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Dumbest question is the one you never ask, says Amazon CEO
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Dumbest question is the one you never ask, says Amazon CEO

Andy Jassy. Veasey Conway/Harvard Staff Photographer Work & Economy Dumbest question is the one you never ask, says Amazon CEO AI competition – among companies and in the labor market – also on Jassy’s mind in HBS talk Christina Pazzanese Harvard Staff Writer September 21, 2026 4 min read Though it’s best known as an online retail and streaming giant, Amazon has also played a central role in the AI revolution. In August, the company’s valuation hit $3 trillion. Much of that was driven by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing operation that serves as a primary platform for both large-scale frontier model AI builders like Anthropic and OpenAI and for smaller firms developing simpler, ...

📅 2026-09-21 18:23:56    •    Harvard Gazette
Democracy? Some founders were skeptical.
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Democracy? Some founders were skeptical.

Illustration by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff Nation & World Democracy? Some founders were skeptical. Historians detail how, why Constitution became (and remains) work in progress Liz Mineo Harvard Staff Writer September 21, 2026 5 min read Part of a series of occasional features marking the nation’s semiquincentennial. Creating a democracy was not really at the forefront of the founders’ minds when the American colonies first declared independence from Britain in 1776. The independence movement began as a struggle between the colonies and the crown to gain more rights within the empire, not to break away from it, said Alex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy...

📅 2026-09-21 18:23:05    •    Harvard Gazette
Carter Stubbs named Institute auditor
Research Institutions

Carter Stubbs named Institute auditor

Carter Stubbs has been appointed MIT’s Institute auditor, effective Nov. 2. Stubbs, who currently serves as audit assistant director for IT Audit and Advisory Services, has been a member of the MIT community for more than 11 years and brings deep institutional knowledge, highly salient management experience, and a forward-looking vision to the role. Stubbs will succeed Michael Moody, who has served as Institute auditor for 12 years and will retire from MIT in October. Executive Vice President and Treasurer Glen Shor announced the news today in a letter to MIT’s Academic Council.“Carter stood out in a competitive field of candidates thanks to his impressive audit and IT expertise, collaborati...

📅 2026-09-21 17:00:00    •    MIT News
Batteries that safely break down in the GI tract could improve ingestible devices
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Batteries that safely break down in the GI tract could improve ingestible devices

Using materials safe for human consumption, MIT researchers have created tiny batteries that could be used to power ingestible electronic devices. Such batteries could make the devices safer for patients and minimize the environmental impact of the batteries after they are excreted.In a new study, the researchers showed that the batteries, which generate 1.84 volts, could power two different types of devices: an RFID tag that can transmit from the stomach, and a capsule that produces a small electrical current that stimulates production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone.This type of battery, which contains electrodes made from magnesium and molybdenum trioxide, could also be deployed in other i...

📅 2026-09-21 15:00:00    •    MIT News
Sex differences in attention are present at birth, study finds
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Sex differences in attention are present at birth, study finds

Sex differences in attention are present at birth, study finds Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2026 - 10:00 The findings suggest that some psychological differences between males and females (such the development of social skills) may be influenced by both prenatal biology as well as later experience.The study, published today in Biology of Sex Differences, involved testing 130 newborn infants only hours after birth. It builds on previous research by the same lab and uses robust methods to demonstrate the differences.For years, research has shown that girls, on average, learn to talk earlier and develop social skills faster than boys. Scientists have long debated whether these difference...

📅 2026-09-21 09:00:00    •    Cambridge News
Unmasking “zombie cells” in aging tissue with an AI-powered barcode
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Unmasking “zombie cells” in aging tissue with an AI-powered barcode

As we age, some of the cells in our body enter a state of senescence, in which they stop dividing but do not die. Those senescent cells can contribute to age-related disorders such as cancer, tissue degeneration, and inflammatory diseases.In an advance that could lead to better ways to diagnose and treat those diseases, MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive way to detect biomarkers of senescence. Their method is based on Raman microscopy, which can reveal the biochemical composition of cells without harming them.By combining Raman microscopy with gene expression data at single-cell resolution from the same cells, the researchers were able to identify unique “barcodes” that can be used...

