In the Media

A new survey by Princeton Review finds that MIT is the top dream college in the country among college applicants, reports Lara Salahi for NBC Boston.

Prof. John Horton and his colleagues have found that increases in Uber fares only benefit drivers for a limited amount of time, reports Kevin Lewis for The Boston Globe. “They found that fare increases initially provided drivers with higher hourly earnings, but that boost wore off after a couple months,” writes Lewis. “With the higher rates, drivers tried to work more hours and passengers used the service less, reducing the average time each driver was matched with passengers.”

Graduate students at MIT rescued a dog that was abandoned from a stolen vehicle, reports Kate Armanini The Boston Globe. “The students used the dog’s tags to contact the owner, who was ‘appreciative and emotional’ to be reunited with the dog,” writes Armanini.

MIT engineers have developed a new technique that enables bug-sized aerial robots to handle a sizeable amount of damage and still fly, reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. “The new repair techniques could come in handy when using flying robots for search-and-rescue missions in difficult environments like dense forests or collapsed buildings,” writes Paul.

Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Heitman highlights Prof. Alan Lightman’s book, “The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science.” Heitman writes Lightman’s “gift for distilling complex ideas and emotions to their bright essence quickly wins the day.” He adds that Lightman “belongs to a noble tradition of science writers, including Oliver Sacks and Lewis Thomas, who can poke endlessly into a subject and, in spite of their prodding, or perhaps because of it, stir up fresh embers of wonder.”

President Sally Kornbluth discusses the importance of seeing more women in leadership positions, noting that universities that tap into the full range of human potential are the ones most likely to elevate the most important questions, and to bring the best minds and talents to answering them. Kornbluth notes that having more women in leadership is “exciting, both for the talent and perspective they bring, and because, as role models, they can help broaden the pool of who can imagine themselves in our classrooms and in our laboratories." 

Dr. Akshay Syal, a medical fellow for NBC News, discusses how MIT researchers have developed a new technique to 3D print custom replicas of the human heart.

A new study by MIT researchers finds that strategic placement of EV charging stations and creating systems to help stagger charging times could help reduce or eliminate the need for new power plants to handle the impact of EV charging on the grid, reports Sharon Udasin and Saul Elbein for The Hill. The researchers found that “better availability of charging stations at workplaces could help take advantage of peak power being produced midday by solar energy facilities.”

Prof. Nicholas de Monchaux speaks with New York Times reporter Vanessa Friedman about NASA’s newest spacesuit. The suit is “the costume for the drama we project into space,” says Monchaux. “[The way we] put ourselves into the heavens.” 

Prof. Albert Saiz discusses how older Americans are impacting the real estate market in the Greater Boston area. “There’s a mismatch now,” saysSaiz. “As people age in place, these households tend to be two people or sometimes one person in maybe a three- or four-bedroom home. Since they’re not downsizing as we expected, we have a huge, huge need for bigger homes to host younger families.”

MIT scientists have uncovered evidence that wildfire smoke particles can lead to chemical reactions in the atmosphere that erode the ozone layer, reports Margaret Osborne for Smithsonian Magazine. “From a scientific point of view, it’s very exciting to see this brand new effect,” says Solomon. “From a planetary point of view… it would be just tragic to have mankind screw up solving the ozone hole by deciding that we’re going to [allow] a lot more of these fires if we don’t mitigate climate change.”

Prof. Gang Chen speaks with Times Higher Education reporter Pola Lem about how “government interference has created an atmosphere of fear for foreign-born academics in the US.” Says Chen, “I don’t expect myself to go back to what I was before, but I’m also determined. I’m not going to be beaten in my science. I’m going to become stronger through this ordeal.” He adds, “I hope basic science can remain open.”

NECN spotlights how a group of MIT Sloan students jumped into action to aid a dog who was dumped out of a car. The dog, Millie, “was reunited with her grateful owner, who came to MIT to meet police and the students.”

MIT Legatum Center Executive Director Dina Sherif and Pia Sawhney write for CNBC about how the Silicon Valley Bank collapse will impact various companies, communities, and innovation ecosystems. “The immediate banking crisis is over,” writes Sherif. “Now it’s time to rebuild a new system for financing innovation to meet today’s needs.”

MIT graduate students rescued and reunited a stolen dog with its owner after it was abandoned following a carjacking, reports Timothy Nazzaro for Boston 25. “After recovering the dog, the MIT students contacted the dog’s owner using the information on the pooch’s collar tags,” writes Nazzaro. “The owner was reunited with ‘Millie,’ the pup, at MIT and was very grateful to the students who stepped in to save her."