“Essential” torch heralds the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics
Professor of the practice Carlo Ratti designed this year’s Olympic torch with the ethos and principles he brings to his work at MIT.
3D-printed metamaterials that stretch and fail by design
New framework supports design and fabrication of compliant materials such as printable textiles and functional foams, letting users predict deformation and material failure.
Counter intelligence
Architecture students bring new forms of human-machine interaction into the kitchen.
A new way to “paint with light” to create radiant, color-changing items
“MorphoChrome,” developed at MIT, pairs software with a handheld device to make everyday objects iridescent.
Generative AI tool helps 3D print personal items that sustain daily use
“MechStyle” allows users to personalize 3D models, while ensuring they’re physically viable after fabrication, producing unique personal items and assistive technology.
Feeding innovation to solve complex urban problems
Cross-border collaborations are seen as a key to success for the MIT Leventhal Center’s Mexico City Initiative.
2.009 mechanical engineering students embrace “cycles”
Six MIT student teams pitched products during the annual capstone course prototype launch event.
Using design to interpret the past and envision the future
MIT graduate student C Jacob Payne reimagines historic architecture and invents new possibilities at the intersection of AI and design.
One pull of a string is all it takes to deploy these complex structures
A new method could enable users to design portable medical devices, like a splint, that can be rapidly converted from flat panels to a 3D object without any tools.
Building reuse into the materials around us
At MIT, metallurgist Diran Apelian ScD ’73 urges engineers and researchers to rethink design, recycling, and the life cycle of modern materials.
“Robot, make me a chair”
An AI-driven system lets users design and build simple, multicomponent objects by describing them with words.
MIT NEET students install solar-powered charging station on campus, resurrecting an MIT tradition
The project was designed and built with novel “bio-composite” materials developed by the student team.
MIT researchers “speak objects into existence” using AI and robotics
The speech-to-reality system combines 3D generative AI and robotic assembly to create objects on demand.
MIT researchers demonstrate ship hull modifications to cut fuel use
Wedge-shaped vortex generators reduce drag in ship hulls, which could advance decarbonization for the shipping industry.
How a building creates and defines a region
A new MIT course explores how built environments can both emerge from and reveal the internal dynamics of their geographic context.