Technology and society

The new Solve Health Security and Pandemics Challenge is designed to produce both short-term solutions to the impact of the current pandemic as well as longer-term strategies for future crises.

MIT Solve rises to meet health security and pandemic challenge

MIT Solve 2020 Challenge seeks tech-based solutions to health security challenges, including Covid-19 and future pandemics.

April 13, 2020

MIT professor David Rand is a one-time punk rock guitarist whose academic research digs into psychology, cooperation, and politics. “To me, the essence of punk rock is saying, ‘Let me think about this for myself,’” Rand says. “Let me not be bound by social norms and conventions. … That’s what I try to do in my research. It’s the punk-rock approach to social science.”

Playing a new tune

Meet Professor David Rand, a one-time punk rock guitarist who now digs into psychology, cooperation, and politics.

April 11, 2020

Safe Paths: A privacy-first approach to contact tracing

A multinational team develops new tools to slow the spread of pandemics.

April 10, 2020

To reduce lag times and increase quality in video streaming, mobile gaming, and other web services, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have designed a congestion-control scheme for time-varying wireless links, such as cellular networks.

Reducing delays in wireless networks

Congestion control system could help streaming video, mobile games, and other applications run more smoothly.

April 9, 2020

Left to right: Katie Collins, Vaishnavi Phadnis, and Vaibhavi Shah are three of the 396 undergraduates in the United States to receive 2020-21 Goldwater Scholarships.

Katie Collins, Vaishnavi Phadnis, and Vaibhavi Shah named 2020-21 Goldwater Scholars

Three MIT undergraduates who use computer science to explore human biology and health honored for their academic achievements.

April 9, 2020

A new system relies on short-range Bluetooth signals emitted from people’s smartphones to trace who they've been in contact with. These signals represent random strings of numbers, likened to “chirps” that other nearby smartphones can remember hearing, offering a way to find people who may have been in contact with people who have tested positive for Covid-19.

Bluetooth signals from your smartphone could automate Covid-19 contact tracing while preserving privacy

A system that enables smartphones to transmit “chirps” to nearby devices could notify people if they have been near an infected person.

April 8, 2020

I expected to feel lonely during my six months in space, but it was quite the opposite. Having a daily sense of purpose, countless tasks and experiments to perform, and communication with people all over the world provided so much engagement with the world that loneliness was not a factor. There are some lessons here, perhaps, for everyone who now has to stay at home during this crisis. — Greg C...

A message from MIT astronauts: Accept the mission and find your motivators

To help us navigate this time of social distancing, three MIT astronauts share lessons of isolated living aboard the International Space Station.

March 24, 2020

MIT joins a consortium of supercomputing resources to help speed the search for Covid-19 solutions.

MIT joins White House supercomputing effort to speed up search for Covid-19 solutions

Consortium includes industry, government, and academic institutions.

March 23, 2020

“I’ve recently encountered researchers at a loss for how to describe their visualizations in ways that make them more accessible. When visualizations appear in, say, textbooks, scientific publications, or educational materials, they might appear as braille translations of the image, but more often they appear as textual descriptions. But what is the best way to describe a visualization?,” sa...

3Q: Collaborating with users to develop accessible designs

An MIT team discusses the pitfalls of “parachute research” and the importance of “sociotechnical” factors.

March 13, 2020

Milo Phillips-Brown (left) and Marion Boulicault are part of a team working on transforming technology ethics education at MIT.

3 Questions: Marion Boulicault and Milo Phillips-Brown on ethics in a technical curriculum

Philosophers are part of a team working on transforming technology ethics education at MIT.

March 11, 2020

Catherine D’Ignazio is the co-author of a new book, “Data Feminism,” published by MIT Press in March 2020.

The elephant in the server room

Catherine D’Ignazio’s new book, “Data Feminism,” examines problems of bias and power that beset modern information.

March 9, 2020

“Doing machine learning the right way”

Professor Aleksander Madry strives to build machine-learning models that are more reliable, understandable, and robust.

March 7, 2020

Joe Steinmeyer and SEED Academy students Lea Grohmann (left), Daysia Charles (center), and Yenifer Lemus (right) prepare for their final electronics presentations.

3 Questions: Joe Steinmeyer on guiding students into the world of STEM

Since 2009, Steinmeyer has taught more than 400 students in the MITES, MOSTEC, SEED Academy, and E2 programs.

March 4, 2020

Sasha Costanza-Chock, the Mitsui Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing program, is author of a new book, “Design Justice: Community Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need,” published by the MIT Press.

Design, power, and justice

In new book “Design Justice,” Associate Professor Sasha Costanza-Chock examines how to make technology work for more people in society.

March 3, 2020

A new study co-authored by MIT Professor David Rand shows that labeling some news stories as false makes all other news stories seem more legitimate online.

The catch to putting warning labels on fake news

Study finds disclaimers on some false news stories make people more readily believe other false stories.

March 2, 2020

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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