Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Amy Glasmeier, graduate student Zach Avre and Thomas Goff of Mass Economics argue for extending unemployment benefits and raising the federal minimum wage. “The quickest way to make all Americans sleep easier at night — and be willing to go back to work and help the economy recover — is by providing a living wage to get by in the era of COVID-19,” they write.
The MIT Sloan School of Management has been named to QS’s list of the top EMBA programs in the world, reports Vicky McKeever for CNBC.
Prof. Fox Harrell speaks with New York Times reporter Joshua Rothkopf about the educational potential of deepfake technology. “To have the savvy to negotiate a political media landscape where a video could potentially be a deepfake, or a legitimate video could be called a deepfake, I think those are cases people need to be aware of,” says Harrell.
Bloomberg reporter Kriston Capps finds that evictions disproportionately impact Black renters in the City of Boston. Capps writes that the “research shows that communities of color — eviction hubs even under normal times — are already bearing the disproportionate burden of the pandemic housing crisis.”
Reporting for U.S. News & World Report, Robert Preidt highlights how a new study by MIT researchers finds the actual number of coronavirus cases worldwide may be 12 times higher than reported. “The scientists studied 84 of the most affected nations -- a total of more than 4.7 billion people -- and concluded that there were 88.5 million cases and 600,000 deaths as of June 18,” writes Preidt.
Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson speaks with Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money about a new study that finds about half of the American workforce is now working remotely. Brynjolffson says he feels, "this portends a much bigger shift in the economy.”
A study by MIT researchers finds that that the true number of Covid-19 related cases is likely 12 times higher than the official count, reports Jonathan Saltzman for The Boston Globe. The researchers found, “tougher policies to reduce transmission of the disease after WHO declared it a pandemic on March 11, along with extensive testing, could have prevented 197,000 deaths, nearly a third of the estimated fatalities.”
Karilyn Crockett, a lecturer at MIT, has been named to head Boston’s new equity and inclusion office, reports Erin Tiernan for The Boston Herald. “She will apply an equity lens to make sure everything our city government does is dismantling systemic racism and creating fair opportunity for all Bostonians,” said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh named Lecturer Karilyn Crockett, “a brilliant innovator and change maker,” as the head of Boston’s new Equity and Inclusion Cabinet, reports CBS Boston. “I need everyone standing here with me, and within the hearing of my voice, to be bold and move beyond what we may individually think is possible,” said Crockett.
WHDH reporter Emily Pritchard spotlights how CSAIL researchers have developed a new robotic system that is being used to help disinfect the Greater Boston Food Bank during the coronavirus pandemic. “We believe that is one piece of the puzzle in figuring out how to mitigate the spread of coronavirus,” says research scientist Alyssa Pierson.
A new robotic system developed by CSAIL researchers uses UV-C light to kill viruses and bacteria on surfaces and aerosols, reports Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch. “Via cameras and sensors, the robot can map an indoor space, then navigate designed waypoints within that mapped area and disinfect as it goes, keeping track of the areas it has to disinfect,” writes Etherington.
MIT researchers have developed a new robotic system that uses a UV-C light fixture to disinfect surfaces at the Greater Boston Food Bank’s warehouse staging area, reports Matt Reed for WCVB. Research scientist Alyssa Pierson explains that the ultraviolet light "breaks apart the kind of outer incasing or shell of these pathogens."
MIT Press and the University of California at Berkeley are launching a journal that will offer peer reviews of Covid-19 research, reports Paul Baskin for Times Higher Education. “We want to align with what the research community is doing and what it wants,” says Amy Brand, director of MIT Press. “But we also want to build in more quality control and more accountability.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Caroline Delbert writes that MIT researchers are looking to “make molten salt reactors a little more practical by fine-tuning how they behave under extreme heat and pressure.”
A new study by MIT researchers explores how cellular guides in planarians appear to provide a roadmap for regeneration, reports Veronique Greenwood for The New York Times. Greenwood notes that the findings “may someday help scientists interested in helping humans regenerate injured neurons.”