Popular Science reporter Rob Verger writes that MIT and NASA researchers have developed a new design for a plane wing that can change shape mid-flight. As the plane wing is assembled from hundreds of different parts, it could be programmed in a specific way to control the “response that it has to an aerodynamic load,” explains graduate student Benjamin Jenett.
Wall Street Journal reporter Mike Bird writes that MIT researchers have proposed a new metric for GDP that would incorporate free digital goods and services. Bird explains that the researchers found that Facebook “would have boosted U.S. economic growth by between 0.05 and 0.11 percentage points a year” under the new metric.
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater highlights how MIT spinoff Formlabs has unveiled two new 3-D printers that offer more form and accuracy than earlier models. “Along with increased accuracy, the new machines feature real-time health updates, remote printing and modular designs, so users can swap out parts to keep them going,” Heater explains.
MIT startup ClearMotion Labs has developed technology that helps cars adjust to potholes in the road, making for a smoother ride, reports Robert Goulston for Boston 25 News. “As the wheels are going over bumps, those sensors are detecting those bumps and instantaneously looking to push and pull the wheels,” explains MIT alumnus and ClearMotion CEO Shakeel Avadhany.
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Thomas Malone examines how AI could transform business hierarchies. “AI may create some more centralized hierarchies, and even more situations that call for flexible structures,” writes Malone. The overall goal, though, will remain “figuring out how to combine the different capabilities of people and computers into ‘superminds’ that are smarter than anything we’ve ever had before.”
Prof. Regina Barzilay speaks with NPR reporter Richard Harris about her work developing AI systems aimed at improving identification of breast cancer in mammograms, inspired by her experience with the disease. “At every point of my treatment, there would be some point of uncertainty, and I would say, 'Gosh, I wish we had the technology to solve it,’” says Barzilay.
MIT and NASA researchers have designed an airplane wing assembled from hundreds of identical parts that could add greater flexibility to the manufacturing process, reports Aristos Georgiou for Newsweek. “We hope that our approach improves performance, and thus saves resources, for a variety of future transport modes,” explains graduate student Benjamin Jenett.
Forbes contributor Charles Towers-Clark writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a new machine learning system that could be used to help develop better estimates about internet data. “In tests, the system was over 57% more accurate in estimating internet traffic and more than 71% for trending social media topics,” Towers-Clark explains.
Popular Mechanics reporter Eric Limer spotlights how MIT and NASA researchers have developed a new shape-shifting airplane wing. Limer explains that the new wing, “made up of hundreds of identical pieces, is the foundation for aircraft with flexible wings that transform dynamically in flight to create the optimal shape for their moment-to-moment flight conditions.”
Fast Company reporter Melissa Locker writes that researchers from MIT and NASA have developed a new kind of airplane wing made up of hundreds of tiny identical pieces that can change shape mid-flight. Locker explains that the new design “means the wing could transform to be optimal for each step, making flying much more efficient.”
Fortune’s Aaron Pressman writes about this year’s New Space Age Conference at MIT and how it has changed since the first iteration in 2016. SpaceX, rather than Boeing, “was the big incumbent” and “too much money may have flowed into too many startups all chasing the same few satellite opportunities,” writes Pressman.
NBC Mach’s Seth Shostak references the work of John Ball, a radio astronomer at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, in an effort to explain why we have yet to interact with space aliens. In a 1973 paper, Ball suggested it “wasn’t due to a lack of aliens,” writes Shostak. “It was because these otherworldly sentients have agreed to a hands-off policy.”
Margaret Hamilton is included on National Geographic’s list of female coders “whose careful calculations led to many of the world's greatest technological advances,” writes Catherine Zuckerman. Hamilton “led the team at MIT whose software systems were critical to the success of the Apollo 11 mission.”
Alyce Johnson, Interim Institute Community Equity Officer, and Sharon Bridburg, Director of HR for the Office of the Vice Chancellor, speak with Callie Crossley on WGBH’s "Under the Radar with Callie Crossley" about the importance of cross-racial friendships and their participation in The Club, a “diverse group of friends in the MIT and Harvard human resources community.”
Prof. Albert Saiz speaks with Greg Rosalsky on NPR’s Planet Money podcast about affordable housing and rent control. “The evidence is very clear that rent control doesn't work the way it's intended to work,” says Saiz. “There are policies that look a bit like rent control but that do not necessarily distort the housing market.”