tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/283961480 2007-04-27 17:17:37 -0400 MIT ZigZag This episode take a look at what happens at MIT during the summer. The summer of 2006 is highlighted. 493 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/283629060 2007-09-11 10:52:29 -0400 MIT Video Productions NASA is returning to the Moon by 2020 as a stepping stone for the human exploration of Mars. Human space exploration will no longer be viewed as a set of isolated missions, but rather as an integrated supply chain in space. As part of a NASA-funded project, MIT, together with its partners at JPL and Payload Systems Inc., is developing a framework for interplanetary logistics. 435 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/283310720 2008-01-22 15:47:31 -0500 MIT Video Productions <p>Just back from several rainy days in the field, soldiers at Fort Polk in Louisiana were asked what they would wish for if they had a magic wand. In less than a second they replied, "Waterproof everything!"</p><p>Their wish has been taken seriously by Dr. Karen Gleason, MIT Professor of Chemical Engineering, who is working at the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies to find a way to coat fine objects. Researchers in her lab use a process called hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) to deposit nanolayers of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, also known as Teflon). The coatings they work on have the same chemical composition as one that Dupont would put on a non-stick frying pan, but they are at least a thousand times thinner.</p><p>The researchers have demonstrated the technique by using a very thin layer of a water-repellent coating to waterproof many kinds of materials without changing the original look or feel. The technique has many potential applications, including fabric coatings for soldier uniforms, coatings for fine wire neural probes, and insulation for integrated circuits. Currently, Gleason is collaborating with Professor Alexander Klibanov of the Department of Chemistry to find a way to combine her team's waterproofing technique with a microbe-killing fabric treatment that Klibanov's group has invented.</p> 194 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/283180320 2008-01-22 15:47:49 -0500 MIT Video Productions <p>Professor Robert Langer, MIT's Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, and colleagues at the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies are working on a unique design of a "smart surface" that can reversibly switch properties in response to an external stimulus. The new switchable surface essentially consists of a forest of molecules only a billionth of a meter tall, engineered to stand at a precise distance from each other. When a positive electrical potential is applied, the top bends down to reveal another surface. Reverse the electrical potential, and the molecules straighten to their full height. </p><p>The work paves the way for systems that could, for example, release or absorb cells and chemicals from surfaces on demand. Future work will include developing surfaces that have different switchable properties as well as tailoring the proof-of-concept system for different applications.</p> 179 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/283154900 2008-01-22 15:48:43 -0500 MIT Video Productions In Nepal, one in ten children die before the age of five. Preventable water-borne diseases are the leading cause of childhood death. This statistic is shocking for those of us in the West who take clean water for granted. The Nepal Water Project came about when the plight of Nepali children was brought to the attention of Susan Murcott, Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Masters of Engineering Program. <p>In response, Susan organized a team of seven Masters of Engineering students to assess the water quality of selected urban and rural locations in Nepal and to recommend point-of-use household water treatment methods to decrease the incidence of waterborne diseases. The team spent the 1999-2000 academic year studying this subject as their thesis project. They spent three weeks during January 20000 in the Terai and Hill region of Nepal collecting and analyzing water samples, evaluating water treatment methods, and investigating water supply systems and water culture in Nepal.</p><p>This story takes place in village of Kusadevi, Kavre District. Three MIT students in the water treatment group, Kim Luu, Junko Sagara and Amer Khayyat, appear in the video. The group demonstrated treatment options and obtained feedback from local women sanitation workers.</p> 161 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/283092900 2007-07-25 10:57:10 -0400 MIT Video Productions Former MIT Dean of Engineering Tom Magnanti throws out the first pitch at Fenway Park, Saturday, July 21, 2007 (Boston Red Sox vs. Chicago White Sox). 138 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/282879440 2007-11-05 18:50:55 -0500 scolton 2.009 is a senior Product Design class in Mechanical Engineering. The "Orange Team" is testing different methods for sorting coffee beans, including a fan-driven winnowing system. This is 800 FPS video of both good and bad beans traveling through the stream of air. Sorting does occur, but it is a "noisy" process. 153 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/282798820 2007-11-05 18:46:11 -0500 scolton 2.009 is a senior Product Design class in Mechanical Engineering. The "Orange Team" is testing different methods for sorting coffee beans, including a fan-driven winnowing system. This is 800 FPS video of genetically deformed beans traveling through the stream of air. 97 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/282675100 2007-11-05 18:44:26 -0500 scolton 2.009 is a senior Product Design class in Mechanical Engineering. The "Orange Team" is testing different methods for sorting coffee beans, including a fan-driven winnowing system. This is 800 FPS video of "good" beans traveling through the stream of air. 97 tag:techtv.mit.edu,:Array/282579760 2008-12-01 20:47:31 -0500 scolton I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to see the creation of this awesome video of the Schlieren effect, an optical technique that highlights bent light. Here it shows heat convection coming off a candle flame, and later a blast of CO2 to extinguish it. Filmed at the Edgerton Center Strobe Lab using a 300fps high-speed consumer camera (Casio EX-F1). Look for a potential follow-up from one of this year's 2.009 teams that might use this to image their project, a microwave fire detector/suppressor. 82