Turning reviews into ratings
A new system automatically combs through online reviews to provide recommendations according to unusual criteria.
Search Stories
A clearer picture of vision
New mathematical model of information processing in the brain accurately predicts some of the peculiarities of human vision.
Breaking bottlenecks
A new algorithm enables much faster dissemination of information through self-organizing networks with a few scattered choke points.
Text-based video navigation
An innovative interface that allows viewers to skip through video by clicking on the associated transcript is a highlight of the MIT150 site.
The surprising usefulness of sloppy arithmetic
A computer chip that performs imprecise calculations could process some types of data thousands of times more efficiently than existing chips.
MIT strengthens its ties to Greater China
The Institute has embarked on a major, long-term effort to promote intellectual and technological exchange.
Social Studies
In MIT's Human Dynamics Lab, Sandy Pentland PhD '82 uses cell phones and wearable sensors to research nonverbal signals, information flow, and the value of face-to-face conversation.
Teaching real-world programming
In an innovative software-engineering class, students meet for regular “code reviews” with senior programmers from Boston-area companies.
Programming crowds
With the Web, people worldwide can work on distributed tasks. But getting reliable results requires algorithms that specify workflow between people, not transistors.
Robert Morris wins 2010 Mark Weiser Award
ACM SIGOPS award recognizes ‘creativity and innovation’ in operating-systems research.
Faster websites, more reliable data
Web servers that store data locally save time on database searches but sometimes serve up obsolete results. A new system solves that problem.
Why telecom regulation needs to change
Research suggests that the approach that worked with a few large companies with aligned interests needs revisiting in the Internet age.
In the World: Health care in the palm of a hand
MIT-led student team develops mobile-device software to help improve health-care accessibility in remote regions.