AI agents help explain other AI systems

FIND (function interpretation and description) is a new technique for evaluating automated interpretability methods. Developed at MIT, the system uses artificial intelligence to automate the explanation of complex neural networks. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Complex, unfamiliar sentences make the brain’s language network work harder

Sentences with greater linguistic complexity are most likely to fire up a key brain language processing center, according to an MIT study that employed an artificial language network. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Building technology that empowers city residents

MIT senior Kwesi Afrifa believes technology has a unique power to accelerate urban development and empower citizens. With a major in urban planning and computer science, he seeks to create cultural hubs that are inviting to everyone. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Culturally informed design: Unearthing ingenuity where it always was

Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, a doctoral candidate in media arts and sciences and a MAD Design Fellow, researches how technology and tradition intersect in rural spaces, particularly in Colombia. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Climate action, here and now

In profile: Associate Professor David Hsu examines how cities, states, and local governments can fight climate change — and how MIT can do the same. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

A carbon-lite atmosphere could be a sign of water and life on other terrestrial planets, MIT study finds

A low carbon abundance in planetary atmospheres, which the James Webb Space Telescope can detect, could be a signature of habitability. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Does “food as medicine” make a big dent in diabetes?

New research shows relatively little impact from a nutritional program intended to reduce blood sugar levels among diabetics. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Engineers develop a vibrating, ingestible capsule that might help treat obesity

MIT engineers designed an ingestible capsule that vibrates within the stomach, creating an illusory sense of fullness and reducing appetite. The pill could offer a minimally invasive, cost-effective way to treat obesity. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Leveraging language to understand machines

MIT graduate students Irene Terpstra and Rujul Gandhi in the 6A Program explore using AI to design new integrated circuits and make language understandable to robots. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Carlo Ratti named curator of 2025 Venice Biennale Architecure Exhibition

Professor of the practice and innovative scholar of urban design and dynamics will oversee leading global showcase for architectural work. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Institute Professor Emeritus Robert Solow, pathbreaking economist, dies at age 99

Roboert M. Solow, a groundbreaking MIT economist and Nobel laureate, has died at age 99, leaving behind a rich legacy of scholarship and teaching. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT community in 2023: A year in review

A review of top MIT community stories of 2023 includes a presidential inauguration, international accolades for faculty and students, “Dialogues Across Difference,” new and refreshed community spaces, and more. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Minicourse open to the MIT community gives context to the Middle East crisis

Attended by more than 500 students, faculty, staff, and alumni, with more sessions planned, the course offers a jumping off point for constructive discussions. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT in the media: 2023 in review

MIT faculty, researchers, students, and staff made headlines in 2023, making key research advances including detecting a dying star swallowing a planet, exploring the frontiers of AI, creating new clean energy solutions, inventing tools aimed at earlier detection and diagnosis of … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT’s top research stories of 2023

MIT News’ top research stories of 2023 include the invention of a cheaper water desalination device, a wearable ultrasound scanner, the discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet, and more. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Paul Parravano, longtime liaison to elected leaders and MIT’s neighbors, dies at 71

Paul Parravano, former co-director of MIT’s Office of Government and Community Relations who worked to build enduring MIT connections with elected officials and the local community, died at 71. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Using AI, MIT researchers identify a new class of antibiotic candidates

Using artificial intelligence, MIT researchers discovered a class of compounds that can kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant bacterium that causes more than 10,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

The science and art of complex systems

MIT senior and physics major Gosha Geogdzhayev works to develop “emulator” models that can learn from large-scale global climate models to answer more specialized questions about the impacts of climate change. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

A flexible solution to help artists improve animation

A new technique gives animators the flexibility to see how different mathematical functions deform complex 2D or 3D characters, and lets them choose the function that best fits their vision for the animation. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Navy officer deepens her engineering and leadership skills at MIT

Asia Allison, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and a graduate student in MIT's Naval Construction and Engineering program, is developing as a technical leader in the Daniel J. Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Study: Colon cancer screenings are more effective than previously understood

Colon cancer screening is more effective than previously realized, according to a study by Josh Angrist and Peter Hull that looks at data from five trials. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT’s tiny technologies go to Washington

At a White House Demo Day, a team from the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine at the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research showcased nanotechnologies designed to improve the detection and treatment of cancer and other diseases. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Nanoparticle-delivered RNA reduces neuroinflammation in lab tests

In mice and human cell cultures, MIT researchers showed that lipid nanoparticles can deliver a potential RNA therapy for inflammation in the brain, a prominent symptom in Alzheimer’s disease. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

“MIT can give you ‘superpowers’”

After learner Diogo da Silva Branco Magalhães completed the MITx MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science, he was able to pursue his master’s degree at Northwestern University. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Image recognition accuracy: An unseen challenge confounding today’s AI

A novel dataset metric, minimum viewing time (MVT), gauges image recognition complexity for AI systems by measuring the time needed for accurate human identification. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Philip Erickson named director of MIT Haystack Observatory

Philip Erickson has been named the new director of MIT Haystack Observatory. In leading the radio science observatory in Westford, Mass., Erickson succeeds longtime director Colin Lonsdale, who plans to step down. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

AI meets climate: MIT Energy and Climate Hack 2023

Students and corporate sponsors gathered, virtually and in person, for the 2023 MIT Energy & Climate Hack. Using AI, participants were tasked with creating innovative, sustainable solutions to some of the most challenging energy and climate-related issues we face today. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

2.009 gets “Wild!”

