Civil and environmental engineering

MIT researchers have created a new building design model that could enable engineers to construct buildings and bridges that use less materials, writes Tech Briefs’ Andrew Corselli. “Traditional topology optimization essentially starts with a blank space and tries to figure out at each point in this blank space: ‘Should there be material,’ ‘should there not be material’ from an efficiency standpoint,” says Prof. Josephine Carstensen. “Our approach populates the space with a bunch of lines that are instead candidates for ‘should there be material’ or ‘should there not be material.’ By using this line approach, we have the opportunity to have more control.” 

To explain the longevity of a 1,900-year-old latrine, Scientific American’s Sam Macdonald highlights a study by Prof. Admir Masic that found the bright white chunks, or lime clasts, in Roman concrete may help preserve ancient structures. Masic explains that the findings strengthen “the idea that carbonates are more dynamic in these systems and play a fundamental role, not a marginal one.”  

Research Affiliates Mathilde Poyet and Mathieu Groussin are featured by The New York Times Magazine reporter Jeneen Interlandi for their comprehensive fieldwork collecting diverse, microbial samples from communities across the globe to understand how differences in diet, lifestyle and industrialization affect microbiome health. “Microbes don’t like antibiotics, for obvious reasons,” Groussin says. “They don’t like C-sections, which rob them of the opportunity to colonize new human territory. And they hate ultra processed diets. All three of those are more prevalent in an industrialized world.” 

MIT researchers have developed a non-invasive, wearable pacemaker that stimulates the heart using ultrasound, writes Physics World reporter Tami Freeman. “For cardiac pacing, we envisage that the final goal of NUP [Non-Invasive Ultrasound Pacemaker] technology is to be a permanent alternative to a long-term implanted pacemaker,” says Prof. Xuanhe Zhao. “More broadly, we are interested in expanding ultrasound-enabled bioelectronic medicine beyond cardiac pacing toward other organs and therapeutic applications where non-invasive, spatially precise modulation could have clinical impact.” 

Prof. David Simchi-Levi speaks with Seb Murray of the Financial Times about how in an effort to increase their supply-chain resilience, companies are increasingly investing in digital tools to map supply chains, identify hidden vulnerabilities across supplier networks and prepare contingency plans. “It’s not enough to use intuition and experience,” Simchi-Levi explains. “You need data and analytics.”

Researchers at MIT have developed a new online tool called the “AI Labor Exposure Map,” which breaks down different job tasks by those that can be performed by AI, and those that cannot. The team found that, “[i]n many cases, the human-centric parts of a job are still essential,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “Instead of laying off workers, an employer could use the research to identify tasks that could be automated, so that the workers can be reassigned to handle only the uniquely human tasks.” 

It may sound fishy, but Prof. Benedetto Marelli and postdoc Giorgio Rizzo have developed a method to up-cycle seafood waste into a coating for seeds that could help plants better withstand drought, while also creating more nutritious and sustainable crops. “It all starts with the idea that we need to find new ways to grow food and, in particular, find new ways to decrease the amount of fertilizers we use,” says Marelli, during an appearance on GBH's Curiosity Desk. 

MIT researchers have developed a new traffic navigation system that more accurately reflects travel time by including parking data, reports Catherine Parotta for Boston 25. “What we can do is figure out if you’re best off trying this parking lot first, even if it’s farther than the closest parking lot,” explains Prof. Cathy Wu. Graduate student Cameron Hickert adds that: “We hope that this can help people make better decisions." 

According to the 2026 QS World University Rankings, MIT has been earned a No. 1 global ranking in 12 subject areas, including chemical engineering; chemistry; civil and structural engineering; computer science and information systems; data science and artificial intelligence; electrical and electronic engineering; engineering and technology; linguistics; materials science; mechanical, aeronautical, and manufacturing engineering; mathematics; and physics and astronomy, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes.

Designboom reporter Kat Barandy spotlights how a new video “traces the technical process behind ‘Remembering the Future,’ the woven work by Janet Echelman at the MIT Museum.” The piece, which was developed during Echelman’s MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology (CAST) residency in collaboration with Prof. Caitlin Mueller, “uses braided fibers to translate climate data into a suspended artwork.” The MIT Museum operates, in the words of Museum Director Michael John Gorman, as “a playground for ideas, as a living lab.”  

While excavating “a small room inside a lavish home in ancient Pompeii,” researchers from MIT found the walls were covered with Egyptian blue paint, a bright blue pigment estimated to “have cost more than half the annual salary of a Roman foot solider,” reports Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian Magazine.  

Researchers from MIT and other institutions uncovered the use of a “prized synthetic pigment imported from ancient Egypt” that was used to paint the walls of a home in ancient Pompeii, reports James Imam for The Times. “The quality of the decoration is unbelievable… It’s very rare, even unique, to find a completely blue sacrarium,” says Prof. Admir Masic. “These owners were really very, very wealthy.” 

Research Scientist Judah Cohen speaks with USA Today reporter Doyle Rice about how changes in the polar vortex will impact March weather across the United States. “I would expect a milder period in the eastern US until close to the spring equinox," says Cohen. "Then I think eventually colder weather arrives to the eastern U.S. related to the polar vortex split in late March or early April that could hang around for a while."

Research scientist Judah Cohen served as a panelist for the Boston Globe’s “The Reshaping of New England’s Seasons: What’s Happening to Our Weather?” event, reports Ken Mahan for The Boston Globe. Cohen and his fellow panelists discussed New England weather, sharing insights and answering questions from community members. 

USA Today reporter Dinah Voyles Pulver spotlights Research Scientist Judah Cohen’s research studying how weather systems and climate patterns are related to the increase in Arctic blasts and deep freezes this winter.