MIT affiliates named 2025 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellows
Two current MIT affiliates and seven additional alumni are among those named to the 2025 cohort of AI2050 Fellows. Zongyi Li, a postdoc in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, and Tess Smidt ’12, an associate professor of electrical engineering...
Chinese astronauts inspect damaged Shenzhou 20 spacecraft during 8-hour spacewalk (video)
Chinese astronauts just got an up-close look at the damage that space junk can cause. Two astronauts of the three-person Shenzhou 21 mission conducted an extravehicular activity (EVA) outside China's Tiangong space station on Tuesday (Dec. 9). They were very busy on...
This 7-hour cosmic explosion is the longest gamma-ray burst ever seen. Could it be from an elusive class of black hole?
Astronomers have spotted the longest gamma-ray burst ever seen, a cosmic explosion that lasted seven hours — and they determined it could be the work of a black hole destroying a star. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are considered to be the most powerful cosmic explosions...
An industrial project in Chile threatens Earth’s darkest sky. 28 leading astronomers signed an open letter urging to move it
German Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Reinhard Genzel has penned a letter urging the government of Chile to halt the development of a green hydrogen plant in the vicinity of one of the world's top astronomical observatories. In the letter, Genzel and 30 other...
Hear dust devils on Mars crackle with electricity in new NASA Perseverance rover video
NASA just released striking new video and audio that reveal the sounds of dust storms on Mars crackling with tiny lightning-like sparks. The footage, which NASA released on Dec. 3, was captured by the Perseverance rover inside Jezero Crater on Sept. 6, as Martian dust...
The James Webb Space Telescope just found the oldest supernova ever seen
The light of the oldest supernova ever seen, dating back 13 billion years to just 730 million years after the Big Bang, has been captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The supernova was accompanied by a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB), signifying the destruction...
This bright star will soon die in a nuclear explosion — and could be visible in Earth’s daytime skies
An incredibly luminous star system that has long baffled astronomers could soon light up the sky with the nuclear brilliance of thousands of suns, new research suggests. When that happens, the results may be visible from Earth with the naked eye — in day or night. The...
Scientists spot 2 black holes that took turns slaughtering 1 unlucky star
About 3 billion years ago, a hapless star got caught in a twisted tug-of-war between two gigantic black holes — and now, we are seeing the faint screams of X-rays emanating from this violent event. If confirmed, it could be the most distant episode of two black holes...
Prognostic tool could help clinicians identify high-risk cancer patients
Aggressive T-cell lymphoma is a rare and devastating form of blood cancer with a very low five-year survival rate. Patients often relapse after receiving initial therapy, making it especially challenging for clinicians to keep this destructive disease in check. In a...
Jennifer Lewis ScD ’91: “Can we make tissues that are made from you, for you?”
“Can we make tissues that are made from you, for you?” asked Jennifer Lewis ScD ’91 at the 2025 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture, organized by MIT.nano, on Nov. 3. “The grand challenge goal is to create these tissues for therapeutic use and, ultimately, at the whole...
Widespread cold virus you’ve never heard of may play key role in bladder cancer
Scientists think a very common childhood infection may be linked to bladder cancer — and now, they're figuring out the chain reaction that connects the two diseases. It's known that people who get kidney transplants are three times more likely to develop bladder...