Boleslaw Wyslouch steps down as director of Laboratory for Nuclear Science

MIT in the media: Innovating and educating for the next 250 years of America

MIT President Sally Kornbluth and ASU President Michael Crow discussed the future of university education and research at a Washington Post Live panel. Kornbluth emphasized the importance of curiosity-driven, federally funded basic research as the foundation for medical and technological breakthroughs, warning that frozen federal funds threaten the innovation pipeline. On AI, she advocates a human-centric approach where students use AI as an augmentation tool while maintaining foundational STEM skills, strong writing, and ethical grounding. She also highlighted MIT's economic impact — over 30,000 spinout companies and an economic footprint equivalent to the 14th largest GDP — and its accessibility initiatives including free tuition for families earning under $200,000.

MIT in the media: Exploring how curiosity-driven science is an essential ingredient in America’s success

Bài viết trên tạp chí Scientific American giới thiệu vai trò quan trọng của nghiên cứu khoa học định hướng tò mò (curiosity-driven research) trong thành công của Mỹ, với sự đóng góp của các giảng viên, sinh viên và cựu sinh viên MIT. Các chuyên gia nhấn mạnh nhu cầu đầu tư công bền vững vào khoa học cơ bản, đồng thời lo ngại về sự bất ổn trong tài trợ liên bang, rào cản nhập cư và suy giảm niềm tin vào chuyên gia, dù vẫn lạc quan nhờ lịch sử đổi mới của Mỹ.

Lập trình viên nên đọc bài này để hiểu cách các nhà khoa học tự do khám phá (curiosity-driven) không chỉ thúc đẩy tiến bộ khoa học mà còn tạo ra những công nghệ đột phá—như AI, sinh học tổng hợp và năng lượng tái tạo—đã định hình nền tảng cho các ứng dụng tương lai của phần mềm và hệ thống thông minh.

Summer 2026 recommended reading from MIT

MIT faculty and staff published a wide range of books between July 2025 and June 2026, spanning fiction, poetry, science, engineering, humanities, social sciences, technology, and entrepreneurship. Highlights include works on AI auditing, carbon removal, vaccine skepticism, drone warfare, Bayesian entrepreneurship, climate tech startups, and cultural evolution in the age of AI. The list covers authors from departments including MIT Sloan, Media Lab, Comparative Media Studies, and more.

Plants appear to detect the patter of falling rain

MIT engineers have discovered the first direct evidence that plant seeds can sense sounds in nature. Rice seeds submerged in shallow water germinated 30–40% faster when exposed to vibrations from water droplets hitting the surface. The mechanism involves sound waves dislodging gravity-sensing organelles called statoliths, which signal seeds to sprout. This may provide a biological advantage: seeds close enough to detect rain sounds are likely at an optimal depth for growth.

A man of many words

Brian Sietsema, an MIT-trained linguist (PhD '89) and Greek Orthodox priest, has built a unique career bridging language science and theology. Starting with a childhood fascination with the word 'akimbo,' he pursued linguistics at MIT under Morris Halle, working on metrical phonology and tonal patterns in Bantu languages. He later became pronunciation editor at Merriam-Webster, introducing the International Phonetic Alphabet to their publications and overseeing the 10th edition of the Collegiate Dictionary. Since 2003, he has served as associate pronouncer at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, helping spellers decode word roots. His dual expertise as linguist and priest informs both his scholarly work and pastoral care, including a notable defense of reason during the COVID-19 pandemic that hinged on a mistranslation of a Greek theological term.