Wired reporter Daniel Oberhaus spotlights how a programmer has solved the cryptographic puzzle that was used to ceremonially seal a time capsule of early computer history at the Ray and Maria Stata Center. The puzzle, which was designed by Institute Professor Ron Rivest, “involved finding the number that results from running a squaring operation nearly 80 trillion times.”
A new paper by MIT researchers examines the economic feasibility of autonomous taxis, reports Jamie Powell for the Financial Times. The study, writes Powell, finds that at current prices, “an automated hive of driverless taxis will actually be more expensive for a consumer to use than the old-world way of owning four wheels.”
Writing for Forbes, research engineer Bryan Reimer examines Elon Musk’s recent comments about the future of driverless vehicles. Reimer explains that while there likely won’t be a fully self-driving vehicle system available in the next few years, there will be “an evolution of features that utilize drivers as a backup to the automation in situations requiring intervention.”
Members of the MIT Spokes team speak with NBC Boston reporter Michael Page about their quest to ride their bicycles across the country this summer, hosting STEM workshops for students along the way. Undergraduate Leah Yost explains that the hands-on workshops provide students with a sense of “what a future in STEM might look like.”
Prof. Dennis Whyte, director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, speaks with NBC Mach reporter Dan Falk about the possibilities of fusion power. “Fusion will have one of the smallest possible environmental footprints of any power source,” says Whyte. “It will be sustainable for the foreseeable future of mankind.”
MIT researchers have developed tiny robots powered by magnetic fields that can be used to bring drugs nanoparticles from the bloodstream into a tumor or disease site in the human body, reports the Xinhua news agency.
A new paper co-authored by Prof. Lawrence Schmidt examines why investors tend to make good purchasing decisions, but poor selections when it comes to selling stocks, reports The Economist. The researchers found that the “disparity between sales and purchases is explained by the attention given to each.”
Writing for Bloomberg, Profs. Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson argue that federal investment in scientific research can help address income inequality. “America desperately needs more hubs of growth,” they write. “It’s a problem that the government can and should address, by identifying and investing in the technologies of the future – and ensuring that the American people as a whole share in the gains.”
NESN Clubhouse visits the lab of Prof. Sangbae Kim to learn more about his work developing a robotic cheetah that can run at a speed of approximately 13 miles per hour, jump over obstacles, climb up stairs and execute tight turns. Kim explains that the cheetah could run from home plate to first base in about 15 seconds.
Writing for Wired, Prof. Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab, argues against the notion of singularity, the concept that AI will supersede humans. “Instead of thinking about machine intelligence in terms of humans vs machines, we should consider the system that integrates humans and machines – not artificial intelligence but extended intelligence,” writes Ito.
WBUR reporter Pamela Reynolds highlights graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s piece, “The Coded Gaze,” which is currently on display as part of the “Avatars//Futures” exhibit at the Nave Gallery. Reynolds writes that Buolamwini’s piece “questions the inherent bias of coding in artificial intelligence, which has resulted in facial recognition technology unable to recognize black faces.”
Research scientist Philipp Schmidt speaks with Inside Higher Ed reporter Lindsay McKenzie about the Digital Credentials Collaboration, which is creating a worldwide standard and shared infrastructure for digital academic credentials. “Universities are interested in providing their graduates with credentials that are useful and digital, but also secure,” Schmidt explains.
In an article for Fast Company, Mark Wilson highlights Modulate, an MIT startup that has developed technology that allows users to transform their voices into someone else’s. MIT alumnus and Modulate co-founder Mike Pappas explains that the technology could allow video game players to change their online personas and “give them the freedom to step inside their character entirely.”
Quartz reporter Anne Quito spotlights how graduate student Arnav Kapur has developed a wearable device that allows users to access the internet without speech or text and could help people who have lost the ability to speak vocalize their thoughts. Kapur explains that the device is aimed at augmenting ability.
WBUR reporter Pamela Reynolds spotlights the Rose Salane exhibit at the List Visual Arts Center, which examines the lost collection at the World Trade Center’s Port Authority Library. “In a suggestive display, Salane unravels a tapestry of seemingly disconnected events to trace the unfolding of history,” writes Reynolds.