That moment when you’re nodding off is a sweet spot for creativity
A new study finds people are more creative after waking from the earliest stage of sleep, especially when they are guided to dream about a particular topic.
Finding “hot spots” where compounding environmental and economic risks converge
A new computational tool empowers decision-makers to target interventions.
Gene-editing technique could speed up study of cancer mutations
With the new method, scientists can explore many cancer mutations whose roles are unknown, helping them develop new drugs that target those mutations.
Like ancient mariners, ancestors of Prochlorococcus microbes rode out to sea on exoskeleton particles
A new study shows the carbon-capturing phytoplankton colonized the ocean by rafting on particles of chitin.
Government’s invisible hand in developing countries
Political scientist Noah Nathan’s new book, “The Scarce State,” explores the deep impact government can have even when it is seemingly absent.
Study: AI models fail to reproduce human judgements about rule violations
Models trained using common data-collection techniques judge rule violations more harshly than humans would, researchers report.
Success at the intersection of technology and finance
Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin visits MIT, discusses how technology will continue to transform trading and investing.
Inaugural J-WAFS Grand Challenge aims to develop enhanced crop variants and move them from lab to land
Matt Shoulders will lead an interdisciplinary team to improve RuBisCO — the photosynthesis enzyme thought to be the holy grail for improving agricultural yield.
Chemists’ technique reveals whether antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2
The method could enable a rapid test to determine whether individuals are producing antibodies that help protect against Covid-19.
Using reflections to see the world from new points of view
A new computer vision system turns any shiny object into a camera of sorts, enabling an observer to see around corners or beyond obstructions.
Advocating for science budget and policy
MIT’s Science Policy Initiative sends students and postdocs to Capitol Hill to advocate for continued and increased federal support for scientific research.
Training machines to learn more like humans do
Researchers identify a property that helps computer vision models learn to represent the visual world in a more stable, predictable way.
US and UAE governments highlight early warning system for climate resilience
One of MIT’s five Climate Grand Challenges flagship projects, the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet project will pilot in Bangladesh and Sudan to help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change.
An unprecedented view of gene regulation
MIT engineers’ new technique analyzes the 3D organization of the genome at a resolution 100 times higher than before.
Researchers create a tool for accurately simulating complex systems
The system they developed eliminates a source of bias in simulations, leading to improved algorithms that can boost the performance of applications.