Is this movie review a rave or a pan? Is this news story about business or technology? Is this online chatbot conversation veering off into giving financial advice? Is this online medical information site giving out misinformation? These kinds of automated conversations, whether they involve seeking a movie or restaurant review or getting information about…
Any motorist who has ever waited through multiple cycles for a traffic light to turn green knows how annoying signalized intersections can be. But sitting at intersections isn’t just a drag on drivers’ patience — unproductive vehicle idling could contribute as much as 15 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. land transportation. A…
Four new faculty members join the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) this fall, offering the MIT community creativity, knowledge, and scholarship in multidisciplinary roles. “These individuals add considerable strength and depth to our faculty,” says Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. “We are excited for the academic vigor they bring…
Artificial intelligence is changing the way businesses store and access their data. That’s because traditional data storage systems were designed to handle simple commands from a handful of users at once, whereas today, AI systems with millions of agents need to continuously access and process large amounts of data in parallel. Traditional data storage systems…
M.C. Escher’s artwork is a gateway into a world of depth-defying optical illusions, featuring “impossible objects” that break the laws of physics with convoluted geometries. What you perceive his illustrations to be depends on your point of view — for example, a person seemingly walking upstairs may be heading down the steps if you tilt…
If you rotate an image of a molecular structure, a human can tell the rotated image is still the same molecule, but a machine-learning model might think it is a new data point. In computer science parlance, the molecule is “symmetric,” meaning the fundamental structure of that molecule remains the same if it undergoes certain…
Music technology took center stage at MIT during “FUTURE PHASES,” an evening of works for string orchestra and electronics, presented by the MIT Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program as part of the 2025 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). The well-attended event was held last month in the Thomas Tull Concert Hall within the new Edward…
In an office at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a soft robotic hand carefully curls its fingers to grasp a small object. The intriguing part isn’t the mechanical design or embedded sensors — in fact, the hand contains none. Instead, the entire system relies on a single camera that watches the robot’s…
City life is often described as “fast-paced.” A new study suggests that’s more true that ever. The research, co-authored by MIT scholars, shows that the average walking speed of pedestrians in three northeastern U.S. cities increased 15 percent from 1980 to 2010. The number of people lingering in public spaces declined by 14 percent in…
One of the shared, fundamental goals of most chemistry researchers is the need to predict a molecule’s properties, such as its boiling or melting point. Once researchers can pinpoint that prediction, they’re able to move forward with their work yielding discoveries that lead to medicines, materials, and more. Historically, however, the traditional methods of unveiling…