Supersize me

Political scientist Kathleen Thelen’s new book explains how America’s large retailers got very, very large.

Peter Dizikes | MIT News • mit
April 8, 2025 ~8 min

The human body, its movement, and music

Connected by MIT’s Human Insight Collaborative, Lecturer Mi-Eun Kim and Research Scientist Praneeth Namburi want to develop an understanding of musical expression and skill development.

Benjamin Daniel | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences • mit
April 7, 2025 ~7 min


A new way to bring personal items to mixed reality

“InteRecon” enables users to capture items in a mobile app and reconstruct their interactive features in mixed reality. The tool could assist in education, medical environments, museums, and more.

Alex Shipps | MIT CSAIL • mit
April 7, 2025 ~8 min

Susan Monarez, Trump’s nominee for CDC director, faces an unprecedented and tumultuous era at the agency

Trump’s nominee for the top CDC role would join the agency at a time of great turmoil and uncertainty for medical research.

Jordan Miller, Teaching Professor of Public Health, Arizona State University • conversation
April 3, 2025 ~11 min

Stone tool discovery in China shows people in East Asia were innovating during the Middle Paleolithic, like in Europe and Middle East

Discovery in China of tools called Quina scrapers suggests the people of East Asia were as inventive and flexible with technology during the Middle Paleolithic era as those in other parts of the world.

Ben Marwick, Professor of Archaeology, University of Washington • conversation
March 31, 2025 ~9 min

Massive cuts to Health and Human Services’ workforce signal a dramatic shift in US health policy

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vision for US health policy prioritizes deregulation and leaves Americans with fewer benefits, services and protections.

Simon F. Haeder, Associate Professor of Public Health, Texas A&M University • conversation
March 31, 2025 ~12 min

Modern spacesuits have a compatibility problem. Astronauts’ lives depend on fixing it

Making spacesuits compatible with different spacecraft could protect astronauts during an emergency evacuation.

Berna Akcali Gur, Lecturer in Outer Space Law, Queen Mary University of London • conversation
March 25, 2025 ~7 min

Modern spacesuits have a compatability problem. Astronauts’ lives depend on fixing it

Making spacesuits compatible with different spacecraft could protect astronauts during an emergency evacuation.

Berna Akcali Gur, Lecturer in Outer Space Law, Queen Mary University of London • conversation
March 25, 2025 ~7 min


A new way to make graphs more accessible to blind and low-vision readers

The Tactile Vega-Lite system, developed at MIT CSAIL, streamlines the tactile chart design process; could help educators efficiently create these graphics and aid designers in making precise changes.

Alex Shipps | MIT CSAIL • mit
March 25, 2025 ~6 min

Decoding a medieval mystery manuscript

Using tech tools and a human touch, Arthur Bahr sheds light on the original volume containing “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “Pearl.”

Peter Dizikes | MIT News • mit
March 25, 2025 ~8 min

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