Technology and society

Lauren-Jenay Kelley (foreground) was among students attending the "No Permission, No Apologies" event at the MIT Media Lab, which addressed diversity, gender bias, and inclusion in STEM.

Media Lab conference addresses gender bias, diversity, and inclusion in STEM

Megan Smith ’86, SM ’88 and other thought leaders offer advice to students on how women in STEM fields can develop skills for navigating life and work.

September 14, 2016

“If people get good news, they significantly decrease their risk perception,” says Joshua Krieger, a doctoral candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and lead author of a new study on how people respond to personal genomic data. “You see a much bigger change for good news than bad news.”

Genomes, good news, and you

Personal genomic data makes a bigger impact when it portends well, a new study finds.

September 8, 2016

“Right now, the best thing I can do is live the questions,” says Nils Wernerfelt, a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Economics.

Surrounded by questions

PhD student Nils Wernerfelt deploys the tools of economics to address his many questions about the world.

September 8, 2016

New method developed for producing some metals

Using electricity rather than heat can reduce both energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

August 24, 2016

Field test participant Asma Patham uses a water test kit in the Khodiyarnagar neighborhood of Ahmedabad.

MIT-USAID program releases technology evaluation of water test kits

Study of water test kits used in Gujarat, India, assesses suitability, scalability, and sustainability.

August 23, 2016

Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at MIT.

Scene at MIT: Margaret Hamilton’s Apollo code

A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the moon.

August 17, 2016

In an invited report and presentation at the White House ahead of the Paris climate negotiations, Jessika Trancik of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society described an analysis that she and her colleagues at MIT and Tsinghua University performed, including results that demonstrate a mutually reinforcing cycle between emissions-reduction policies and technology development.

Reducing emissions, improving technology: A mutually reinforcing cycle

An MIT study on the connection between technology development and emissions-reduction policies informs Paris climate negotiations.

August 8, 2016

Seymour Papert was a world-renowned visionary in education and a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Lab.

Professor Emeritus Seymour Papert, pioneer of constructionist learning, dies at 88

World-renowned mathematician, learning theorist, and educational-technology visionary was a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Lab.

August 1, 2016

The MIT Media Lab held a symposium on July 21 to explore the “fuzzy line” between disobedience that helps society and disobedience that doesn't. Andrew “bunnie” Huang (left) and Edward Snowden presented their technology to turn journalists’ smartphones into “cyber fortresses.”

Forbidden research

MIT Media Lab holds symposium on challenging norms to create positive change.

July 25, 2016

Using data to inform the connections between technology and policy

MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society research from the Technology and Policy Program highlights multidisciplinary approaches to data-driven policies.

July 22, 2016