Information theory

Beefing up public-key encryptionMIT researchers show how to secure widely used encryption schemes against attackers who have intercepted examples of successful decryption.

Explaining the origins of word order using information theoryResearchers believe that information theory — the discipline that gave us digital communication — can explain differences between human languages.

What number is halfway between 1 and 9? Is it 5 — or 3?A new information-theoretical model of human sensory perception and memory sheds light on some peculiarities of the nervous system.

The elusive capacity of networksCalculating the total capacity of a data network is a notoriously difficult problem, but information theorists are beginning to make some headway.

The blind codemakerNew error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission, even over fluctuating wireless links.

Perfect communication with imperfect chipsError-correcting codes discovered at MIT can still guarantee reliable communication, even in cellphones with failure-prone low-power chips.

Secure, synchronized, social TVA technique called network coding could protect users’ privacy and providers’ content while making communications networks more efficient.

Prodigy of probabilityNorbert Wiener gained fame as the father of cybernetics, but his earlier work on statistical descriptions of complex systems may prove more important.

How wise are crowds?By melding economics and engineering, researchers show that as social networks get larger, they usually get better at sorting fact from fiction.

Can you find me now?By demonstrating fundamental limits on their accuracy, MIT researchers show how to improve wireless location-detection systems.

Rethinking networkingMIT researchers helped develop a theory that promised much more efficient data networks; then they were the first to put it into practice.

The power of ‘random’A ‘seemingly loopy’ technique that MIT researchers helped develop could dramatically improve the efficiency of communications networks.

Explained: Gallager codesIn 1993, scientists achieved the maximum rate for data transmission — only to find they’d been scooped 30 years earlier by an MIT grad student.

Explained: The Shannon limitA 1948 paper by Claude Shannon SM ’37, PhD ’40 created the field of information theory — and set its research agenda for the next 50 years.