Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik writes that MIT will no longer consider SAT subject scores when making admissions decisions. "We made this decision after considerable study, in consultation with our faculty policy committee. We believe this decision will improve access for students applying to MIT," explains Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions and student financial services at MIT.
A paper by research affiliate Christos A. Makridis finds that regions with more digitally-intensive jobs will be more insulated from the economic impacts of Covid-19, reports Alexandre Tanzi for Bloomberg. “U.S. counties with high concentrations of jobs in industries such as retail and health care could see as much as a 4% decline in their annual growth rate if the shutdowns last just a month.”
Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray spotlights how Prof. Ramesh Raskar is developing an app aimed at tracking the spread of Covid-19 using location data already collected by mobile phones. Raskar hopes “people who have tested positive for COVID-19 would voluntarily share their location data with public health officials, to help them identity hot spots and potential paths of infection,” writes Bray.
CNBC reporter Hannah Miller writes that MIT is joining a consortium aimed at making supercomputing power available to help combat Covid-19. “The supercomputing power will be available to help researchers develop predictive models to analyze how the disease is progressing as well as model new potential therapies or a possible vaccine,” writes Miller.
A new analysis by MIT researchers finds that warmer temperatures may help reduce the spread of Covid-19, reports Knvul Sheikh and Ernesto Londoño for The New York Times. “We still need to take strong precautions,” explains postdoctoral associate Qasim Bukhari. “Warmer temperatures may make this virus less effective, but less effective transmission does not mean that there is no transmission.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Courtney Linder writes that MIT startup Biobot has launched a new program to test community sewers as a way to help track the spread of Covid-19. "We are establishing protocols to test sewage for SARS-CoV-2,” explains Biobot. “If successful, this data will give communities a dynamic map of the virus as it spreads to new places.”
Prof. Catherine D’Ignazio speaks with Guardian reporter Zoë Corbyn about her new book, “Data Feminism” and the importance of recognizing discrimination and bias in algorithms. D’Ignazio explains that data feminism “takes all inequality into account at every stage of the data processing pipeline, including gender discrimination but also other forms of intersecting discrimination like racism, classism and ableism.”
Forbes reporter Alexandra Sternlicht writes that MIT startup Ginkgo Bioworks “is giving $25 million worth of resources in their $400 million R&D facility to public and private teams working to cure, prevent and treat the novel coronavirus.”
MIT Solve has kicked off a new challenge aimed at galvanizing “more entrepreneurs to investigate and improve the world of health security,” reports Danny Crichton for TechCrunch.
Prof. Yossi Sheffi speaks with Bloomberg about the impact of Covid-19 on supply chains.
An app developed by researchers from MIT and other institutions could help track the spread of coronavirus in communities, reports Lilly Smith for Fast Company. The app “alerts people when they come into contact with someone who’s been diagnosed with COVID-19, potentially reducing the virus’s spread if the app is downloaded by a large chunk of the population.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Yossi Sheffi explores how companies can prepare to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic. “For supply-chain managers, the task is to keep critical suppliers viable and to treat customers in ways that do not create resentment,” writes Sheffi. “Companies that achieve this balance should come out strong on the other side.”
Research specialist Kate Darling speaks with New Scientist about why people form emotional attachments to robots. “We are very social creatures and we tend to subconsciously treat robots like they are alive, even though we know they are just machines,” says Darling. “Part of this comes from our tendency to anthropomorphise, i.e. to project human traits, motivations and behaviours onto non-humans.”
For the 10th year, the Koch Institute is featuring a selection of bioscience images as part its annual Image Awards. “Sometimes the most beautiful images are ones that can’t be seen with the naked eye,” writes STAT.
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Forbes about how social distancing aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 is shedding light on the social isolation that many seniors experience. Coughlin writes that social distancing “can serve as an exercise in empathy (albeit an imperfect one), permitting younger people to appreciate some of what many older adults go through every day.”