Alexander Agadjanian, a senior research support associate at the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, writes for The New York Times about how he and his colleagues developed a Twitter account that showcases the complexities of individual voters’ stances on issues. Agadjanian explains that the account displays “American voters, and nonvoters, remain complex as a whole.”
Boston Globe Jonathan Saltzman writes that a study by researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard finds that drugs developed for diabetes, inflammation and alcoholism could be used to combat cancer cells in the lab. “The results could suggest ways to speed the development of new cancer drugs or repurpose existing drugs to treat cancer,” writes Saltzman.
A report by researchers from MIT and other institutions examines whether companies are complying with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), writes Karl Bode for Motherboard. The researchers found “websites in the EU not only aren’t adhering to the law, many are using required privacy alerts to mislead users.”
MIT researchers have developed a new light-sensitive material that could be used to enable ingestible medical devices to break down in the body when exposed to light, reports Nicola Davis for The Guardian. “We have the ability to control when those devices break up through the application of light,” explains Prof. Giovanni Traverso.
Writing for the New York Times, Prof. Yasheng Huang argues that Chinese policies favoring the state sector over the private sector have played a bigger role in the country’s economic slowdown than the current trade war. “That the Chinese economy is slowing down isn’t necessarily a bad thing, at least not in itself,” says Huang. “But a slowdown is a problem if it’s the result of poor policy.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Prof. Kerry Emanuel emphasizes the importance of strengthening the collaborations between researchers and forecasters to improve U.S. weather forecasts. “The progress that we make today will have enormous consequences for our ability to protect lives and property, maintain economic competitiveness, and strengthen our national security,” writes Emanuel.
Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights Insurify, a startup founded by MIT alumna Snejina Zacharia that is aimed at streamlining the process of selecting an insurance policy.
Gizmodo reporter Shoshana Wodinsky writes that a report by MIT researchers finds many websites are not complying with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). “Only 11.8 percent of the 680 sites researchers analyzed met the ‘minimum requirements’ that the researchers set forth,” Wodinsky explains, “specifically, that consent for user data collection through cookies and other technologies must be freely and explicitly given.”
R. David Edelman of MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative writes for The Washington Post about the need to create substantive policies for AI technologies. “If we’re going to govern AI, we need to recognize it for what it is: a tool, with innumerable uses,” writes Edelman. “That means we need to govern it for the ways people actually use it.”
Prof. David Autor speaks with NPR’s Planet Money about the lump of labor fallacy, the notion that there is a finite amount of work. “People are always worried about running out of work, but we're not,” says Autor. “We ought to be focusing our energy on figuring out, gee, how do we improve people's skills so they can qualify for better jobs?”
Research affiliate Warren “Woody” Hoburg has graduated from NASA’s basic training program and is now eligible for a spaceflight assignment, reports Ashley Strickland for CNN. The NASA graduates also included Raja Chari SM ‘01 and Jasmin Moghbeli ‘05.
MIT researchers have found that a program that provided coordinated care for frequently hospitalized patients did not reduce hospital readmissions, reports Reed Abelson for The New York Times. “While the program appeared to lower readmissions by nearly 40 percent, the same kind of patients who received regular care saw a nearly identical decline in hospital stays.”
Writing for STAT, Prof. Amy Finkelstein emphasizes the importance of randomized control trials (RCTs), recounting how she and her colleagues used an RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of a new program aimed at reducing hospital readmissions. “Randomized clinical trials are essential tools for helping us learn, adapt, and move forward on innovative solutions that make peoples’ lives better,” writes Finkelstein.
MIT researchers have developed a model that helps untangle the mystery behind why some knot are more stable than others, reports Theresa Machemer for Smithsonian. The researchers “paired mathematical knot theory with a color-changing fiber developed in 2013,” Machemer explains. “Because the fiber changes color under pressure, the researchers were able to measure physical properties and add data to their computational knot models."
NPR reporter Dan Gorenstein examines a study by MIT researchers that evaluates the effectiveness of a program aimed at reducing admissions for frequently hospitalized patients by providing personalized care. The researchers found that, “Patients receiving extra support were just as likely to return to the hospital within 180 days as those not receiving that help.”