[Editors] MIT Research Digest - October 2005

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT News Office
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
Phone: 617-253-2700
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www

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MIT Research Digest - October 2005
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For Immediate Release
MONDAY, OCT. 3, 2005
For more information or for available photos contact:
Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office
Phone: 617-258-5402
Email: thomson at mit.edu


A monthly tip-sheet for journalists of recent research
advances at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For the latest MIT research news, go to
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/research.html

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IN THIS ISSUE: Insights Into Fungi, Beer * Modeling the Earth
Cellphone Maps * Fog-less Windows * Universal Clues
Seashell Engineering * Regulations & Health Costs
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INSIGHTS INTO FUNGI, BEER
Chemotherapy and organ transplantation not only take a huge toll on patients, but they can compromise the immune system and leave patients vulnerable to infections from microbes such as pathogenic fungi--the fastest-growing cause of hospital-acquired infections. Now researchers from MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have discovered one possible reason why these fungal microbes are such a scourge. According to the research that appeared in the journal Nature Genetics, fungal microbes can quickly alter the appearance of their cell surfaces, their "skin," disguising themselves to slip past the immune system's vigilant defenses. And, for all the world's brewers, the study also helps explain why certain beers are cloudy and others clear. The work, funded by the NIH, was led by Whitehead member and MIT biology Professor Gerald Fink.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/fungi.html

MODELING THE EARTH
Researchers from MIT, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and several other government and academic institutions have created four new supercomputer simulations that for the first time combine mathematical computer models of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface and sea ice. These simulations are the first field tests of the new Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF), a software system that promises to improve predictive capability in diverse areas such as short-term weather forecasts and century-long climate-change projections. Although still under development, groups from NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and research universities are using ESMF as the standard for coupling their weather and climate models. Christopher Hill, principal research scientist in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, led the MIT team.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/climate-software.html

CELLPHONE MAPS
Researchers at MIT may not be able to hear your cellphone call, but they have found a way to see it. They mapped a city in real time by tracking tens of thousands of people traveling about carrying cellphones. Using anonymous cellphone data provided by the leading cellphone operator in Austria, A1/Mobilkom, the researchers developed the Mobile Landscapes project, creating electronic maps of cellphone use in the metropolitan area of Graz, Austria, the country's second-largest city. "For the first time ever we are able to visualize the full dynamics of a city in real time," said project leader Carlo Ratti, an architect/engineer and head of MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory. "This opens up new possibilities for urban studies and planning. The real-time city is now real: a system that is able to continuously sense its condition and can quickly react to its criticalities." 
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/cellphones.html


FOG-LESS WINDOWS
Foggy windows and lenses are a nuisance, and in the case of automobile windows, can pose a driving hazard. Now, MIT scientists may have found a permanent solution to the problem. The team has developed a unique polymer coating made of silica nanoparticles that they say can create surfaces that never fog. The transparent coating can be applied to eyeglasses, camera lenses, ski goggles Š even bathroom mirrors, they say. The new coating was described at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. The work is led by Professor Michael Rubner of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Robert Cohen of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Funding is from  the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the NSF.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/fog.html

UNIVERSAL CLUES
If you want to hear a little bit of the Big Bang, you're going to have to turn down your stereo. That's what neighbors of MIT's Haystack Observatory found out. They were asked to make a little accommodation for science, and now the results are in: Scientists at Haystack have made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that is key to understanding the beginning of the universe. The findings are reported in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The team of scientists and engineers, led by Alan E.E. Rogers, made the detection using a radio telescope array designed and built at the MIT research facility. Rogers is currently a senior research scientist and associate director of the Haystack Observatory. The work was funded by the NSF, MIT and TruePosition Inc.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/deuterium.html

SEASHELL ENGINEERING
The ocean is a perilous environment for a soft-bodied creature like a sea snail, so nature gives it an advanced nanostructured armor system that is stiff and strong yet lightweight. It's called a shell. Understanding the fundamental design principles of natural armor systems like shells may help engineers design improved body armor systems for humans in perilous situations, like soldiers and police officers. At MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, researchers are studying the structure and mechanics of the tough inner layer of mollusc shells at extremely small, nanometer-length scales (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter). In the Journal of Materials Research, Professor Christine Ortiz of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Mary Boyce of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and doctoral student Benjamin Bruet of materials science report their results. They show that nature is indeed an expert nanoengineer.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/seashells.html

REGULATIONS & HEALTH COSTS
MIT researchers are using a novel technique to calculate an underappreciated benefit of environmental regulation: the economic gains that come from having a healthier population with less pollution-induced sickness and death. Initial analyses show significant health-related economic gains stemming from U.S. air-pollution regulation from 1975 to 2000 -- but also economic losses caused by the air pollution that remained. Other analyses predict health-related economic gains from air-pollution and climate-change policies now being considered by China. Thus, while regulation that cuts pollution can be costly, it also can bring economic gains by improving people's health as well as labor productivity. "In fact, the biggest economic benefits of an environmental policy are often those associated with improved human health," said John Reilly of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and MIT's Laboratory for Energy and the Environment.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/health.html

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