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MIT hackathon tackles real-world challenges in Ukraine
During this year’s Independent Activities Period (IAP), students, researchers, and collaborators across seven time zones came together to tackle urgent technical challenges facing Ukraine as the full-scale war enters its fourth year. A four-week hackathon, Build for Ukraine 2.0, brought MIT students and Ukrainian collaborators into a shared innovation environment where power outages, air-raid alerts, […]
Advancing international trade research and finding community
The sense of support and community was palpable when Sojun Park, a postdoc at the Center for International Studies (CIS), delivered a recent presentation on The Global Diffusion of AI Technologies and Its Political Drivers. The event, part of the CIS Global Research and Policy Seminar, filled the venue with audience members from across MIT. […]
Improving cartilage repair through cell therapy
Researchers have developed a new method for monitoring iron flux — the movement and rate at which cells take in, store, use and release iron — in stem cells known as mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). The system can provide insights within a minute about a cell’s ability to grow cartilage tissue for cartilage repair. The […]
3 Questions: Developing sustainable guidelines for rebuilding in Gaza
Shireen Bader Alqadi, MIT’s first Global MIT At-Risk Fellow (GMAF) from Palestine, reflects on spending the Fall 2025 semester in the MIT’s Sustainable Design Lab with Architecture Professor Christoph Reinhart and team. Global MIT At-Risk Fellows (GMAF) brings international scholars to MIT for semester-long study and research meant to benefit their regions of origin while […]
Next-generation geothermal energy: Promise, progress, and challenges
Geothermal energy, a clean, continuous energy source accessible in many locations, has been slow to catch on. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Romans made extensive use of geothermal energy — heat from the Earth — including at the spa complex at present-day Bath, England. Electricity was first produced from geothermal sources in the early 1900s […]
More trees where they matter, please
One of the best forms of heat relief is pretty simple: trees. In cities, as studies have documented, more tree cover lowers surface temperatures and heat-related health risks. However, as a new study led by MIT researchers shows, the amount of tree cover varies widely within cities, and is generally connected to wealth levels. After […]
A neural blueprint for human-like intelligence in soft robots
A new artificial intelligence control system enables soft robotic arms to learn a wide repertoire of motions and tasks once, then adjust to new scenarios on the fly, without needing retraining or sacrificing functionality. This breakthrough brings soft robotics closer to human-like adaptability for real-world applications, such as in assistive robotics, rehabilitation robots, and wearable […]
Exploring the promise of regenerative aquaculture at an Arkansas fish farm
In many academic circles, innovation is imagined as a lab-to-market pipeline that travels through patent filings, venture rounds, and coastal research hubs. But a growing movement inside U.S. universities is pushing students toward a different frontier: solving real engineering problems alongside rural communities whose challenges directly shape national food security. A compelling example of this […]
New J-PAL research and policy initiative to test and scale AI innovations to fight poverty
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT has awarded funding to eight new research studies to understand how artificial intelligence innovations can be used in the fight against poverty through its new Project AI Evidence. The age of AI has brought wide-ranging optimism and skepticism about its effects on society. To realize […]
Katie Spivakovsky wins 2026 Churchill Scholarship
MIT senior Katie Spivakovsky has been selected as a 2026-27 Churchill Scholar and will undertake an MPhil in biological sciences at the Wellcome Sanger Institute at Cambridge University in the U.K. this fall. Spivakovsky, who is double-majoring in biological engineering and artificial intelligence, with minors in mathematics and biology, aims to integrate computation and bioengineering […]