Research

Popular Science reporter Laura Baisas showcases an ingestible, berry-size thermometer developed by MIT researchers that could offer continuous monitoring for sick patients. The sensor “could make it easier to determine whether a patient is sick and if they’re at risk of developing a dangerously high fever. It can also help for people tracking their fertility or those under anesthesia," writes Baisas. "The team is now working on combining the temperature sensor with different sensors that could measure other vital signs such as heart rate." 

In a study examining the impact of AI tools on software development, researchers from MIT and Wharton examined the work of more than 100,000 developers and found a significant gap between what AI tools generate and the amount of software delivered to companies. Writing for Quartz, reporter Anthony Lopopolo notes: “The upshot [of the research] is that AI and human effort aren't substitutes at any stage beyond raw code generation. You can't replace reviewing, testing, and release management with more lines of code.”

Scientific American reporter Clara Moskowitz spotlights a new study by Prof. Seth Lloyd that explores the feasibility of black holes sending information back in time. In the study, Lloyd and his colleagues calculate how much information can be sent backward via closed timelike curves, intensely bending, rotating space found around spinning black holes. “Spacetime can curve around so much that you can be innocently going forward in time and then you meet yourself in the past,” says Lloyd. 

Inside Precision Medicine spotlights Prof. Giovanni Traverso and his team’s work developing an oral drug formulation containing hydrogel that allows for the delivery of small molecules and antibodies via the esophageal mucosal lining. “We were interested in delivering anti-TNFs as a model drug, but also to help people who suffer from conditions like Crohn’s disease to have options that could be delivered to the site,” says Traverso. “If we have the possibility of site-directed delivery, we may be able to mitigate systemic side effects from these immunosuppressing agents.”

Time reporter Simmone Shah highlights a study co-authored by Prof. Christopher Knittel and Prof. Catherine Wolfram that reveals extreme weather caused by climate change is costing Americans an average of $400 and $900 a year. “Even if you don't live in tornado alley, you might be seeing your insurance rates go up to cover the cost for people who are in the more danger-prone areas,” says Wolfram.

For The Atlantic, reporter Rogé Karma describes how Prof. David Autor and Principal Research Scientist Neil Thompson found a basic pattern for technological changes and job displacement based on the evolution of inventory clerk versus accounting clerk positions. “The story is almost never as simple as: We’re in a race with machines and machines will win,” says Autor. “What matters for a given profession is whether technology enhances a worker’s expertise or commodifies that expertise.”

In a Forbes article, contributor Wes Kilgore cites a study by MIT economists that reveals how timely hospice use can create healthcare savings in the U.S. “When families avoid hospice because of fear or legal confusion, patients return to emergency rooms, see specialists, undergo procedures, and drive-up Medicare costs,” writes Kilgore. 

MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Arizona State University President Michael Crow joined forces for a spirited discussion moderated by Washington Post reporter Zachary Goldfarb on the importance of curiosity-driven research, examining how universities are preparing the next generation of scientists to lead in America’s rapidly changing technological landscape. “Many of the things we have in our everyday lives, whether they be medical advances, technological advances, a lot of these things came from 30, 40, 50 years of scientists just trying to figure out how things work,” said Kornbluth. 

The Boston Globe’s Tech Power Players list for 2026 features numerous MIT faculty, researchers and alumni. In response to a question about the most promising area in the Boston tech scene right now, President Sally Kornbluth shared: “There isn’t a more important technological field right now than quantum science and technology, and the Boston area has the greatest concentration of quantum talent anywhere in the world.” 

Writing for IEEE Spectrum, reporter Matthew S. Smith highlights Fractal, a new operating system hand-coded by CSAIL researchers to provide a clear view of security vulnerabilities. “We paved the way with techniques such as custom kernel patches and kernel extensions,” says graduate student Joseph Ravichandran. “The dream was always to have a completely custom operating system which would make these hacks unnecessary.”

GBH "Particles of Thought" host Hakeem Oluseyi interviews Prof. David Kaiser about the puzzling nature of dark matter and how its explanation may be inconsistent with our assumptions of gravity. “If we assume we really know the laws of gravity, which Einstein wrote down beautifully just over a hundred years ago in his general theory of relativity...we have reason to be confident. But what people are saying is could dark matter be the first exception to that,” says Kaiser. 

Associated Press reporter Rodrique Ngowi visits MIT to learn about how researchers in Prof. Xuanhe Zhao’s lab developed an ultrasound wristband that gathers data on human hand motions as part of an effort to help train humanoid robots to undertake complex tasks, from housework to surgery. “Imagine people doing housework,” says Zhao. “We can use the data obtained by our system to train a robot to do exactly (that) housework with this dexterous hand motion.” 

Nature reporter Jyoti Madhusoodanan features Prof. Regina Barzilay and Prof. James Collin’s work developing AI tools aimed at accelerating the process of drug discovery and tackling the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Barzilay notes that the goal of AI-based drug design is not to have the perfect method, but to find working solutions to the antibiotic-resistance crisis. “To me, the art is really in taking the tools we currently have, which are already doing quite a bit, and translating them into something which is useful in clinic,” she explains. 

Wall Street Journal reporter Gary Rivlin speaks with Prof. Daron Acemoglu about the growing use of AI in the business world. “Whether you’re a CEO, a manager, a journalist, a professor or a construction worker, I see your skills as beyond what AI can perform,” says Acemoglu. 

Financial Times reporter John Burn-Murdoch highlights a new study by Prof. Mert Demirer and colleagues that examines productivity levels among software developers work before and after they adopted AI tools. Burn-Murdoch notes the paper found that “AI delivers big productivity boosts for low-level tasks, but these translate into much smaller gains for final products.”