News

Modeling the social mind

September 9, 2022

Typically, it would take two graduate students to do the research that Setayesh Radkani is doing. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about the human mind, she is working on two PhD thesis projects in two different cognitive neuroscience labs at MIT. For one, she is studying punishment as a social tool to influence others. For […]

New endowment fund will power student innovation at MIT Sandbox

September 8, 2022

Through a $1 million gift from Daniel Gilbert ’91 and his wife, Judy, the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program gained a permanent source of funding with the establishment of the MIT Sandbox Endowment Fund. The new fund allows MIT Sandbox to expand its entrepreneurship education offerings to MIT undergraduate and graduate students, bringing to life […]

AI system makes models like DALL-E 2 more creative

September 8, 2022

The internet had a collective feel-good moment with the introduction of DALL-E, an artificial intelligence-based image generator inspired by artist Salvador Dali and the lovable robot WALL-E that uses natural language to produce whatever mysterious and beautiful image your heart desires. Seeing typed-out inputs like “smiling gopher holding an ice cream cone” instantly spring to […]

Studies of autism tend to exclude women, researchers find

September 8, 2022

In recent years, researchers who study autism have made an effort to include more women and girls in their studies. However, despite these efforts, most studies of autism consistently enroll small numbers of female subjects or exclude them altogether, according to a new study from MIT. The researchers found that a screening test commonly used […]

Turning carbon dioxide into valuable products

September 7, 2022

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to climate change and a significant product of many human activities, notably industrial manufacturing. A major goal in the energy field has been to chemically convert emitted CO2 into valuable chemicals or fuels. But while CO2 is available in abundance, it has not yet been widely used to […]

MIT students contribute to success of historic fusion experiment

September 6, 2022

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition in a laboratory, a grand challenge of the 21st century. The High-Energy-Density Physics (HEDP) group at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center has focused on an approach called inertial confinement fusion (ICF), which uses lasers to […]

Forging political alliances through supply chains

September 6, 2022

The bustling coastal city of Wenzhou made its mark early on Hao Zhang. “It is considered the birthplace of Chinese capitalism, and living there, with many relatives involved in startups, I was exposed to all kinds of business,” says Zhang, a rising fifth-year graduate student in political science. He also gained a close-up view of […]

Featured video: Thank you, MIT employees!

September 2, 2022

Every fall, some 7,000 students arrive on campus, joining around 5,000 already here. In preparation, staff and faculty have made ready 6,210 dorm rooms, 30 residence halls, 13,828 offices, 5,488 labs, and 119 academic buildings. In honor of Labor Day, in this video we say, ‘Thank you, MIT employees!’ Produced by Christine Daniloff. Video by […]

Letter regarding proposed free expression statement from MIT

September 1, 2022

The following letter was sent to the MIT community today by President L. Rafael Reif and includes a letter sent to MIT faculty today by Provost Cynthia Barnhart, Chancellor Melissa Nobles, and Chair of the Faculty Lily L. Tsai. To the members of the MIT community, Last fall, I asked the provost, chancellor and chair of the faculty […]

MIT releases strategic action plan for belonging, achievement, and composition

September 1, 2022

MIT has released a new strategic action plan for belonging, achievement, and composition, intended to help the Institute forge a stronger sense of community and pursue excellence by tapping into talent globally. The plan provides an Institute-wide framework for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion across MIT, while allowing individual departments, labs, and offices to define […]