Summer 2026 recommended reading from MIT
Enjoy these recent titles from Institute faculty and staff.
What happens when environmental change outpaces life’s ability to adapt?
A new model links Earth’s mass extinctions to mismatches between rates of environmental change and biological adaptation.
Characterizing Earth’s damping mechanisms
Fourth-year PhD candidate Perrin Davidson studies the carbon cycle to understand how the planet responds to global disturbances.
Meet the leader of the Department of Biology’s all-important “kitchen”
Karen O’Leary, lab associate and acting supervisor in the Glassware Sterilization Facility (a.k.a. “the kitchen”), has become a cornerstone of the department’s operations.
QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2026-27
Ranking at the top for the 15th year in a row, the Institute also places first in 12 subject areas.
Susan Solomon named 2026 Tang Prize laureate
The MIT professor’s groundbreaking work on atmospheric chemistry helped lay steps towards recovery of the ozone layer and demonstrated the lasting impacts of carbon emissions on Earth’s climate.
MIT Open Learning reaches all the way to the South Pole
John Della Costa uses OpenCourseWare to engage fellow Antarctica “winterovers” in physics content, and to build community.
Harriet having it all
From Boston to Moscow and across the U.S., Harriet Latham Robinson SM ’61, PhD ’65 has balanced an exciting career at the forefront of molecular biology with family, friends, and adventure.
MIT affiliates win 2026 Hertz Foundation Fellowships
The fellowships in applied sciences, engineering, and mathematics recognize doctoral students who are pursuing solutions to the most pressing challenges in science and technology.
Would you return a favor? Scientists say it depends on the relationship
A new study shows people expect reciprocal generosity only in interactions with friends or others of equal social status.
Advancing stem cell research and building the next generation of biologists
Biology PhD student Giselle Valdes studies stem cell regeneration while encouraging aspiring students and researchers.
Myriam Heiman named director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Heiman, who studies neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s, will lead the institute beginning July 1.
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero wins Kavli Prize in Nanoscience
The MIT physicist shares the honor with two others for foundational research establishing the field of twistronics.
MIT affiliates win 2026 Breakthrough, New Horizons prizes
Faculty member Shu-Heng Shao, in addition to four MIT alumni, are honored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.
MIT astronomers discover the earliest known flickering quasar
When the universe was just 850 million years old, this voracious black hole was already surprisingly mature, a new study finds.