Would you return a favor? Scientists say it depends on the relationshipWhen a friend buys you a cup of coffee, it’s likely that next time, you’ll return the gesture. This type of reciprocal generosity has been well-documented in behavioral economic studies.However, anthropologists and other social scientists have known for decades that …
Myriam Heiman named director of The Picower Institute for Learning and MemoryMyriam Heiman, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, will become the director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, effective July 1. She succeeds Picower Professor Li-Huei Tsai, who is stepping down after leading the institute …
Brighter MRI signalsWhen doctors and scientists want to see inside a body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool. MRI can noninvasively capture detailed images of the body’s muscles, organs, and bones. It can monitor blood flow to generate a map …
The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we seeEven in the primary visual cortex, a brain region named for its specialized role in processing basic features of what the eyes see, not every neuron ends up answering the call to process properties of visual input. Maybe that’s because …
MIT affiliates elected to National Academy of Sciences for 2026The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has elected 120 members and 25 international members for 2026, including six MIT faculty members and 10 additional alumni. Among MIT professors, Bengt Holmström, Michale Fee, Gareth McKinley ’91, Keith Nelson, Fan Wang, and Catherine …
Four from MIT named 2026 Searle ScholarsMIT scientists Sven Dorkenwald and Whitney Henry have been named 2026 Searle Scholars, an award given annually to 15 exceptional early-career researchers in the fields of biomedical sciences and chemistry. Dorkenwald is an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences and an investigator …
Language development in the brainThe brain’s capacity to use and understand language expands rapidly in the first years of life, as babies start to make sense of the words they hear and eventually begin to piece together sentences of their own. The language-processing parts …
Powerful shrinking technique could enable devices that compute with lightUsing a new technique that can create vacancies at any site across a material and then shrink it to about 1/2,000 of its original volume, MIT researchers have designed nanotechnology devices that could be used for optical computing and other applications involving the manipulation of …
Solving hard problems in soft electronicsA crepe cake.That’s how Camille Cunin describes the polymer-metal “sandwiches” that became a highlight of her doctoral thesis at MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). Over close to five years, these composites were a key component of her …
Rethinking how our brains use categories to make sense of the worldIn the new review article, “Categorization is Baked into the Brain,” cognitive scientists Earl K. Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, and Lisa Feldman Barrett, university distinguished professor at Northeastern University, contend that categorization is part of a predictive …
MIT BrainTrust supports neighbors living with brain injuriesSince 1998, members of MIT’s BrainTrust club have helped Boston-area residents with brain injuries or other neurological disorders through their buddy program. The organization’s members also visit patients in nursing homes suffering from neurological issues.BrainTrust is one of the founding …
Rett syndrome study highlights potential for personalized treatmentsAlthough many studies approach the developmental disorder Rett syndrome as a single condition arising from general loss of function in the gene MECP2, a new study by neuroscientists in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT shows that …
Improving understanding with language When she was a child, MIT senior Olivia Honeycutt would spend summers on her grandparents’ farm in rural Alabama outside Birmingham. The practical and cultural differences between farm and city life became more pronounced by comparison. “Life and the way …
Beacon Biosignals is mapping the brain during sleepThe human brain remains one of the most fascinating and perplexing mysteries in medicine. Scientists still struggle to match neurological activity with brain function and detect problems early, slowing efforts to treat neurological disorders and other diseases.Beacon Biosignals is working …
How neurons sense bacteria in the gutRecent studies suggest animals and people alike have close and complex relationships with the bacteria around and within them. The human gut microbiome, for instance, has been associated with both depression and Parkinson’s disease. To go beyond association toward understanding …
Six from MIT awarded 2026 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New AmericansSix MIT affiliates — Denisse Córdova Carrizales SM ’26; Ria Das ’21, MNG ’22; Ronak Desai; Stacy Godfreey-Igwe ’22; Arya Rao; and Ananthan Sadagopan ’24 — have been named 2026 P.D. Soros Fellows. In addition, P.D. Soros Fellow Avinash Vadali …
With navigating nematodes, scientists map out how brains implement behaviorsAnimal behavior reflects a complex interplay between an animal’s brain and its sensory surroundings. Only rarely have scientists been able to discern how actions emerge from this interaction. A new open-access study in Nature Neuroscience by researchers in The Picower …
Learning with audiobooksMillions of students nationwide use text-supplemented audiobooks, learning tools that are thought to help those who struggle with reading keep up in the classroom. A new study from scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research finds that many students …
Turning muscles into motors gives static organs new lifeWhat if a technology could reanimate parts of the body that have lost their connection to the brain — like a bladder that can no longer empty due to a spinal cord injury, or intestines that can’t push food forward …
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