June 20, 2025

The startups rolling out of Europe’s early-stage micromobility scene

A handful of early stage micromobility startups out of Europe that are filling the gaps in a maturing ecosystem.

Others

Anthropic’s latest flagship AI might not have been incredibly costly to train

February 25, 2025

Anthropic’s newest flagship AI model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, cost “a few tens of millions of dollars” to train using less than 10^26 FLOPs of computing power. That’s according to Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, who in an X post on Monday relayed a clarification he’d received from Anthropic’s PR. “I was contacted by Anthropic who told me […]

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An environmentally friendly alternative to plastic microbeads

February 25, 2025
The tiny beads added to some cleansers and cosmetics are one source of the long-­lasting microplastics that threaten the environment. But MIT researchers have found a way to address the problem at its source: replacing them with polymers that break down into harmless sugars and amino acids. Particles of this polymer could also be used…

Tiny tubes wrap around brain cells

February 25, 2025
Wearable devices like smart watches and fitness trackers help us measure and learn from physical functions such as heart rates and sleep stages. Now MIT researchers have developed a tiny equivalent for individual brain cells. These soft, battery-free wireless devices, actuated with light, are designed to wrap around different parts of neurons, such as axons…

Perplexity launches $50M seed and pre-seed VC fund

February 25, 2025

Perplexity, the developer of an AI-powered search engine, is raising a $50 million seed and pre-seed investment fund, CNBC reported. Although the majority of the capital is coming from limited partners, Perplexity is using some of the capital it raised for the company’s growth to anchor the fund.  Perplexity has reportedly raised $500 million at […]

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Anthropic’s Claude AI is playing Pokémon on Twitch — slowly

February 25, 2025

On Tuesday afternoon, Anthropic launched Claude Plays Pokémon on Twitch, a live stream of Anthropic’s newest AI model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, playing a game of Pokémon Red. It’s become a fascinating experiment of sorts, showcasing the capabilities of today’s AI tech and people’s reactions to them. AI researchers have used all sorts of video games, […]

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Michael ’87 and Kathleen Schoen

February 25, 2025
As an undergraduate, Michael Schoen ’87 found that joining his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, and participating in team sports helped him make the most of his years at MIT. “MIT changed my life,” says Schoen, who played on rugby and varsity soccer teams. “But without athletics and my fraternity, I’m not sure I’d have gotten through…