Hiroshi Ishii and the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab have pioneered new ways for people to interact with computers, with the invention of the “tangible user interface.”It began with a vision of "Tangible Bits," where users can manipulate ordinary physical objects to access digital information. It evolved into a bolder vision of "Radical Atoms," where materials can change form and reconfigure themselves just as pixels can on a screen. This experimental exhibit of three iconic works — SandScape, inFORM, and TRANSFORM — is part of the MIT Museum's ongoing efforts to collect the physical machines as well as preserve the user experience of, in Ishii's words, making atoms dance.Learn more about the exhibits here, or watch the YouTube video of Hiroshi Ishii's talk at the MIT Museum below.This is an ongoing exhibition in our MIT Collects exhibition.

Janet Echelman's Remembering the Future widens our perspective in time, giving sculptural form to the history of the Earth's climate from the last ice age to the present moment, and then branching out to visualize multiple potential futures.Constructed from colored twines and ropes that are braided, knotted and hand-spliced to create a three-dimensional form, the immersive artwork greets you with its grand scale presiding over the MIT Museum lobby.This large-scale installation by 2022-2024 MIT Distinguished Visiting Artist Janet Echelman, was developed during her residency at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). Architect, engineer and MIT Associate Professor Caitlin Mueller collaborated on the development of the piece.The title, Remembering the Future was inspired by the writings commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard: "The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have."As the culmination of three years of dedicated research and collaboration, this site-specific installation explores Earth's climate timeline, translating historical records and possible futures into sculptural form.Echelman's climate research for this project was guided by Professor Raffaele Ferrari and the MIT Lorenz Center, creators of En-ROADS simulator which uses current climate data and modeling to visualize the impact of environmental policies and actions on energy systems.Learn more about Janet Echelman and the MIT Museum x CAST Collaboration.Learn more about the exhibition at the MIT Museum.

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required Limited to 35 participantsAttendance: Participants must attend all sessionsPrereq: Matrix MathematicsBig Data describes a new era in the digital age where the volume, velocity, and variety of data created across a wide range of fields is increasing at a rate well beyond our ability to analyze the data. Machine Learning has emerged as a powerful tool for transforming this data into usable information. Many technologies (e.g., spreadsheets, databases, graphs, matrices, deep neural networks, ...) have been developed to address these challenges. The common theme amongst these technologies is the need to store and operate on data as tabular collections instead of as individual data elements. This class describes the common mathematical foundation of these tabular collections (associative arrays) that apply across a wide range of applications and technologies. Associative arrays unify and simplify Big Data and Machine Learning. Understanding these mathematical foundations allows the student to see past the differences that lie on the surface of Big Data and Machine Learning applications and technologies and leverage their core mathematical similarities to solve the hardest Big Data and Machine Learning challenges.This interactive course will involve significant interactive student participation and a small amount of homework. Those students who fully participate and complete the homework will receive a certificate of completion.The MIT Press book "Mathematics of Big Data" that will be used throughout the course will be provided.E-mail the instructor to sign up.Instructors:Hayden Jananthan - Research Scientist MIT Supercomputing Center - hayden.jananthan@ll.mit.eduJeremy Kepner - Fellow & Head MIT Supercomputing Center - kepner@ll.mit.eduSignup Deadline: Dec 15

In this IAP series, you will learn how to design, test, and iterate your own puzzle box while exploring what makes puzzles fun, challenging, frustrating, and/or rewarding. No previous experience with puzzles, engineering, or modeling is needed. We will provide supplies for prototyping and an introduction to digital prototyping.Registration will be capped at 15 participants. Please only RSVP if you plan on attending most of the sessions.Series Schedule (Subject to Modification)In-Person Sessions are 10am-11:30amOnline sessions are 10am-11amWeek 1Monday 1/5: In-PersonExplore a variety of puzzle boxes while exploring goals, challenge level, and design decisionsBegin to brainstorm and outline ideas for your own puzzle boxTuesday 1/6: VirtualShare and discuss initial design ideasExplore common mechanisms, signposting, and how to systematically add complexityWednesday 1/7: VirtualBegin prototyping puzzle boxes and experimenting with mechanismsExplore how to effectively user-testThursday 1/8: ZoomIntroduction to designing puzzles digitallyFriday 1/9: In-PersonBuild and feedback sessionWeek 2Wednesday 1/14: VirtualDesign check-in (Note time of this session may change)Week 3Wednesday 1/21: In-PersonTesting and iterationFriday 1/23Present and play test your puzzles

Hiroko Matsuyama, an accomplished instructor of the Ohara school of Ikebana, will show students the basics of this ancient art as they create their own flower arrangements.

Time: 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)Location: Pasadena, CA