A new way to determine whether a species will successfully invade an ecosystem

MIT physicists develop a predictive formula, based on bacterial communities, that may also apply to other types of ecosystems, including the human GI tract.

Anne Trafton | MIT News • mit
Jan. 6, 2025 ~7 min

An abundant phytoplankton feeds a global network of marine microbes

New findings illuminate how Prochlorococcus’ nightly “cross-feeding” plays a role in regulating the ocean’s capacity to cycle and store carbon.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
Jan. 3, 2025 ~10 min


A new computational model can predict antibody structures more accurately

Using this model, researchers may be able to identify antibody drugs that can target a variety of infectious diseases.

Anne Trafton | MIT News • mit
Jan. 2, 2025 ~8 min

MIT scientists pin down the origins of a fast radio burst

The fleeting cosmic firework likely emerged from the turbulent magnetosphere around a far-off neutron star.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
Jan. 1, 2025 ~9 min

MIT’s top research stories of 2024

Stories on tamper-proof ID tags, sound-suppressing silk, and generative AI’s understanding of the world were some of the most popular topics on MIT News.

MIT News • mit
Dec. 24, 2024 ~4 min

Why open secrets are a big problem

Philosopher Sam Berstler diagnoses the corrosive effects of not acknowledging troubling truths.

Peter Dizikes | MIT News • mit
Dec. 23, 2024 ~8 min

Bacteria in the human gut rarely update their CRISPR defense systems

A new study of the microbiome finds intestinal bacterial interact much less often with viruses that trigger immunity updates than bacteria in the lab.

Anne Trafton | MIT News • mit
Dec. 23, 2024 ~7 min

Ecologists find computer vision models’ blind spots in retrieving wildlife images

Biodiversity researchers tested vision systems on how well they could retrieve relevant nature images. More advanced models performed well on simple queries but struggled with more research-specific prompts.

Alex Shipps | MIT CSAIL • mit
Dec. 20, 2024 ~9 min


Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

As part of a high-resolution biosensing device without wires, the antennas could help researchers decode intricate electrical signals sent by cells.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
Dec. 20, 2024 ~8 min

Need a research hypothesis? Ask AI.

MIT engineers developed AI frameworks to identify evidence-driven hypotheses that could advance biologically inspired materials.

Zach Winn | MIT News • mit
Dec. 19, 2024 ~10 min

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