The next major replacements for the Boeing 737 and 777 models may not actually come from Boeing at all. MIT researchers recently presented NASA with two models for efficient, low emissions planes. This is part of a $2.1 million research contract awarded to the university by NASA in 2008. MIT’s objective: design quiet subsonic planes that emit 70% less NOx, burn 70% less fuel than current models, and have the ability to take off from short runways.

The 180-passenger D “double bubble” series, intended to replace the Boeing 737 & the 350 passenger H “hybrid wing body” series, a replacement for the Boeing 777.

Last Friday, MIT opened the doors of it’s newest big budget building, a spacious complex for the MIT Media Lab. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki Associates, with project architect Leers Weinzapfel Associates.

Flyfire is a hovering, programmable swarm of mini-helicopter-mounted LEDs developed by MIT’s SENSEable City Lab. The Flyfire canvas can transform itself from one shape to another or morph a two-dimensional photographic image into an articulated shape.