Custom-designed audio cones offer a unique listening experience, allowing visitors to hear directly from MIT’s celebrated researchers and thinkers. The recordings are triggered when visitors step in front of each cone, with pulsing interior lights accentuating the speakers’ voices and an outer LED ring highlighting the cones’ sculptural quality.

This application teaches visitors about artificial intelligence by inviting them to write poetry with a specially-trained AI. Visitors can alternate writing lines with the AI, which suggests contributions based on the user’s input. Completed poems are added to an archive and displayed on the curving screens overhead, forming a river of collaborative poetry.

The MIT Museum makes complex scientific concepts accessible through interactive and engaging experiences. Bluecadet designed the Sara Seager Equation interactive to guide visitors step-by-step through predicting the likelihood of discovering extraterrestrial life. Custom-built knobs with integrated LED lighting allow visitors to adjust variables. A dynamic starfield responds in real time, illustrating the conditions and odds of finding life in the universe.

This interactive table allows up to four users to explore the long-term impact of gene editing on a species. Real-time simulations use scientific data to show the consequences of their choices. Users learn the risks and rewards of gene editing and vote on whether their methods deserve further research.

The Identity interactive stations share audio recordings and oral histories of Black professionals in STEAM. Visitors can select playlists or browse the museum’s entire audio collection. Nearby projections and in-station slideshows illustrate the commentary with relevant visuals. A docent mode allows museum guides to control the full experience via personal iPad.