Media Arts and Sciences (Media Lab)

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.

April 26, 2017

Researchers from the MIT Media Lab developed a new technique that makes image acquisition using compressed sensing 50 times as efficient. In the case of the single-pixel camera, it could get the number of exposures down from thousands to dozens. Examples of this compressive ultrafast imaging technique are show on the bottom rows.

A faster single-pixel camera

New technique greatly reduces the number of exposures necessary for “lensless imaging.”

March 29, 2017

MIT Media Lab spinout Cardiio has developed a mobile app that uses a smartphone camera to detect facial signs of a heart arrhythmia associated with strokes.

App screens for arrhythmia using smartphone camera

Startup develops app to detect irregular heartbeats that can cause strokes.

March 29, 2017

MIT Professor César Hidalgo and his colleagues argue that everything else being equal, the complexity of a country’s exports also correlates with its degree of economic equality: The more complex a country’s products, the greater equality it enjoys relative to similar-sized countries with similar-sized economies.

Income inequality linked to export “complexity”

The mix of products that countries export is a good predictor of income distribution, study finds.

February 16, 2017

MIT Media Lab spinout Changing Environments is the brains behind the solar-powered Soofa Bench, which is equipped with an embedded charging station for mobile devices that also connects to wireless networks. Recently, the startup released the solar-powered Soofa Sign, which displays public transit times, weather, and events, among other city information.

Smart city fixtures

Startup brings solar-powered, phone-charging park benches and digital signs to cities worldwide.

January 27, 2017

Edith Ackermann joined MIT Media Lab’s Epistemology and Learning Group in the mid-1980s.

Edith Ackermann, developmental psychologist and learning researcher, dies at 70

The former MIT Media Lab faculty member explored the intersections of play, learning, design, and technology.

December 28, 2016

The fifteen teams that made their pitches included MIT faculty, students, and alumni. Participants came from every major unit of the School of Architecture and Planning, as well as the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Schools of Science and Engineering.

DesignX selects first cohort

Eight student teams join MIT’s newest entrepreneurship accelerator.

December 14, 2016

“…[I]f humans behave similarly to mice in response to this treatment, I would say the potential is just enormous, because it’s so noninvasive, and it’s so accessible,” says Li-Huei Tsai, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience, when describing a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

Unique visual stimulation may be new treatment for Alzheimer’s

Noninvasive technique reduces beta amyloid plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.

December 7, 2016

MIT researchers have developed a way to isolate genetic circuits within individual synthetic “cells,” preventing the circuits from disrupting each other.

Researchers create synthetic cells to isolate genetic circuits

Encapsulating molecular components in artificial membranes offers more flexibility in designing circuits.

November 14, 2016

A new imaging system can read closed books. “The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed a lot of interest in this, because they want to, for example, look into some antique books that they don’t even want to touch,” says Barmak Heshmat, a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab.

Judging a book through its cover

New computational imaging method identifies letters printed on first nine pages of a stack of paper.

September 9, 2016

MIT researchers have developed a new way to image proteins and RNA inside neurons of intact brain tissue.

Seeing RNA at the nanoscale

Microscopy technique allows scientists to pinpoint RNA molecules in the brain.

July 4, 2016

“Most people want to live in in a world where cars will minimize casualties,” says Iyad Rahwan, an associate professor in the MIT Media Lab and co-author of a new paper outlining the study. “But everybody wants their own car to protect them at all costs.”

Driverless cars: Who gets protected?

Study shows inconsistent public opinion on safety of driverless cars.

June 23, 2016

“It’s very inspiring to see how these [hair-like] structures occur in nature and how they can achieve different functions,” says Jifei Ou, a graduate student in media arts and sciences at MIT. “We’re just trying to think how can we fully utilize the potential of 3-D printing, and create new functional materials whose properties are easily tunable and controllable.” Pictured is an examp...

Need hair? Press “print”

With fur, brushes, and bristles, Media Lab’s technique opens new frontier in 3-D printing.

June 16, 2016

A mild temperature change radically alters the degree to which a solid-fluid mixture bends light.

Mixing solids and liquids enhances optical properties of both

New approach can dramatically change the extent to which optical devices scatter light.

June 9, 2016

"The whole premise of our project is to harness the best science and innovation to bring education to the world’s most underresourced children," Cynthia Breazeal says. Pictured are students in Ethiopia.

Can technology help teach literacy in poor communities?

Project to provide children with tablets loaded with literacy apps reports encouraging results in Africa, U.S.

April 26, 2016

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