Healing power of music + materials and AI + alleviating poverty

By rahmat hidayat

Kamis, 16 Oktober 2025

view in browser MIT Daily October 16, 2025 Greetings! Here’s the latest from the MIT community.   Have feedback to share? Email mitdailyeditor@mit.edu. Music’s Healing Power PhD student Kimaya (Kimy) Lecamwasam is investigating the impact of live music and concert experiences on the mental health and well-being of audience members and performers. She is also working to clinically validate music listening, composition, and performance as health interventions. “That close connection between making music and feeling well is what first pushed me to ask why music has such a powerful hold on us,” she says, “and eventually led me to study the science behind it.” Full story via MIT News → Top Headlines Checking the quality of materials just got easier with a new AI tool Acting as a “virtual spectrometer,” SpectroGen generates spectroscopic data in any modality, such as X-ray or infrared, to quickly assess a material’s quality. Full story via MIT News → Optimizing food subsidies: Applying digital platforms to maximize nutrition An algorithm can change the face of food assistance policy in the Global South, says MIT assistant professor and J-WAFS researcher Ali Aouad. Full story via MIT News → Remembering Professor Emerita Jeanne Shapiro Bamberger, a pioneer in music education The former department chair was an early innovator in the use of artificial intelligence to both study and influence how children learn music. Full story via MIT News → #ThisisMIT Follow @sloanstudentlife on Instagram→ In the Media Scientists just took a giant step toward scaling up nuclear fusion // Gizmodo MIT researchers developed a method that can predict how plasma will behave in a tokamak reactor given a set of initial conditions. The findings may have “lowered one of the major barriers to achieving large-scale nuclear fusion.” Full story via Gizmodo→ Collegiate Collaborations MIT researchers work regularly with colleagues at universities across the U.S. to devise new solutions to complex challenges. These connections demonstrate how shared expertise and diverse viewpoints can amplify discovery and accelerate solutions that benefit communities across America and beyond. Recently, researchers from MIT and Syracuse University dug into ancient rock cores in South Africa to unearth clues about the timing of the Great Oxidation Event. Occurring over 2 billion years ago, this marked the first time oxygen produced by photosynthesis started to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere. The team’s work provides insight on how Earth’s environment, particularly oxygen levels, has evolved over time. Full story via Syracuse University Today → This edition of the MIT Daily was brought to you by a plethora of #onlyatMIT pumpkins. 🎃 Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day! —MIT News Forward This Email Subscribe This email was sent to rh3252705.pese@blogger.com because of your affiliation with MIT, or because you signed up for our newsletters. subscribe update preferences unsubscribe view in browser MIT News Office · 77 Massachusetts Avenue · Cambridge, MA 02139 · USA

Share :

Facebook Twitter Google+