Media Lab

mPath's MOXO sensor is a wearable that resembles a bulky smartwatch. Placed on the wrist, it wirelessly measures changes in skin conductance (subtle electrical changes across the skin), which reflect sympathetic nervous system activity and physiological arousal. Spikes in conductance can signal stress and frustration, while dips may indicate disinterest or boredom.

Wearable device reveals consumer emotions

Startup’s stress sensor tracks users’ unconscious responses to products and experiences.

July 12, 2017

By comparing 1.6 million pairs of photos taken seven years apart, researchers have now used a new computer vision system to quantify the physical improvement or deterioration of neighborhoods in five American cities, in an attempt to identify factors that predict urban change. Pictured are two street views, with the old photograph on the left and the new photograph on the right.

Why do some neighborhoods improve?

Density of highly educated residents, rather than income or housing costs, predicts revitalization.

July 6, 2017

The proximity of the new headquarters of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Institute to MIT's campus will help connect students and faculty to new facilities, including the Fabric Discovery Center that provides end-to-end prototyping from fiber design to system integration of new textile-based products.

Advanced Functional Fabrics of America opens headquarters steps from MIT campus

New AFFOA facility represents a significant MIT investment in advanced manufacturing innovation.

June 19, 2017

At a "pitch and demo" DesignX accelerator event, Department of Urban Studies and Planning student Riddhi Shah, lead for the Kumej project, makes her pitch to the crowd. Kumej is a light, collapsible seat designed to enable underprivileged students in India to carry and create their own comfortable work surface, whether at a construction site where their parents work or in a rural school.

Design innovations for improved life in cities

Venture accelerator DesignX unleashes entrepreneurs’ ideas to transform the built environment.

June 13, 2017

Metafluidics.org, a new MIT open-source website, supplies blueprints for microfluidic parts. Pictured are a few photographs from the website.

Microfluidics for the masses

New open-source website features blueprints for lab-on-a-chip devices.

June 13, 2017

A brain slice that shows the hippocampus cells that were activated by the new stimulation technique (bottom image, lighter green areas on the left)

A noninvasive method for deep brain stimulation

Electrodes placed on the scalp could help patients with brain diseases.

June 1, 2017

MIT researchers are developing a new surgical approach that would allow amputees to receive sensory feedback from their prosthetic limbs and improve their ability to control them.

Making prosthetic limbs feel more natural

Muscle grafts could help amputees sense and control artificial limbs.

May 31, 2017

Top row: (l-r) Julia Angwin, Farai Chideya, Isha Datar. Middle row: (l-r) Adam Foss, Andrea Lauer, Leland Melvin. Bottom row: (l-r) Jamila Raqib, Esra’a Al Shafei, Gavin Zhao.

Media Lab announces 2017 Director’s Fellows

Nine new Director’s Fellows bring their diverse experiences to a global network empowered by technology created at the MIT Media Lab.

May 30, 2017

These pasta shapes were caused by immersing a 2-D flat film into water.

Researchers engineer shape-shifting noodles

Sheets of gelatin transform into 3-D shapes when dunked in water; could save food shipping costs.

May 24, 2017

This breathable workout suit prototype has ventilating flaps that open and close in response to an athlete’s body heat and sweat. The left photo was taken before exercise when ventilation flaps are flat; after exercise, the ventilation flaps have curved.

Researchers design moisture-responsive workout suit

Ventilating flaps lined with live cells open and close in response to an athlete’s sweat.

May 19, 2017

Left to right: Thomas Ermacora, futurist, urbanist and humanitarian; Hala Fadel MBA ’01, founder and chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan-Arab region; Admir Masic, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT; Lara Stein, MIT ReACT development director; and Riccardo Sabatini, scientist and entrepreneur.

MIT to spur global education hub for displaced populations and refugees

The Refugee ACTion Hub (ReACT) will create tailored learning experiences and spark collaboration.

May 16, 2017

Throughout Scratch Day, children from the Boston area and farther afield collaborated on computing projects at the MIT Media Lab.

Celebrating 10 years of Scratch

Scratch Day @ MIT was one of more than 1,100 global events during May to celebrate the kids’ programming language and online community on its 10th anniversary.

May 11, 2017

His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, left, meets MIT professor of physics Max Tegmark, right, during the king’s visit to MIT on Friday, May 5. The Stockholm-born Tegmark conducted an exchange of gifts with the Swedish delegation, which included multiple books by MIT faculty and about MIT.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden visits MIT

Swedish delegation tours Institute, participates in dialogue on innovation.

May 8, 2017

Richard Fletcher, research scientist in the MIT D-Lab

Revolutionizing global health

In more than 20 years working on wireless sensors and radio frequency identification (RFID), Richard Fletcher has produced several startups and over a dozen patents.

April 26, 2017

MIT researchers have designed a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building. The system consists of a tracked vehicle that carries a large industrial robotic arm, which has a smaller, precision-motion robotic arm at its end.

3-D printing offers new approach to making buildings

Technology developed at MIT could enable faster, cheaper, more adaptable building construction.