In the Media

MIT researchers are developed a new mobile phone application that would collect information from people about how they are feeling, in an effort to help predict the spread of Covid-19, reports David Halbfinger for The New York Times.

Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray writes that MIT researchers have designed a new face shield that can be rapidly manufactured and delivered to hospitals. “In about a five-day span, thanks to the brilliance of the MIT engineers, we were able to put all this together," said Derek Gagnon, general manager for Polymershapes, the factory producing the shields. 

WBUR reporter Zeninjor Enwemeka writes that a new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds aggressive measures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 could also aid economic recovery. "Our findings suggest that reopening the local economy and lifting these restrictions too rapidly may actually be bad for the economy down the road,” explains Prof. Emil Verner.

Researchers from MIT and the Federal Reserve have found that public health measures like social distancing can help the economy rebound after a pandemic, reports Travis Anderson for The Boston Globe. The researchers found “cities that implemented social distancing and other measures 10 days earlier than other municipalities saw a 5 percent 'relative increase' in manufacturing employment when the pandemic ended, through 1923.”

Newsweek reporter Jason Murdock writes that MIT researchers have developed a blueprint for a device that could convert high-frequency terahertz waves into usable energy. "In theory, the energy could be used to power a cell phone by soaking up the ambient T-waves and using them to help charge the device via an add-on,” writes Murdock.

MIT researchers have developed a potential new drug candidate that could block the coronaviruses’ ability to enter human cells, reports Fast Company. “The researchers have shown that their new peptide can bind to the viral protein that the coronavirus uses to enter human cells, potentially disarming it.”

Boston Globe correspondent Vijee Venkatraman spotlights Point Five, a new nonalcoholic beer created by MIT graduate Ronan McGovern. Venkatraman notes that what makes the Point Five innovation different is “its cold filtration process has greater accuracy of separation, so there is no need to add flavors back.”

Principal research scientist Charles Forsberg speaks with Forbes contributor James Conca about the long-term implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy usage.

Researchers from MIT and the Federal Reserve analyzed data from the 1918 flu pandemic and found that “the notion that reducing deaths from a pandemic necessarily hurts the economy is false,” reports The Economist.  

Boston Globe reporter Jonathan Saltzman writes that researchers from MIT and other institutions have developed “a diagnostic test for COVID-19 that resembles an over-the-counter pregnancy test and delivers results in about 15 minutes.”

CNN reporter Rishi Iyengar spotlights how MIT startup Ubiquitous Energy has developed transparent solar cells that could be applied to windows and glass surfaces to transform sunlight into energy. Iyengar writes that Ubiquitious Energy hopes to “turn practically any everyday glass surface into a solar cell.”

Boston 25 spotlights how a team of MIT researchers is working on developing an inexpensive alternative to traditional ventilators that could be rapidly manufactured around the world. “The key to the simple, inexpensive ventilator alternative is a hand-operated plastic pouch called a bab-valve resuscitator or Ambu bag, which hospitals already have on hand in large quantities,” reports Boston 25.

Prof. Jonathan Gruber writes for The Washington Post about how to cover the costs of care of uninsured patients who need medical care for Covid-19. “We need to move quickly to make sure that financial issues don’t place any unnecessary barriers in the way of effective treatment of covid-19 patients,” writes Gruber.

MIT alumnus Michael Sorkin, “a fiery champion of social justice and sustainability in architecture and urban planning, who emerged as one of his profession’s most incisive public intellectuals over a multifaceted career as a critic, author, teacher and designer,” died on March 26, reports Harrison Smith for The Washington Post.

Boston Globe correspondent Meghan Sorensen spotlights the work of Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman admitted to MIT. Sorensen notes that Richards was “a pioneer in the field of sanitary engineering and a founder of home economics in the United States.”