Using AI to Track the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Mental Health
Textual analysis of social media posts finds users’ anxiety and suicide-risk levels are rising, among other negative trends. Dealing with a global pandemic has taken…
MIT
Algorithm to Contain Pandemic: Testing Sewage to Home In on COVID-19
Letting an algorithm decide which maintenance holes to test for evidence of coronavirus could improve pandemic containment efforts. Covid-19 is a respiratory illness that spreads…
Battery-Free Ocean Exploration: MIT Underwater Navigation System Powered by Sound
New approach could spark an era of battery-free ocean exploration, with applications ranging from marine conservation to aquaculture. GPS isn’t waterproof. The navigation system depends…
Democracy in Distress? Global Trend of Democratic Governments That Collapse From Within
Experts analyze a global trend: democratic governments that collapse from within while maintaining a veneer of legitimacy. When the Cold War ended in the early…
Brain Circuit Found That Helps Explain Why Motivation to Learn Declines With Age
Research on mice suggests aging affects a brain circuit critical for learning to make some types of decisions. As people age, they often lose their…
MIT Sloan Professor: A Deep Look at How Financial Markets Are Designed
Professor Haoxiang Zhu’s research has gained an audience beyond academia, reaching the finance industry and its regulators. Financial markets are fast-moving, complex, and opaque. Even…
Developing Novel Electrochemical Reactions to Decarbonize Our Energy Systems
MIT’s Yogesh Surendranath wants to decarbonize our energy systems: By developing novel electrochemical reactions, he hopes to find new ways to generate energy and reduce…
MIT Designs a Heated COVID Face Mask to Filter and Inactivate Coronaviruses
The reusable mask would include a heated copper mesh that’s powered by a battery and surrounded by insulating neoprene. Face masks have been shown to…
What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration
Book co-authored by MIT Associate Professor Julie Shah and Laura Major SM ’05 explores a future populated with robot helpers. As Covid-19 has made it…
MIT Using Artificial Intelligence to Translate Ancient “Dead” Languages
System developed at MIT CSAIL aims to help linguists decipher languages that have been lost to history. Recent research suggests that most languages that have…
“Lost Votes”: What Are the Odds Your Vote Will Not Count?
MIT professor’s study quantifies how many mail-in ballots became “lost votes” in the 2016 U.S. federal election. In elections, every vote counts. Or should count….
New MIT Solar-Powered System Efficiently Extracts Drinkable Water From “Dry” Air
MIT engineers have made their initial design more practical, efficient, and scalable. Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have significantly boosted the output from a system…
Turning Diamond Into Metal – For Improved Solar Cells, LEDs, and Power Electronics
Normally an insulator, diamond becomes a metallic conductor when subjected to large strain in a new theoretical model. Long known as the hardest of all…
MIT Neuroscientists Discover a Molecular Mechanism That Allows Memories to Form
Modifications to chromosomes in “engram” neurons control the encoding and retrieval of memories. When the brain forms a memory of a new experience, neurons called…
MIT Begins Testing Wastewater to Help Detect COVID-19 and Learn About the Spread of the Virus
The pilot project is designed to determine if wastewater testing can provide early signals about the spread of the virus. Last week, MIT began piloting…
Sierra Nevadas Formed in a “Geologic Instant” – Geologists Raise the Speed Limit for How Fast Continental Crust Can Form
Study suggests parts of the Sierra Nevadas formed in a “geologic instant,” more than twice as fast as previously thought. Although we can’t see it…
Generating Photons for Communication Between Processors in a Quantum Computing System
New technique provides a means of interconnection between processors, opening the way to a complete quantum computing platform. MIT researchers using superconducting quantum bits connected…
Progress on Universal Flu Vaccine That Could Work Against Any Influenza Strain
With computer models and lab experiments, researchers are working on a strategy for vaccines that could protect against any influenza virus. Each year, the flu…