Fireflies are one of the best parts of warm summer nights. The dancing, flickering lights of these tiny bugs have enamored people for centuries. Now, a group of scientists at MIT have created robot lightning bugs inspired by nature. Not only can these robots fly, but they also emit light. Just like real-life fireflies. From …
Speakers work by vibrating a membrane to manipulate air and create sound waves. Now, engineers at MIT have developed mountable paper-thin speakers that can produce sound from any surface. The creators say that the speakers should be easy to produce at a large scale. Additionally, they are energy efficient, so they won’t need a lot …
After the Big Bang exploded, bringing the universe into existence, scientists say everything cooled immensely and became completely dark. A few short hundred million years later, though, the universe awakened, and gravity began to gather the first stars and galaxies into existence. Previously, we haven’t been able to discover much about the origins of the …
Scientists at MIT managed to teach a robot to run using machine learning. Normally robots are taught how to move across difficult terrain by preprogramming it into their code. This time, though, the scientists at MIT used simulations to teach the Mini Cheetah to run fast and adapt to walking on different terrain. The researchers …
A grim MIT study from 1972 predicted that society will collapse by the mid 21st century, prompting criticism and generating debates. It turns out the study was right on the money, and we as a collective are indeed on track to such a future scenario. A new paper revisited the MIT study and found that …
Many people infected with the novel coronavirus are asymptomatic or presymptomatic, but they can still be contagious. Researchers from MIT developed what could become a brilliant screening tool that offers an instant COVID-19 test every time you leave the house. Using machine learning algorithms trained to detect Alzheimer’s via forced coughs, the researchers think they …
Sleep trackers analyze a variety of data to score the quality of one’s sleep, but they can’t easily measure one’s sleeping position. Sleep position may be critical in some illnesses, and monitoring may require cameras and sensors that a person would have to wear when going to bed. MIT researchers have created a wall-mounted device …
If science fiction movies have taught us anything, it’s that saving Earth from a killer asteroid is going to take some big drills and probably nuclear weapons. Thankfully, if a particularly large space rock ever were to threaten Earth, our plan of attack would probably be a bit more level-headed. That is, as long as …
If you’ve ever wondered what the robot apocalypse would look like, look no further than what unfolded on the lawn outside of MIT’s Building 10 this week. There, on the grassy Killian Court, a spectacle unfolded that will likely become commonplace once AI-powered robots rise up and enslave their human masters. A total of nine …
Streaming services like Netflix are worthless without an active internet connection, and your binging sessions will suffer some serious interruption whenever there’s no decent Wi-Fi or cellular connection. As much as Netflix and other companies can adapt their stream to your internet speed, that might not be enough to avoid buffering completely, especially on crowded …
