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.”
In a series of papers published in the Journal of Plasma Physics, researchers from MIT, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and other universities were able to validate the science and feasibility behind CFS’ plans to build a 400-megawatt fusion power plant, reports Timothy Gardner for Reuters.
Prof. Richard Binzel goes interstellar and chats with Boston Globe reporter Nick Stoico about the science behind the meteor that exploded over Cape Cod Bay recently, noting that the event offered a rare opportunity for people to connect with a phenomenon that usually goes unnoticed. “It’s great when people find a connection to the greater universe,” said Binzel. “It’s a great perspective to think beyond the surface of the Earth.”
MIT engineers have developed a “two-in-one propulsion system that can fuel both traditional chemical thrusters and electrical thrusters, combining speed and power with slower, more precise maneuverability for small satellites,” reports Passant Rabie for Gizmodo. “The new propulsion system would allow small satellites to carry both thrusters using the same propellant, opening the door for cheaper, smaller spacecraft to explore beyond Earth orbit,” Rabie explains.
Using an ordinary fridge magnet to control a microrobot might sound like fiction, but a team of MIT researchers engineered a technique to 3D-print magnetically activated robots and other materials that could be used in medicine and more. MIT graduate students Andrew Chen and Rachel Sun joined Edgar B. Herwick III of GBH’s Curiosity Desk to discuss their work and inspiration. Sun explains that ultimately, they’re “trying to develop these materials for everyday uses that push the frontiers of what’s possible and how we can help people in society.”
Writing for The Daily Caller, Jesse Hamel Executive MBA ’25 - a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, an AC-130 gunship combat aviator, a former Air Force Special Operations Command drone squadron commander and founder of VICTUS Technologies - makes the case for the Department of War sponsoring graduate-level education and fellowships at MIT. “The talent base and the operational seriousness of MIT made VICTUS possible,” Hamel writes. “My time on [the MIT] campus from 2023 through 2025 reinforced that view. As a veteran, I encountered respect for my service alongside some of the most demanding technical and academic standards I have ever faced.”
During her OneMIT Commencement address, Lisa Su 90, SM ’91, PhD ’94, Advanced Micro Devices CEO, shared her views on the critical role humans should play in the development and use of AI technologies, reports Courtney Connley-Hampton for Forbes. “For everything that AI can do, AI can’t decide which problems are worth solving. It can’t make the hard judgments when the data is not there. It can’t take responsibility for the outcomes. These are actually our responsibilities and they matter now more than ever,” Su emphasized. “Technology itself does not decide what the future looks like—the best people do.”
Prof. Charles Stewart III speaks with Newsweek reporter Jasmine Laws about the speed of ballot-counting in California. "California’s Legislature has decided to listen to election rights groups more than other states in an effort to make sure that every vote counts," said Stewart.
NPR reporter Jeff Brady spotlights a study by Prof. Jessika Trancik and Marco Miotti PhD ’20 that found “across most of the U.S., electric vehicles are cost-competitive with their gas counterparts. And it found that in most locations, EVs also reduce emissions between 40% and 60%.”
Manufacturing Dive reporter Cole Rosengren notes that a year after its launch, the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM) is “gaining traction toward its goal of helping modernize U.S. industrial systems.” Speaking at a Boston Tech Week event, Prof. John Hart, co-director of the INM, shared that at MIT, “we believe that there are important things we can do to help grow domestic manufacturing productivity, impart more sustainability in supply chains and industries, and also contribute to the creation of high-quality manufacturing jobs.”
Prof. Emeritus Paul Osterman speaks with Fortune reporter Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez about how a number of company layoff announcements recently have blamed the introduction of AI technologies for staff reductions. He notes that some layoffs are also likely tied to the increasing number of contract, gig and temporary workers used by employers, who can be cut at any moment. “We created a stable employment system of high wages and shared prosperity in the past,” he said. “That’s what we should be thinking about doing now.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Michiel Bakker finds that use of AI tools can impact cognitive function and problem-solving abilities in a relatively short period of time, reports Rob Taub for NewsNation. “We show that just 10–15 minutes of AI interaction can result in significant impairments in independent performance and persistence — capacities that are foundational to lifelong learning,” the researchers explain. “If brief exposure produces measurable erosion, the cumulative effects of daily AI use over months or years may be profound and difficult to reverse.”
In her address to the Class of 2026 during the OneMIT Commencement Ceremony, Lisa Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94, Advanced Micro Devices CEO, emphasized that “the world does not just need people who know how to use powerful tools, it needs people who know what to use them for, people with a sense of purpose, judgment, courage.” She added: “For everything that AI can do, AI can’t decide which problems are worth solving. It can’t make the hard judgments when the data is not there. It can’t take responsibility for the outcomes. These are actually our responsibilities, and they matter now more than ever.”
Fortune reporter Preston Fore spotlights Lisa Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94, Advanced Micro Devices CEO, who was named to Fortune’s “2026 Most Powerful Women” list. “After immigrating from Taiwan to the U.S. with her family at a young age, Lisa Su spent her early years fascinated by technology. She studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtaining her bachelor’s and PhD focused on semiconductors,” writes Fore. Since being named president of AMD in 2014, Su has “led the company to the forefront of computing and the AI revolution.”
Reporting from MIT, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza highlights how MIT is launching a “major effort to advance quantum computing, with a state investment of $25 million to help build a new research facility in Cambridge.” Said President Sally Kornbluth: “Everything you can think of that uses classical computing now, think about quantum speeding it up, making it more efficient. We think about the AI revolution and the expenses of AI and data centers. This is going to be impacted by a whole new different way of computing.”