Study helps explain why motivation to learn declines with age

MIT neuroscientists have identified a brain circuit critical for learning to make decisions that require evaluating the cost or reward of an action. They showed this circuit is negatively affected by aging and in Huntington’s disease. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

A wearable sensor to help ALS patients communicate

MIT researchers have designed a skin-like device that can be attached to the face and measure small movements such as a twitch or a smile. With this approach, patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) could communicate a variety of sentiments with small movements that are … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Leveraging a 3D printer “defect” to create a new quasi-textile

MIT Media Lab graduate student Jack Forman developed DefeXtiles, a tulle-like textile made from polymer filament, by controlling a common 3D printing defect. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Machine learning uncovers potential new TB drugs

Using a machine-learning approach that incorporates uncertainty, MIT researchers identified several promising compounds that target a protein required for the survival of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Silencing gene expression to cure complex diseases

The bioinformatics company Immuneering, founded by MIT alumnus Ben Zeskind, is studying RNA data to develop drugs for different forms of cancers and Alzheimer’s disease. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Yogesh Surendranath wants to decarbonize our energy systems

Yogesh “Yogi” Surendranath, associate professor of chemistry at MIT, harnesses electricity to rearrange chemical bonds. The electrochemical reactions he’s developing hold potential for process such as splitting water into hydrogen fuel, creating more efficient fuel cells, and con … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Translating lost languages using machine learning

MIT researchers have created a machine learning system that aims to help linguists decipher lost languages. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

What are the odds your vote will not count?

Research by MIT political scientist Charles Stewart estimates that 4 percent of all mail-in ballots in the 2016 U.S. presidential election were not recorded. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

The Real Promise of Synthetic Data

A set of open-source synthetic data generation tools meant to expand access to data without compromising privacy has been made available to the public by researchers in the Laboratory for Information Decision Systems (LIDS) at MIT. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

A controllable membrane to pull carbon dioxide out of exhaust streams

A system developed by chemical engineers at MIT could provide a way of continuously removing carbon dioxide from a stream of waste gases, or even from the air. The key component is an electrochemically assisted membrane whose permeability to gas can be switched on and off at will … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Generating photons for communication in a quantum computing system

A technique for generating photons developed at MIT provides a means of interconnection between processors, opening the way to a complete quantum computing platform. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Self-transforming robot blocks jump, spin, flip, and identify each other (2019)

In an effort to get robots to achieve a hive-mind level of coordination, a team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) came up with self-assembling robotic cubes that can climb over and around one another, leap through the air, and roll across … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Taking a new look at ancient books

In profile: MIT Literature Associate Professor Stephanie Frampton studies the material culture of ancient writing. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Less Scatterbrained Scatterplots

The Kyrix-S system from MIT makes it easier to automatically create interactive visualizations for big data applications. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

A step toward a universal flu vaccine

Researchers are working to design a universal flu vaccine that could work against any flu strain. A new vaccination strategy from MIT, the Ragon Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital triggers an immune response in mice against an influenza protein segment that rarely muta … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Validating the physics behind the new MIT-designed fusion experiment

MIT researchers have published seven papers outlining details of the physics behind the ambitious SPARC fusion research experiment being developed by MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

We Make Moral Decisions

Researchers at MIT and Harvard have shown that people use a type of reasoning known as universalization to help them make moral decisions in certain types of situations. This strategy is most applicable in social dilemmas called “threshold problems,” in which harm can occur if ev … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Provably exact artificial intelligence for nuclear and particle physics

An MIT-led team shows how incorporating the symmetries of physics theories into machine learning and artificial intelligence architectures can provide much faster algorithms for theoretical physics. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Regina Barzilay wins $1M award for cancer diagnosis and drug synthesis using AI

MIT Professor Regina Barzilay has received a $1 million Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity for her work developing machine learning models for cancer diagnosis and drug discovery. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

As info flows through brain heirarchy, higher regions use higher-frequency waves

A new study shows how brain wave frequencies may vary across the cortex to sculpt the flow of information as we seek to turn raw sensory input into a plan for action. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

MIT: The wobbling shadow of the M87* black hole

Analysis of Event Horizon Telescope observations from 2009 to 2017 reveals turbulent evolution of the M87* black hole image: the shadow of the M87* black hole is wobbling. The work was carried out by EHT scientists, including contributors from MIT Haystack Observatory. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Astronomers discover an Earth-sized “pi planet” with a 3.14-day orbit

MIT astronomers have discovered an Earth-sized “pi planet,” which orbits its star every 3.14 days. The researchers first discovered signals of the planet in data taken by the NASA Kepler Space Telescope’s K2 mission, and then zeroed in with the SPECULOOS network of ground-based t … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Did our early ancestors boil their food in hot springs?

