Researchers at MIT have developed a silk-based biodegradable substitute for microplastics, reports Ysabelle Kempe for Scientific American. “This type of research is urgent for companies that face tightening regulations on deliberate use of microplastics,” writes Kempe.
Researchers at MIT and Stanford have developed a new tool that can better map the inside of an asteroid that risks crashing into earth, writes Pranshu Verma for The Washington Post. “Understanding the interior," said Prof. Julian De Witt, "helps us understand the extent to which close encounters could be of concern, and how to deal with them.”
Vox reporter Bryan Walsh spotlights Prof. Max Tegmark, co-founder of The Future of Life Institute (FLI), for his work in reducing technological existential disasters. “In creating FLI, Tegmark joined a host of other institutions… that arose in recent years to put both a scholarly and an activist lens of the rising danger of existential catastrophes,” writes Walsh.
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Freakonomics Radio host Stephen Dubner about his research exploring how having a boss who attended business school can impact a business. “The main findings are actually very simple,” says Acemoglu. “As soon as you have a business school manager, you see a relative decline in wages and labor share.”
Alexander Sludds, a graduate student in MIT’s Research Lab for Electronics, joins Megan Cantwell on the Science magazine podcast to discuss his team’s new method for processing data on edge devices, which are devices that connect two networks together.
A new tool developed by researchers at MIT and Stanford could help map out the interior of asteroids, reports Alison Synder and Miriam Kramer for Axios. This could make “it easier to know the most effective way of throwing them off-course,” writes Synder and Kramer.
Sally Kornbluth has been named the next president of MIT, reports the Associated Press. “Maybe above all, I was drawn here because this is a moment when humanity faces huge global problems, problems that urgently demand the world’s most skillful minds and hands,” said Kornbluth. “In short, I believe this is MIT’s moment. I could not imagine a greater privilege than helping the people of MIT seize its full potential.”
New York Times reporter Anemona Hartocollis writes that Sally Kornbluth, the 18th President-elect of MIT, will be the “second female president of the university, and will join a long list of women in its top leadership ranks. The provost, chancellor, dean of science and chair of the M.I.T. Corporation, the school’s governing body, are all women.”
President-elect Sally Kornbluth discusses her hopes and aspirations for her tenure as MIT’s president with Katie Mogg of The Boston Globe. “I just want to continue the excellence of MIT,” she said. “I hope when I turn my head back down the road some years from now that this will have been viewed as a period of continued excellence, but also of the discovery, innovation, and invention of things that continue to really have a huge impact on the world stage.”
Forbes contributor Michael T. Nietzel spotlights how Sally Kornbluth, the provost of Duke University, has been selected as the 18th President-elect of MIT. “A highly accomplished researcher, Kornbluth is currently the Jo Rae Wright University Professor of Biology at Duke where she has been a member of the faculty since 1994, first in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at the Duke University School of Medicine and then as a member of the Department of Biology in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences,” writes Nietzel.
Vox reporter Sigal Samuel spotlights Joy Buolamwini MS ’17 PhD ’22 for her work in uncovering the bias in artificial intelligence and the real-world harm it creates. Buolamwini “founded the Algorithmic Justice League, where researchers work with activists to hold the AI industry to account,” writes Samuel.
The hosts of Bloomberg Radio’s Baystate Business discussed the announcement that Sally Kornbluth has been named the 18th president of MIT. "[Kornbluth] said that she was excited for those 'global challenges,' and that is something that has been really the mantle of MIT: solving the world’s problems with technology,” reports Janet Wu. “It sounded like she wanted to be part of that.”
Duke Provost Sally Kornbluth has been named the next president of MIT, reports Paul Basken for Times Higher Education. “MIT’s announcement credited Professor Kornbluth with prioritizing investments in faculty, especially from under-represented groups, and strengthening interdisciplinary research and education,” writes Basken.
MIT’s mini cheetah robot was taught how to goal keep using simulation, reports Emmett Smith for Mashable. “The robot was able to block 87.5 percent of the shots taken, which is just slightly above the best professional goalies in the English Premiere League,” writes Smith.
Spatial Equity NYC, an online tool developed by MIT researchers and Transportation Alternatives, uses public information to address the racial and economic disparities between neighborhoods in New York City, reports Jenna Deangelis for CBS News. “Our team has focused on fostering data transparency, making open data more accessible, legible and useable,” says research associate Daniela Coray.