Research

Researchers at MIT have developed an “AI-powered tool that scans scientific literature and over 1 million rock samples to identify materials that can partially replace cement in concrete,” reports Samanatha Hindman for Yahoo! News. The new system could “change how we build cities forever,” says Hindman. “The system sorts materials based on their physical and chemical properties, narrowing them down by how well they hold concrete together when mixed with water (hydraulic reactivity) and how they strengthen it over time (pozzolanicity).” 

A study by MIT researchers monitored and compared the brain activity of participants using large language models, traditional search engines, and only their brains to write an essay on a given topic, reports Hessie Jones for Forbes. The study “found that the brain-only group showed much more active brain waves compared to the search-only and LLM-only groups,” Jones explains. “In the latter two groups, participants relied on external sources for information. The search-only group still needed some topic understanding to look up information, and like using a calculator — you must understand its functions to get the right answer. In contrast, the LLM-only group simply had to remember the prompt used to generate the essay, with little to no actual cognitive processing involved.”  

Prof. David Autor joins Possible podcast hosts Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger to discuss everything from the cross-country road trip that helped inspire his research focused on technology, work and inequality to how AI might impact American workers. Autor notes that if AI technologies are implemented in the best way possible for humankind, “we would give people more secure and fulfilling work. We would give them more access to education and access to better healthcare, everywhere. And those things alone would improve welfare in so many dimensions. Not just in terms of material standard living, not just in comfort, but investing in our kids, creating opportunity for the next generation.”

Researchers at MIT have developed “a new imaging technique that could allow quality control robots in warehouses to peer into closed boxes,” reports Chris Young for Interesting Engineering. “Using this new technology, robots could peer into a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a mug is broken, for example,” explains Young. “This new method could revolutionize warehouse quality control and streamline the shipping and delivery process.”  

In an effort to help “build the tools and talent to shape a more productive and sustainable future for manufacturing,” MIT has launched the Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM), reports Nathan Owens for Manufacturing Dive. Owens explains that to help accelerate technology adoption and manufacturing productivity, the INM has "mapped out a series of education and industry partnership programs, including plans to establish new labs and a 'factory observation' effort that allows students to visit production sites.”

MIT spinoff Commonwealth Fusion System has made its first direct corporate power purchase agreement with Google, reports Timothy Gardner for Reuters. Google plans to buy 200 megawatts of fusion power from Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ first grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Researchers at MIT have developed a new atmospheric water harvester that eventually could be used to supply safe drinking water worldwide, reports Sarah Bregel for Fast Company. The device is “about the size of a standard window” and made from “hydrogel, a material that absorbs water, and lithium salts that can store water molecules,” explains Bregel. 

Researchers at MIT have found that ChatGPT users “showed minimal brain engagement and consistently fell short in neural linguistic, and behavioral aspects,” reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “To conduct the test, the lab split 54 participants from the Boston area into three groups, each consisting of individuals ages 18 to 39,” explains Wiggers. “The participants were asked to write multiple SAT essays using tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the Google search engine, or without any tools.” 

Mashable reporter Elisha Sauers spotlights some of the exoplanets identified thus far in 2025, including BD+05 4868 Ab, a rocky exoplanet discovered by MIT astronomers that has a “comet-like tail stretching more than 5.5 million miles.” BD+05 4868 Ab is “about the size of Mercury and orbits its star every 30.5 hours,” Sauers explains. “At roughly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the planet appears to be shedding material — about one Mount Everest’s worth per orbit — that becomes its tail.”

Writing for The Boston Globe, President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif examines how the proposed endowment tax on colleges and universities will likely “raise the cost of a college education and hurt US competitiveness.” Reif notes that universities use income from their endowments to provide financial aid for students and support research. “Without financial aid, students from less wealthy backgrounds would not be able to attend the country’s great private universities,” writes Reif. “This would be not just a loss to them but also to the nation itself, which benefits when talented people from all backgrounds have the same opportunity to rise based on academic achievement.”

Forbes contributor Tanya Fileva spotlights how MIT CSAIL researchers have developed a system called Air-Guardian, an “AI-enabled copilot that monitors a pilot’s gaze and intervenes when their attention is lacking.” Fileva notes that “in tests, the system ‘reduced the risk level of flights and increased the success rate of navigating to target points’—demonstrating how AI copilots can enhance safety by assisting with real-time decision-making.”

Prof. Ryan Williams has published a new proof that explores computational complexity and flips the script on years of assumptions about the trade-offs between computation space and time, reports Max Springer for Scientific American. Williams found that “any problem can be transformed into one you can solve by cleverly reusing space, deftly cramming the necessary information into just a square-root number of bits,” Springer explains. “This progress is unbelievable,” says Mahdi Cheraghchi of the University of Michigan. “Before this result, there were problems you could solve in a certain amount of time, but many thought you couldn’t do so with such little space.” 

The New Yorker reporter Kyle Chayka spotlights a study by MIT researchers examining the impact of AI chatbot use on the brain. “The results from the analysis showed a dramatic discrepancy: subjects who used ChatGPT demonstrated less brain activity than either of the other groups,” explains Chayka. 

A study by researchers from MIT and elsewhere compares productivity differences between remote and in-person work attendance, reports Gleb Tsipursky for The Hill. The study found that “employees do not simply become more efficient because a manager watches their every move,” explains Tsipursky. “Rather, they want clarity, communication, and trust.” 

Researchers from MIT have found that “extended use of LLMs for research and writing could have long-term behavioral effects, such as lower brain engagement and laziness,” reports Theo Burman for Newsweek. “The study found that the AI-assisted writers were engaging their deep memory processes far less than the control groups, and that their information recall skills were worse after producing work with ChatGPT,” explains Burman.