MIT News

• Solving a semiconductor riddle May 24, 2013
  Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) continue to transform technology, whether it’s through the high-resolution glow of flat-screen televisions or light bulbs that last for years. The high efficiency and versatility of LEDs make them increasingly popular, but their full potential remains limited, in part because of remaining mysteries about the exact light-emission […]
• Balance is key to making quantum-dot solar cells work May 24, 2013
  There has been great interest in recent years in using tiny particles called quantum dots to produce low-cost, easily manufactured, stable photovoltaic cells. But, so far, the creation of such cells has been limited by the fact that in practice, quantum dots are not as good at conducting an electric charge as they are in theory.Something in the physical stru […]
• The strangely familiar browsing habits of 14th-century readers May 23, 2013
  Today we constantly switch from one text to another: news, blogs, email, workplace documents and more. But a new book by an MIT professor reveals that this is not a new practice: In the 14th century, for instance, many people maintained eclectic reading habits, consuming diverse texts in daily life.Consider Andrew Horn, the chamberlain for the city of London […]
• Footwear’s (carbon) footprint May 22, 2013
  A typical pair of running shoes generates 30 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to keeping a 100-watt light bulb on for one week, according to a new MIT-led lifecycle assessment. But what’s surprising to researchers isn’t the size of a shoe’s carbon footprint, but where the majority of that footprint comes from. The researchers found that more th […]
• Striking a balance on taxes May 22, 2013
  Now that April 15 has come and gone, most Americans have turned their attention away from taxes. But MIT student Stefanie Stantcheva continues to ponder the trade-offs associated with taxation. A fourth-year PhD student in MIT’s Department of Economics, Stantcheva studies optimal taxation — or, as she puts it, “how to set the tax system to generate revenue f […]