School of Engineering

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have used artificial intelligence to develop a new antibiotic to address Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacteria known for infecting wounds, lungs and kidneys, reports Harland-Dunaway for The World.

Using a machine-learning algorithm, researchers from MIT and McMaster University have discovered a new type of antibiotic that works against a type of drug-resistant bacteria, reports Brenda Goodman for CNN. Goodman notes that the compound “worked in a way that stymied only the problem pathogen. It didn’t seem to kill the many other species of beneficial bacteria that live in the gut or on the skin, making it a rare narrowly targeted agent.”

Researchers from MIT and McMaster University used a machine-learning algorithm to identify a new antibiotic that can treat a bacteria that causes deadly infections, reports Maya Yang for The Guardian. The researchers used an “AI algorithm to screen thousands of antibacterial molecules in an attempt to predict new structural classes. As a result of the AI screening, researchers were able to identify a new antibacterial compound which they named abaucin,” writes Yang.

SpaceX Crew-6 Mission Commander Stephen Bowen MS ’93 recently answered questions from Cohasset Public School students live from the International Space Station, reports WBZ. "The Earth is always amazing to look at," Bowen told the students of his experience in space.

The Economist spotlights several MIT studies that use artificial neural networks (ANN) to examine the human brain, including work by former postdoctoral researcher Daniel Yamins and his colleagues training ANNs to pick out objects from photographs, reports The Economist.

Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi speaks with NPR host Kate Wells about a decision by the National Eating Disorders Associations to replace their helpline with a chatbot. “I think it's very alienating to have an interactive system present you with irrelevant or what can feel like tangential information,” says Ghassemi.

Jacob DeWitte SM ’11, PhD ’14 co-founded Oklo, a startup working toward developing small nuclear power plants to deliver emission-free, reliable, and affordable power, reports Heather Wishart-Smith for Forbes.

President Sally Kornbluth spoke with reporters from The Tech about her first months as president of MIT and her vision for her time leading the Institute. “MIT is a pretty decentralized place, so I am taking some time to get to know every nook and cranny,” says Kornbluth. She adds that in terms of her top priorities as president, “there's no question that climate change is at the very top of the list.”

MIT researchers have developed a new robotic gripper that is able to grasp objects using reflexes, reports Mashable. “The Robo-Gripper has proximity and contact sensors which allows it to react to surfaces near objects to better grab them. The technology may allow these machines to be used in homes or other unique, unstructured environments.”

Financial Times reporter Simon Mundy and Kaori Yoshida spotlight Gradiant, an MIT startup that has developed new methods of handling industrial wastewater. “Gradiant promises customers that its technology will allow them to purify and reuse larger amounts of water, reducing the amount they need to source externally,” write Mundy and Yoshia.

Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman highlights Gradiant, an MIT startup that has developed a water purification system based on natural evaporation and rainfall cycles to clean wastewater at factories and manufacturing facilities.

Gradiant, an MIT startup, is using water technology to “help companies reduce water usage and clean up wastewater for reuse,” reports Simon Jessop for Reuters.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and others are working to build SPARC, a prototype device that aims to extract net energy from plasma and generate fusion power, reports Philip Ball for Scientific American. “SPARC will be a midsize tokamak in which the plasma is tightly confined by very intense magnetic fields produced by new high-temperature superconducting magnets developed at MIT and unveiled in 2021.”  

Newsday reporter Edward B. Colbey spotlights Sara Stiklickas ’17 and her journey into the world of computer science. “Leaving high school, Sara Stiklickas figured she'd become an engineer or go to medical school. Computer science wasn't on her radar — until, that is, one course in college changed the path of her life,” writes Colbey.

Principal Research Scientist Ana Jaklenec speaks with CBC host Bob McDonald about her work developing a mobile vaccine printer. The device “can be very important in certain scenarios when you’re trying to bring the ability to vaccinate in areas that might not have the right infrastructure to make vaccines or even to administer vaccines,” says Jaklenec, “so I think the portability is key here.”