Algorithms

A system developed by researchers at MIT and Stony Brook University should make it easier for researchers to solve complex computational problems using dynamic programming optimized for multicore chips — without the expertise that such programming typically requires.

Faster programs, easier programming

New system lets nonexperts optimize programs that run on multiprocessor chips.

November 7, 2016

The Media Lab has never looked spookier . . .

Scene at MIT: A nightmare on Ames Street

October 31, 2016

A team, including researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, has created a new set of algorithms that can efficiently fit probability distributions to high-dimensional data.

Finding patterns in corrupted data

New model-fitting technique is efficient even for data sets with hundreds of variables.

October 26, 2016

Researchers used sample images, like the ones on the top row, to identify several visual features that are highly correlated with judgments that a particular area is safe or unsafe. The left side shows a low level of safety while the right shows a high level. Highlighted areas on the middle row show “unsafe” areas while the bottom row shows “safe” areas in the image.

Quantifying urban revitalization

Combining cellphone data with perceptions of public spaces could help guide urban planning.

October 24, 2016

A team led by Polina Golland’s group at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has made a new algorithm for identifying organs in fetal MRI scans, which should make MRI monitoring much more useful. Pictured is a stock image of a fetal MRI.

MRIs for fetal health

Algorithm could help analyze fetal scans to determine whether interventions are warranted.

October 21, 2016

(Left to right): M. Nafi Toksöz, professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS); Oral Buyukozturk, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE); and Hao Sun, a postdoc in CEE. The Green Building, behind them, has 36 accelerometers that record vibrations and movements on selected floors, from the building’s foundation to its roof.

With new model, buildings may “sense” internal damage

System predicts how MIT’s tallest structure responds to vibrations, may help monitor stress over time.

October 18, 2016

Ankur Moitra named a 2016 Packard Fellow

October 17, 2016

MIT grad students Mohammad Ghassemi (left) and Tuka Al-Hanai started MIT Connect, a platform that matches participants for face-to-face lunches according to their background, availability, and interests.

Algorithm connects students to the most interesting person they’ve never met

Tuka Al-Hanai and Mohammad Ghassemi have connected over 500 MIT students for more than 1,000 lunch meetings.

October 17, 2016

The Laboratory for Social Machines, part of the MIT Media Lab, has launched a project called the Electome that charts Twitter in unique detail.

Q&A: How Twitter explains the 2016 election

“Electome” project charts the national conversation in unique detail.

September 26, 2016

MIT researchers have found a new way of managing memory on computer chips that uses circuit space much more efficiently and is more consistent with existing chip designs.

Cache management improved once again

New version of breakthrough memory management scheme better accommodates commercial chips.

September 21, 2016

MIT spinout EverVest has built a data-analytics platform that gives investors rapid, accurate cash-flow models and financial risk analyses for renewable-energy projects.

Calculating the financial risks of renewable energy

Financial-modeling software for sustainable-infrastructure projects could boost investment in sector.

September 15, 2016

Researchers have designed a new programming language that lets application developers manage memory more efficiently in programs that deal with scattered data points in large data sets. In tests on several common algorithms, programs written in the new language were four times as fast as those written in existing languages.

Faster parallel computing

New programming language delivers fourfold speedups on problems common in the age of big data.

September 13, 2016

A new imaging system can read closed books. “The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed a lot of interest in this, because they want to, for example, look into some antique books that they don’t even want to touch,” says Barmak Heshmat, a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab.

Judging a book through its cover

New computational imaging method identifies letters printed on first nine pages of a stack of paper.

September 9, 2016

A new system that can anticipate room assignments and suggest which nurses to assign to patients for C-sections and other procedures provided satisfactory recommendations to nurses 90 percent of the time.

Robot helps nurses schedule tasks on labor floor

System from Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab suggests where to move patients and who should do C-sections.

July 13, 2016

“It’s intuitive that if a bunch of people are randomly walking around an area, the number of times they bump into each other will be a surrogate of the population density,” says Cameron Musco, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science. “What we’re doing is giving a rigorous analysis behind that intuition, and also saying that the estimate is a very good estim...

Exploring networks efficiently

Analysis of ant colony behavior could yield better algorithms for network communication.