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Researchers have found there is often a strong case for building relatively modest, incremental additions to water infrastructure in advanced countries, rather than expensive larger-scale projects that may be needed only rarely.

Case study suggests new approach to urban water supply

One drought remedy: Keep infrastructure fast, cheap, and under control.

August 14, 2017

MIT Professor Saman Amarasinghe’s undergraduate course on initiating and managing open-source development projects had no exams or problem sets. Assignments included consulting with mentors, interviewing users, writing a promotional plan — and, of course, leading the development of an open-source application.

Open-source entrepreneurship

New project-based course lets undergrads lead the development of open-source software.

August 11, 2017

Researchers have devised a new way to monitor sleep stages without sensors attached to the body. Their device uses an advanced artificial intelligence algorithm to analyze the radio signals around the person and translate those measurements into sleep stages: light, deep, or rapid eye movement (REM).

New AI algorithm monitors sleep with radio waves

Patients with sleep disorders could be studied nonintrusively at home using wireless signals.

August 6, 2017

Phytoplankton and chips

Simons Foundation supports enhanced computer infrastructure for MIT's Darwin Project, which focuses on marine microbes and microbial communities.

August 4, 2017

New hybrid gas-to-electric drones from MIT spinout Top Flight Technologies offer an order-of-magnitude increase in range, payload size, and power over battery-powered counterparts. The drones may pave the way for package delivery and human flight.

Hybrid drones carry heavier payloads for greater distances

Startup’s gas-electric engines may pave way for package delivery and human flight.

August 4, 2017

After piloting its smart microgardening system in Boston homes and restaurants, and following a successful Kickstarter campaign last fall, SproutsIO is ramping up production and hitting the shelves in a few months.

SproutsIO aims to power a “Personal Produce” movement

Smart, soil-free microgarden lets users optimize growing conditions while cutting water and resource use.

July 26, 2017

Twine has developed a platform that lets users build customized disease-management and care plans on an app, which then sends alerts about when to take medications, tracks the patient’s various health goals, and offers key analytics, among other features.

Coaching platform improves health outcomes, lowers medical costs

New app lets patients work alone or with others to prevent, monitor, and reverse chronic disease.

July 21, 2017

“[MIT] is a fantastic place,” says associate professor Markus Klute, a member of the Laboratory of Nuclear Science. “Where else in the world do you get this amount of freedom?”

Particle hunter

Now that the Higgs boson has come to light, Markus Klute is looking at physics beyond the Standard Model.

July 21, 2017

mPath's MOXO sensor is a wearable that resembles a bulky smartwatch. Placed on the wrist, it wirelessly measures changes in skin conductance (subtle electrical changes across the skin), which reflect sympathetic nervous system activity and physiological arousal. Spikes in conductance can signal stress and frustration, while dips may indicate disinterest or boredom.

Wearable device reveals consumer emotions

Startup’s stress sensor tracks users’ unconscious responses to products and experiences.

July 12, 2017

Jessica Myers MCP ’17 completed a graduate thesis in the form of a podcast series entitled “Here There Be Dragons.”

Jessica Myers: Liberté, Égalité, Sécurité

A novel thesis in the form of a podcast gives voice to issues of security and identity in New York and Paris.

July 10, 2017

Graduate student Lucas Mason-Brown is chief technology officer for and co-founder of Data for Black Lives (D4BL), an organization helping scientists use data to fight racial bias in real estate, finance, criminal justice, and other areas.

Lucas Mason-Brown named 2017 Echoing Green Fellow

MIT graduate student in mathematics honored for using equations to boost racial equality.

July 6, 2017

Researchers demonstrate their scanning technique, with a user holding a monopod-mounted Kinect at close range from a T. Rex skull.

Researchers use Kinect to scan T. rex skull

System with $150 worth of hardware offers alternative to 3-D scanners that cost 200 times as much.

July 5, 2017

Instead of relying on silicon-based devices, a new chip uses carbon nanotubes and resistive random-access memory (RRAM) cells. The two are built vertically over one another, making a new, dense 3-D computer architecture with interleaving layers of logic and memory.

New 3-D chip combines computing and data storage

Advance points toward new generation of computers for coming superstorm of data.

July 5, 2017

New research finds certain aspects of how state-level renewable portfolio standards are designed and presented can set people’s minds for or against such policies — and that in this arena, public opinion does influence policymaking. For example, learning that a renewable energy policy will likely create several thousand jobs led to a significant increase in supporters of that policy.

Bolstering public support for state-level renewable energy policies

Analysis shows the design and framing of renewable energy policies can strengthen public support — or opposition.

June 30, 2017

“I was happy I didn’t get accepted into an engineering-only school, because I have two left hands and I’m way more interested in social sciences,” PhD student Aicha Ben Dhia says.

Investigating the trap of unemployment

PhD student Aicha Ben Dhia studies France’s labor market from the perspective of local job-seekers.

June 29, 2017

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