Low-cost device can measure air pollution anywhere
Open-source tool from MIT’s Senseable City Lab lets people check air quality, cheaply.
Can your phone tell if a bridge is in good shape?
A new study suggests mobile data collected while traveling over bridges could help evaluate their integrity.
Designing the cities of tomorrow
Carlo Ratti investigates how digital technologies transform our urban spaces and how they can be harnessed to design sustainable cities for the future.
Analysis of email traffic suggests remote work may stifle innovation
At MIT, social networks with “weak ties,” which help foster new ideas, declined during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers report.
Ride-hailing without the traffic snarls?
Study suggests how much competition in the urban ride market can grow before gridlock sets in.
How the brain navigates cities
We seem to be wired to calculate not the shortest path but the “pointiest” one, facing us toward our destination as much as possible.
A serious plea for playful design
In their new book, “Urban Play,” MIT researchers advance the idea of using technology to make urban life creative and unpredictable.
Study reveals a universal travel pattern across four continents
Globally, people follow a “visitation law” — an inverse relationship between distance and frequency of visits.
Autonomous boats could be your next ride
Five years in the making, MIT’s autonomous floating vessels get a size upgrade and learn a new way to communicate aboard the waters.
Comparing the benefits of scooter-sharing vs. bike-sharing
Studying usage in Singapore, MIT and SMART researchers find scooter rentals allow for increased sharing frequency and fewer vehicles needed.
Historic migration patterns are written in Americans' DNA
Genetic, geographic, and demographic data from more than 30,000 Americans reveal more genetic diversity within ancestry groups than previously thought.
Tracking contagion in cities, using mobile phone data
Study shows how commuting and other forms of everyday travel help spread mosquito-borne disease in urban settings.
MIT’s fleet of autonomous boats can now shapeshift
New capabilities allow “roboats” to change configurations to form pop-up bridges, stages, and other structures.