MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT has been named the No. 2 university in the world, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, reports Rosa Ellis. “The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is now the US’ highest-ranked university, in second place globally, its best-ever performance,” explains Ellis.

Writing for MarketWatch, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, emphasizes that the dockworker strike was “emblematic of broader shifts in the American workforce and the integration of technology in the workplace. As older generations retire and younger ones seek more flexible, technology-driven careers, traditional industries must adapt or be left behind.”

Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money about a recent survey that claims "almost 40% of Americans, ages 18 to 64, have used generative AI." "My concern with their numbers is that it does not distinguish fundamentally productive uses of generative AI from occasional/frivolous uses," says Acemoglu. 

Hashim Sarkis, dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, has been selected as a juror for the Pritzker Architecture Prize, an award that is “essential in heightening society’s awareness of the impact of architecture on the human experience,” reports United States Architecture News. "At our doorsteps are new problems, be they related to climate, equity or new ways of life," says Sarkis. "But architects are rising to the occasion, expanding the field with inspiring new work.” 

Researchers from MIT and Oxford University has found “social media platforms’ suspensions of accounts may not be rooted in political biases, but rather certain political groups’ tendency to share misinformation,” reports Miranda Nazzaro for The Hill. “Thus, even under politically neutral anti-misinformation polices, political asymmetries in enforcement should be expected,” researchers wrote. “Political imbalance in enforcement need not imply bias on the part of social media companies implementing anti-misinformation polices.” 

A new commentary by Prof. Jonathan Gruber and his colleagues outlines a proposal for a new long-term care at home plan, aimed at enabling seniors to stay in their homes, reports Jonathan Cohn for HuffPost. “Relative to other countries, we’re very nursing home focused, and we’re not really doing enough to keep people at home,” says Gruber. “I also just think it’s a valuable benefit to people that makes their lives better.” 

Sloan Visiting Senior Lecturer Paul McDonagh-Smith speaks with Joe McKendrick of Forbes about the ongoing discussions about AI safety guidelines. “While ensuring safety is crucial, especially for frontier AI models, there is also a need to strike a balance where AI is a catalyst for innovation without putting our organizations and broader society at risk,” explains McDonagh-Smith. 

Victor Ambros ‘75, PhD ‘79 and Gary Ruvkun have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “their groundbreaking work on how genes behave,” reports Patrick Smith for NBC News. Ambros and Ruvkun, who worked as postdocs in the lab of Professor H. Robert Horvitz in the late 1980s, discovered how microRNA molecules play a key role in gene regulation. "The pair sought to explore how nerve cells and muscle cells, for example, have very different characteristics despite having the same genetic information," writes Smith.

Researchers at MIT have developed “Future You,” a generative AI chatbot that enables users to speak with potential older versions of themselves, reports Sharon Goldman for Fortune. The tool “uses a large language model and information provided by the user to help young people ‘improve their sense of future self-continuity, a psychological concept that describes how connected a person feels with their future self,’” writes Goldman. “The researchers explained that the tool cautions users that its results are only one potential version of their future self, and they can still change their lives,” writes Goldman. 

David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, speaks with ABC News reporter Michael Dobuski about the rising popularity of small “micromobility” vehicles. “In the last fifteen years or so, you’ve seen a lot of cities in the US, and frankly in other parts of the world too, invest a lot of money and resources in creating safe spaces for people who want to use a scooter, or a bicycle, or any of these other versions of micromobility that we’re talking about,” explains Zipper.