School of Engineering

New software that runs on a smart phone can approximate in seconds computations that would take a supercomputer hours. The software works for problems whose form is know but whose particulars aren't; slider bars allow users to set the values for which they want the problems solved.

Supercomputing on a cell phone

For complex problems whose form can be anticipated but whose particulars can’t, new software can offer approximate solutions in seconds.

September 1, 2010

Researchers Larry Madin and Kelly Rakow Sutherland get up close with a salp in the lab.

The Salp: Nature’s near-perfect little engine just got better

These efficient organisms may help remove carbon dioxide from the upper ocean

August 31, 2010

Throughout August, Sydney Do conducted dozens of "drop tests" of a dummy attached to the airbag system. The system was dropped from different heights that ranged from one foot to 10 feet.

Personal cushion of air

Inspired by seeds, proposed air-bag system would surround astronauts and protect them during bumpy landings

August 26, 2010

MIT researchers among Technology Review’s annual list of the world’s top young innovators

‘TR35’ to be honored at Technology Review’s EmTech@MIT conference next month.

August 25, 2010

If the relationships between data can be thought of as lines connecting points — or “graphs” — then machine learning is a matter of inferring the lines from the points. MIT researchers have shown that graphs shaped like stars and chains establish, respectively, the worst- and best-case scenarios for computers doing pattern recognition.

Sizing samples

Many scientific disciplines use computers to infer patterns in data. But how much data is enough to ensure that the inferences are right?

August 25, 2010

Roger W. Sudbury, former executive officer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, dies at age 72

A leader in microwave solid-state electronics for radar, he worked at the Laboratory for 41 years and became a trusted adviser and mentor to many.

August 23, 2010

This image shows rows of human embryonic stem cells that MIT researchers grew on a new synthetic surface. The cells at top (blue) are stained to reveal their nuclei, while the cells in the middle and bottom are stained for proteins that are known to be present when cells are pluripotent.

A better way to grow stem cells

New synthetic surfaces overcome challenges posed by existing methods for cultivating stem cells.

August 23, 2010

Hal Abelson, the Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering

The MIT roots of Google’s new software

Google’s App Inventor, which lets people with no previous programming experience build applications for mobile phones, draws on decades of MIT research.

August 19, 2010

MIT undergraduate engineering again ranked No. 1

U.S. News and World Report ranks MIT Sloan’s undergraduate program second among peer institutions.

August 17, 2010

3 questions: P vs. NP

After glancing over a 100-page proof that claimed to solve the biggest problem in computer science, Scott Aaronson bet his house that it was wrong. Why?

August 17, 2010