Two physicists and a curious host walk into a studio…
On GBH’s new show The Curiosity Desk, MIT LIGO researchers revel in the beauties of fundamental discovery science and MIT astronomers talk planetary defense.
“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.
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2026
The Institute also ranks second in seven subject areas.
3 Questions: On the future of AI and the mathematical and physical sciences
Professor Jesse Thaler describes a vision for a two-way bridge between artificial intelligence and the mathematical and physical sciences — one that promises to advance both.
How Joseph Paradiso’s sensing innovations bridge the arts, medicine, and ecology
From early motion-sensing platforms to environmental monitoring, the professor and head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences has turned decades of cross-disciplinary research into real-world impact.
New catalog more than doubles the number of gravitational-wave detections made by LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA observatories
The latest crop of space-time wobbles includes a variety of heavy, fast-spinning, and lopsided colliding black holes.
MIT faculty, alumni named 2026 Sloan Research Fellows
Annual award honors early-career researchers for creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments.
New study unveils the mechanism behind “boomerang” earthquakes
These ricocheting ruptures may be more common than previously thought.
Terahertz microscope reveals the motion of superconducting electrons
For the first time, the new scope allowed physicists to observe terahertz “jiggles” in a superconducting fluid.
MIT engineers design structures that compute with heat
By leveraging excess heat instead of electricity, microscopic silicon structures could enable more energy-efficient thermal sensing and signal processing.
Study: The infant universe’s “primordial soup” was actually soupy
MIT physicists observed the first clear evidence that quarks create a wake as they speed through quark-gluon plasma, confirming the plasma behaves like a liquid.
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero wins BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
MIT physicist shares 400,000-euro award for influential work on “magic-angle” graphene.
Polar weather on Jupiter and Saturn hints at the planets’ interior details
New research may explain the striking differences between the two planets’ polar vortex patterns.
Eighteen MIT faculty honored as “Committed to Caring” for 2025-27
The program recognizes outstanding mentorship of graduate students.
Anything-goes “anyons” may be at the root of surprising quantum experiments
MIT physicists say these quasiparticles may explain how superconductivity and magnetism can coexist in certain materials.