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In the Media

The Boston Globe

Profs. Richard Binzel, Julien de Wit and Research Scientist Artem Burdanov speak with Boston Globe reporter Sarah Mesdjian about asteroid 2024 YR4 and their work developing a new method to “find and track far-away asteroids that were previously undetectable by using technology they compared to long-exposure images.” Says Binzel: “With improving technology, we are going to be aware of more and more of these objects.” He adds: “It’s a really important learning process what we’re doing right now. So when we find more and more of them, we know how to quickly process them and assess which of them are really worth looking further into.”

Nature

Nature reporter Elizabeth Gibney spotlights QuEra, an MIT spinout that uses atoms and lasers to encode quantum bits or “qubits.” Gibney notes that in the QuEra system, “physicists trap an array of rubidium atoms using laser light and store quantum information in the energy levels of their electrons.”

Forbes

Steve Mann PhD '97 has been awarded the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award for his contributions toward the development of virtual reality, augmented reality, wearable technology, eXtended Reality products and services, reports Thomas Coughlin for Forbes. “Widely regarded as ‘the father of wearable computing,’” Mann “invented, designed, and built the world’s first smartwatch capable of downloading and running a wide variety of apps for health, well-being, and fitness tracking, ushering in a new era of personal health,” explains Coughlin. 

The Boston Globe

MIT’s Artfinity Festival kicks off on Saturday, February 15th with a celebration of the new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building and Thomas Tull Concert Hall featuring a free afternoon open house and evening concert, writes A.Z. Madonna for The Boston Globe. “What this building brings to us is support for performance of all different types of music, whether it’s classical or jazz or world music, and then the ability to support various functions with our students,” says Keeril Makan, associate dean of SHASS. 

GBH

Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks with GBH reporter Robert Goulston about the potential impact of tariffs on imported metals and lumber. “When you place a tariff on an imported good, it’s not just the price of the imports that increase, but it’s also the price of the domestically manufactured products that increase,” explains Knittel. “Obviously the cost of importing steel and aluminum will increase, but domestic manufacturers will also raise their price because they can.”

Financial Times

Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, and Prof. Russ Tedrake speak with the Financial Times about how advances in AI have made it possible for robots to learn new skills and perform complex tasks. “All these cool things that we only dreamed of, we can now begin to realize,” says Rus. “Now we have to make sure that what we do with all these superpowers is good.”

Forbes

Prof. Ed Boyden and Prof. Li-Huei Tsai have “found that if gamma waves through non-invasive stimulation, were put back into baseline frequency, it could slow down the process in certain brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s,” reports Hansa Bhargava for Forbes

Beyond The Valley

Prof. Max Tegmark speaks with CNBC “Beyond The Valley” podcast hosts Arjun Kharpal and Tom Chitty about concerns surrounding the future of AI systems. “I think, on an optimistic note here, we can have almost everything that we’re excited about with AI,” says Tegmark, “if we simply insist on having some basic safety standards before people can sell powerful AI systems.”

The Boston Globe

During a town hall-style discussion at the Museum of Science, Prof. David Kaiser explored the importance of scientific exploration in a democracy and its role in spurring on national progress, reports Brian Bergstein for The Boston Globe. “Science, which needs a lot of resources, has to be political,” says Kaiser. “We have to make the case in a persuasive way about why this kind of activity is worthy of support.” 

Community Updates

Featured Multimedia

Dr. Woodie Flowers was a visionary in mechanical engineering education, shaping learning at MIT and beyond. Flowers passed away in 2019, but his legacy lives on and the magnitude of the educational revolution he helped to evolve was profound. His friends, former colleagues, and students reflect on his life and legacy.

Elaine Chew SM ’98, PhD ’00, a concert pianist and professor of engineering at King’s College London, has been developing novel methods for studying music and its physiological impacts. Her work includes musical compositions based on unusual heart rhythms and systems for measuring and analyzing how classical music impacts the heart.

Josh Angrist is the MIT Ford Professor of Economics. A Nobel-prize winning economist, Angrist is co-founder and director of MIT’s Blueprint Labs, where he focuses on researching methods for measuring school effectiveness. Angrist joined MIT in 1996. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Stefanie Mueller is an associate professor with a joint appointment in MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Mechanical Engineering departments. Her work is focused on developing novel hardware and software systems that advance personal fabrication technologies. President Kornbluth talks with Mueller about the future of customizable 3D printing, what it could mean to manufacturing and sustainability, and how to make it accessible to everyone.

Inspired by the mechanics of the human vocal tract, a new AI model can produce and understand vocal imitations of everyday sounds. The system can also be run in reverse to guess real-world sounds from human vocal imitations.The method could help build new sonic interfaces for entertainment and education.

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