[Editors] MIT Research Digest - November 2003

[MIT News Office]

MIT RESEARCH DIGEST - November 2003

A monthly tip-sheet for journalists of recent research
advances at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Web version: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/rd
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For more information on Research Digest items, contact:
Elizabeth Thomson, MIT News Office
Phone: (617) 258-5402  *  mailto:thomson at mit.edu

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IN THIS ISSUE:  HexFlex  *  Learning Lardil
Tissue Engineering  *  Ovarian, Breast Cancer Gene
Plasmatron  *  Pebble-bed Reactor
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HEXFLEX
Assembling a machine sounds straightforward, but what if the 
components of that machine are nanoscopic? Similarly, bringing 
together the ends of two cables is simple unless those cables have a 
core diameter many times smaller than a human hair, as is the case 
with fiber optics. Using a fundamentally new design, an MIT team has 
invented the HexFlex Nanomanipulator that's not only inexpensive but 
performs better in many ways than its competitors.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/hexflex.html

LEARNING LARDIL
Lardil, an Aboriginal language once widely spoken on Mornington 
Island, Australia, is officially moribund. Yet when Norvin Richards 
speaks Lardil into a telephone, it bubbles over the distance like 
water bouncing downhill over stones, very much alive. During a 
two-month stay on Mornington Island, Richards, who is the Mitsui 
Career Development Professor of Linguistics at MIT, plans to help 
compile educational materials in Lardil for use in the local school 
and to set up a master-apprentice program in which elders who are 
native speakers of Lardil tutor young people.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/2003/oct22/richards.html

TISSUE ENGINEERING
MIT engineers report a new approach to creating three-dimensional 
samples of human tissue that could push researchers closer to their 
ultimate goal: tissues for therapeutic applications and replacement 
organs. The team "seeded" human embryonic stem cells, which have the 
potential to differentiate into a variety of specialized cells, onto 
a biodegradable polymer scaffold. By treating the scaffold/stem cell 
structure with chemical cues known to stimulate the formation of 
specific cell types, the researchers coaxed the stem cells to form 
tissues with characteristics of developing human cartilage, liver, 
nerves and blood vessels.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/langer.html

OVARIAN, BREAST CANCER GENE
Eighty-five percent of women who inherit mutations in a gene called 
BRCA develop breast cancer, and 65 percent with the same mutation 
develop ovarian cancer. Despite intense study, the exact way the gene 
predisposes patients to breast and ovarian cancer remained a 
mystery-until now. MIT researchers report a new reason why mutations 
in the BRCA gene affect a tumor-suppressor protein that plays an 
important role in repairing damaged DNA.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/yaffe.html

PLASMATRON
A bus in Indiana is the latest laboratory for MIT's plasmatron 
reformer, a small device its developers believe could significantly 
cut the nation's oil consumption as well as noxious emissions from a 
variety of vehicles. The researchers and colleagues from industry 
report that the plasmatron, used with an exhaust treatment catalyst 
on a diesel engine bus, removed up to 90 percent of nitrogen oxides 
(NOx) -- the primary components of smog -- from the bus's emissions. 
The plasmatron reformer also cut in half the amount of fuel needed 
for the removal process. These results indicate that the plasmatron, 
in conjunction with an NOx absorber catalyst, could be one of the 
most promising ways to meet stricter emissions limits for all heavy 
trucks and buses.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/plasmatron.html

PEBBLE-BED REACTOR
Researchers at MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing will 
collaborate on the development of a pebble-bed nuclear reactor, 
thanks to an international agreement between the U.S. Department of 
Energy and the China Atomic Energy Authority. The reactor could 
become a cost-competitive, meltdown-proof alternative to today's 
commercial nuclear power plants. The new agreement "provides an 
incredible opportunity for bringing the world together on this 
promising technology," said Professor Andrew Kadak of the Department 
of Nuclear Engineering, who leads the MIT research and was 
instrumental in the three-year effort to get the agreement signed.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/pebble.html

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Published by the News Office  *  Massachusetts Institute of Technology