Gizmodo reporter Passant Rabie writes that researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory developed a tiny gold-coated satellite called the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system with the goal of beaming “down data at the fastest rate ever achieved by space lasers.”
Next spring, the Stratton Student Center is set to undergo significant renovations, which will include “refreshing the physical space inside and outside the building, launching the Wellbeing Lab, updating dining options, and upgrading the existing infrastructure,” reports Andrea Jaba for The Tech. “This project is all about putting MIT’s students at the center of our student center,” said Chancellor Melissa Nobles.
After 50 years, Michael Gruenbaum ‘53 successfully published "Tell Me About Beethoven,” a book he wrote with his late wife, Thelma, as a tribute to the composer and to educate and entertain their three sons, writes Cindy Cantrell for The Boston Globe. Gruenbaum, who notes that he wanted to publish the book to help raise awareness of his wife’s talents as a writer, noted that Beethoven, “had to overcome so many obstacles in his life, and yet that didn’t deter him from doing what he wanted to do: compose music the way he liked to compose it, and the way it had never been done before.”
Wasalu Jaco – the Grammy-award winning rapper, entrepreneur and producer better known as Lupe Fiasco - will be teaching rap at MIT next spring as part of MIT's MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars Program, reports Dana Gerber for The Boston Globe. “MIT stands as the pinnacle of higher learning and execution for so many, including myself,” says Fiasco. “I’m overjoyed to have the opportunity to be in the midst of some of the world’s greatest minds to offer my humble perspective and absorb new practices and principles.”
InsideTracker - a personalized-nutrition company founded by scientists from MIT, Harvard, and Tufts University - utilizes blood tests to calculate biological age, reports Betsy Morris for The Wall Street Journal. The company analyzes blood samples for “markers of conditions like inflammation, heart health and liver or kidney disorder,” explains Morris. “Those who test as older than their years get recommendations to adjust diet, exercise and supplements.”
Popular Science reporter Andrew Zaleski spotlights Prof. Antoine Allanore and his work developing new methods to extract materials from rock without burning fossil fuels. “The electrification of metal production is groundbreaking,” says Allanore. “It not only allows us to avoid certain fuels and carbon emissions, it opens the door to higher productivity.”
Instructor Natalie Kuldell writes for The Boston Globe about the importance of creating more workplace learning opportunities for high school students. “Without question, every career decision I’ve made has been influenced by that first summer internship, guiding my choice of undergraduate major, my doctoral thesis, my postdoctoral fellowship, and then my academic and teaching life,” writes Kuldell.
Researchers at MIT and Harvard Medical School have created an artificial intelligence program that can accurately identify a patient’s race based off medical images, reports Tony Ho Tran for The Daily Beast. “The reason we decided to release this paper is to draw attention to the importance of evaluating, auditing, and regulating medical AI,” explains Principal Research Scientist Leo Anthony Celi.
Kealoha Wong ’99, Hawaii’s first poet laureate, shares his excitement at being selected to deliver the keynote address at the graduation celebration for the classes of 2020 and 2021. “It’s a huge honor, I never would have thought in a million years that something like this would happen,” says Kealoha. “I feel as if I am ready to let these words fly.”
Prof. Catherine Elizabeth Tucker speaks with BBC host Ed Butler about her research on effective online advertising. “It turns out that all too often it is not working as well as we were led to believe,” says Tucker.
A new report by researchers from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab “examines the federal government’s history of election spending—and suggests ways it could consider dispersing monies to help underfunded election administrators,” reports Talib Visram for Fast Company. “The federal government not being a full partner in the game, especially given its fiscal resources, contributes mightily to the underfunding of this area,” says Prof. Charles Stewart III.
Researchers from MIT and the University of Waterloo have found a way to test the Unruh effect, a phenomenon predicted to arise from objects moving through empty space, reports Joanna Thompson for Scientific American. “If scientists are able to observe the effect, the feat could confirm some long-held assumptions about the physics of black holes,” writes Thompson.
Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for Forbes about the impact Baby Boomer and Gen X retirement can have on the increasing labor shortage in the United States. “While some millennials can’t wait for the Boomers and older Gen X’ers to step aside in the job market, there are critical labor shortfalls in many key industries that will be sharply felt by Millennials as consumers and as the next generation of leadership in business and government,” writes Coughlin.
VoxDev spotlights the work of Prof. Abhijit Banerjee, Prof. Esther Duflo and graduate student Garima Sharma in studying the long-term effects targeted programs have on helping poor households escape the poverty trap. “Using a randomized controlled trial that tracked these households four, seven and ten years after the intervention, the authors find that ten years later, treated households consume about 20% more than control group households and earn about 30% more,” writes VoxDev.
Tiffany Chu ’10, chief of staff for Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, speaks with columnist Jeneé Osterheldt for The Boston Globe’s “A Beautiful Resistance” series about her goals for creating a more inclusive Boston and her AAPI heritage. Chu explains that she believes in “knocking down walls and showing people what is possible."