Researchers from MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab have developed a system of underwater structures to help sand accumulate naturally and elevate islands and coastlines above rising sea levels, reports Jesus Diaz for Fast Company. “Strategically positioned according to currents, these structures will use the energy of waves to accumulate sand in different locations,” Diaz explains.
Reporting for WBUR, Pamela Reynolds spotlights “Ericka Beckman: Double Reverse,” on display at the List Visual Arts Center. Reynolds writes that through the exhibit Beckman explores “connections between games and gambling, the larger structures of capital, as well as the gamification of a culture which has given itself over to scores, challenges, tokens and rewards as a means of control.”
WGBH's Edgar Herwick reports on Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle’s presentation exploring the kilogram’s new standard of measurement. Ketterle explained that the change will have a big impact, in particular for micro and nanotechnologies. "Small quantities matter for our lives," said Ketterle.
MIT and the U.S. Air Force “are teaming up to launch a new accelerator focused on artificial intelligence applications,” writes Danny Crichton for TechCrunch. The goal is that projects developed in the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator would be “addressing challenges that are important to both the Air Force and society more broadly.”
Will Knight writes for MIT Technology Review about the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator, which “will focus on uses of AI for the public good, meaning applications relevant to the humanitarian work done by the Air Force.” “These are extraordinarily important problems,” says Prof. Daniela Rus. “All of these applications have a great deal of uncertainty and complexity.”
Profs. Michael Strano and Sheila Kennedy have developed an exhibit for the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, which explores how Strano’s glowing plant research could be part of a sustainable energy future. “The pair is one of 62 design teams involved in the [Triennial], which highlights innovative ways humans are engaging with nature,” writes Emily Matchar for Smithsonian.
The new MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator “will look at improving Air Force operations and addressing larger societal needs, such as responses to disasters and medical readiness,” reports Breanne Kovatch for The Boston Globe. “The AI Accelerator provides us with an opportunity to develop technologies that will be vectors for positive change in the world,” says Prof. Daniela Rus.
Writing for Quanta Magazine, Joshua Sokol spotlights the untold story and seminal role of two MIT computer programmers, Ellen Fetter and Margaret Hamilton, in developing the “specific programs that revealed the signatures of chaos.”
Writing for The New York Times, graduate student John Urschel recounts how his high school football coaches motivated him, noting that similar tactics might encourage more children to study math. “There are many ways to be an effective teacher, just as there are many ways to be an effective coach,” writes Urschel. “But all good teachers, like good coaches, communicate that they care about your goals.”
In an excerpt from her new book published in The Wall Street Journal, President Emerita Susan Hockfield explores how the convergence between biology and engineering is driving the development of new tools to tackle pressing human problems. Hockfield writes that for these world-changing technologies to be realized requires “not only funding and institutional support but, more fundamentally, a commitment to collaboration among unlikely partners.”
Wired reporter Aarian Marshall spotlights how Prof. Sarah Williams has been developing digital tools to help map bus routes in areas that lack transportation maps. “The maps show that there is an order,” Williams explains. “There is, in fact, a system, and the system could be used to help plan new transportation initiatives.”
Research scientist César Hidalgo speaks with Kara Miller of WGBH’s Innovation Hub about his work exploring collective memory and how society experiences generational forgetting. For things like popular songs “there is a period of up to five years when they are still in our communicative memory, we are still talking about it," Hidalgo explains. “After that they go into our cultural memory.”
Graduate student John Urschel speaks with Karen Given of WBUR’s Only a Game about how his mother helped encourage his passion for mathematics. "Most kids get their allowance by, you know, mowing the lawn — things like this," Urschel says. "My mom, because she recognized that I was strong in math, wanted to encourage me with respect to math."
WCVB-TV’s Mike Wankum visits the Media Lab to learn more about a new wearable device that allows users to communicate with a computer without speaking by measuring tiny electrical impulses sent by the brain to the jaw and face. Graduate student Arnav Kapur explains that the device is aimed at exploring, “how do we marry AI and human intelligence in a way that’s symbiotic.”
A study co-authored by MIT researchers examines the problems associated with linking executive pay to company performance, writes Theo Francis and Vanessa Fuhrmans for The Wall Street Journal. “We have to have a better compensation committee report that tells us what exactly these measures are,” says senior lecturer Robert Pozen of the need for more clarity on how performance is measured.