MIT News
MIT News is dedicated to bringing news from MIT to the world. We cover research, innovation, teaching, entrepreneurship, and the Institute’s distinctive and quirky culture. We find ourselves educated and amazed by our community of hands-on problem-solvers who are eager to know how things work — and inspired to make them work better. We hope you are amazed, too.
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Audio Article: To slow an epidemic, focus on handwashing
A new study estimates that improving the rates of handwashing by travelers passing through just 10 of the world’s leading airports could significantly reduce the spread of many infectious diseases.
Audio Article: Evidence links Dutch-era sugar production and greater economic activity today
The areas of Indonesia where Dutch colonial rulers built a huge sugar-producing industry in the 1800s remain more economically productive today than other parts of the country, according to a study co-authored by an MIT economist.
Audio Explainer: 3D bioprinting and biohyrbid materials
MIT News asked graduate student Rachel Smith to explain what bioprinting is, and what biohybrid materials are, and give us some idea of where these fields of study are going.
Build your own language
At the undergraduate level at MIT there is a course within the linguistics program creating a lot of buzz: 24.917 Constructed Languages. Taught by Professor Norvin Richards, this course aims to get students interested in linguistics by having them create their own languages from scratch.
Audio Article: Engineers put Leonardo da Vinci's bridge design to the test
Five hundred years after Leonardo da Vinci's death, the design for what would have been the world's longest bridge span of its time intrigued MIT researchers, who wondered how thought-through Leonardo's concept was and whether it really would have worked.
Audio Article: A look at Japan's evolving intelligence efforts
A new book, by MIT political scientist Richard Samuels, examines the past and future of Japanese intelligence services in a rapidly shifting world.
Audio Article: New approach suggests path to emissions-free cement
A team of researchers at MIT has come up with a new way to eliminate carbon emissions from cement production – a major global source of greenhouse gases.
Audio Article: Startup uses virtual reality to help seniors re-engage with the world
The startup Rendever uses virtual reality to help aging adults overcome widespread problems like depression and social isolation.
Audio Article: New science blooms after star researchers die, study finds
A new study co-authored by MIT economist Pierre Azoulay, an expert on the dynamics of scientific research, finds deaths of prominent life scientists tend to be followed by a surge in highly cited research by newcomers.
Audio Article: Robotic thread is designed to slip through the brain's blood vessels
MIT engineers have developed a magnetically steerable, thread-like robot that can actively glide through narrow, winding pathways, such as the labrynthine vasculature of the brain to treat blockages and lesions, such as those that occur in aneurysms and stroke.