Scientists at MIT and elsewhere have found evidence suggesting the presence of hot springs near settlements of early human ancestors in Oldvuai Gorge. The finding raises the possibility that ancient hominids may have used the hot springs for primitive cooking, before the controll … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Engineers produce a fisheye lens that’s completely flat

Engineers at MIT and UMass Lowell have designed a wide-angle lens that is completely flat. It is the first flat fisheye lens to produce crisp, 180-degree panoramic images. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

Making tuberculosis more susceptible to antibiotics

MIT chemists have discovered that changing the length the carbohydrate galactan can dramatically affect its function. In a study of mycobacteria, the team found shortening galactan impairs some cell functions and makes cells much more susceptible to certain antibiotics. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

MIT-led team to develop software to help forecast space storms

An MIT-led research team will develop software that blends observational data, powerful computational tools, and predictive modeling to better predict space weather. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 3 years ago

A new way to make bacteria more sensitive to antibiotics

SMART researchers found a way to reverse antibiotic resistance in some bacteria using hydrogen sulphide. Exposing bacteria that don't naturally produce H2S to the substance can cause sensitization to antibiotics. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Toward a machine learning model that can reason about everyday actions

A computer vision model developed by researchers at MIT, IBM, and Columbia University can compare and contrast dynamic events captured on video to tease out the high-level concepts connecting them. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Helping companies prioritize their cybersecurity investments

By securely aggregating sensitive security data, the SCRAM platform from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) can quantify an organization’s level of risk and suggest how to prioritize security investments. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

LIGO and Virgo detectors signals most massive gravitational-wave source

LIGO and Virgo researchers have detected a signal from what may be the most massive black hole merger yet observed in gravitational waves. The product of the merger is the first clear detection of a so-called intermediate mass black hole, with a mass between 100 and 1000 times th … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

NSF Announces MIT-Led Institute for AI and Fundamental Interactions

The National Science Foundation's new AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions will be anchored at MIT, merging research in AI and physics to answer outstanding questions about topics such as dark matter, gravitational waves, and fundamental part … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

MIT and newly formed company launch novel approach to fusion power

Development of fusion power, a carbon-free, combustion-free source of energy, is now on a faster track toward realization, thanks to a collaboration between MIT and a new private company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems. CFS will join with MIT to carry out rapid, staged research lead … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Syringe technology could enable injection of concentrated biologic drugs

MIT researchers have developed a simple, low-cost technology to administer powerful drug formulations that are too viscous to be injected using conventional syringes and needles. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Nergis Mavalvala named School of Science dean

Nergis Mavalvala has been named dean of the MIT School of Science. The astrophysicist and associate head of physics will succeed Michael Sipser. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Are we still listening to space?

When MIT scaled back on-campus research in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, the LIGO team at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research adapted quickly to the new work-from-home normal. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

The factory of the future, batteries not included

Everactive provides an industrial “internet of things” platform built on its battery-free sensors. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Diane Greene SM ’78 Elected Chair of the MIT Corporation (ExCEO of Google Cloud)

Former CEO of Google Cloud succeeds Robert Millard. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Perception of musical pitch varies across cultures (2019)

How people interpret musical notes depends on the types of music they have listened to, researchers find. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

MIT built its own Covid-19 testing trailer

Designed and assembled by experts from across the Institute, the facility should enable testing of up to 1,500 people a day. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

“Giant atoms” enable quantum processing and communication in one

Researchers devise an on-off system that allows high-fidelity operations and interconnection between processors. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Data systems that learn to be better

Storage tool developed at MIT CSAIL adapts to what its datasets’ users want to search. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Key brain region was “recycled” as humans developed the ability to read

Part of the visual cortex dedicated to recognizing objects appears predisposed to identifying words and letters, a study finds. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Shrinking deep learning’s carbon footprint

Through innovation in software and hardware, researchers move to reduce the financial and environmental costs of modern artificial intelligence. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors

Human hair is 50 times softer than steel, yet it can chip away a razor’s edge, a new study shows. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Masks mandates have major impact, study finds

Analysis shows requiring masks for public-facing U.S. business employees on April 1 would have saved tens of thousands of lives. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Key brain region was ‘recycled’ as humans developed the ability to read

Part of the visual cortex dedicated to recognizing objects appears predisposed to identifying words and letters, a study finds. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

Looking into the Black Box

Recent advances give theoretical insight into why deep learning networks are successful. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago

A new way to control experimentation with dreams

Device not only helps record dream reports, but also guides dreams toward particular themes. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 4 years ago