Prof. Christopher Knittel writes for The Los Angeles Times about what makes tackling climate change so daunting. “Past environmental problems offered far easier solutions,” writes Knittel. “The pollution that caused the hole in the ozone layer, for example — chlorofluorocarbons — were also a global pollutant and were tied to widely used products such as refrigeration, air conditioning and hairspray. But there were cheap, readily available alternatives.”
TechCrunch reporter Darrell Etherington writes that MIT researchers have developed a system that “uses minute changes in shadows to predict whether or not a vehicle can expect a moving object to come around a corner.” Etherington adds the took could be used not only in autonomous vehicles, but also “in robots that navigate shared spaces with humans — like autonomous hospital attendants.”
MIT researchers have developed a new system that allows autonomous vehicles to see around corners, reports Andrew Liszweski for Gizmodo. The system could be used to “pre-emptively spot other vehicles or moving hazards that human drivers would never see coming.”
NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro explores the history of a 25-year-old carton of milk at Random Hall that has become a “mini-icon on campus.” “It's kind of fun to think that maybe a future Nobel Prize winner that's living in the dorm - that they got a little bit of fun, had a little bit of a better time because I forgot about milk in the fridge,” says alumnus Justin Cave.
A study co-authored by graduate student George Ward examines the relationship between happiness and productivity at work, reports The Economist. The researchers found that, “workers made 13% more sales in weeks when they were happy than when they were unhappy,” reports The Economist. “In happy weeks, they made more calls per hour and were more efficient at converting those calls into sales.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Courtney Linder writes that MIT researchers have developed a system of tiny robots that could be used to assemble giant structures. Linder explains that the assembler robots “view themselves as part of the structure, not just an object that that they're helping to build.”
Writing for The New York Times, Professors Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, explore how financial incentives are often ineffective at influencing human behavior. “If it is not financial incentives, what else might people care about?,” they write. “The answer is something we know in our guts: status, dignity, social connections.”
MIT has been named one of the top ten universities in the world by U.S. News & World Report, writes Michael Nietzel for Forbes.
In this video, Bloomberg spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new system that can remove carbon dioxide from the air. “From power plant emissions to open air, this new tool could prove significant in the fight against climate change,” reports Bloomberg. “It’s significantly less energy-intensive than existing methods and comes at a lower cost.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Lindsay McKenzie writes that MIT has developed a new framework for guiding negotiations with scholarly publishers. McKenzie explains that the new framework “asserts that control of scholarship and the way in which it is distributed should reside with scholars and their institutions.”
Prof. David Rand and research scientist Erez Yoeli write for STAT about how their research has shown that providing patients with motivation and support can help ensure they adhere to the entire course of therapy for tuberculosis. The research demonstrates “what people can achieve with some carefully designed motivation and support, and it suggests the power of behavioral science for helping with that design.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, visiting lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger highlights the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future’s findings on the impact of automation on employment. The Task Force underscores, “the need to provide workers with the skills required to meet these technology and workforce challenges, especially workers without a four-year college degree who’ve disproportionately borne the brunt of automation.”
Boston Globe reporter Mark Feeney spotlights the new Polaroid photography exhibit at the MIT Museum. Feeney notes that the exhibit, which explores Polaroid photography “as artistry, as innovation, as cultural state of mind,” is “techie heaven.”
Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear spotlights the story of “the Milk,” a 25-year-old carton of milk originally purchased by alumnus Justin Cave that has become a legendary relic at Random Hall. “Each year, new students moving into Random Hall are introduced to the Milk,” writes Annear. “And each year, it comes out for its birthday.”
Prof. Emeritus Woodie Flowers, “an innovative and flamboyant” professor who “championed a hands-on learning philosophy that reshaped engineering and design education,” died on Oct. 11, reports Glenn Rifkin for The New York Times. “Flowers’ “philosophy on design thinking and his learn-by-doing methods influenced not only generations of M.I.T. students,” writes Rifkin, “but also academic engineering programs around the world.”