Researchers at MIT have developed a noninvasive, light-based blood-glucose monitoring system capable of replacing finger pricks and under-the-skin sensors used by patients with diabetes, reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. The approach could “even fit on a device the size of a watch,” explains Paul. “Each measurement scan takes slightly more than 30 seconds to complete. The device also shows an accuracy comparable to two commercially available, wearable glucose monitors.”
Prof. Kevin Chen and his colleagues have designed a tiny, insect-sized aerial microrobot that is “faster and more acrobatic than any of its predecessors,” reports Phie Jacobs for Science. The device, “which measures just 4 centimeters across and weighs less than a paperclip, flies almost five times faster and accelerates twice as quickly as existing microrobots,” explains Jacobs. “It can also execute sharp turns while enduring 160-centimeter-per-second wind gusts and—perhaps most impressively—can complete 10 consecutive somersaults in 11 seconds.”
Luana Lopes Lara ’18 and Tarek Mansour ’18, MNG ’19 co-founded Kalshi, a company that allows “users to bet on the outcome of future events such as elections, sports games and pop culture happenings,” reports Alicia Park for Forbes. Lopes Lara chronicles her journey from her time on stage as a professional ballerina in Austria to her years as a student at MIT to her entrepreneurial ambitions.
Matt Carey MBA '17 and Greg Charvat, a former visiting researcher at the MIT Media Lab, co-founded TeraDAR, a startup that has developed advanced sensor technology that can see through various weather conditions that often confuse existing car sensors, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. “We’re going to the last part of the electromagnetic spectrum that no one has ever been able to build a product at before,” explains Carey. “And instead of being able to see through your hand like an X-ray, we can see through rain and snow and dust and fog.”
Researchers at MIT are using AI systems to design new molecules for potential antibiotics, research that is “aimed at the growing challenge of antibiotic-resistant infections,” reports Adele Peters for Fast Company. “The number of resistant bacterial pathogens has been growing, decade upon decade,” says Prof. James Collins. “And the number of new antibiotics being developed has been dropping, decade upon decade.”
Writing for the Financial Times, Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu explores the rise of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and the future of U.S. democracy and liberalism. “I argue that nothing short of forging a new working-class liberalism can succeed,” writes Acemoglu. “This has to center on shared prosperity, a reintegration of the lower-education workers into politics, a commitment to local governance by all communities (within the bounds of protecting basic liberties) and true diversity of opinion (even on controversial matters).”
Visiting Scientist Judah Cohen shares his thoughts on how the polar vortex will impact weather across the U.S. this December, reports Doyle Rice for USA Today. "My thinking is that the cold the first week of December is the appetizer and the main course will be in mid-December," Cohen explains.
Writing for Forbes, AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin underscores how, in his view, “caregiving is the great crack in America’s retirement and longevity plans. While financial security in retirement is, with good reason, often cited as a public crisis, caregiving remains largely a private problem that is only described as an issue.”
CNN spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new ultrasonic device that can extract clean drinking water from moisture in the atmosphere. “This method is much faster, we’re talking minutes instead of hours, compared to the old way,“ CNN explains. The new device “could be a game-changer in desert conditions, and for communities around the world that don’t have reliable access to drinking water.”
Prof. Hugh Herr speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek Daily host Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec about his work creating bionic limbs that combine human physiology with electromechanics. “I really realized how limited the current prosthetic technology was and I dedicated my life as a young man to really advance the field and enable extraordinary technology that will allow people to do what they want again, to move again and have the bodies that they seek," says Herr.
Researchers at MIT have developed a new “system that uses a vibrating ceramic ring to produce clean drinking water from humid air in several minutes,” reports Matthew Burgos for DesignBoom. Burgos explains that with the system developed by MIT researchers, "clean water-making can take a few minutes versus the tens of minutes or hours required by thermal designs. In their system, the engineers use ultrasonic waves to shake the water out of the material that can absorb moisture from the air.”
Research by Kelsey Moran PhD '25 and her colleagues have found that immigrant health care workers are crucial to helping older Americans live independently at home, reports Stuart Anderson for Forbes. “The study found a 10 percentage point increase in the less-educated immigrant population in an area reduces by 29% the probability someone 65 years or older would live in a nursing home or other institutional setting,” explains Anderson.
A new study by researchers from MIT and elsewhere describes “agentic AI as a ‘new class of systems’ that ‘can plan, act, and learn on their own,’” reports Matt O’Brien for the Associated Press.
George Smoot '66, PhD '70, who was honored for his work in cosmology with the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics, has died at the age of 80, reports Douglas Scott, Joseph Silk and Tom Broadhurst for Nature. Smoot’s work “contributed to our understanding of the Universe on the largest scales and at the earliest observable times by measuring temperature variations in the cosmic microwave background,” they explain.
Postdoctoral Fellow Halie Olson has been named to The Transmitter’s Rising Stars of Neuroscience, reports Francisco J. Rivera Rosario and Lauren Schneider for The Transmitter. The award “recognizes early-career researchers who have made outstanding scientific contributions to the field and demonstrated a commitment to mentoring and community-building.”