📅 2026-09-21 09:00:00    •    MIT News
MIT researchers are mapping extreme weather risks — and building tools to act on them
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MIT researchers are mapping extreme weather risks — and building tools to act on them

Warming temperatures are fueling more extreme weather-related events — catastrophic floods, severe hurricanes and cyclones, and wildfires exacerbated by drought. But the tools used by local communities, emergency and public safety agencies, and insurance and risk markets have not kept pace with the up-to-date data and modeling for accurately predicting how these events will evolve.Addressing that shortcoming was one of five research areas selected for MIT’s 2022 Climate Grand Challenges, an ambitious effort to accelerate science-based solutions to climate problems. The area, titled “Preparing for a New World of Weather and Climate Extremes,” focuses on tools to help evaluate a location’s vul...

📅 2026-09-18 16:55:00    •    MIT News
Why John Coltrane still matters
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Why John Coltrane still matters

Arts & Culture Why John Coltrane still matters John Coltrane.Photo illustration by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff Christina Pazzanese Harvard Staff Writer September 18, 2026 long read Jazz experts, scholars detail how iconic saxophonist, who would have turned 100 this year, reshaped most American musical genre Nearly 60 years after his last recording, trailblazing jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s legacy remains as vital as ever. Coltrane, who died of liver cancer at 40 in 1967, is widely credited with reshaping jazz in the late 1950s and early ’60s. The Pulitzer Prize board awarded him a posthumous special career citation in 2007. Fans will celebrate his 100th birthday on Sept. 23. Coltrane play...

📅 2026-09-18 16:48:23    •    Harvard Gazette
A new chapter for MIT Reads
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A new chapter for MIT Reads

As it marks its 10-year anniversary, MIT Reads is being reimagined for the age of artificial intelligence. Recognizing the need to foster social connection and a sense of our shared humanity, the popular MIT Libraries’ program will turn its focus to fiction and memoir, and to the particular power of stories to help us understand ourselves and our place in the world. “At MIT, we spend a great deal of time on imagining and building for the future. Reading fiction prompts us to think about how what we build might change us,” says MIT Libraries Director Chris Bourg. “Reading together also gives us the increasingly rare opportunity for both individual reflection and shared connection.” MIT Reads ...

📅 2026-09-18 16:30:00    •    MIT News
A new understanding of how enzymes influence bacterial protein production
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A new understanding of how enzymes influence bacterial protein production

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing global health and development challenges of our time. Bacteria and other pathogens are rapidly developing resistance to existing treatments, making infections harder to treat. Without new approaches, minor inconveniences today, such as routine surgeries or even a paper cut, could become life-threatening tomorrow. Now, an international group of scientists reports the discovery of aminovaleramididine synthetase (AvaS), the first identified pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme responsible for producing a chemical modification linked to how bacteria respond to metabolic stress. This discovery sheds new light on how bacteria use RNA modif...

📅 2026-09-18 16:20:00    •    MIT News
Chatbot attachment issues
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Chatbot attachment issues

Julian De Freitas. Photo by Grace DuVal Science & Tech Chatbot attachment issues When AI companions get a personality update, some users respond with grief, study finds Sy Boles Harvard Staff Writer September 18, 2026 4 min read Mourning the loss of somebody you care about is common after a breakup, divorce, or death. But in an era of growing reliance on AI for companionship, loss comes in a new form: the model update. In a paper in Nature Human Behavior, Julian De Freitas, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, found that some people who engaged with social robots reported feeling closer to those companions than to most people, and experienced their loss ...

📅 2026-09-18 15:05:25    •    Harvard Gazette