Research
City Science

Looking beyond smart cities
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Responsive Environments

Augmenting and mediating human experience, interaction, and perception with sensor networks
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Fluid Interfaces

Designing Systems for Cognitive Support
Project Research

Theme | CityScope

City Science researchers are developing a slew of tangible and digital platforms dedicated to solving spatial design and urban planning cha…
Project Research

Light Sculptures

The first in a series of sculptures that capture natural light patterns over time using computer vision.This work seeks to investigate arch…
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Media Lab Research Theme: Life with AI

Life with AI | Designing the future of smart systems to improve the human experience
Project Research

Living Knitwork Pavilion

​2023 Burning Man Arts"Once upon a time, in the heart of the Black Rock City desert, a knitted shade structure seamlessly melded ancient an…
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Space Exploration Initiative

Space Exploration Initiative
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Space Enabled

Advancing justice in Earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space
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Poetic Justice

Exploring new forms of social justice through art
Course Research

MAS.S66 - City Sci-fi: Speculative Movie Making Towards the Design of Ecology Futures

City Sci-fi  // Fall 2023 A City Science workshopFIRST CLASS:    September 13th (WED) - 2pm, E15-359Instructors:&n…
Archived
Project Research

The EBIFA robot (Everything Beautiful Is Far Away)

EBIFA (Everything Beautiful Is Far Away) is a crystalline robotic device that carried a tooth to outer space. EBIFA's form and fu…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Spatial Flux: Body and architecture in space

Structurally, zero gravity means that we do not have to contend with architecture's greatest arch-nemesis, gravity. This opens up a new wor…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Telepresent Drawings in Space

This project asks, how can we transmit experiences across space and time? The launching point of the project is to create a drawing that co…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Persian Domes for Human Space Exploration on Mars

The Lut Desert of Iran is one of the most similar regions to Mars. Close to that area, there are vernacular adobe architectures that are hu…
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Media Lab Research Theme: Connected Mind + Body

Connected Mind + Body | Revolutionizing the future of mental and physical wellbeing
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Media Lab Research Theme: Cultivating Creativity

Cultivating Creativity | Catalyzing a global movement enabling everyone to unlock and unleash their individual and collective creativity
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Media Lab Research Theme: Future Worlds

Future Worlds | Design and action for the future we want to live in
Project Research

City Science Network

MIT City Science has developed an international network of cooperative City Science LabsWe are developing concepts and key technology that …
Project Research

Candlewax Rockets: A Green Alternative for In-Space Propulsion

Wax-based hybrid rocket propellants, including paraffin (common candlewax) and beeswax show promise as high-performing hybrid rocket propel…
Project Research

TESSERAE: Self-Assembling Space Architecture

Overview: How will we build the coming generations of Space Architecture—the modules, space ships, and space stations that will enscon…
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Project Research

Aguahoja III

Aguahoja III expands the capabilities of a broad library of sustainable, organic 3D materials with generative patterns that countervail str…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Envirome Monitoring with CRISPR Biosensors

In recent years, there has been an increase in low-cost and open-source electronic and chemical sensors that hobbyists, concerned citizens,…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Moon Village

In 2015, the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Jan Wörner, introduced the concept of the “Moon Village.” Inspired by the…
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Archived
Project Research

Space Fabrics: resilient electronic textiles for distributed sensing in low Earth orbit

Overview: The outermost skin of a space-based structure is designed using materials known to protect against the harsh elements of space. S…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Tidmarsh Living Observatory Portal

The Tidmarsh Living Observatory Portal is a research project that focuses on the design and fabrication of a pavilion that will genera…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Lunar Open Architecture

Building an open, shared, and collaborative future of lunar exploration.Explore the Lunar Open Architecture (LOA) at loa.mit.edu. …
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Archived
Project Research

Fluid Expressions - Art and Craft in Microgravity

When imagining human life in space, how will we express our humanity and creativity in an alien environment? Can the art we make both refle…
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Archived
Project Research

H0TP0T

By Larissa Zhou and Adam ZacharFood is crucial to maintaining the physical and psychological health of humans in space. Eating food pr…
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Archived
Project Research

Reconfigurable space structures

Rapid prototyping platforms such as 3D printers used for digital fabrication are today able to manufacture custom objects for specific task…
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Archived
Project Research

Zenolith - An Interplanetary Time Device

On Earth, morning, noon, and night have their own specific meanings. The feeling of a second or a minute passing by, the shortening of the …
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Self Assembling Space Frames

Ever wish you could toss your folded up tent and have it self-assemble mid-air?  Well...you can. In a zero gravity environment.Self As…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Harmony in Precarity

By Po-Hao ChiHow could microgravity/hypergravity shape our perceptual experience of listening with weightlessness? How can we seek to explo…
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Archived
Project Research

Miniature Optical Steered Antenna for Intersatellite Communication (MOSAIC)

The Miniature Optical Steered Antenna for Intersatellite Communications (MOSAIC)By Shreeyam KackerThe Miniature Optical Steered Antenn…
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Archived
Project Research

Moving Liquids With No Moving Parts

Solid-state microfrabricated devices are in development to replace contemporary heavy mechanical components for use in spacecraft propellan…
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Archived
Project Research

Ø-scillation: oscillating chemistry in zero gravity and beyond

How did life originate? Nobody knows. Life might not even be native to our Earth - it might have come from asteroids or the interstellar me…
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Archived
Project Research

AgriFuge

By Somayajulu Dhulipala and Manwei ChanAs humanity explores deeper into space, long-duration missions will require horticulture activities …
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Archived
Project Research

