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Your brain on AI

Many people find AI-based chatbots helpful in keeping up with news, but a study by Pattie Maes and her colleagues at the MIT Media Lab points to a big problem with this... Read more »

Amping up T cells to target cancer

Most vaccines generate not only antibodies but also T cells that can activate antigen-­presenting cells, which help tell the immune system what to attack. In their study, the researchers boosted that response... Read more »

A new stamp on cyberfraud prevention

For Rupert Young ’95, SM ’95, his career in data science and cybersecurity began when his grandfather gifted him thousands of stamps: He built intricate databases to catalogue them, displaying the “precise... Read more »

Launching youth entrepreneurship

That’s why in 2012 Stach founded LaunchX, a for-profit entrepreneurship program that helps high school students build practical skills through an intensive summer program in which they start real companies. Stach says... Read more »

YouTuber finds niche as college admissions mentor

As a first-generation student from a small town, Gohar Khan ’21 had to navigate the college admissions process largely on his own. He founded his YouTube channel, Gohar’s Guide, to make things... Read more »

Addressing a sticking point in sustainable adhesives

Petroleum-based adhesives are everywhere: bonding the wood and drywall in a construction project, holding together the joints of furniture, and even sticking labels to otherwise recyclable containers.  “The labels on a container... Read more »

Art and algorithms at Sotheby’s

A double major in computer science and math, Shen credits lessons from MIT—along with a lifelong passion for drawing—with shaping her career. Her favorite class was Project Laboratory in Mathematics, where students... Read more »

The Download: smarter AI in schools, and a robot “carnival” in Shanghai

Showcases like this event are important because they invite the public to experience robots up close. And exposure matters, as elsewhere, humanoids’ progress has been slow, Take a tour of the robot... Read more »

I spent a day at a robot “carnival” in Shanghai. Here’s what I saw.

This busy hub houses more than 100 companies that research, develop, manufacture, and market robotic technologies and equipment. Many build specialized bots of all shapes that can do practical tasks, such as... Read more »

Welcome to the spiderverse, a world measured through webs

More recently, they’ve uncovered an eDNA gold mine: spiderwebs. The naturally sticky stuff traps material from its arachnid creators, crumbs from their suppers, and, crucially, bio-detritus like saliva and pollen from nearby... Read more »