New imaging system sees through murky waters The “Sonar-MASt3R” combines sonar and visual data to create real-time 3D maps, even in cloudy water. June 11, 2026 Read full story →
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. June 8, 2026 Read full story →
Ultrasound-based pacemaker noninvasively steadies the heart The new design could offer a surgery-free alternative to traditional cardiac implants. June 2, 2026 Read full story →
New propulsion system could make tiny satellites both fast and fuel-efficient For satellites as small as a briefcase, getting around in space just got a whole lot easier. June 1, 2026 Read full story →
A new way to spot signs of dark matter Gravitational waves emitted by colliding black holes may bear imprints of dark matter, which physicists could detect with a new model. May 12, 2026 Read full story →
Astronomers pin down the origins of a planetary odd couple New measurements of a hot Jupiter and its mini-Neptune companion suggest both planets formed surprisingly far away from their host star. May 5, 2026 Read full story →
MIT engineers’ virtual violin produces realistic sounds Based on the physics of how the instrument produces sound, the model could help violin makers in the design process. April 29, 2026 Read full story →
With a swipe of a magnet, microscopic “magno-bots” perform complex maneuvers MIT researchers’ new fabrication technique can produce soft, microscopic structures with magnetically activated moving parts. April 28, 2026 Read full story →
Plants can sense the sound of rain, a new study finds Experiments by MIT engineers show rice seeds sprout faster to the sound of rain. April 22, 2026 Read full story →
New study bridges the worlds of classical and quantum physics The weird quantum behavior of subatomic particles can be understood through everyday classical ideas, MIT researchers show. April 21, 2026 Read full story →
Managing traffic in space Associate Professor Richard Linares is helping satellites safely navigate in increasingly congested orbits. April 19, 2026 Read full story →
Waves hit different on other planets From lazy ripples to towering breakers, waves should vary widely from one planet to another, according to a new model. April 16, 2026 Read full story →
Physicists zero in on the mass of the fundamental W boson particle The team’s ultra-precise measurement confirms the Standard Model’s predictions. April 8, 2026 Read full story →
Climate change may produce “fast-food” phytoplankton With warmer ocean temperatures, the composition of marine plankton could shift from protein-rich to carb-heavy, a new study suggests. March 31, 2026 Read full story →
“Near-misses” in particle accelerators can illuminate new physics, study finds Physicists discovered new properties of the strong force by analyzing what happens when light-speed particles skim by each other. March 26, 2026 Read full story →