Prof. Mircea Dincǎ, Prof. Evelyn Ning-Yi Wang, Prof. Ian W. Hunter, Prof. Guoping Feng, and Senior Research Scientist David H. Shoemaker were elected as Fellows of AAAS for their efforts on behalf of the advancement of science and its applications to better serve society, reports Science.
Prof. Sara Seager speaks with Boston Globe reporter Matt Yan about how she plans to use the James Webb Space Telescope to compare when an exoplanet is in front of a star and when it is not. “By comparing those two measurements, they’re going to be a tiny bit different,” says Seager, adding that when the planet "in front of the start is blocking some of the starlight, in particular, the atmosphere blocks some of the starlight, and so we can tell what’s in the planet atmosphere.”
David Rush ‘07 holds over 200 Guinness World Records, and set 52 new records in 2021 alone, reports Nick Mordowanec for Newsweek. “Once he reviewed the various records that exist in the Guinness books and the Guinness World Records website, Rush looked at his own skills and realized he could branch out to dozens of different records per his multiple skill sets – such as juggling, balancing, running and having a fast-twitch response,” writes Mordowanec.
TESS, a NASA mission led and operated by MIT, has discovered over 5,000 planets candidates outside of our solar system, reports Ed Browne for Newsweek. “This time last year, TESS had found just over 2,400 TOIs (TESS Objects of Interest),” says postdoctoral associate Michelle Kunimoto. “Today, TESS has reached more than twice that number – a huge testament to the mission and all the teams scouring the data for new planets.”
Scientists have discovered “X-particles” in the aftermath of collisions produced in the Large Hadron Collider, which could shed light on the structure of these elusive particles, reports Becky Ferreira for Vice. “X particles can yield broader insights about the type of environment that existed in those searing and turbulent moments after the Big Bang,” writes Ferreira.
A report by researchers from MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals found that nearly half of supply chain professionals have remained committed to the same level of supply chain sustainability as before the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Laura Cooper for The Wall Street Journal. “The report, which surveyed some of 2,400 supply-chain industry professionals, also showed that 36% sought to increase their efforts to be more sustainable,” writes Cooper.
Prof. David Mindell writes for Forbes about the premise behind his new book, “The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in the Age of Intelligent Machine,” which he wrote with Prof. David Autor, and Elisabeth Reynolds, former director of MIT’s Industrial Performance Center. The new book “concerns demographic shifts in the United States that will generate consistent labor shortages for a generation; the continued profusion of information technology and mobile phones into legacy sectors such as logistics, construction, and transportation; technology-enabled remote work, conferencing, and training; and a long-term need for improved training, reeducation, and upskilling among low – and middle – skill workers,” writes Mindell.
Prof. Gang Chen speaks with New York Times reporter Ellen Barry about the damage inflicted by the “China Initiative.” “My love is science. I did not want politics, right?” says Chen. “But I learned that you can’t get away. Politics impacts everybody. So if there are things that are not right, we all need to speak out.”
The driverless car industry lacks a clear business model in comparison to its competitors, reports Patrick McGee for Financial Times. “Driverless does not mean humanless,” says research scientist Ashley Nunes. “Robotaxis replace one set of human costs, the human driver, with another, inefficiency.”
Forbes reporter Abdo Riani spotlights an MIT and Northwestern study that uncovered why startup founders should be more cautious when listening to customer feedback. In a “study of six years’ worth of transactional data of 130 thousand customers in large retail chains…[researchers] made an interesting discovery – about 25% of customers consistently buy products that end up failing within 3 years,” writes Riani.
Prof. David Autor speaks with New York Times columnist Peter Coy about the new book he wrote with Prof. David Mindell and Elisabeth Reynolds, “The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines.” Autor explains that: “Most people’s fear of technology is really a fear of capitalism, what the markets will do with the technology. You can’t make a lot of progress if you’re making people poorer at the same time.”
Researchers from MIT, Tripura University, and Vaisala Inc. concluded that the decline of aerosols in the atmosphere led to a reduction in lightning activity during the Covid-19 lockdown period, reports Alaa Elassar for CNN. “As countries around the world imposed quarantines, lockdown and curfews aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19, air pollution levels fell drastically, thereby reducing the amount of aerosols released into the air,” writes Elassar.
The Economist highlights new work by MIT researchers investigating the impact of automation on the labor market. A study by graduate student Joonas Tuhkuri finds that at Finnish firms “adoption of advanced technologies led to increases in hiring.” Meanwhile a new book by Profs. David Autor, David Mindell and Elisabeth Reynolds concludes that “even if robots do not create widespread joblessness, they may have helped create an environment where the rewards are ‘skewed towards the top.’”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Gang Chen calls for a thorough review of the Justice Department’s China Initiative and the “critical mistakes on the part of the FBI, federal prosecutors, and other federal investigative agencies.” Chen writes: “As a nation, we can be more true to our ideals — and a better world leader — by acknowledging our wrongdoings and learning from our mistakes rather than blindly pressing forward.”
PBS Gzero World host Ian Bremmer spotlights “The Age of AI And Our Human Future,” a new book written by Schwarzman College of Computing Dean Daniel Huttenlocher, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that explores how humanity can learn to coexist with artificial intelligence. “The conclusion in our book is that the only way to sort these issues out is to widen the discussion aperture,” says Schmidt.