Senior lecturer Charles Kane said: "A severe deficit needs to be addressed and tax cuts will only add to the issue. It is time we face reality as to the overall budget deficit and suffer the related consequences. For most of the upper class, this is relatively painless. Of course, tax proceeds need to be utilized in the most efficient way to run government."

In this podcast, senior lecturer Miro Kazakoff said the key to making data persuasive isn't about showing more information — it's about understanding your audience well enough to know how to relay it in a way that will connect with them.

While building new reactors on time and on budget in western countries is proving to be a struggle, extending the lives of power stations beyond their typical 40-year licences can be achieved more quickly and at a fraction of the cost. "We need power — people are looking around for where they can get it," said senior lecturer John Parsons. "Life extensions on ageing nuclear plants are pretty quick on the list of no-brainer first things to do."

Research by professor Alex 'Sandy' Pentland showed that AI can help employees recognize blind spots in their communication, offering insights that would be difficult to catch on their own. Many companies are integrating AI-driven coaching tools to help employees improve conversations by identifying when they are speaking too fast, dominating discussions or failing to engage the other person.

Quantum computing is likely to become so valuable, said principal research scientist Andrew McAfee, that it makes sense for tech firms to spend on it now. "This allows them to extend their timeline beyond the next quarter. Because for those who manage to scale quantum computing the returns will certainly be there."

Paul Cheek, executive director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship said: "Our mission at the Trust Center is to advance the field of innovation-driven entrepreneurship everywhere. We can't do it with intuition or by throwing stuff against the wall. We have to practice entrepreneurship in a rigorous, systematic way that increases the odds of success."

Professor Emilio Castilla warned that pursuing meritocracy "may have unintended negative consequences for organisations and their employees if not carefully designed and implemented by leaders." He co-authored a paper identifying the "meritocracy paradox," which found that when leaders explicitly promote meritocratic values in an organisation, managers tend to favour male employees over equally performing female employees, awarding them higher merit-based rewards — even when both genders achieve identical performance levels.

Lecturer Malia Lazu wrote: "Despite Trump's threat to overturn decades of progress in establishing and sustaining diverse and inclusive workplaces and cultures, DEI is not dead. As civil rights movements remind us, you can't stop a people's desire for justice. The fact of the matter is DEI is good for business and the economy, just ask the business community."