Prof. Sebastian Lourido speaks with Salon reporter Elizabeth Hlavinka about the risks associated with parasite cleanses. “When you cause significant changes in the intestine, you are at times obliterating many of the beneficial organisms that are helping us digest food, but in some cases, producing vitamins that are actually occupying that niche and preventing bad organisms from taking over,” says Lourido.
President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif speaks with Scott Detrow of NPR’s All Things Considered about the importance of investing in university research. In America, “we have the best research ecosystem in the world. It is fueled by public funds. And it includes not just, of course, the university system but academic medical centers. This is where the best and the most advanced research happens,” Reif emphasizes. He adds that “if we don't have public funds supporting research universities none of the innovations are going to happen.”
Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Isabelle Bousquette about her vision for the future of robots as soft, squishy, flexible and maybe even edible. Bousquette notes that Rus is a “pioneer” in the field of soft robotics and Steve Crowe, chair of the Robotics Summit and Expo, emphasizes: “there’s literally nobody in the world that knows more about this stuff than Daniela Rus.” “I really wanted to broaden our view of what a robot is,” says Rus. “If you have a mechanism that’s made out of paper and that moves, is that a robot or not? If you have an origami flower that you attach to a motor, is that a robot or not? To me, it’s a robot.”
Prof. Pattie Maes speaks with Financial Times reporter Cristina Criddle about recent developments aimed at increasing AI memory retention. “The more a system knows about you, the more it can be used for negative purposes to either make you buy stuff or convince you of particular beliefs,” says Maes. “So you have to start thinking about the underlying incentives of the companies that offer these services.”
Prof. Jacquelyn Pless speaks with Grist reporter Tik Root about the future of the solar power industry amid federal proposals to remove tax credit incentives that assist with residential solar costs. “Policy volatility is really my bigger concern,” says Pless. “Policy uncertainty alone can start to freeze investment, raise costs, and damage market confidence.”
Undergraduate students Avani Ahuja '26, Julianna Lian '26, Jacqueline Prawira '26, and Alex Tang '26 have been honored as recipients of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship for the 2025-2026 academic year, reports Vivian Hir for The Tech. “Established by Congress in 1986, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship financially supports talented college sophomores and juniors who plan to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, or engineering,” explains Hir.
Tech Crunch reporter Tim De Chant spotlights Fieldstone Bio, an MIT startup that turns microbes into sensors to support agricultural and national security efforts. “Each strain is tailored to sense a particular compound, such as nitrogen on a farm field or TNT residue from a landmine,” explains De Chant. “After the microbes have some time to sense their environment — several hours to days, depending on the target — the company will have another drone snap photos of the area.”
Dr. Mallika Marshall joins CBS Boston to discuss E-BAR, a new mobile robot developed by MIT researchers to physically support the elderly and prevent them from falling as they move around their homes. Marshall notes that E-BAR could also “lift someone from sitting to standing or vice versa, and catch someone safely by rapidly inflating side airbags if they begin to fall.”
Christian Lau PhD SM ’20, PhD ’22 and Vaikkunth Mugunthan SM ’19, PhD 22, co-founders of Dynamo AI, have been named to the 2025 Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list, reports Yue Wang, John Kang for Forbes. “Dynamo AI offers software to run tests on AI programs to identify potential risks, and prevent the models from accessing sensitive data,” they write.
Jia Haojun PhD '24, graduate student Gao Wenhao and postdoctoral associate James Utama Surjadi have been named to the Forbes 30 and Under 30 Asia: Healthcare & Science list, writes Yue Wang for Forbes. The list honors those “who are using cutting-edge technology to innovative and improve their industry.”
CSAIL Research Scientist Neil Thompson speaks with Wired reporter Will Knight about how new AI systems are developing new algorithms that could be used to help advance scientific research and innovation. “If these capabilities can be used to tackle bigger, less tightly-scoped problems, it has the potential to accelerate innovation—and thus prosperity,” says Thompson.
Neha Narula, director of the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, joins Taylor Wilson of USA Today’s The Excerpt podcast to discuss the future of cash as the use of digital currencies expands. On her vision for the future of money, Narula says, “We’ve had a lot of promise, we’ve had a lot of exciting ideas, but now it’s time to really buckle down and really build products that help users and help make their lives better.”
Prof. John Hansman speaks with NPR reporter Joe Hernandez about staffing shortages and recent air travel disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport. "We run the system very conservatively and very safely," says Hansman. "If you get to this very extreme case we appear to be in, then you have secondary concerns about fatigue and stress, et cetera, that may degrade performance, but I don't think we've necessarily seen that at this point.”
Prof. Emeritus Kerry Emanuel speaks with WBUR reporters Vivian La and Barbara Moran about the impact of NOAA cuts on the future of weather forecasting. “They're cutting into bone and muscle when they should be cutting into fat,” says Emanuel. He adds that streamlining operations and saving money “requires deep understanding of the organization and deep consultation with people who understand it.”
MIT Open Space will host The Modular Troupe, an “artist collective that will be bringing live hip-hop and R&B sounds,” to the area on Wednesday, May 14, reports Marianna Orozco for The Boston Globe. “In collaboration with the Cambridge Hip Hop Collective, the Midday Music event will turn lunch hour into a dance party with high-energy performances and on-site food trucks selling local eats,” explains Orozco.