Generating Optimal Decisions: How the Brain Deals With Uncertainty
Dedicated circuits evaluate uncertainty in the brain, preventing it from using unreliable information to make decisions. As we interact with the world, we are constantly…
MIT
Predicting Traffic Crashes Before They Happen With Artificial Intelligence
A deep model was trained on historical crash data, road maps, satellite imagery, and GPS to enable high-resolution crash maps that could lead to safer…
A Mysterious Gap Within the Solar System’s Protoplanetary Disk
Scientists find evidence the early solar system harbored a gap between its inner and outer regions. The cosmic boundary, perhaps caused by a young Jupiter…
“Robotic” OmniFibers: New Fibers Can Make Breath-Regulating Garments
“Robotic” textiles could help performers and athletes train their breathing, and potentially help patients recovering from postsurgery breathing changes. A new kind of fiber developed…
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover Images Confirm Jezero Crater Is an Ancient Martian Lake
The findings include signs of flash flooding that carried huge boulders downstream into the lakebed. The first scientific analysis of images taken by NASA’s Perseverance…
Discovery Points Toward the Next Revolution in Genome Editing Technology
New Programmable Gene Editing Proteins Found Outside of CRISPR Systems Researchers find RNA-guided enzymes are more diverse and widespread than previously believed. Within the last…
Weighing Cancer Cells To Personalize Drug Choices and Help With Treatment Decision-Making
A new study shows a link between patient survival and changes in tumor cell mass after glioblastoma treatment. Researchers at MIT and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute…
MIT Mathematicians Solve an Old Geometry Problem on Equiangular Lines
How many lines can be pairwise separated by the same angle in high dimensions? Geometry breakthrough gives new insights into spectral graph theory. Equiangular lines…
Neural Network Helps Predict New Drug Combinations To Fight COVID-19
Deep learning identifies synergistic drug blends for treating viruses like SARS-CoV-2. The existential threat of Covid-19 has highlighted an acute need to develop working therapeutics…
MIT Scientists Zero In on the Origins of Earth’s “Single Most Important Evolutionary Innovation”
A new study shows oxygenic photosynthesis likely evolved between 3.4 and 2.9 billion years ago. Some time in Earth’s early history, the planet took a…
Global Cancer Risk From Burning Organic Matter Comes From Unregulated Chemicals
The researchers hope scientists and regulators will consider a broader class of compounds in evaluating cancer risk due to PAH exposure. Whenever organic matter is…
Researchers Develop a New Way To Control Magnets
Reversible system can flip the magnetic orientation of particles with a small voltage; could lead to faster data storage and smaller sensors. Most of the…
Extremely Efficient New Method for Removing Heavy-Metal Contaminants From Drinking Water
Engineers have designed a relatively low-cost, energy-efficient approach to treating water contaminated with heavy metals. Engineers at MIT have developed a new approach to removing…
Computer Science: How Quickly Do Algorithms Improve?
MIT scientists show how fast algorithms are improving across a broad range of examples, demonstrating their critical importance in advancing computing. Algorithms are sort of…
MIT Biologists Identify New Targets for Cancer Vaccines
Vaccinating against certain proteins found on cancer cells could help to enhance the T cell response to tumors. Over the past decade, scientists have been…
So-Called “Junk” DNA Is Essential, Plays a Key Role in Speciation
More than 10 percent of our genome is made up of repetitive, seemingly nonsensical stretches of genetic material called satellite DNA that do not code for…
Foreign-Policy Experts: What’s the Next Chapter in Afghanistan?
A panel of foreign-policy experts surveys the uncertainties facing the country as it returns to Taliban rule. After nearly 20 years, the U.S. has withdrawn…
The Next Generation of Nanobionic Light-Emitting Plants
Using nanoparticles that store and gradually release light, engineers create light-emitting plants that can be charged repeatedly. Using specialized nanoparticles embedded in plant leaves, MIT…