New research enables robots to learn about an object’s weight, softness, or contents by picking it up and gently shaking it. The robot can determine properties like an object’s mass in a matter of seconds, without the need for cameras or other external sensors.
Fyto helps farmers grow plant-based feed and fertilizer using wastewater. “People talk about the political divide,” says Valerie Peng ’17, SM ’19. But when it comes to making our food systems more resilient, “there’s more in common with everyone than you’d expect.”
Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman joined Vladimir Bulović, director of MIT.nano, on a tour of the facility’s nanoscale capabilities. Its tightly controlled clean room hosts research across fields from microelectronics to medical nanotechnology.
Economics PhD student Tishara Garg takes a novel approach to ambitious questions about big-push industrial policy — inspired, in part, by the diversity of opinions in her field at MIT. “Don’t shy from big questions,” she says. “Explore the big idea.”
New research helps AI models convey uncertainty more precisely, to provide better information for high-stakes decisions. When analyzing an X-ray, for example, the AI can offer a smaller, more accurate set of possible diagnoses for the clinician to consider.
Since its founding, MIT has been key to helping American science and innovation lead the world. Discoveries that begin here generate jobs and power the economy — and what we create today builds a better tomorrow for all of us.
Ukrainian students, led by high schooler Sofiia Lipkevych, are using AI to translate MIT OpenCourseWare materials. “We’re enabling thousands of Ukrainians to build skills that will be essential for the country’s eventual reconstruction,” she says.