Ward: Education

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The gear meant to protect firefighters may carry hidden dangers

Firefighter turnout gear is designed to shield first responders from extreme heat and danger, but new research suggests it may also introduce chemical exposures. A U.S. study found that brominated flame retardants are present across multiple layers of firefighter gear, including newer equipment mark…

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From biting flies to feathered dinosaurs, scientists reveal 70 new species

Researchers announced over 70 new species in a single year, including bizarre insects, ancient dinosaurs, rare mammals, and deep-river fish. Many were found not in the wild, but in museum collections, proving that major discoveries can still be hiding in plain sight.

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Vine-inspired robotic gripper gently lifts heavy and fragile objects

The new design could be adapted to assist the elderly, sort warehouse products, or unload heavy cargo.

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Scalable method enables ultrahigh-resolution quantum dot displays without damaging performance

Over the past decade, colloidal quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as promising materials for next-generation displays due to their tunable emission, high brightness, and compatibility with low-cost solution processing. However, a major challenge is achieving ultrahigh-resolution patterning without dam…

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18,000 years ago, ice age humans built dwellings out of mammoth bones in Ukraine

Some people in Ukraine weathered the harshest moments of the last ice age by creating shelters made partly of mammoth bones and tusks.

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A new tool is revealing the invisible networks inside cancer

Spanish researchers have created a powerful new open-source tool that helps uncover the hidden genetic networks driving cancer. Called RNACOREX, the software can analyze thousands of molecular interactions at once, revealing how genes communicate inside tumors and how those signals relate to patient…

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Oldest evidence of fire-lighting comes from early humans in Britain

An excavation in Suffolk, UK, has uncovered pyrite and flint that appear to have been used by ancient humans to light fires some 400,000 years ago

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MIT HEALS leadership charts a bold path for convergence in health and life sciences

Angela Koehler, Iain Cheeseman, and Katharina Ribbeck are shaping the collaborative as a platform for transformative research, translation, and talent development across MIT.

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Anything-goes “anyons” may be at the root of surprising quantum experiments

MIT physicists say these quasiparticles may explain how superconductivity and magnetism can coexist in certain materials.

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Roman soldiers defending Hadrian’s Wall had intestinal parasites

Excavations of sewer drains at a Roman fort in northern England have revealed the presence of several parasites that can cause debilitating illness in humans

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High-achieving adults rarely began as child prodigies

It's easy to assume that the most talented adults among us were once gifted children, but it turns out that talent during childhood is no guide to later success

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De-extinction was big news in 2025 – but didn't live up to the hype

Biologists poured cold water on Colossal Biosciences’ claim to have brought the dire wolf back from extinction, and some worry the overblown headlines will undermine conservation work

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Emphasizing immigrants' deservingness can shift attitudes

A study conducted during the 2024 French elections finds that information about immigrants' efforts to overcome poverty and learn French reduces negative beliefs about immigration and modestly decreases opposition to immigration among voters. The study is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

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A molecular switch for green hydrogen: Catalyst changes function based on how it's assembled

Hydrogen production through water electrolysis is a cornerstone of the clean energy transition, but it relies on efficient and stable catalysts that work under acidic conditions—currently dominated by precious metals like iridium and platinum.

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Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, dies at 47

In his 10 years at MIT, Loureiro helped illuminate the physics occurring at the center of fusion vacuum chambers and at the edges of the universe.

213

Earth's seasons vary wildly, even at the same latitude, new research finds

Earth's seasons look very different at locations not far from each other, 20 years' worth of satellite data reveals.

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Ultrafast fluorescence pulse technique enables imaging of individual trapped atoms

Researchers at the ArQuS Laboratory of the University of Trieste (Italy) and the National Institute of Optics of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-INO) have achieved the first imaging of individual trapped cold atoms in Italy, introducing techniques that push single-atom detection into new …

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