Panspermia

By Nancy Valladares and Rae Yuping HsuThis project is an art performance that seeks to rethink imaginaries of multispecies surviv…
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Project Research

City Science Lab @ Andorra

Andorra and the City Science research group at the MIT Media Lab are taking on the challenge of turning Andorra into an “Internationally Re…
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Project Research

SpaceHuman 2.0

SpaceHuman is a soft robotics device designed to facilitate the exploration of environments with reduced gravity in a view of democratizati…
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Archived
Project Research

ELI: Electronic Life-detection Instrument

Life on Mars, if it exists, could have been transferred between Earth and Mars due to meteorite impacts. The Search for Extra-Terrestrial G…
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Archived
Project Research

Orbit Weaver

Gravity anchors all existence on Earth.It pulls a chaotic world to one single point in every moment of life. Even though gravity is everywh…
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Space Webs as Infrastructure for distributed sensor networks and other infrastructure on low gravity bodies

We study textiles and nets as a base form for growing infrastructure and allowing reconfigurable sensing on low gravity bodies (for instanc…
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Archived
Project Research

The Telemetron

Today, the environments that humans occupy in space are designed for survival. Humans are carefully shuttled to and from space, and during …
Archived
Research
Conformable Decoders

Converting the patterns of nature and the human body into beneficial signals and energy
Article Research

Feet on Earth, head in the stars

These five women at the MIT Media Lab are advancing aerospace science and research, driven by a love of our home planet.
Project Research

Enhancing well-being through low-frequency resonance: a parametric analysis of space geometry

Resonance at low frequencies strongly influences a room's perception of sound, which can enhance or deteriorate the acoustic experience. Pr…
Project Research

Machine learning approach to design acoustic experiences

Machine learning in acoustics is an emerging field with great potential yet to be explored. Previous research includes predicting acoustic …
Article Research

Making movement visible

Media Lab alum Nell Breyer discusses her new work, “Where Lines Converge,” previously on view in Manhattan’s Central Synagogue.
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Sculpting Evolution

Cultivating wisdom through evolutionary and ecological engineering
Article Research

Generative AI for makers: AI has truly arrived — and it’s here to help you make and craft

Personal Robots alum Stefania Druga and editor Keith Hammond explore the ways that crafters and makers can use generative AI techniques.
Post Research

MAS.S64 City Sci-fi : student projects Spring 2023

Final projects created in MAS.S64 City Sci-Fi: Speculative Movie Making Towards the Design of Future Cities.Students were prompted to …
Project Research

City Science Lab @ Guadalajara

The City Science Lab@Guadalajara is a collaboration with the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), a network composed of 15 campuses within the…
Post Research

President of the University of Guadalajara talks hyper-technology and social responsibility in higher education

On June 8, 2023, a delegation from the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) visited the MIT Media Lab to meet with faculty and researchers rega…
Project Research

Microgravity Extrusion

Traditional additive manufacturing processes, especially those that make use of liquid resin as the feedstock, are constrained by the gravi…
Project Research

The Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit

By Rachel BellisleOverview:The Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit (GLCS or “Skinsuit”) is an intravehicular activity suit for astronau…
Archived
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Social Machines

Promoting deeper learning and understanding in human networks
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Personal Robots

Building intelligent personified technologies that collaborate with people to help them learn, thrive, and flourish.
Course Research

MAS.S64 - City Sci-fi: Speculative Movie Making Towards the Design of Future Cities

This class is a hands-on workshop on fiction narrative and movie making.
Article Research

MIT Museum Collection Highlights: Holography

Explore the MIT Museum's collection of holograms, which includes examples of the rainbow holograms developed by Stephen Benton.
Research
Opera of the Future

Extending expression, learning, and health through innovations in musical composition, performance, and participation
Publication Research

Adaptive Virtual Neuroarchitecture

Jain, A., Maes, P., Sra, M. (2023). Adaptive Virtual Neuroarchitecture. In: Simeone, A., Weyers, B., Bialkova, S., Lindeman, R.W. (eds) Everyday Virtual and Augmented Reality. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05804-2_9
Project Research

Two Mobility Futures 0∞

Two Mobility Futures 0∞ is a research project that encompasses storytelling, a democratic decision making platform, a city model, and an im…
Research
Beyond the Cradle

Beyond the Cradle
Project Research

Persuasive Electric Vehicle (PEV)

An Alternative Autonomous Revolution System design for emerging urban contexts and societal aspirationsThe Persuasive Electric Vehicle…
Inventing the future of digitally augmented objects and environments.
Archived
Archived
Project Research

City Science Lab @ Aalto

Aalto University, Finland, and the MIT Media Lab’s City Science group are co-developing a version of the MIT CityScope platform for urban a…
Archived
Article Research

Breathing Architecture

Ekene Ijeoma's Breathing Pavilion installation explores the power and meaning of breath.
Article Research

Unconventional Investigations: Google's Chrisoula Kapelonis on a Human-Centric Approach, Interfaces for Living, and the Effects of Space

Chrisoula Kapelonis discusses the Media Lab's impact on her current work at the intersection of technology and built environment.
Project Research

SensorNets

SensorNets: Towards Reconfigurable Multifunctional Fine-grained  Soft and Stretchable Electronic Skins.SensorNets is a bioin…
Article Research

'I Make Tiny Homes That Can Grow 33% Bigger'

Hasier Larrea, an alum of the City Science research group, talks about the research that led him to co-found spinoff Ori.