At the 2023 MIT class 2.009 (Product Engineering Processes) finals, six teams presented products to help end users with a diversity of "wild" experiences. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

LIFT Program helps Cambridge youth become tomorrow’s changemakers

The Lemelson-MIT/My Brother’s Keeper Cambridge program equipped local Cambridge, Massachusetts, residents with skills around entrepreneurship and invention. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Three MIT students selected as inaugural MIT-Pillar AI Collective Fellows

Alexander Andonian, Daniel Magley, and Madhumitha Ravichandra are the fall 2023 MIT-Pillar AI Collective Fellows who will conduct research in the areas of AI, machine learning, and data science with the aim of commercializing their innovations. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Angela Belcher delivers 2023 Dresselhaus Lecture on evolving organisms for new nanomaterials

MIT professor combines nanoscience and viruses to develop solutions in energy, environment, and medicine. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Deep neural networks show promise as models of human hearing

In the largest study of deep neural networks trained to perform auditory tasks, MIT researchers found most models generate internal representations that share properties of representations seen in the human brain when people are listening to the same sounds. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Satellite-based method measures carbon in peat bogs

A new analysis of how peat formations develop makes it possible to evaluate their carbon content and dynamics from simple elevation measurements. The method should enable more precise and accurate assessments of the amount of carbon that would be released by any proposed draining … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Closing the design-to-manufacturing gap for optical devices

A new AI technique digitalizes a photolithography system, capturing tiny deviations the system introduces during manufacturing. This method could enable academics and engineers to boost the accuracy and efficiency of electronics. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Ronald Garcia Ruiz named a Popular Science “Brilliant 10”

Popular Science named Ronald Garcia Ruiz, an MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science researcher and assistant professor of physics as one of 2023's "Brilliant 10," recognizing his contributions to experimental physics. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT campus goals in food, water, waste support decarbonization efforts

With the launch of Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade, the Institute committed to decarbonize the campus by 2050 with a focus on heating, cooling, and electricity, as well as campus food, waste, and water systems. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

How to be an astronaut

NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg returns from his ISS mission to his alma mater, MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to visit with current students and old friends. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

A computer scientist pushes the boundaries of geometry

MIT Professor Justin Solomon applies modern geometric techniques to solve difficult problems in a variety of areas, such as developing machine learning models that perform more accurately on target datasets and helping autonomous vehicles identify pedestrians. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

3 Questions: Darrell Irvine on making HIV vaccines more powerful

MIT Professor Darrell Irvine describes a novel vaccine adjuvant: a nanoparticle that can help stimulate the immune system to generate a stronger response to a vaccine. An HIV vaccine with this adjuvant will be tested in clinical trials. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT researchers observe a hallmark quantum behavior in bouncing droplets

In a study that could help fill some holes in quantum theory, the team recreated a “quantum bomb tester” in a classical droplet test. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Boosting faith in the authenticity of open source software

The Speranza system enhances software repository security by using zero-knowledge identity co-commitments and automated certificate authorities, ensuring software authenticity while maintaining developer anonymity. Its practical implementation, efficient operation, and minimal in … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT Generative AI Week fosters dialogue across disciplines

During its Generative AI Week in November 2023, MIT hosted symposia and events aimed at examining the implications and possibilities of generative artificial intelligence. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Two from MIT named 2024 Marshall Scholars

MIT seniors Anushree Chaudhuri and Rupert Li are recipients of this year's prestigious Marshall Scholarship program. They will pursue graduate studies in the UK. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

MIT group releases white papers on governance of AI

MIT scholars have released a set of policy papers about the governance of artificial intelligence. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Scientists 3D print self-heating microfluidic devices

A fabrication process can produce self-heating microfluidic devices in one step using a multimaterial 3D printer. These devices, which can be made rapidly and cheaply in large numbers, could help clinicians in remote parts of the world detect diseases without expensive lab equipm … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Breakerspace illuminates the mysteries of materials

MIT's new Breakerspace is a dynamic hub where students engage in hands-on materials exploration, using advanced microscopy for in-depth characterization. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Miranda McClellan ’18, MEng ’19 awarded 2025 Schwarzman Scholarship

MIT alumna Miranda McClellan was named a 2025 Schwarzman Scholar. The computer scientist will pursue a one-year degree in global affairs and leadership training at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago

Researchers safely integrate fragile 2D materials into devices

A new technique integrates 2D materials into devices and systems in a single step, while keeping surfaces and interfaces free from defects. This method could enable devices like those in computer chips to achieve better performance than those made with conventional fabrication te … | Continue reading


@news.mit.edu | 1 year ago