Fast Company reporter Adele Peters spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new process that uses sustainable raw ingredients to 3-D print materials that would eventually degrade naturally. The project was named the winner of the art and design category in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards.
UPI reporter Sommer Brokaw writes that MIT researchers have developed a new precision injection system that could be used to help save banana, olive and orange crops threatened by disease. “The new system uses silk-based biomaterials to fabricate a microneedle-like device, which can inject nutrients, antibiotics or other pesticides into plants' circulatory systems,” Brokaw explains.
MIT community members recreated the MIT campus in the vide game Minecraft, reports Alyssa Vaughn for Boston Magazine. “Being able to meet in a virtual space and have some kind of social interaction, even while being socially distant—it’s just really important to a lot of students,” explains first-year student Shayna Ahteck.
“Coding for Carrots,” a game developed by researchers from MIT and Google, was spotlighted in Google’s Doodles series honoring interactive games, reports Catie Keck for Gizmodo. Keck notes that Coding for Carrots was originally developed in 2017 to celebrating 50 years of coding for kids,
CSAIL researchers have developed a system that allows users to control drones using arm and hand gestures, reports Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch. “MIT’s research in this area could result in future industrial robotics products that require less training and programming to operate at scale,” Etherington notes.
Google featured “Coding for Carrots,” a game created by MIT and Google researchers aimed at helping kids learn to code, as part of a Google Doodles series celebrating interactive games, reports Brett Molina for USA Today. The game “requires players to help a bunny collect carrots by connecting blocks of computer code together,” Molina explains.
STAT reporter Elizabeth Cooney writes that MIT researchers have developed a model GI tract as part of an effort to better understand how the human digestive system absorbs oral drugs. “The MIT scientists believe their method more faithfully represents the ways people respond to drugs, far earlier in the process than now typically occurs,” Cooney explains.
MIT researchers are aiming to harness the power of Bluetooth technology to boost Covid-19 contact tracing efforts while maintaining user privacy, reports Joe Dwinell for The Boston Herald. “If we can help control the spread of infection,” explains Principal Research Scientist Daniel Weitzner, “it’s good for everyone.”
Prof. Michael Strano appears on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss his work developing new technologies aimed at enhancing food production. “Our vision is to turn agriculture into a manufacturing sector where we can produce food more locally to shorten supply chains,” says Strano.
Writing for Forbes, Prof. Scott Stern argues that the federal government should provide support for new businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Job creation is, by definition, a net number. We need new businesses, not just small ones, to create economic opportunity and restore the foundations of our economy,” write Stern and his co-authors.
Forbes contributor Katie Jennings writes that Biobot Analytics, an MIT startup, is examining wastewater to gauge the scope of Covid-19 infections. “We see this technology as being an infrastructure layer that is embedded permanently into our wastewater systems in order to alert us as an early warning,” explains Biobot Anlytics President and co-founder Newsha Ghaeli, “whether it's COVID, or whether it's something else.”
Reporting for NPR, Jason Slotkin explores how Brigham and Women’s Hospital is using Spot, a robotic dog developed by Boston Dynamics in consultation with MIT researchers, in an effort to help limit staff exposure to Covid-19.
Spot, a robotic dog developed by researchers from MIT and Boston Dynamics, is being used to help clinicians at Brigham and Women’s Hospital talk with Covid-19 patients while minimizing contact, reports 7 News. Prof. Giovanni Traverso explains that, “what we are incorporating are our cameras that can extract visually, using either infrared or regular cameras, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation.”
Prof. Daniela Rus speaks with David Bienick of WCVB-TV about how a team of MIT researchers developed a prototype of a device that can be used to automatically operate hand-pump ventilators. "This could be a game-changer for countries that have very few ventilators," Rus explains.
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Kathleen Thelen examines the effectiveness of European and U.S. programs aimed at reducing unemployment. Thelen and Anke Hassel of the Hertie School in Germany note that, “it isn’t just the size of the assistance package that counts: it is how it is delivered.”