Emil Verner’s research shows that bank runs generally finish off already flawed business instead of upending viable ones. “When banks fail, it’s usually because these banks have taken a lot of risk and have big losses,” he says.
Hydrogen is key to many industrial processes, but its production is energy-intensive. But 1s1 Energy, co-founded by alumnus Dan Sobek, has developed an electrochemical cell material for hydrogen electrolyzers that it says reduces energy use by 30 percent.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is carrying four astronauts and a state-of-the-art communications system developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on its way to the moon. The system uses lasers to send high-res video and images of the lunar surface down to Earth.
Researchers are developing an implantable device containing insulin-producing cells, to replace regular injections for type 1 diabetes. The goal is “a device that could continuously create protein therapeutics on demand and as needed by the patient,” Daniel Anderson says.
Engineers designed a wristband that lets wearers control a robotic hand with their own movements. By moving their hands and fingers, users can direct a robot to play piano or shoot a basketball, or manipulate objects in a virtual environment.
In a world without MIT, radar wouldn’t have been available to help win World War II. We might not have email, CT scans, time-release drugs, photolithography, or GPS. And we’d lose over 30,000 companies, employing millions of people. Can you imagine?
Since its founding, MIT has been key to helping American science and innovation lead the world. Discoveries that begin here generate jobs and power the economy — and what we create today builds a better tomorrow for all of us.