3 Questions: Using AI to help Olympic skaters land a quint
MIT Sports Lab researchers are applying AI technologies to help figure skaters improve. They also have thoughts on whether five-rotation jumps are humanly possible.
A quick stretch switches this polymer’s capacity to transport heat
The flexible material could enable on-demand heat dissipation for electronics, fabrics, and buildings.
Study: Platforms that rank the latest LLMs can be unreliable
Removing just a tiny fraction of the crowdsourced data that informs online ranking platforms can significantly change the results.
“This is science!” – MIT president talks about the importance of America’s research enterprise on GBH’s Boston Public Radio
MIT faculty join The Curiosity Desk to discuss football, math, Olympic figure skating, AI and the quest to cure ovarian cancer.
I’m walking here! A new model maps foot traffic in New York City
The first complete charting of foot traffic in any US city can be used for infrastructure decisions and safety improvements.
Some early life forms may have breathed oxygen well before it filled the atmosphere
A new study suggests aerobic respiration began hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought.
A satellite language network in the brain
Researchers find a component of the brain’s dedicated language network in the cerebellum, a region better known for coordinating movement.
Helping AI agents search to get the best results out of large language models
EnCompass executes AI agent programs by backtracking and making multiple attempts, finding the best set of outputs generated by an LLM. It could help coders work with AI agents more efficiently.
New vaccine platform promotes rare protective B cells
Based on a virus-like particle built with a DNA scaffold, the approach could generate broadly neutralizing antibody responses against HIV or influenza.
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.
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.
SMART launches new Wearable Imaging for Transforming Elderly Care research group
WITEC is working to develop the first wearable ultrasound imaging system to monitor chronic conditions in real-time, with the goal of enabling earlier detection and timely intervention.
New tissue models could help researchers develop drugs for liver disease
Two models more accurately replicate the physiology of the liver, offering a new way to test treatments for fat buildup.
Your future home might be framed with printed plastic
MIT engineers are using recycled plastic to 3D print construction-grade floor trusses.
How a unique class of neurons may set the table for brain development
Somatostatin-expressing neurons follow a unique trajectory when forming connections in the visual cortex that may help establish the conditions needed for sensory experience to refine circuits.