Smithsonian reporter Corryn Wetzel spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new technology inspired by camel fur that could be used to keep food and medical supplies chilled. The researchers hope the new system could be applied to “lots of areas that require passive cooling—meaning no external energy needs to power the process. Possible applications include insulating food storage, medical supplies and buildings.”
MIT researchers have created a new material that mimics camel fur and could be used to help keep food and medical supplies cool without electricity, reports Layal Liverpool for New Scientist. “We achieve evaporation and insulation at the same time, extending the cooling period significantly,” explains Prof. Jeffrey Grossman.
Shigeru Miyagawa, senior associate dean for Open Learning, and instructor Meghan Perdue write for Inside Higher Ed about how the transition to online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic may change how educators teach. "What struck us is that this uncontrolled experiment, as a scientist might put it, may lead to a fundamental change in the way we approach education," they write.
Graduate student Lilly Chin, winner of the 2017 Jeopardy! College Championship, reminisces with Tiziana Dearing of Radio Boston about "Jeopardy!" game show host Alex Trebek. “Alex really enjoyed being on the job, but also enjoyed sort of being an uncle to the contestants, as well as America at large,” recalls Chin.
Fast Company reporter Yasmin Gagne spotlights MIT startup Spyce, which has developed a robotic restaurant kitchen. “With a global pandemic ongoing, a meal cooked with a robotic system might be just enough of a differentiator to help Spyce thrive in an era that has decimated the restaurant industry,” writes Gagne.
Writing for Scientific American, Prof. Carlo Ratti explores the “transformative” potential of quantum sensors. Ratti writes that quantum sensors could enable autonomous vehicles to “‘see’ around corners, underwater navigation systems, early-warning systems for volcanic activity and earthquakes, and portable scanners that monitor a person's brain activity during daily life.”
Fast Company reports on Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It, a book co-authored by Prof. Erin Kelly, which shows that “employees with more control over their work schedules were happier, healthier, and had a better work-life harmony.”
Kosta Tsipis, former director of the Program in Science and Technology for International Security at MIT, passed away at age 86. “Dr. Tsipis was the lead author for “Nuclear Crash,” an MIT study that was based partly on four years of computer simulations of the consequences of nuclear attacks,” reports Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe.
Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with New York Times reporter Veronica Perrey about the impact of climate change on hurricanes. “Potential intensity is going up,” says Emanuel. “We predicted it would go up 30 years ago, and the observations show it going up.”
Prof. Kevin Esvelt writes for The Boston Globe about the need for transparency surrounding gene-editing research. “We should establish transparent, publicly accessible standards to help determine whether, when, and how research that could impact everyone should proceed,” Esvelt explains.
Financial Times reporter John Thornhill writes that Prof. Tim Berners-Lee’s startup Inrupt, which is aimed at developing a new data architecture for the web, has launched its first enterprise-ready servers. Thornhill explains that Inrupt’s technology is aimed at empowering “users to create their own Pods (personal online data stores). This enables them to control their own data and grant access to third-party apps at their discretion.”
A new study by MIT researchers finds that super-spreading events are larger drivers of the Covid-19 pandemic than originally thought, reports Carey Goldberg for WBUR. “We found in our study that super-spreading events can indeed be a major driver of the current pandemic,” says postdoc Felix Wong. “Most people generate zero or one cases, but it's the people generating hundreds of cases that we really should be worried about.”
The MIT Museum is hosting a virtual screening and discussion of the movie Jurassic Park, reports Joel Lau for The Boston Globe. “Join researchers from MIT’s Sculpting Evolution group on Zoom for an introduction to the film,” writes Lau, “then participants will watch the 1993 blockbuster and rejoin for a post-show discussion on everything from movie effects to the science and ethics of reviving long-lost species.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Charles Stewart III notes that the administration of the 2020 presidential election was a success. “Even as we enter a contentious stretch of litigation, in which every aspect of the election infrastructure will be scrutinized,” writes Stewart, “the U.S. should be thankful for the heroic—and successful—efforts of election administrators around the country.”
European Pharmaceutical Review reporter Hannah Balfour writes that researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have developed a new dissolvable gelatin microcarrier that can help enhance cell production. “Innovations in microcarriers will aid in the scalability of certain cell types such as mesenchymal stromal cells for cell-based therapy, including for regenerative medicine applications,” says Associate Provost Krystyn Van Vliet.