MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology - On Campus and Around the world

Prof. Stuart Madnick speaks with Miami Herald reporter Michelle Marchante about online phishing schemes. Madnick explains that while IP addresses can sometimes give a general idea of where a person was when they went online, it’s not a foolproof way to determine their exact location. He adds that anyone can buy a URL and redirect it to another website. 

MIT has been named the No. 1 university for graduate employability for 2026, according to Times Higher Education’s latest survey. 

WalletHub has ranked MIT among the top 10 best colleges and universities in America, reports Ben Kesslen for Quartz. “MIT continues to set the global standard for innovation and research. Its strengths lie in faculty resources and career outcomes, with graduates often leading advancements in science, technology, and business,” writes Kesslen. 

New York Times reporter Gina Ryder spotlights how Maria Paskowitz '96, MBA '02 and her neighbors have maintained a longstanding community tradition of transforming their Manhattan neighborhood into an open-air museum of Halloween art. This year Paskowitz has transformed “the exterior of the brownstone where she’s lived for the past decade into a colosseum,” writes Ryder. “She is collaborating with her neighbor, Elizabeth Styron, whose children, aged 9, 13 and 17, will dress as gladiators prepared for combat and a chariot race.” 

Boston Globe reporter Kelly Broder spotlights the opening of “Lighten Up! On Biology and Time,” a new exhibit at the MIT Museum. The exhibit features “eighteen immersive pieces [that] will explore the relationship between living organisms and the natural cycle of light and dark,” explains Broder. 

Governor Maura Healey has announced a new initiative aimed at boosting the defense sector in Massachusetts, reports Katie Lannan for GBH. The Massachusetts governor noted that research institutions like MIT Lincoln Lab and Draper have been leaders in defense technology for years, and new startups in fields like AI, cybersecurity and quantum technology also aim to contribute to defense needs. “We want to work together, we want to continue these investments in bigger and stronger ways, looking to keep America secure for another 250 years,” says Healey.

Stwart Peña Feliz MBA '23 co-founded MacroCycle, a startup that has “devised a way to pluck desirable synthetic fibers from waste textiles, leaving everything else behind,” reports Tim de Chant for TechCrunch. “MacroCycle differs because it doesn’t break down polymers,” explains Tim de Chant. “Instead, it loops the polymer chains back on themselves, forcing them into rings called macrocycles. Those macrocycles remain behind as different solvents wash away contaminants, which themselves could be recycled. Later, the rings are reopened to reform the polymer chain.” 

Prof. Alex Shalek and his colleagues developed a deep-learning model called DrugReflector aimed at speeding up the process of drug discovery, reports Heidi Ledford for Nature. “They used DrugReflector to find chemicals that can affect the generation of platelets and red blood cells — a characteristic that could be useful in treating some blood conditions,” explains Ledford. The researchers found that “DrugReflector was up to 17 times more effective at finding relevant compounds than standard, brute-force drug screening that depends on randomly selecting compounds from a chemical library.”

Prof. Srini Devadas speaks with Fortune reporter Beatrice Nolan about data and privacy concerns surrounding AI assistants. “The challenge is that if you want the AI assistant to be useful, you need to give it access to your data and your privileges, and if attackers can trick the AI assistant, it is as if you were tricked,” says Devadas. 

Fox Business reporters Daniella Genovese and Eric Revell spotlight a new longevity index developed by researchers from the MIT AgeLab and John Hancock that shows how “U.S. adults are largely underprepared to live well as they age.” Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explains that the findings “underscore that taking some small but intentional steps — such as planning for a new hobby, starting a fitness routine or having a conversation about care — can lead to a better future and make a big impact on how we spend our later years."

Time reporter Brian Elliott spotlights Prof. Zeynep Ton’s comments at a recent conference regarding the importance of businesses having an employee-focused strategy when implementing new AI tools. “The status quo mindset in leaders is to see labor as a cost to be minimized,” Ton explains. “Exemplary companies think of employees as drivers of customer satisfaction, profitability and growth.”

Prof. Christopher Palmer speaks with Marketplace reporter Carla Javier about the rise in auto loan delinquencies, noting that defaulting on a car payment is usually a borrower’s last resort, since people often need cars to get to work, so they’re more likely to not pay other bills first. “That could include not paying their mortgages or their rent, in part because it takes a long time to evict someone or to foreclose on a house,” Palmer explains.

Prof. Linda Griffith and her colleagues have “developed a model of the human gut to study how the organ’s microbes interact with immune cells and regulate inflammation,” reports Gemma Conroy for Nature. Griffith and her team “have also created models for endometriosis and pancreatic cancer,” writes Conroy. 

Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab spotlights how researchers from the MIT AgeLab and John Hancock developed a new longevity index. The Index aims to change “how we measure, teach, discuss and think about the future of aging,” explains Coughlin. “The Index measures preparedness across eight critical domains that research shows are fundamental to quality of life in older age: health, finance, care, home, daily activities, social connection, community, and life transitions.

Prof. Deblina Sarkar speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek Daily reporters Carol Massar and David Gura about her work using microscopic technology to treat and identify health issues. We are building “tiny nanoelectronics chips which can seamlessly integrate with our body and brain,” says Sarkar. “This can diagnose disease or treat diseases which even drugs cannot fix.” 

Prof. Peter Shor speaks with Katia Moskvitch and her nine-year-old son Kai of The Quantum Kid about how quantum technologies could be applied to developing climate change and sustainability solutions. Shor explains that quantum computers can be used for “simulating quantum mechanics, which would really help immensely in designing new materials, and new materials could be very useful for solving the climate crisis.”