Lincoln Laboratory laser communications terminal launches on historic Artemis II moon mission
High-definition video and data sent from the lunar vicinity to Earth will demonstrate the first use of laser communications on a crewed mission.
Two physicists and a curious host walk into a studio…
On GBH’s new show The Curiosity Desk, MIT LIGO researchers revel in the beauties of fundamental discovery science and MIT astronomers talk planetary defense.
Finding a nanoscale solution to safer spaceflight
Using boron nitride nanotubes, mechanical engineering doctoral student Palak Patel develops materials for space that block dangerous ionizing radiation.
How Joseph Paradiso’s sensing innovations bridge the arts, medicine, and ecology
From early motion-sensing platforms to environmental monitoring, the professor and head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences has turned decades of cross-disciplinary research into real-world impact.
New catalog more than doubles the number of gravitational-wave detections made by LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA observatories
The latest crop of space-time wobbles includes a variety of heavy, fast-spinning, and lopsided colliding black holes.
Engineering confidence to navigate uncertainty
In 16.85 (Design and Testing of Autonomous Vehicles), AeroAstro students build software that allows autonomous flight vehicles to navigate unknown environments.
Study: The infant universe’s “primordial soup” was actually soupy
MIT physicists observed the first clear evidence that quarks create a wake as they speed through quark-gluon plasma, confirming the plasma behaves like a liquid.
Polar weather on Jupiter and Saturn hints at the planets’ interior details
New research may explain the striking differences between the two planets’ polar vortex patterns.
Fueling research in nuclear thermal propulsion
Master's student Taylor Hampson is modeling the behavior of an unconventional rocket engine that will heat propellant using nuclear energy.
MIT in the media: 2025 in review
MIT community members made headlines with key research advances and their efforts to tackle pressing challenges.
Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, dies at 47
In his 10 years at MIT, Loureiro helped illuminate the physics occurring at the center of fusion vacuum chambers and at the edges of the universe.
Scientists get a first look at the innermost region of a white dwarf system
X-ray observations reveal surprising features of the dying star’s most energetic environment.
MIT Haystack scientists study recent geospace storms and resulting light shows
Solar maximum occurred within the past year — good news for aurora watchers, as the most active period for displays at New England latitudes occurs in the three years following solar maximum.
Astronomical data collection of Taurus Molecular Cloud-1 reveals over 100 different molecules
The discovery will help researchers understand how chemicals form and change before stars and planets are born.
Alan Whitney, MIT Haystack Observatory radio astronomer who pioneered very long baseline interferometry, dies at 81
Longtime research scientist who served as associate director and interim director helped guide Haystack to decades of influential leadership in the development and refinement of the VLBI technique.