Media Arts and Sciences (Media Lab)

mPath's MOXO sensor is a wearable that resembles a bulky smartwatch. Placed on the wrist, it wirelessly measures changes in skin conductance (subtle electrical changes across the skin), which reflect sympathetic nervous system activity and physiological arousal. Spikes in conductance can signal stress and frustration, while dips may indicate disinterest or boredom.

Wearable device reveals consumer emotions

Startup’s stress sensor tracks users’ unconscious responses to products and experiences.

July 12, 2017

By comparing 1.6 million pairs of photos taken seven years apart, researchers have now used a new computer vision system to quantify the physical improvement or deterioration of neighborhoods in five American cities, in an attempt to identify factors that predict urban change. Pictured are two street views, with the old photograph on the left and the new photograph on the right.

Why do some neighborhoods improve?

Density of highly educated residents, rather than income or housing costs, predicts revitalization.

July 6, 2017

Researchers demonstrate their scanning technique, with a user holding a monopod-mounted Kinect at close range from a T. Rex skull.

Researchers use Kinect to scan T. rex skull

System with $150 worth of hardware offers alternative to 3-D scanners that cost 200 times as much.

July 5, 2017

Metafluidics.org, a new MIT open-source website, supplies blueprints for microfluidic parts. Pictured are a few photographs from the website.

Microfluidics for the masses

New open-source website features blueprints for lab-on-a-chip devices.

June 13, 2017

A brain slice that shows the hippocampus cells that were activated by the new stimulation technique (bottom image, lighter green areas on the left)

A noninvasive method for deep brain stimulation

Electrodes placed on the scalp could help patients with brain diseases.

June 1, 2017

MIT researchers are developing a new surgical approach that would allow amputees to receive sensory feedback from their prosthetic limbs and improve their ability to control them.

Making prosthetic limbs feel more natural

Muscle grafts could help amputees sense and control artificial limbs.

May 31, 2017

These pasta shapes were caused by immersing a 2-D flat film into water.

Researchers engineer shape-shifting noodles

Sheets of gelatin transform into 3-D shapes when dunked in water; could save food shipping costs.

May 24, 2017

This breathable workout suit prototype has ventilating flaps that open and close in response to an athlete’s body heat and sweat. The left photo was taken before exercise when ventilation flaps are flat; after exercise, the ventilation flaps have curved.

Researchers design moisture-responsive workout suit

Ventilating flaps lined with live cells open and close in response to an athlete’s sweat.

May 19, 2017

His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, left, meets MIT professor of physics Max Tegmark, right, during the king’s visit to MIT on Friday, May 5. The Stockholm-born Tegmark conducted an exchange of gifts with the Swedish delegation, which included multiple books by MIT faculty and about MIT.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden visits MIT

Swedish delegation tours Institute, participates in dialogue on innovation.

May 8, 2017

MIT researchers have designed a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building. The system consists of a tracked vehicle that carries a large industrial robotic arm, which has a smaller, precision-motion robotic arm at its end.

3-D printing offers new approach to making buildings

Technology developed at MIT could enable faster, cheaper, more adaptable building construction.

April 26, 2017

Researchers from the MIT Media Lab developed a new technique that makes image acquisition using compressed sensing 50 times as efficient. In the case of the single-pixel camera, it could get the number of exposures down from thousands to dozens. Examples of this compressive ultrafast imaging technique are show on the bottom rows.

A faster single-pixel camera

New technique greatly reduces the number of exposures necessary for “lensless imaging.”

March 29, 2017

MIT Media Lab spinout Cardiio has developed a mobile app that uses a smartphone camera to detect facial signs of a heart arrhythmia associated with strokes.

App screens for arrhythmia using smartphone camera

Startup develops app to detect irregular heartbeats that can cause strokes.

March 29, 2017

MIT Professor César Hidalgo and his colleagues argue that everything else being equal, the complexity of a country’s exports also correlates with its degree of economic equality: The more complex a country’s products, the greater equality it enjoys relative to similar-sized countries with similar-sized economies.

Income inequality linked to export “complexity”

The mix of products that countries export is a good predictor of income distribution, study finds.

February 16, 2017

MIT Media Lab spinout Changing Environments is the brains behind the solar-powered Soofa Bench, which is equipped with an embedded charging station for mobile devices that also connects to wireless networks. Recently, the startup released the solar-powered Soofa Sign, which displays public transit times, weather, and events, among other city information.

Smart city fixtures

Startup brings solar-powered, phone-charging park benches and digital signs to cities worldwide.

January 27, 2017

Edith Ackermann joined MIT Media Lab’s Epistemology and Learning Group in the mid-1980s.

Edith Ackermann, developmental psychologist and learning researcher, dies at 70

The former MIT Media Lab faculty member explored the intersections of play, learning, design, and technology.

December 28, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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