In his book, “Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality,” MIT physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek distills scientists’ understanding of the physical world into 10 philosophical themes, using the fundamental theories of physics to reframe ideas of space, time, and our place in the … | Continue reading
Engineers at MIT and Imperial College London have developed a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mix of bacteria and yeast similar to the “kombucha mother” used to ferment tea. Using this mix, called a Syn-SCOBY (synthetic symbiotic culture of bacteria and ye … | Continue reading
Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) designed a portable optical sensor that allows rapid monitoring of plant stress. | Continue reading
An MIT study finds the same consumers tend to purchase failed products. Dubbed “harbingers of failure,” these buyers may provide new window into consumer behavior and behavioral economics. | Continue reading
Dava Newman, MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics, has been named the new director of the MIT Media Lab. | Continue reading
Dava Newman, MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics, has been named the new director of the MIT Media Lab. | Continue reading
Former NFL lineman and MIT grad student John Urschel has penned his memoir, ““Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football.” “Being capable of thinking quantitatively — it’s the single most important thing,” he tells MIT News. | Continue reading
MIT researchers have developed a deep learning-based algorithm to detect anomalies in time series data. The technology could provide advance warning of potential failures in systems ranging from satellites to computer data centers. | Continue reading
A new smart thermostat can quickly learn to optimize building microclimates. The device was developed by the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and partners at Skoltech. | Continue reading
MIT researchers developed a novel electric vehicle emissions model to quantify the importance of vehicle-charging patterns and the impact of ambient temperature on EV emissions levels. | Continue reading
An MIT-designed atomic clock uses entangled atoms to keep time even more precisely than its state-of-the-art counterparts. The design could help scientists detect dark matter and study gravity’s effect on time. | Continue reading
A new web-friendly modeling tool at whentotest.org helps organizations build tailored Covid-19 testing strategies that can save money and reduce coronavirus spread. | Continue reading
MIT neuroscientists have found reading computer code does not rely on the regions of the brain involved in language processing. Instead, it activates the “multiple demand network,” which is also recruited for complex cognitive tasks such as solving math problems or crossword puzz … | Continue reading
MIT researchers have developed a novel way to record a patient’s vaccination history: storing the data in a pattern of quantum-dot dye, invisible to the naked eye, that is delivered under the skin at the same time as the vaccine. | Continue reading
MIT researchers have developed a bright, efficient silicon LED that can be integrated directly onto computer chips. The advance could reduce cost and improve performance of microelectronics that use LEDs for sensing or communication. | Continue reading
An MIT team led by Mingda Li has achieved a breakthrough in thermoelectric generation, which offers a direct means of converting thermal energy, including waste heat, into electricity. | Continue reading
A new MIT technique may sift out universe’s very first gravitational waves. Identifying primordial ripples would be key to understanding conditions of the early universe. | Continue reading
An alloy material called InGaAs could be suitable for high-performance computer transistors, according to MIT researchers. If operated at high-frequencies, InGaAs transistors could one day rival those made of silicon. | Continue reading
MIT neuroscientists have developed a way to overcome computer vision models’ vulnerability to “adversarial attacks,” by adding to these models a new layer that is designed to mimic V1, the earliest stage of the brain’s visual processing system. | Continue reading
MIT researchers have developed an adaptive basketball hoop that shrinks and raises as its user makes shots more consistently. | Continue reading
Autoclaves, which are used to sterilize medical tools, require a steady supply of hot, pressurized steam. Researchers at MIT and the Indian Institute of Technology have come up with a way to generate that steam passively, using just the power of sunlight, to help maintain safe, s … | Continue reading
Researchers at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms have created tiny building blocks that exhibit unique mechanical properties, such as the ability to produce a twisting motion when squeezed. These subunits could potentially be assembled by robots into a nearly limitless variety of o … | Continue reading
MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future, along with the Initiative on the Digital Economy and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), held a conference to mark the release of its final report, “The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age … | Continue reading
MIT researchers have analyzed the causes of many cost overruns on new nuclear power plants in the U.S., which have soared in the past 50 years. The findings may help designers of new plants build in resilience to prevent such added costs. | Continue reading
MIT researchers have developed a way for deep learning neural networks to rapidly estimate confidence levels in their output. The advance could enhance safety and efficiency in AI-assisted decision making, with applications ranging from medical diagnosis to autonomous driving. | Continue reading
MIT research finds vibrations of the protein spikes on coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, play a crucial part in allowing the virus to penetrate human cells. The findings could help determine how dangerous different strains or mutations of coronaviruses may be, and might point … | Continue reading
MIT researchers have developed a two-layer passive cooling system, made of hydrogel and aerogel, that can keep foods and pharmaceuticals cool for days without the need for electricity. | Continue reading
MCUNet is a new MIT system that brings machine learning to microcontrollers. The advance could enhance the function and security of devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). | Continue reading
Researchers have found an increase in anxiety and in thoughts about suicide in response to Covid-19 after analyzing Reddit posts. They used machine learning to study hundreds of thousands of posts, allowing them to identify changes in the tone and content of language that people … | Continue reading
MIT and University of Waterloo researchers have developed a high-power, portable version of a quantum cascade laser, which can generate terahertz radiation outside of a laboratory setting. The laser could be used in applications such as pinpointing skin cancer and detecting hidde … | Continue reading
MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield wins the 2020 Science Communication Award from the American Institute of Physics for her book "The Age of Living Machines." | Continue reading
An artificial intelligence model can detect people who are asymptomatic with Covid-19, through cellphone-recorded coughs. The work was led by Brian Subirana and colleagues at the MIT Auto-ID Lab. | Continue reading
Gurrein Madan, an MIT graduate student in brain and cognitive sciences and MathWorks Fellow, studies gut–brain signaling with implications for human health. | Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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
MIT researchers have created a machine learning system that aims to help linguists decipher lost languages. | Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
In profile: MIT Literature Associate Professor Stephanie Frampton studies the material culture of ancient writing. | Continue reading
The Kyrix-S system from MIT makes it easier to automatically create interactive visualizations for big data applications. | Continue reading
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