Greek artist Takis, who worked on electromagnetism at MIT as a visiting researcher in the 1960s, is the subject of a forthcoming exhibition at London’s Tate Modern museum. Early in his career, the now 93-year-old Takis, “became interested in electromagnetism, and in the challenge of making art about invisible forces,” writes Peter Aspden for the Financial Times.
Prof. Markus Buehler speaks with Ira Flatow of Science Friday about his research, which attempts to better understand and create new proteins by translating them into music. Buehler explains that they were able to listen to proteins after discovering that “amino acids have a unique frequency spectrum which we could then make audible using a concept of transposition.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Cynthia Breazeal found that a “social robot” teddy bear “boosted spirits, eased anxiety and even lowered perceived pain levels” among Boston Children’s Hospital patients aged 3 to 10 years old, reports Robert Preidt for US News & World Report. “We want technology to support everyone who's invested in the quality care of a child," says Breazeal.
Diana Kwon highlights the research of Prof. Katharina Ribbeck in an article for Scientific American about the biological benefits of mucus. “I like to call [mucus] the unsung hero of the body — it’s something that has such powerful effects over our health,” says Ribbeck.
MIT researchers have a developed a method to make liquid droplets bounce away faster on water-repellant surfaces. “Aside from reducing ice buildup on airplanes, or even the giant sweeping blades of a wind turbine, this research could also benefit waterproof garments, which are a big market for hydrophobic materials,” reports Andrew Liszewski of Gizmodo.
New research co-authored by MIT economists highlights the effects of location on the life expectancy of people over age 65, writes Christopher Ingraham for The Washington Post. According to the researchers, “moving from a place in the bottom 10 percent to one in the top 10 percent would extend the average person’s life by a little more than a year.”
Rachel Metz reports for CNN that researchers at MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute have developed an AI system that can look at a picture of a pizza and determine which toppings should go on which layer. Postdoc Dimitrios Papadopoulos “believes this research could lead to non-food applications as well, such as a digital shopping assistant that uses AI to figure out how to put together a fashionable outfit,” writes Metz.
CBS Boston speaks with Margaret Hamilton about her role in the Apollo 11 moon mission and her career at MIT. “I was the only woman in the beginning in the field,” says Hamilton. “I was oblivious to the difference between men and women. At MIT, they cared more about that you knew what you were doing and could help them solve their problem because they had a deadline.”
In an article they co-authored for STAT, Prof. Eric von Hippel and visiting scientist Harold DeMonaco suggest that patients often offer solutions for improving health care that medical professionals overlook. “In addition to fulfilling a personal need, patient-innovators are also attracted by the learning they gain from the process and from sharing their innovations with people with similar needs,” they write. “In short, it is a highly self-rewarding endeavor.”
In an article for the Financial Times, DUSP research affiliate Ashley Nunes argues that without some kind of carbon tax, advances in technology will not be enough to fight climate change. Carbon pricing, writes Nunes, “prompts greater awareness of our energy choices and their impact on the environment, and helps us to learn about our consumption habits before it’s too late.”
Larry Edelman at The Boston Globe reports that Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has completed its first round of venture financing with a total of $115 million. “CFS is working with the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT to develop what it hopes will be the first commercial system that creates power using nuclear fusion,” writes Edelman.
Researchers at MIT and Brown University created an interactive data system that “could give everyone AI superpowers,” writes Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch. Known as ‘Northstar,’ the system can instantly generate machine-learning models to use with existing data sets in order to generate useful predictions, explains Etherington.
Diana Cai writes for STAT about Prof. Markus Buehler’s new research to turn amino acids into music. “Buehler thinks the technology could help in understanding genetic diseases caused by misfolded proteins,” writes Cai, noting that, “AI may conceivably ‘hear’ patterns of misfolding that could distinguish dangerous mutations from harmless ones.”
Jonathan Shieber of TechCrunch reports that Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup collaborating with MIT, has raised an additional $50 million toward its efforts to develop a commercial fusion reactor. “Commonwealth Fusion expects to have its smallest possible reactor built by 2025 thanks to the research that MIT has done on proprietary magnet technology that the company uses to confine its nuclear reaction,” writes Shieber.
A new AI prediction model developed at MIT could detect breast cancer up to five years in advance. The researchers hope this technique “can also be used to improve detection of other diseases that have similar problems with existing risk models, with far too many gaps and lower degrees of accuracy,” writes Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch.