Study shows that pavement deflection under vehicle tires makes for a continuous uphill drive that increases fuel consumption.

Calculating the total capacity of a data network is a notoriously difficult problem, but information theorists are beginning to make some headway.

May help improve drug delivery and explain natural patterns from brain folds to bell peppers. The flexible properties of hydrogels - highly absorbent, gelatinous polymers that shrink and expand depending on environmental conditions such as humidity, pH and temperature - have made them ideal for applications from lenses to baby diapers and adhesives.

New sensor can accurately measure fruits' ripeness, helping prevent loss of produce from spoilage.

Nanoscale films developed at MIT promote bone growth, creating a stronger seal between implants and patients' own bone.

$1.5M grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will launch CAST. MIT has received $1.5 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a new Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST).

Government investment in the manufacture of micromachines could pay huge dividends, but in the meantime, MIT researchers are developing new fabrication techniques.

A planet's dust cloud may explain strange patterns of light from its star. Researchers at MIT, NASA and elsewhere have detected a possible planet, some 1,500 light years away, that appears to be evaporating under the blistering heat of its parent star.

Engineers design nanoparticles that deliver high doses of antibiotics directly to bacteria. Over the past several decades, scientists have faced challenges in developing new antibiotics even as bacteria have become increasingly resistant to existing drugs.

Savvy hackers can steal a computer's secrets by timing its data storage transactions or measuring its power use.

Simple wrist sensors let neurologists collect better data about patients with epilepsy - and could alert patients that they need to seek medical care.

MIT's Medical Electronic Device Realization Center aims to connect microelectronics with new health-care tools.

May reduce greenhouse gas emissions Copper - the stuff of pennies and tea kettles - is also one of the few metals that can turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels with relatively little energy.

New algorithms could enable heaps of 'smart sand' that can assume any shape, allowing spontaneous formation of new tools or duplication of broken mechanical parts.