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

The Department of War invests nearly $1 trillion each year to develop, fund, and field the capabilities that protect national security. Behind this effort lies a complex system of interconnected processes—the recently nixed Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process, and the Defense Acquisition System—that together determine what the military buys, how it funds it, and how it gets delivered. This seminar distills how these systems work, who the key players are, and how recent reforms are reshaping them. Participants will gain practical insight into navigating DoD’s priorities, understanding incentives, and identifying entry points for dual-use technologies and startups seeking to engage with defense customers.This class is offered twice during IAP.This class is offered twice. Please sign up for only one session.To register please complete this form: https://mit-bwsi.formstack.com/forms/intro_gov_contractsIn-person only at NE45-202 (300 Technology Square)

Welcome to the Middle Eastern Ensemble! Please join us as we play music from the wider region of the middle east, from Afghanistan to Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Armenia. Any skill level or instrument welcome. There will be four rehearsals and a final performance. Weekly meetings on Thursdays from 6-8pm. Please contact garo@mit.edu if interested.

The irony of artificial intelligence is that it often reveals more about human intelligence than machines themselves.From AI in the home to robots in the workplace, the presence of AI all around us compels us to question its potential and recognize the risks. What has become clear is that the more we advance AI technology and consider machine ability versus human ability, the more we need to mind the gap.Researchers at MIT have been at the forefront of this evolving field. The work presented in this exhibition builds on the pioneering contributions of figures such as Claude Shannon and Seymour Papert, while highlighting contemporary research that spans computer science, mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and the social sciences.As research probes the connections between human and machine intelligence, it also underscores the profound differences. With AI now embedded in everyday life — from smart assistants in our homes to robots in the workplace — we are challenged to ask critical questions about its potential, its risks, and the boundaries between machine ability and human capability.Join us in shining light on the tremendous promise, unforeseen impacts, and everyday misconceptions of AI in this riveting, interactive exhibition.Learn more about the exhibition.

Imagine different worlds in Cosmograph: Speculative Fictions for the New Space Age, an exhibition that brings art and science together to examine possible futures where outer space is both a frontier for human exploration and a new territory for exploitation and development by private enterprise.We are living at the dawn of a New Space Age. What will the future hold? Will space elevators bring humanity's space junk to turn it into useful material here on Earth? Will asteroid mining be the next frontier in prospecting? Will the promise of geo-engineering turn into a nightmare of unintended consequences?Explore these possibilities and more in our new exhibition that blurs the lines between fact and fantasy, and art and science.

MIT is not a place so much as it is a unique collection of exceptional people.What is essential at MIT is asking questions others may not ask, trying the unexpected in pursuit of a greater solution, and embracing distinctive skills and combinations of talents. Whether encompassing global issues, ventures into space, or efforts to improve our daily lives, stories told in this exhibit showcase the process of discovery that sits at the heart of MIT.Delve into the experimental culture and collaborative spirit of the MIT community in this dynamic and interactive exploration of groundbreaking projects and ongoing innovation."MIT’s greatest invention may be itself—an unusual concentration of unusual talent, forever reinventing itself on a mission to make a better world." — President L. Rafael ReifLocated in the Brit J. (1961) and Alex (1949) d'Arbeloff GallerySupported by the Biogen Foundation