Systems Design

Systems Design

Book cover titled "The End of Driving: Automated Cars, Robotaxis, Sharing vs Owning, and the Future of Mobility" by Bern Grush, John S. Niles, and Andrew Miller, Second Edition.
Robotaxis can transform cities by improving mobile efficiency, equity, and safety — if cities adopt policies that prioritize the public good.
A person stands in front of a large, circular particle detector in a brightly lit, high-tech facility.
CERN scientists achieved record-breaking accuracy in mapping the mass of a key particle in the Standard Model.
A fictional map of a continent named eneropa, showing various regions like tidal states, ccsr, and solaria with topographical details and a scale.
A radical proposal reimagines Europe as a carbon-neutral continent where national boundaries are replaced by regions defined by renewable energy capabilities.
Two women in lab coats working with a beaker.
The new electrically conductive substrate could be the future of hydroponic farming.
nasa earth at night
With LEDs bringing brighter nighttime lighting than ever before, and thousands of new satellites polluting the skies, astronomy needs help.
A pile of recyclable plastic bottles.
It’s early days, but if the efforts can be efficiently scaled-up, such biological recycling could put a dent in the plastic waste problem.
A man exploring quantum computing in a room with red lights.
Nature may not allow us full access to the weirdness of quantum mechanics.
A woman reclining on a bed with a laptop, illustrating Gall's Law.
Functional complex systems arise from functional simple systems. Failing to heed this advice can and will lead to disaster.
"It can truly allow you to see the physical world in ways that were not possible before."
In a state of "hyperwar," accidents or unexpected AI decisions could lead to widespread devastation before humans could intervene.
3d printing illiustration
Using shaped ultrasound, researchers can 3D print objects in one shot.
8mins
Why we keep giving power to the wrong people, according to political scientist and associate professor Brian Klaas.
Apart from the energy needed to flip the switch, no other energy is needed to transmit the information.
If your computer crashes, it might be due to a star that exploded somewhere in the Universe millions of years ago.
crystallization
Crystallization is an entirely random process, so scientists have developed clever ways to investigate it at a molecular level.
null island
Where the prime meridian meets the equator, a non-existent island captures our imagination — and our non-geocoded data.
cellulose nanocrystals
Using cellulose from trees and a synthetic polymer, MIT researchers have created a material that "is stronger and tougher than some types of bone, and harder than typical aluminum alloys."
A new “common-sense” approach to computer vision enables artificial intelligence that interprets scenes more accurately than other systems do.
Telescopes from the ground are bigger, but have to fight the atmosphere. Here’s how to win. In astronomy, seeing farther and fainter than ever before requires three simultaneous approaches. First light, […]
The quest for the ultimate vacuum just got taken to the next level thanks to a new technique: the quantum squeezer. One of the most understated frontiers in all of […]
Lasers, mirrors, and computational advances can all work together to push ground-based astronomy past even the limits of Hubble. One of the most profoundly remarkable properties about our atmosphere is that […]
Did you guess ‘resonance’? Guess again. “At least six lamp posts were snapped off while I watched. A few minutes later, I saw a side girder bulge out. But, though the […]