Media Lab

“One of our tasks for 2018 is to figure out how to leverage all of this momentum and to build and maintain this very powerful network of data scientists, activists, and organizers,” said MIT mathematics graduate student Lucas Mason-Brown, who organized the recent Data for Black Lives (D4BL) conference, held at the Media Lab.

Calculating the cost of tech-fueled discrimination

Math graduate student’s Data for Black Lives conference provides numbers behind the technologies that enable exclusion.

December 13, 2017

Schwarzman Scholars from top left, clockwise: Katheryn Scott, Han Wu, Joshua Woodard, Henry Aspegren.

Four from MIT awarded 2018 Schwarzman Scholarships

Scholars will engage in a year of postgraduate leadership studies at Beijing’s Tshingua University.

December 4, 2017

Graviky Labs has developed technology that attaches to exhaust systems of diesel generator chimneys to capture particulate matter (PM). Scientists at Graviky then treat the soot to turn it into ink, called Air-Ink, for artists around the world.

Recycling air pollution to make art

Startup’s system captures particle matter from diesel exhaust and turns it into inks and paints.

November 26, 2017

At least 30 MIT faculty, research staff, and alumni are listed throughout Forbes’ seventh annual 30 Under 30 edition, featuring some of the world’s best young innovators.

MIT brainpower highlighted in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists for 2018

Forbes calls this year's 30 Under 30 lists an "encyclopedia of creative disruption."

November 21, 2017

MIT researchers have devised a way to control single neurons using optogenetics. To help achieve this, they developed an opsin, or light-sensitive protein, that can be targeted to neuron cell bodies (bottom row). Neurons in the top row have traditional opsins that are distributed throughout their axons.

Next-generation optogenetic molecules control single neurons

Focused laser beam could help scientists map connections among neurons that underlie behavior.

November 13, 2017

First row (l-r): Erica James, Christoph Reinhart, Ana Miljački, Janelle Knox-Hayes, Hugh Herr. Second row (l-r): Mariana Ibañez, Judith Barry, Danielle Wood, Neri Oxman, Lauren Jacobi. Third row (l-r): Jinhua Zhao, Miho Mazereeuw, Sarah Williams, William (Liam) O’Brien, Jason Jackson.

Faculty additions and promotions at the School of Architecture and Planning

Five join the SA+P faculty, while 10 are recognized for work in art, architecture, urbanism, and design.

November 7, 2017

Shelley is an artificial intelligence horror story writer that collaborates with humans to create tales of terror.

Can artificial intelligence learn to scare us?

With Shelley, the world’s first artificial intelligence-human horror story collaboration, MIT researchers aim for goosebumps.

October 27, 2017

Using MIT's new digital diploma system, employers and schools can quickly verify that a graduate's degree is legitimate by using a link or uploading the student’s file. The verification process confirms that the information on the student’s record matches a receipt stored on the blockchain.

Digital Diploma debuts at MIT

Using Bitcoin's blockchain technology, the Institute has become one of the first universities to issue recipient-owned virtual credentials.

October 17, 2017

CityScope Andorra is a 3-D augmented-reality platform that visualizes complex urban data on a small-scale model of the country. Users can interactively test scenarios on the model, such as how many parks to include in a city, adjust heights of buildings, calculate the optimal mix of residential and commercial real estate, and whether to allow private vehicles or only car-share services. The impact...

Small European nation becomes a “living lab” for urban innovation researchers

Andorra funds MIT Media Lab technologies that, in turn, help improve the nation’s cities.

October 13, 2017

A new flexible piezoelectric sensor is 2 by 2.5 centimeters and can be rolled up and swallowed. “For the first time, we showed that a flexible, piezoelectric device can stay in the stomach up to two days without any electrical or mechanical degradation,” assistant professor Canan Dagdeviren, left, says. Dagdeviren is next to researcher Giovanni Traverso.

Flexible sensors can detect movement in GI tract

Ingestible devices could diagnose gastrointestinal slowdown or monitor food intake.

October 10, 2017

Ten from MIT and the Broad Institute recently received NIH Director's Awards. Top row (l-r): Feng Zhang, Kay Tye, Kevin Esvelt, Fei Chen; Bottom row (l-r): Gabriela Schlau-Cohen, Ahmed Badran, Hilary Finucane, Ed Boyden. Not pictured: Paul Blainey and Evan Macosko.

Ten researchers from MIT and Broad receive NIH Director’s Awards

Awards support high-risk, high-impact biomedical research.

October 5, 2017

The Media Lab’s Human Dynamics group team beat some 3,000 other submissions from around the world to win three of six categories in the 2017 Fragile Families Challenge.

Media Lab team tops Fragile Families Challenge

Human Dynamics research group earns high marks in new scientific collaboration to improve the lives of disadvantaged American children.

October 4, 2017

“Before we can trust machines like autonomous vehicles, we have a number of challenges,” says professor Iyad Rahwan.

3 Questions: Iyad Rahwan on the “psychological roadblocks” facing self-driving cars

MIT Media Lab professor considers the trust gap between people and autonomous vehicles.

September 11, 2017

Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, who negotiated the collaboration on behalf of MIT, speaks during the signing of the agreement with representatives of IBM.

3Q: Anantha Chandrakasan on new MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab

Lab seeks to expand the boundaries of research on artificial intelligence.

September 7, 2017

MIT President L. Rafael Reif, left, and John Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research, shake hands at the conclusion of a signing ceremony establishing the new MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab.

IBM and MIT to pursue joint research in artificial intelligence, establish new MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab

IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment in new lab with MIT to advance AI hardware, software, and algorithms.