In the Media

The Atlantic highlights a section of Prof. Alan Lightman’s forthcoming book, “The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science.” Lightman writes, “I call myself a spiritual materialist. As a scientist, I’m a materialist. Not in the sense of seeking happiness in cars and nice clothes, but in the literal sense of the word: the belief that everything is made out of atoms and molecules, and nothing more. Further, I believe that the material stuff of the universe is governed by a small number of fundamental laws. Yet I have had transcendent experiences.”

The Verge reporter Justine Calma writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that while wind energy has measurably improved air quality, only 32% of those benefits reached low-income communities. “The research shows that to squeeze out the greatest health benefits, wind farms need to intentionally replace coal and gas power plants,” writes Calma. “And to clean up the most polluted places — particularly those with more residents of color and low-income households — those communities need to be in focus when deploying new renewable energy projects.”

A new study by MIT researchers finds that increased usage of wind power is improving air quality in parts of the U.S., however only a third of the health benefits are being seen in disadvantaged communities, reports Alan Mozes for HealthDay. "Going forward," explains Prof. Noelle Selin, "more targeted policies are needed to reduce the disparities at the same time, for example by directly targeting [fossil fuel] sources that influence certain marginalized communities."

Prof. Danna Freedman speaks with Callie Crossley of GBH about the inspiration for her research and being named a 2022 MacArthur grant fellow. “What was really an under designed idea was taking molecules and using them for quantum information science,” says Freedman. “There is a lot of data, but less intention and realizing this wide open space and this possibility was really tremendous to me because having a new opportunity to design inorganic molecules is very exciting.”

A new study by Prof. Daron Acemoglu, former postdoctoral fellow Nicolaj Mühlbach and London School of Economics Prof. Andrew Scott finds that while American jobs have become age-friendlier, “older workers haven’t been the biggest beneficiaries of this age-friendly job bonanza,” reports Andrew Van Dam for The Washington Post. The researchers found, “workers age 62 and older were significantly more willing to accept a smaller paycheck if a job involved moderate physical activity, more time sitting and the autonomy to choose how to do their job,” writes Van Dam.

Increased usage of wind energy has led to health benefits, but does not affect all communities equally, reports Saul Elbein for The Hill. The researchers found that in order to increase the benefits of wind energy, “the electricity industry would have to spin down the most polluting plants at times of high wind-supply — rather than their most expensive ones,” writes Elbein.

Physicists from MIT and elsewhere have created a small “wormhole” effect between two quantum systems on the same processor and were able to send a signal through it, reports Charlotte Hu for Popular Science. This new model is a “way to study the fundamental problems of the universe in a laboratory setting,” writes Hu. 

Cognito Therapeutics, founded by Prof. Ed Boyden and Prof. Li-Huei Tsai, has secured a large-scale trial to test a new device aimed at treating Alzheimer’s disease, reports Sarah McBride for Bloomberg.

Forbes reporter Ed Garsten spotlights Sampriti Bhattacharyya PhD ’17, founder of Navier, and her work in developing the N30, the first commercially available electric hydrofoiling boat in the United States. Bhattacharyya, a former aerospace engineer, “turned to waterborne transportation during her doctorate work at MIT where she worked on underwater drones and had a key realization,” writes Garsten.

Writing for NBC Boston 10, Senior Lecturer Tara Swart highlights three exercises that can help reduce stress and anxiety. “While anxiety can be scary, understanding how our bodies and brains react during those moments can remove some of the pressure and help us take control of our nervous system," writes Swart,

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have created a holographic wormhole using Google’s Sycamore quantum computer, reports Sarah Wells for Vice. “The researchers created an entangled state (a quantum mechanical phenomena where distant particles can still communicate with each other) between two halves of a quantum computer and sent a message in between,” writes Wells. “This message was scrambled as it entered the system and, through entanglement, unscrambled on the other side.”

Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Yasheng Huang examines the roots of the protests underway in China. “Covid protests are occurring at the height of China’s autocratic moment. While there are calls for free speech and elections, the rallying cry since Sunday has been against a jarring oppression: the incarceration of hundreds of millions of people in their homes and in field hospitals.”

A team of researchers, including scientists from MIT, “simulated a pair of black holes in a quantum computer and sent a message between them through a shortcut in space-time called a wormhole,” reports Dennis Overbye for The New York Times. The development is another “step in the effort to understand the relation between gravity, which shapes the universe, and quantum mechanics, which governs the subatomic realm of particles,” writes Overbye.

CNN’s Ashley Strickland highlights a study by MIT researchers finding that a mysterious flash of light was caused by a black hole jet pointing directly at Earth. The researchers determined that the flash of light was “100 times more powerful than the most powerful gamma-ray burst afterglow,” explains research scientist Dheeraj “DJ” Pasham.

New Scientist reporter Philip Ball spotlights Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and his team for their work in superconductivity. “We should expect some surprises,” writes Ball. “Jarillo-Herrero’s initial discovery of superconductivity in these systems came completely out of the blue. And despite the progress made in the years since, he insists that ‘we have barely scratched the surface of the many hundreds of possible more systems we can build, with very different constituents, geometries and complexity.’”