Billy Joel has excess fluid in his brain – a neurologist explains what happens when this protective liquid gets out of balance

Cerebrospinal fluid can sometimes leak or collect in the brain without an identifiable cause, leading to symptoms that can be difficult to diagnose.

Danielle Wilhour, Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus • conversation
May 28, 2025 ~10 min

Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy

The speed of light is the fastest anything can travel. What happens to a photon from a galaxy 25 million light years away on its journey toward Earth?

Jarred Roberts, Project Scientist, University of California, San Diego • conversation
May 20, 2025 ~6 min


In what order did the planets in our solar system form?

The biggest planets hogged a lot of the raw materials and were fully formed first.

Lucas Brefka, Ph.D. Student in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State • conversation
May 19, 2025 ~6 min

With AI, researchers predict the location of virtually any protein within a human cell

Trained with a joint understanding of protein and cell behavior, the model could help with diagnosing disease and developing new drugs.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
May 15, 2025 ~8 min

Deploying a practical solution to space debris

Researchers share the design and implementation of an incentive-based Space Sustainability Rating.

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | Media Lab • mit
May 14, 2025 ~6 min

Study shows vision-language models can’t handle queries with negation words

Words like “no” and “not” can cause this popular class of AI models to fail unexpectedly in high-stakes settings, such as medical diagnosis.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
May 14, 2025 ~8 min

New tool evaluates progress in reinforcement learning

“IntersectionZoo,” a benchmarking tool, uses a real-world traffic problem to test progress in deep reinforcement learning algorithms.

MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems • mit
May 5, 2025 ~7 min

Worsening allergies aren’t your imagination − windy days create the perfect pollen storm

From sending more pollen airborne to breaking up pollen grains, which lets them penetrate deeper into your lungs, the wind is not the allergy sufferer’s friend.

Christine Cairns Fortuin, Assistant Professor of Forestry, Mississippi State University • conversation
May 5, 2025 ~6 min


Designing a new way to optimize complex coordinated systems

Using diagrams to represent interactions in multipart systems can provide a faster way to design software improvements.

MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems • mit
April 24, 2025 ~10 min

How growing and foraging food can become a common part of cities

Community gardens can create access to local, fresh food that reduce reliance on convenience food.

May East, MSc Supervisor, Urban Planning & Education, University of Edinburgh • conversation
April 24, 2025 ~7 min

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