Research

One pull of a string is all it takes to deploy these complex structures
MIT News
One pull of a string is all it takes to deploy these complex structures MIT researchers have developed a new method for designing 3D structures that can be transformed from a flat configuration into their curved, fully formed shape with only a single pull of a string.This technique could enable the rapid deployment of ...
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MIT in the media: 2025 in review
MIT News
MIT in the media: 2025 in review “At MIT, innovation ranges from awe-inspiring technology to down-to-Earth creativity,” noted Chronicle, during a campus visit this year for an episode of the program. In 2025, MIT researchers made headlines across print publications, podcasts, and video platforms for key scientific advances, ...
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MIT’s top research stories of 2025
MIT News
MIT’s top research stories of 2025 In 2025, MIT’s research community had another prolific year filled with exciting scientific and technological advances. To celebrate the achievements of the past 12 months, MIT News highlights some of our most-read stories from this year.More powerful concrete “batteries”: MIT ...
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Study: High-fat diets make liver cells more likely to become cancerous
MIT News
Study: High-fat diets make liver cells more likely to become cancerous One of the biggest risk factors for developing liver cancer is a high-fat diet. A new study from MIT reveals how a fatty diet rewires liver cells and makes them more prone to becoming cancerous.The researchers found that in response ...
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Study: More eyes on the skies will help planes reduce climate-warming contrails
MIT News
Study: More eyes on the skies will help planes reduce climate-warming contrails Aviation’s climate impact is partly due to contrails — condensation that a plane streaks across the sky when it flies through icy and humid layers of the atmosphere. Contrails trap heat that radiates from the planet’s surface, and while the ...
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Anything-goes “anyons” may be at the root of surprising quantum experiments
MIT News
Anything-goes “anyons” may be at the root of surprising quantum experiments In the past year, two separate experiments in two different materials captured the same confounding scenario: the coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism. Scientists had assumed that these two quantum states are mutually exclusive; the presence of one should inherently destroy ...
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Prefrontal cortex reaches back into the brain to shape how other regions function
MIT News
Prefrontal cortex reaches back into the brain to shape how other regions function Vision shapes behavior and, a new study by MIT neuroscientists finds, behavior and internal states shape vision. The new research, published Nov. 25 in Neuron, finds in mice that via specific circuits, the brain’s executive control center, the prefrontal cortex, sends ...
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Guided learning lets “untrainable” neural networks realize their potential
MIT News
Guided learning lets “untrainable” neural networks realize their potential Even networks long considered “untrainable” can learn effectively with a bit of a helping hand. Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have shown that a brief period of alignment between neural networks, a method they call ...
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A new way to increase the capabilities of large language models
MIT News
A new way to increase the capabilities of large language models Most languages use word position and sentence structure to extract meaning. For example, “The cat sat on the box,” is not the same as “The box was on the cat.” Over a long text, like a financial document or a ...
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Digital innovations and cultural heritage in rural towns
MIT News
Digital innovations and cultural heritage in rural towns Population decline often goes hand-in-hand with economic stagnation in rural areas — and the two reinforce each other in a cycle. Can digital technologies advance equitable innovation and, at the same time, preserve cultural heritage in shrinking regions?A new open-access ...
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Post-COP30, more aggressive policies needed to cap global warming at 1.5 C
MIT News
Post-COP30, more aggressive policies needed to cap global warming at 1.5 C The latest United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) concluded in November without a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and without significant progress in strengthening national pledges to reduce climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions. In aggregate, today’s climate policies remain far too unambitious ...
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A “scientific sandbox” lets researchers explore the evolution of vision systems
MIT News
A “scientific sandbox” lets researchers explore the evolution of vision systems Why did humans evolve the eyes we have today?While scientists can’t go back in time to study the environmental pressures that shaped the evolution of the diverse vision systems that exist in nature, a new computational framework developed by MIT ...
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New study suggests a way to rejuvenate the immune system
MIT News
New study suggests a way to rejuvenate the immune system As people age, their immune system function declines. T cell populations become smaller and can’t react to pathogens as quickly, making people more susceptible to a variety of infections.To try to overcome that decline, researchers at MIT and the Broad ...
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How cement “breathes in” and stores millions of tons of CO₂ a year
MIT News
How cement “breathes in” and stores millions of tons of CO₂ a year The world’s most common construction material has a secret. Cement, the “glue” that holds concrete together, gradually “breathes in” and stores millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air over the lifetimes of buildings and infrastructure.  A new study ...
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A new immunotherapy approach could work for many types of cancer
MIT News
A new immunotherapy approach could work for many types of cancer Researchers at MIT and Stanford University have developed a new way to stimulate the immune system to attack tumor cells, using a strategy that could make cancer immunotherapy work for many more patients.The key to their approach is reversing a ...
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“Robot, make me a chair”
MIT News
“Robot, make me a chair” Computer-aided design (CAD) systems are tried-and-true tools used to design many of the physical objects we use each day. But CAD software requires extensive expertise to master, and many tools incorporate such a high level of detail they don’t lend ...
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RNA editing study finds many ways for neurons to diversify
MIT News
RNA editing study finds many ways for neurons to diversify All starting from the same DNA, neurons ultimately take on individual characteristics in the brain and body. Differences in which genes they transcribe into RNA help determine which type of neuron they become, and from there, a new MIT study ...
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What makes a good proton conductor?
MIT News
What makes a good proton conductor? A number of advanced energy technologies — including fuel cells, electrolyzers, and an emerging class of low-power electronics — use protons as the key charge carrier. Whether or not these devices will be widely adopted hinges, in part, on how ...
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Deep-learning model predicts how fruit flies form, cell by cell
MIT News
Deep-learning model predicts how fruit flies form, cell by cell During early development, tissues and organs begin to bloom through the shifting, splitting, and growing of many thousands of cells.A team of MIT engineers has now developed a way to predict, minute by minute, how individual cells will fold, divide, ...
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MIT HEALS leadership charts a bold path for convergence in health and life sciences
MIT News
MIT HEALS leadership charts a bold path for convergence in health and life sciences In February, President Sally Kornbluth announced the appointment of Professor Angela Koehler as faculty director of the MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS), with professors Iain Cheeseman and Katharina Ribbeck as associate directors. Since then, the leadership team ...
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