Science

Side by side of mouse embryos. The one on the left appears to be developing normally, but the one on the right has an extra pair of legs.
Genetics
How turning off one gene causes mice to grow 6 legs
A study of embryo development in mice led to the creation of a mutant mouse fetus with an extra pair of legs in place of genitals.
Kristin Houser
A man in a suit stands next to a robotic arm with computer-brain interfaces on a stage under blue lighting.
Big Tech
In a future with brain-computer interfaces like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, we may need to rethink freedom of thought
In a future with more “mind reading,” thanks to computer-brain interfaces, we may need to rethink freedom of thought.
Parker Crutchfield
Oceans
Artificial reef designed by MIT engineers could protect marine life, reduce storm damage
An MIT team is hoping to fortify coastlines with “architected” reefs engineered to mimic the wave-buffering effects of natural reefs.
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
Two blue and purple spheres on a blue background.
Physics
MIT physicists turn pencil lead into “gold”
Elizabeth A. Thomson | Materials Research Laboratory | MIT News
An image of a chemical symbol with a vibrant red, green, and blue background.
Ecosystems
New ultrasonic technique can destroy toxic “forever chemicals”
Jonny Thomson
A pig drinking from a machine.
Animals
Pigs proven intelligent enough to play video games
Robby Berman
A basketball player dunks the ball on a red court.
Sports
How physics models could improve NBA teams’ performance
Sam Jarman
A photo of a woman with a blue and purple background.
Memory
Memory champion explains how she memorizes 1,080 numbers in 30 minutes
Stephen Johnson
Two images of the same object with different colors.
Engineering
“Iron Man” material made from DNA and glass is 4x stronger than steel
Kevin Dickinson
A blue, pink and purple sphere on a black background.
Physics
From a five-layer graphene sandwich, a rare electronic state emerges
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
A penny with a pen on top of it.
Engineering
Ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober created the world’s smallest Nerf gun — from DNA
Kevin Dickinson
A pink coral is growing on the bottom of the ocean.
Oceans
Sex life discovery raises IVF hope for endangered purple cauliflower soft coral
Tom R. Davis and Stephen D. A. Smith and Kirsten Benkendorff and David Harasti and Meryl Larkin
A person using a syringe to inject something into a petri dish.
CRISPR
New “anti-CRISPR” discovered in viruses
Kristin Houser