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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. MIT is dedicated to providing its students with an education that combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. We seek to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.

The Institute admitted its first students in 1865, four years after the approval of its founding charter. The opening marked the culmination of an extended effort by William Barton Rogers, a distinguished natural scientist, to establish a new kind of independent educational institution relevant to an increasingly industrialized America. Rogers stressed the pragmatic and practicable. He believed that professional competence is best fostered by coupling teaching and research and by focusing attention on real-world problems. Toward this end, he pioneered the development of the teaching laboratory.

Today MIT is a world-class educational institution. Teaching and research—with relevance to the practical world as a guiding principle—continue to be its primary purpose. MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. Its five schools and one college encompass numerous academic departments, divisions, and degree-granting programs, as well as interdisciplinary centers, laboratories, and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 127 articles

La chaleur extrême peut affecter le fonctionnement des machines, et le fait que de nombreuses machines dégagent de la chaleur n’arrange pas les choses. Afif Ramdhasuma/Unsplash

Comment les machines succombent à la chaleur, des voitures aux ordinateurs

Plus il fait chaud, plus les appareils mécaniques et électroniques ont du mal à garder la tête froide.
Extreme heat can affect how well machines function, and the fact that many machines give off their own heat doesn’t help. AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar

Machines can’t always take the heat − two engineers explain the physics behind how heat waves threaten everything from cars to computers

People aren’t the only ones harmed by heat waves. The hotter it gets, the harder it is for machines to keep their cool.
Still from ‘All watched over by machines of loving grace’ by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software. Memo Akten

Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law

Intellectual property law wasn’t written with AI in mind, so it isn’t clear who owns the images that emerge from prompts – or if the artists whose work was scraped to train AI models should be paid.
Fires are increasing in high mountain areas that rarely burned in the past. John McColgan, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service

Fire danger in the high mountains is intensifying: That’s bad news for humans, treacherous for the environment

Fires here can affect meltwater timing and water quality, worsen erosion that triggers mudslides, and much more, as two scientists explain.
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Torrents of Antarctic meltwater are slowing the currents that drive our vital ocean ‘overturning’ – and threaten its collapse

In a plot reminiscent of the 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow?, Australian scientists are warning that the Southern Ocean’s deep “overturning” circulation is slowing and headed for collapse.
The TOI-700 star system is home to four planets, including two in its habitable zone that could host liquid water. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Distant star TOI-700 has two potentially habitable planets orbiting it – making it an excellent candidate in the search for life

With more than 5,000 known exoplanets, astronomers are shifting their focus from discovering additional distant worlds to identifying which are good candidates for further study.
Fictional anchorman Ted Baxter, center, flanked by newsroom boss Lou Grant and colleague Mary Richards, on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ in 1970. Bettmann/Getty

Fictional newsman Ted Baxter was more invested in fame than in good journalism – but unlike today’s pundits, he didn’t corrupt the news

Today’s anchors on politically slanted news programs feed anger and polarization with their wild claims. Their ancestor is a character from ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ – with one big difference.
When people who are split on abortion speak directly with each other, various good outcomes – including policy change – can happen. Vector Illustration

There’s reason for people on opposing sides of abortion to talk, even if they disagree – it helps build respect, understanding and can lead to policy change

When ideological enemies talk across their great divides, something good can happen – it reduces stereotypes and inflammatory language directed at people who don’t agree on the abortion rights issue.
Un administrateur français pendant une tournée à travers le Congo français en 1905. J. Audema, Wikipedia

Fiscalité des États africains : le poids de l’héritage colonial

La France avait mis en place une lourde politique fiscale visant à faire financer la colonisation par les territoires africains. Après les indépendances, cet héritage a été largement conservé.
Une explosion dans le massif du Hoggar en mars 1963, soit Émeraude (le 18 mars) soit Améthyste (le 30 mars). ©Photographe inconnu/ECA/ECPAD/Défense/F63-115 RC19

Les obstinations nucléaires des dirigeants français en Algérie indépendante

La France a utilisé le Sahara algérien pour effectuer ses premiers essais nucléaires. Un choix qui irrite le tout jeune État algérien, dont l’indépendance date du 5 juillet 1962.
Words can have a powerful effect on people, even when they’re generated by an unthinking machine. iStock via Getty Images

Google’s powerful AI spotlights a human cognitive glitch: Mistaking fluent speech for fluent thought

Fluent expression is not always evidence of a mind at work, but the human brain is primed to believe so. A pair of cognitive linguistics experts explain why language is not a good test of sentience.
Banana plantation workers in Panama find shade under a vehicle during a break. Jan Sochor/Latincontent/Getty Images

Heat waves hit the poor hardest – calculating the rising impact on those least able to adapt to the warming climate

The risk from heat waves is about more than intensity – being able to cool off is essential, and that’s hard to find in many low-income areas of the world.

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