: mit

MIT scientists make it easy to tweak designs for 3D printing

Two different groups of MIT researchers found a way to print out objects with glass instead of plastic and to make a printer spew out 10 different materials at once earlier this year. This particular team along with researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel, however, have chosen to focus on creating a system that makes it possible for even novices to customize the objects they want to print. Designers typically have to adjust a CAD file to tweak the object’s looks by typing in numerical values, and then wait for minutes to hours for a simulation software to make sure the final product is viable. The system this group developed dramatically speeds up the process. It displays the design along with sliders representing different parameters — say, the height of a shoe’s heel or the base size and width of a mug — on a web browser. The user can then easily play with the sliders to achieve the look they want. Now, here’s the best thing about it: it won’t let you design unstable structures or anything that can’t be printed or used. Nobody has to spend hours waiting for software to make sure the modified digital object is feasible, and all the user needs to do is to send it straight to the 3D printer. Filed under: Science Comments Source: MIT Tags: 3dprinter, 3dprinting, MIT

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MIT scientists make it easy to tweak designs for 3D printing

LED stickers: turn your notebook into a lightshow

Noah Swartz writes, “Jie Qi from the MIT Media Lab and Bunnie Huang of Hacking the Xbox fame have teamed up to make LED stickers! Using adhesive copper tape you can turn any notebook into a fantastical light up circuit sketchbook. I got to play with them myself at FOO Camp and they’re as easy to use as the look, and in the time since Ji and Bunnie have gone back to the lab and made a number of sensor and controller stickerss that give you loads of options of what to make. They’re running a fundraiser to do a big production run of these over at Crowdsupply, and while they have funding I’m sure lots of people will be kicking themselves if they don’t manage to grab some of these while they can.” Circuit Stickers ( Thanks, Noah! )        

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LED stickers: turn your notebook into a lightshow

Scientists Use a Mutated Virus to Build a Better Battery

By unleashing a genetically modified virus onto microscopic electrode wires, researchers from MIT have shown that the performance of lithium-air batteries can be significantly improved — a remarkable breakthrough that could revolutionize the way our electric devices are powered. Read more…        

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Scientists Use a Mutated Virus to Build a Better Battery

This morphing table can create a virtual version of you in realtime

Keiichi Matsuda is excited about this invention and I can’t blame him: A solid table that reproduces a virtual version of anything that you put under its sensors—in realtime. You can see how it reproduces the hands moving in the clip above, but there’s more: Read more…        

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This morphing table can create a virtual version of you in realtime

3D? Feh. MIT has already moved on to 4D printing (video)

The bad news: just as much of the world is starting to get excited about the prospects of 3D printing , science is moving on to the world of 4D. The good news: in the future, you might not have to assemble that Ikea chair yourself. “4D printing” is the term cientists are using to refer to a technology that MIT’s Skylar Tibbits talked up during a recent TED appearance. The fourth “d” here is time, referring to an object that, once printed, is capable of changing shape (over time, naturally). “Essentially the printing is nothing new,” Tibbits told the BBC. “It is about what happens after.” So far the concept has been demonstrated with thin strands of plastic, which, once added to water, form into a predetermined shape, using energy from the absorption. Suggested future applications involve furniture, pipes, bikes and buildings. First, however, scientists will have to demonstrate the technology on a larger structure, of course, and they’ll explore the possibility of other energy sources, like heat, sound and vibration. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Source: BBC

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3D? Feh. MIT has already moved on to 4D printing (video)

MIT imaging chip creates natural-looking flash photos

Mobile image processing in itself isn’t special when even high dynamic range shooting is virtually instant, at least with NVIDIA’s new Tegras . A new low-power MIT chip, however, may prove its worth by being a jack of all trades that works faster than software. It can apply HDR to photos and videos through near-immediate exposure bracketing, but it can also produce natural-looking flash images by combining the lit photo with an unassisted shot to fill in missing detail. Researchers further claim to have automatic noise reduction that safeguards detail through bilateral filtering, an established technique that uses brightness detection to avoid blurring edges. If you’re wondering whether or not MIT’s work will venture beyond the labs, don’t — the project was financed by contract manufacturing giant Foxconn , and it’s already catching the eye of Microsoft Research . As long as Foxconn maintains interest through to production, pristine mobile photography won’t be limited to a handful of devices. Filed under: Cameras , Science , Alt Comments Source: MIT

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MIT imaging chip creates natural-looking flash photos

MIT crafts genetic circuits that remember their work through DNA

It’s easy to find work on gene-based storage ; finding genes that will do any of the heavy lifting is another matter. MIT believes it has a genetic circuit that will finally get to work, and then some. In using recombinase enzymes to alter DNA sequences serving as logic gates, researchers have developed a cellular circuit that not only mimics its silicon cousins, but has its own built-in memory. As the gate activation makes permanent changes to a given DNA sequence, any gate actions stay in memory for up to 90 generations — and will hang around even if the cell’s life is cut short. MIT sees its technique as having ultimate uses for areas where longer-term memory is important, such as environmental sensors, but could also see varying output values helping with digital-to-analog converters and other devices where there’s a need for more precision. While there’s no word on imminent plans for real-world use, the development raises the possibility of processors that could skip the traditional memory cache as they pass info down the family tree. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: SciTechDaily Source: MIT

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MIT crafts genetic circuits that remember their work through DNA

MIT demos new form of magnetism that could lead to quantum communication, storage

It’s not often that researchers can verify a discovery that could change how we approach basic principles of technology, not just build on what we know. Nonetheless, MIT might have accomplished just such a feat in demonstrating a new state of magnetism . They’ve shown that a synthetically grown sample of herbertsmithite crystal (what you see above) behaves as a quantum spin liquid: a material where fractional quantum states produce a liquid-like flux in magnetic orientations, even if the material is solid. The behavior could let communications and storage take advantage of quantum entanglement , where particles can affect each other despite relatively long distances. MIT warns us that there’s a wide gap between showing quantum spin liquids in action and developing a complete theory that makes them useful; we’re not about to see Mass Effect ‘s quantum entanglement communicator, if it’s even possible. To us, realizing that there may be a wholly untapped resource is enough reward for now. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Source: MIT

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MIT demos new form of magnetism that could lead to quantum communication, storage