No backtalk
One key to making parallel algorithms efficient is to minimize the amount of communication between cores.
Retooling algorithms
Charles Leiserson and his team are experts at designing parallel algorithms — including one for a chess-playing program that outperformed IBM’s Deep Blue.
Turning reviews into ratings
A new system automatically combs through online reviews to provide recommendations according to unusual criteria.
Breaking bottlenecks
A new algorithm enables much faster dissemination of information through self-organizing networks with a few scattered choke points.
First improvement of fundamental algorithm in 10 years
The max-flow problem, which is ubiquitous in network analysis, scheduling, and logistics, can now be solved more efficiently than ever.
Cars as traffic sensors
A new algorithm optimizes the dissemination of information about traffic and road conditions through networks of wirelessly connected cars.
Professor Emeritus Claude Shannon, founder of digital communications, dies at 84
Longtime MIT professor of electrical engineering and of mathematics pioneered information theory and helped lay the foundations for modern computing, cryptography, and artificial intelligence.