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3 Questions: Jeffrey Harris on why we still don't have an HIV vaccine

The MIT economist blames inadequate incentives for the failure to develop a vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS. He argues governments should help industry create an HIV vaccine by sharing risk.

November 4, 2009

Indian women and children wait at a clinic where J-PAL researchers investigate a better way to bring medical treatment to developing areas.

Data points of light

MIT’s undergraduates fight poverty one statistic at a time, thanks to coordination between the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

November 2, 2009

Charter schools, studied

MIT economists are trying to learn how and why some Boston charter schools were able to produce stunning results. What they discover could serve as a lesson for America’s struggling public schools.

October 29, 2009

Caspar Hare, associate professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.

You, yourself and you

Philosopher Caspar Hare explains why being self-centered is a good thing

October 26, 2009

All wired up

MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson explains how technology really helps the economy — even as the restructuring it is spurring causes pain.

October 23, 2009

Saving labor

Political scientist Richard Locke says our system of improving factory conditions around the world is broken.
He proposes a new solution.

October 14, 2009

Trays of San Andreas cheese — an unpasteurized cheese from raw sheep's milk — made by Liam and Cindy Callahan, a mother and son team, at Bellwether Farm in Sonoma County, Calif.

Against the common gouda

The government regulates how food is produced. MIT anthropologist Heather Paxson studies the rebellious cheese-makers who reluctantly adhere to those rules.

October 13, 2009

Economics professor Amy Finkelstein, left; and Tyler Jacks, the director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, were elected today to the Institute of Medicine.

Two from MIT elected to the Institute of Medicine

Professor of Economics Amy Finkelstein and Tyler Jacks, director of the Koch Institute, join arm of the National Academies of Science.

October 12, 2009

MIT alum garners economics nobel

Oliver Williamson '55 a co-winner, for work on the theory of the firm

October 12, 2009

Emeritus Institute Professor Robert Solow

3 Questions: Robert Solow on the struggle ahead

The MIT Nobel laureate explains why we need more economic stimulus — and more innovation.

October 7, 2009

3 Questions: Vincent Lépinay on bankers unleashed

An MIT anthropologist, who studies financial practices, discusses how ever-changing banking tools baffle regulators.

October 6, 2009

A unique lineage of four teachers and students, in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. From left: Professors Mary Potter and Nancy Kanwisher; Assistant Professor Rebecca Saxe; and postdoctoral associate Liane Young.

Following in their footsteps

A unique lineage of four women in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT discuss their 'special responsibility' to help others succeed in academia

September 29, 2009

Lab-grade economics

Can economists conduct studies with solid scientific foundations? Professor Joshua Angrist explains how to carry out 'natural experiments' with numbers.

September 28, 2009

'Genius' grant for MIT economist

Esther Duflo receives MacArthur Fellowship for transformative work on economic development; has brought field experiments to studies of poverty around the world

September 22, 2009

Ricardo Caballero, MIT's Ford International Professor of Economics

Insurance against financial fear

When the economy stumbles, panic can drive matters from bad to worse. Economist Ricardo Caballero has a new plan to keep investment markets free of fear