MIT News: top stories

CNN reporter Kaya Yurieff writes that MIT researchers have created a device that can harvest drinking water from the air, even in desert climates. “I'm most excited about being able to realize a functioning device in these remote areas and to be able to provide clean water to all the people who need it," says Prof. Evelyn Wang. 

MIT researchers have developed a new technique that uses the CRISPR gene-editing system to diagnose diseases, reports Joel Achenbach for The Washington Post. Achenbach explains that the tool could potentially be used to “detect not only viral and bacterial diseases but also potentially for finding cancer-causing mutations.”

STAT reporter Eric Boodman writes that MIT researchers have engineered living materials that glow when they detect certain chemicals. Boodman notes that the researchers hope the living sensors “could at some point be used to pick up dangerous toxins or the chemical signs of disease.”