Research

Implantable microparticles can deliver two cancer therapies at once
Implantable microparticles can deliver two cancer therapies at once Patients with late-stage cancer often have to endure multiple rounds of different types of treatment, which can cause unwanted side effects and may not always help.In hopes of expanding the treatment options for those patients, MIT researchers have designed tiny ...
Interactive mouthpiece opens new opportunities for health data, assistive technology, and hands-free interactions
Interactive mouthpiece opens new opportunities for health data, assistive technology, and hands-free interactions When you think about hands-free devices, you might picture Alexa and other voice-activated in-home assistants, Bluetooth earpieces, or asking Siri to make a phone call in your car. You might not imagine using your mouth to communicate with other devices ...
A faster, better way to train general-purpose robots
A faster, better way to train general-purpose robots In the classic cartoon “The Jetsons,” Rosie the robotic maid seamlessly switches from vacuuming the house to cooking dinner to taking out the trash. But in real life, training a general-purpose robot remains a major challenge.Typically, engineers collect data that ...
Scientists discover molecules that store much of the carbon in space
Scientists discover molecules that store much of the carbon in space A team led by researchers at MIT has discovered that a distant interstellar cloud contains an abundance of pyrene, a type of large, carbon-containing molecule known as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).The discovery of pyrene in this far-off cloud, which ...
Study: Hospice care provides major Medicare savings
Study: Hospice care provides major Medicare savings Hospice care aims to provide a health care alternative for people nearing the end of life by sparing them unwanted medical procedures and focusing on the patient’s comfort. A new study co-authored by MIT scholars shows hospice also has a ...
Study: Fusion energy could play a major role in the global response to climate change
Study: Fusion energy could play a major role in the global response to climate change For many decades, fusion has been touted as the ultimate source of abundant, clean electricity. Now, as the world faces the need to reduce carbon emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change, making commercial fusion power a reality takes on new ...
A new method to enhance effectiveness of cartilage repair therapy
A new method to enhance effectiveness of cartilage repair therapy Researchers from the Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP) interdisciplinary research group at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, alongside collaborators from the National University of Singapore Tissue Engineering Programme, have developed a novel method ...
Aspiring to sustainable development
Aspiring to sustainable development In a first for both universities, MIT undergraduates are engaged in research projects at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), while MIT scholars are collaborating with UVG undergraduates on in-depth field studies in Guatemala.These pilot projects are part of ...
Brain pathways that control dopamine release may influence motor control
Brain pathways that control dopamine release may influence motor control Within the human brain, movement is influenced by a brain region called the striatum, which sends instructions to motor neurons in the brain. Those instructions are conveyed by two pathways, one that initiates movement (“go”) and one that suppresses it ...
Physicists discover first “black hole triple”
Physicists discover first “black hole triple” Many black holes detected to date appear to be part of a pair. These binary systems comprise a black hole and a secondary object — such as a star, a much denser neutron star, or another black hole — that ...
Study: Marshes provide cost-effective coastal protection
Study: Marshes provide cost-effective coastal protection Images of coastal houses being carried off into the sea due to eroding coastlines and powerful storm surges are becoming more commonplace as climate change brings a rising sea level coupled with more powerful storms. In the U.S. alone, coastal ...
How climate change will impact outdoor activities in the US
How climate change will impact outdoor activities in the US It can be hard to connect a certain amount of average global warming with one’s everyday experience, so researchers at MIT have devised a different approach to quantifying the direct impact of climate change. Instead of focusing on global averages, ...
Making it easier to verify an AI model’s responses
Making it easier to verify an AI model’s responses Despite their impressive capabilities, large language models are far from perfect. These artificial intelligence models sometimes “hallucinate” by generating incorrect or unsupported information in response to a query.Due to this hallucination problem, an LLM’s responses are often verified by human ...
How cfDNA testing has changed prenatal care
How cfDNA testing has changed prenatal care The much-touted arrival of “precision medicine” promises tailored technologies that help individuals and may also reduce health care costs. New research shows how pregnancy screening can meet both of these objectives, but the findings also highlight how precision medicine must ...
A new framework to efficiently screen drugs
A new framework to efficiently screen drugs Some of the most widely used drugs today, including penicillin, were discovered through a process called phenotypic screening. Using this method, scientists are essentially throwing drugs at a problem — for example, when attempting to stop bacterial growth or fixing ...
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins A quasar is the extremely bright core of a galaxy that hosts an active supermassive black hole at its center. As the black hole draws in surrounding gas and dust, it blasts out an enormous amount of energy, making quasars ...
Combining next-token prediction and video diffusion in computer vision and robotics
Combining next-token prediction and video diffusion in computer vision and robotics In the current AI zeitgeist, sequence models have skyrocketed in popularity for their ability to analyze data and predict what to do next. For instance, you’ve likely used next-token prediction models like ChatGPT, which anticipate each word (token) in a ...
Model reveals why debunking election misinformation often doesn’t work
Model reveals why debunking election misinformation often doesn’t work When an election result is disputed, people who are skeptical about the outcome may be swayed by figures of authority who come down on one side or the other. Those figures can be independent monitors, political figures, or news organizations. However, ...
MIT team takes a major step toward fully 3D-printed active electronics
MIT team takes a major step toward fully 3D-printed active electronics Active electronics — components that can control electrical signals — usually contain semiconductor devices that receive, store, and process information. These components, which must be made in a clean room, require advanced fabrication technology that is not widely available outside ...
A new method makes high-resolution imaging more accessible
A new method makes high-resolution imaging more accessible A classical way to image nanoscale structures in cells is with high-powered, expensive super-resolution microscopes. As an alternative, MIT researchers have developed a way to expand tissue before imaging it — a technique that allows them to achieve nanoscale resolution ...

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