How we think about protecting data

A new study shows public views on data privacy vary according to how the data are used, who benefits, and other conditions.

Peter Dizikes | MIT News • mit
May 13, 2025 ~6 min

Eldercare robot helps people sit and stand, and catches them if they fall

The new design could assist the elderly as they age in place at home.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
May 13, 2025 ~7 min


How the Take It Down Act tackles nonconsensual deepfake porn − and how it falls short

A bill with broad bipartisan support aims to take on AI-generated sexual abuse, but enforcement issues and privacy blind spots could leave victims just as vulnerable.

Sylvia Lu, Faculty Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan • conversation
May 8, 2025 ~10 min

System lets robots identify an object’s properties through handling

With a novel simulation method, robots can guess the weight, softness, and other physical properties of an object just by picking it up.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
May 8, 2025 ~7 min

Team finds surprising ‘copycat evolution’ in some cats and dogs

Biologists have shown evidence of a kind of "copycat" evolution between extremely short-faced breeds of cats and dogs.

Talia Ogliore-WUSTL • futurity
May 6, 2025 ~9 min

Hybrid AI model crafts smooth, high-quality videos in seconds

The CausVid generative AI tool uses a diffusion model to teach an autoregressive (frame-by-frame) system to rapidly produce stable, high-resolution videos.

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

How the US can mine its own critical minerals − without digging new holes

Rare earth elements are tiny yet essential parts of many of the technologies you use every day. New techniques are making their recovery from US sources increasingly viable.

Scott McWhorter, Distinguished Fellow in the Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology • conversation
May 6, 2025 ~9 min

Predictive policing AI is on the rise − making it accountable to the public could curb its harmful effects

AI that anticipates where crimes are likely to occur and who might commit them has a troubling track record. Democratic accountability could shine a light on the technology and how it’s used.

Maria Lungu, Postdoctoral Researcher of Law and Public Administration, University of Virginia • conversation
May 6, 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

Tiny fin features may explain this fish’s super grip power

New research has uncovered a surprising feature on the fins of sculpins, potentially aiding their ability to grip their surroundings.

Dan Bernardi - Syracuse U. • futurity
May 5, 2025 ~7 min

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