A study conducted by mechanical engineers at MIT probes for answers at the intersection of music and science: what features optimize a violin’s sound? The researchers go further than scientific analysis, suggesting that changes to violinmaking occurred through a process similar to evolution.
Many of nature’s most brilliant colors arise not from pigments, but from curious tricks of light. From the brilliant blue of a morpho butterfly to a beetle’s iridescent emerald, structural colors continue to mystify physicists and biologists. A recently unearthed beetle fossil sheds light on the evolution of these spectacular colors.
Biotechnology companies are the stepping-stones between university research and its development into drugs that cure people. But the road from research to drug is difficult and risky, and not every company can make it.
Yale Professor Ronald Breaker is investigating and isolating regulatory mechanisms hidden in sections of RNA previously labeled as “junk.” His study of these mechanisms, called riboswitches, is yielding a better understanding of the evolutionary history of life on earth.
Daniel Spielman ’92, Henry Ford II Professor of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Applied Science, was named one of this year’s MacArthur Fellows in October. The
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported recently that one of its servers had been hacked and that the names and contact information of nuclear experts working for the agency had been published online.