MIT’s top research stories of 2024
Stories on tamper-proof ID tags, sound-suppressing silk, and generative AI’s understanding of the world were some of the most popular topics on MIT News.
Bacteria in the human gut rarely update their CRISPR defense systems
A new study of the microbiome finds intestinal bacterial interact much less often with viruses that trigger immunity updates than bacteria in the lab.
Ecologists find computer vision models’ blind spots in retrieving wildlife images
Biodiversity researchers tested vision systems on how well they could retrieve relevant nature images. More advanced models performed well on simple queries but struggled with more research-specific prompts.
MIT-Kalaniyot launches programs for visiting Israeli scholars
Inviting recent postdocs and sabbatical-eligible faculty to pursue their research at MIT, new programs envision eventually supporting 16 Israeli scholars on campus annually.
Global MIT At-Risk Fellows Program expands to invite Palestinian scholars
GMAF’s second international cohort will comprise up to 10 early- to mid-career Palestinian scholars for a two-year pilot fellowship program at MIT.
Startup’s autonomous drones precisely track warehouse inventories
Corvus Robotics, founded by Mohammed Kabir ’21, is using drones that can navigate in GPS-denied environments to expedite inventory management.
MIT affiliates receive 2025 IEEE honors
Five MIT faculty and staff, along with 19 additional alumni, are honored for electrical engineering and computer science advances.
MIT Schwarzman College of Computing welcomes Frida Polli as visiting innovation scholar
The neuroscientist turned entrepreneur will focus on advancing the intersection of behavioral science and AI across MIT.
Need a research hypothesis? Ask AI.
MIT engineers developed AI frameworks to identify evidence-driven hypotheses that could advance biologically inspired materials.
Surface-based sonar system could rapidly map the ocean floor at high resolution
A small fleet of autonomous surface vessels forms a large sonar array for finding submerged objects.
MIT engineers grow “high-rise” 3D chips
An electronic stacking technique could exponentially increase the number of transistors on chips, enabling more efficient AI hardware.
When MIT’s interdisciplinary NEET program is a perfect fit
Junior Katie Spivakovsky describes her path through New Engineering Education Transformation to biomedical research and beyond.
3 Questions: Tracking MIT graduates’ career trajectories
Deborah Liverman, executive director of MIT Career Advising and Professional Development, offers a window into undergraduate and graduate students’ post-graduation paths.
MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems unveils plans for the world’s first fusion power plant
The company has announced that it will build the first grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
MIT researchers introduce Boltz-1, a fully open-source model for predicting biomolecular structures
With models like AlphaFold3 limited to academic research, the team built an equivalent alternative, to encourage innovation more broadly.