Taking your temperature from the inside

Oral and forehead thermometers may not accurately capture a person’s core body temperature, and the few ingestible temperature sensors on the market are so big they are hard to swallow and risk obstructing the GI tract. But MIT engineers created one that can send continuous temperature updates at a size Read more

Seeing through murky waters

When remotely operated vehicles settle on the seafloor or dig through a sand bed, they can kick up clouds of sediment that onboard cameras struggle to see through. Often, the only thing to do is wait until the dust settles. But a new system developed by Amy Phung, SM ’23, Read more

Your brain on AI

Many people find AI-based chatbots helpful in keeping up with news, but a study by Pattie Maes and her colleagues at the MIT Media Lab points to a big problem with this strategy.  Participants who evaluated paired news headlines and images over the course of four weeks were initially 21% Read more

MIT tech powered the Artemis II livestreams

During the original US missions to the moon in the 1960s and ’70s, astronauts relied on radio-­frequency systems to communicate, sending grainy, low-quality images and videos to Earth. But on the Artemis II Orion mission in April, spacecraft transmitted crystal-clear footage at speeds on par with those of home internet Read more

Addressing a sticking point in sustainable adhesives

Petroleum-based adhesives are everywhere: bonding the wood and drywall in a construction project, holding together the joints of furniture, and even sticking labels to otherwise recyclable containers.  “The labels on a container are held up with petroleum-based glue. And because of that, even though you’re putting the container in the Read more

Launching youth entrepreneurship

Even as a teenager, Laurie Stach ’06 says, she had a “crazy ambition to take on the world and solve problems.” At MIT, she realized she wasn’t the only one. “Adults always see these youth who are good at math and science and say, ‘You’re going to do great things—someday,’” Read more

A new stamp on cyberfraud prevention

For Rupert Young ’95, SM ’95, his career in data science and cybersecurity began when his grandfather gifted him thousands of stamps: He built intricate databases to catalogue them, displaying the “precise eye” for detail and nuance that his MIT application essay said would make him a good engineer. Young Read more

AgeLab research inspires an A I startup

When Don Yansen ’63 arrived at the MIT AgeLab for a study on technology in care­giving for older adults, he didn’t plan to launch another company. But when he heard participants talk about how hard modern devices can be to use, he decided to develop an alternative. Yansen, a serial entrepreneur Read more

Amping up T cells to target cancer

Vaccines that turn the body’s immune system against tumors have shown promise in clinical trials, and a handful have been FDA approved for certain cancers. In many patients, however, these vaccines don’t stimulate enough of a response, and the approach some researchers have taken to strengthening it—delivering the vaccine along Read more